G.R. No. L-60372 October 29, 1985
BUENAVENTURA FELISILDA and IRENEA FELISILDA, petitioners, vs. JUDGE NAPOLEON D. VILLANUEVA, Judge of the City Court, Branch I of Butuan City; CASIANO A. ANGCHANGCO, JR., as Deputy Provincial and City Sheriff of Agusan del Norte and Butuan City; ARTURO P. RICAFORTE, as Register of Deeds of Butuan City, and VICENTE C. GALEON, respondents.

FACTS

The petitioners, the Felisilda spouses, were defendants in an ejectment case decided against them by the City Court of Butuan City. The judgment, which became final and executory, ordered them to vacate a lot owned by respondent Vicente Galeon and to pay monetary awards. To satisfy this judgment, the sheriff levied upon and sold at public auction two residential lots owned by the petitioners, which were subsequently purchased by Galeon. After the redemption period lapsed, a final deed of sale was issued and new titles were registered in Galeon’s name.
The petitioners filed this certiorari petition to challenge the execution sale. They argued the sale was void on two grounds: first, for insufficient publication of the notice of sale, alleging it was published for only fourteen days instead of the required twenty; and second, that the sale violated Republic Act No. 730 , which prohibits the alienation of lands acquired through a miscellaneous sales patent within ten years from its issuance.

ISSUE

The core issues were: (1) whether the publication of the notice of execution sale complied with legal requirements, and (2) whether the execution sale was valid despite the prohibition against alienation under Republic Act No. 730 .

RULING

The Supreme Court granted the petition, declaring the execution sale void. On the first issue, the Court found the publication was valid. The notice was published in the Mindanao Journal on June 22, June 29, and July 6, 1980, with the auction held on July 15, 1980. This constituted compliance with Section 18, Rule 39 of the Rules of Court, as the sale occurred 23 days after the first publication, satisfying the “at least twenty days” requirement.
On the decisive second issue, the Court ruled the sale violated Republic Act No. 730 . The law explicitly prohibits the encumbrance or alienation of lands acquired under a miscellaneous sales patent for ten years from its issuance. One of the levied lots was directly covered by a patent issued to petitioner Irenea Felisilda on January 31, 1975, and the execution sale in July 1980 occurred well within the prohibited decade. Applying jurisprudence interpreting a similar prohibition in the Public Land Law, the Court held that an execution sale constitutes a prohibited alienation. The sale was therefore void ab initio. The other lot, though originally patented to a different individual who transferred his rights to petitioner Buenaventura Felisilda before the patent issuance, was also invalidly sold, as the sheriff’s sale in 1980 fell within ten years of the original patent’s 1975 issuance. Consequently, the execution sale of both lots was set aside.