G.R. No. L-15378. July 31, 1963.
ERNESTO SALAZAR and SOLEDAD G. DE SALAZAR, plaintiffs-appellants, vs. FLOR DE LIS MENESES, AVELINO SEBASTIAN, TERESA DE LOS REYES, ERNESTO DIZON, GONZALO DIZON, LEONARDO DIZON, and PHILIPPINE TRUST Co., defendants-appellees.

FACTS

Antonio Dizon mortgaged his registered land to Flor de Lis Meneses. Upon his default, the mortgage was extrajudicially foreclosed, and the property was sold at public auction to Meneses on October 29, 1954. The sheriff’s certificate of sale fixed the one-year redemption period from October 29, 1954, to October 30, 1955. However, this certificate was registered with the Register of Deeds only on May 26, 1956. Antonio Dizon died on August 23, 1955. The appellants, Ernesto and Soledad Salazar, as judgment creditors of Dizon’s estate, had their claim approved by the probate court on August 3, 1956.
On May 24, 1956, after no redemption was made, Meneses, acting under a power of attorney from the mortgagor, executed a final deed of sale in her and her husband’s favor. This deed was registered on May 26, 1956, leading to the cancellation of the old title and the issuance of a new one in their names. On October 1, 1956, the Salazar spouses filed an action to annul this deed and to compel Meneses to allow them to redeem the property. The trial court dismissed their complaint.

ISSUE

Did the one-year period of redemption for the registered land begin from the date of the auction sale (October 29, 1954) or from the date of registration of the sheriff’s certificate of sale (May 26, 1956)?

RULING

The Supreme Court reversed the trial court’s decision. The legal logic is anchored on the fundamental principle of the Torrens system for registered lands. Under Act No. 496 (the Land Registration Act), a conveyance, including a sheriff’s certificate of sale, does not take effect as to third parties or bind the land until it is duly registered. The Court, citing its precedent in Agbulos vs. Alberto, held that the redemption period for registered property sold at public auction, whether in an execution sale or a foreclosure sale, must be reckoned from the date of registration of the certificate of sale, not from the date of the auction itself. This rule ensures consistency with the operative act of registration under the Torrens system.
Consequently, since the sheriff’s certificate was registered only on May 26, 1956, the one-year redemption period for the appellants, as subsequent judgment creditors, began on that date. Their action filed on October 1, 1956, was therefore timely, as the redemption period had not yet expired. The Court annulled the final deed of sale executed by Meneses and ordered her to allow the appellants to redeem the property within thirty days from the finality of the decision. The other assignments of error were deemed unnecessary to resolve.