G.R. No. 48309 ; January 30, 1943
EUSEBIA ESCOBAR, plaintiff-appellant, vs. RAMON LOCSIN, in his capacity as special administrator of the intestate estate of Juana Ringor, defendant-appellee.

FACTS

The plaintiff, Eusebia Escobar, alleged she was the owner of Lot No. 692 of the Cuyapo cadastre in Nueva Ecija, having acquired it in 1914 by donation propter nuptias from Pablo Ringor and being in possession since that year. Being illiterate, she asked Domingo Sumangil to claim the lot for her during the cadastral proceedings. Sumangil committed a breach of trust by claiming the lot for himself, resulting in its adjudication in his favor. The defendant, Ramon Locsin, is the special administrator of the estate of Juana Ringor, to whom the lot was assigned by partition in the intestate estate of Domingo Sumangil and Honorata Duque. The trial court found that the plaintiff was the real owner and had equitable title, while the defendant held the legal title. However, it dismissed the complaint because the one-year period under section 38 of the Land Registration Act ( Act No. 496 ) for reviewing a decree had elapsed without the plaintiff availing herself of that remedy.

ISSUE

Whether the plaintiff’s action for reconveyance, based on the enforcement of a trust arising from a breach of fiduciary duty, is barred by the lapse of the one-year period for review of a decree under section 38 of the Land Registration Act.

RULING

The Supreme Court reversed the trial court’s judgment. The trial court erred in applying section 38 of Act No. 496 . The complaint did not seek a review of the decree or a reopening of the cadastral case; it sought the enforcement of a trust. Therefore, the one-year limitation period did not apply. The estate of Juana Ringor, as the successor in interest of the trustee Domingo Sumangil, is in equity bound to convey the lot to the cestui que trust, the plaintiff. The Torrens system does not protect a title acquired through breach of trust. Citing Severino vs. Severino (44 Phil. 343), the Court held that the Land Registration Act, particularly sections 70 and 102, does not deprive a plaintiff of an action against any person for loss or deprivation of land or any interest therein. A trust is sacred and inviolable, and courts shield fiduciary relations from chicanery cloaked by legal technicalities. The defendant was ordered to convey the lot to the plaintiff within fifteen days from final judgment; upon failure or refusal, the judgment would authorize the Register of Deeds of Nueva Ecija to transfer the certificate of title to the plaintiff. Costs were awarded against the defendant.