GR 37090; (December, 1933) (Digest)
G.R. No. 37090 , December 23, 1933
CRISANTA SUAREZ, ET AL., plaintiffs-appellants, vs. PRUDENCIO TIRAMBULO, ET AL., defendants-appellees.
FACTS
Prudencio Tirambulo obtained an original certificate of title (No. 62) for two parcels of land in 1915 through land registration proceedings, where no opposition was filed. He thereafter exercised acts of ownership, including mortgaging the property multiple times to the Philippine National Bank. The plaintiffs, Crisanta, Raymunda, and Guillerma Suarez, half-sisters of Tirambulo’s wife Elisea Buntigao, filed an action claiming co-ownership. They alleged that before registration, Tirambulo agreed to include their interests in the title but fraudulently registered it solely in his name, and that they only discovered this in 1930. The property was originally owned by their mother, Policarpia Mogillo, who sold it to Tirambulo in 1914. The plaintiffs argued the land was acquired during their mother’s first marriage (to their father), making them co-heirs. The trial court dismissed the complaint.
ISSUE
Whether Tirambulo holds the registered land in trust for the plaintiffs based on an alleged oral agreement to include their interests in the Torrens title.
RULING
No. The Supreme Court affirmed the dismissal. The plaintiffs failed to prove the alleged trust with the required certainty. The evidence indicated the property was acquired by Policarpia Mogillo during her second marriage, not the first, and she validly sold it to Tirambulo. The testimony supporting the oral trust came from an interested witness and was contradicted by the defendants. The plaintiffs’ long inaction (from 1915 to 1931), their voluntary signing of tax assessment transfers to Tirambulo, and his exclusive payment of taxes demonstrated acquiescence to his sole ownership. The Torrens title in Tirambulo’s name remained indefeasible, and the bank was an innocent mortgagee for value.
AI Generated by Armztrong.