GR 24920; (November, 1970) (Digest)
G.R. No. L-24920 November 24, 1970
ROSA QUIMSON, SONIA QUIMSON and FRANCISCO QUIMSON, Heirs of the late Dr. Francisco Quimson, plaintiffs-appellants, vs. PHILIPPINE NATIONAL BANK, thru its SPECIAL ASSETS DEPARTMENT and RICARDO MENDOZA, defendants-appellees.
FACTS
Dr. Francisco Quimson mortgaged several properties, including a parcel of land in San Juan, Rizal, to the Philippine National Bank (PNB). Due to non-payment, PNB filed a judicial foreclosure proceeding. The property was sold at public auction to PNB on January 10, 1957, and the sale was judicially confirmed on September 27, 1957. The certificate of sale and the order of confirmation were registered with the Register of Deeds of Rizal only on September 19, 1963. PNB later sold the property to Ricardo Mendoza. The heirs of Dr. Quimson sought to redeem the property from PNB, but the Bank refused, contending the one-year redemption period had expired, counting from the date of judicial confirmation. The heirs argued the period should be counted from the date of registration of the sale and confirmation. The trial court dismissed the case, holding the redemption period ran from the date of judicial confirmation.
ISSUE
Whether the one-year period of redemption for a property sold in a judicial foreclosure sale to the Philippine National Bank, under its charter, should be counted from the date of judicial confirmation of the sale or from the date of registration of the certificate of sale and confirmation.
RULING
The Supreme Court ruled that the one-year redemption period should be counted from the date of registration of the certificate of sale and the order of confirmation. The Court held that for registered land under the Torrens system, the operative act that binds the land is the registration of the conveyance. This principle applies uniformly to execution sales, extrajudicial foreclosure sales, and judicial foreclosure sales involving the PNB. The Court modified the trial court’s decision, allowing the appellants to redeem the property if they made a proper tender within one year from registration, provided they pay the full amount fixed in the writ of execution, which was over P64,000.00, representing the total obligations secured by all the mortgaged properties sold in the single foreclosure proceeding.