G.R. No. 47626; April 25, 1941
Gregoria R. de Mesa, plaintiff-appellant, vs. Cipriano V. de Galicia, Andres Imperial and the Provincial Sheriff of Tayabas, defendants-appellees.

FACTS

On February 6, 1936, a parcel of land owned by Andres Imperial, covered by Original Certificate of Title No. 1987, was sold at an execution sale by the Provincial Sheriff of Tayabas to Ambrosio de la Cruz. On December 26, 1936, within the one-year legal redemption period, Gregoria R. de Mesa purchased from Andres Imperial his right of legal redemption. The deed of purchase (Exhibit A) stipulated that if de Mesa redeemed the property, Imperial could, in turn, redeem it from her until March 26, 1937. Cipriano V. de Galicia signed this deed as an attesting witness, and the provincial sheriff was notified of the sale on January 13, 1937. Subsequently, on January 18, 1937, Cipriano V. de Galicia purchased the same right of legal redemption from Andres Imperial. The next day, January 19, de Galicia exercised this right and repurchased the property from the provincial sheriff. The deeds for these transactions (Exhibits 1 and 2) were registered, leading to the cancellation of Imperial’s title and the issuance of Transfer Certificate of Title No. 11086 in de Galicia’s name. On February 6, 1937, the last day of the legal redemption period, Gregoria R. de Mesa attempted to repurchase the property from the provincial sheriff, but her offer was rejected because the property had already been repurchased by de Galicia. On March 29, 1937, de Galicia offered to redeem the property from de Mesa’s attorney-in-fact for P150 (less P10 for expenses), but this offer was rejected, and the money was instead delivered to Concordia Cantillana, Imperial’s wife.

ISSUE

Whether Cipriano V. de Galicia, who purchased Andres Imperial’s right of legal redemption and registered his deed after Gregoria R. de Mesa had already purchased the same right, and with prior knowledge of de Mesa’s purchase, acquired a superior right to the property such that his title should be upheld.

RULING

No. The Supreme Court reversed the trial court’s judgment. The Court held that the registration of a deed to be effective must be made in good faith. Cipriano V. de Galicia, having signed as a witness to the deed (Exhibit A) by which Gregoria R. de Mesa purchased the right of redemption from Imperial, had full knowledge of that prior sale before he himself purchased the same right from Imperial. Therefore, his subsequent registration was tainted with bad faith. Applying the principle that a purchaser who buys property with knowledge of a prior sale acquires only whatever right the vendor still had at that time, de Galicia acquired only Imperial’s subordinate right to redeem the property from de Mesa until March 26, 1937. Since de Galicia’s offer to redeem from de Mesa was made on March 29, 1937, which was three days after the agreed period had expired, he lost that right. Consequently, Gregoria R. de Mesa validly acquired Imperial’s right of legal redemption. Her offer to repurchase from the sheriff on the last day of the redemption period should have been accepted. The Court ordered that, upon payment by de Mesa of P154.93 to the provincial sheriff, the sheriff must execute a deed of repurchase in her favor, cancel Transfer Certificate of Title No. 11086 in de Galicia’s name, and issue a new certificate of title in favor of Gregoria R. de Mesa. Costs were imposed against the appellees.