G.R. No. L-5043 December 17, 1952
MACARIO MALLARI, ET AL., plaintiffs-appellants, vs. MACARIA SUÑGA, ET AL., defendants-appellees.

FACTS

On October 20, 1948, the plaintiffs filed a complaint in the Court of First Instance of Pampanga against the defendants for partition of a parcel of land and for liquidation and accounting of its fruits from 1940. They later filed an amended complaint on November 23, 1948, for partition, reconveyance, liquidation, and accounting, admitting the land to be Lot No. 50 of Cadastral Case No. 21, G.L.R.O. No. 981. The defendants moved to dismiss the amended complaint on grounds of no cause of action, prior judgment, and the statute of limitations. The court dismissed the complaint on July 19, 1949, holding that the land had been previously adjudicated in favor of the defendants and that any right of action by the plaintiffs had prescribed. The plaintiffs appealed.

ISSUE

Whether the plaintiffs’ action for partition and reconveyance is barred by prior judgment and prescription.

RULING

The Supreme Court affirmed the dismissal. The Court found that Lot No. 50 had been awarded to the spouses Francisco Bartolo and Macaria Suñga (predecessors-in-interest of the defendants) in a cadastral case by decision dated January 22, 1930, and a decree of registration was ordered. The defendants had been in exclusive possession of the land since 1929, enjoying its fruits without sharing with the plaintiffs. Assuming the plaintiffs were once co-owners, the defendants acquired title by prescription due to their adverse and exclusive possession for over ten years prior to the filing of the complaint in 1948. The action was therefore barred.