GR L 8094; (December, 1955) (Digest)
G.R. No. L-8094 December 22, 1955
Amando Mallare and Susana Pangilinan, plaintiffs-appellees, vs. Flora Panahon, et al., defendants-appellants.
FACTS
On March 10, 1947, plaintiffs-appellees filed a case for the payment of a loan of 260 cavans of palay, due on February 29, 1940, and for the foreclosure of a mortgage on a parcel of registered land. The trial court rendered judgment on June 29, 1949, in favor of the plaintiffs, ordering defendants to pay the debt in palay or, if not paid within 90 days, to have the mortgaged property sold to satisfy the debt. The court also applied the Moratorium Law, suspending execution until six years after each defendant received payment for war damage claims, or until Executive Order No. 32 was lifted. On July 20, 1953, after the Supreme Court declared the Moratorium Law unconstitutional in Rutter vs. Esteban, plaintiffs filed for execution. The lower court ordered execution on July 28, 1953; the sheriff sold the land at public auction to plaintiffs on October 20, 1953; and the sale was confirmed by the court on November 21, 1953. Defendants filed two motions for reconsideration, both denied, and then appealed.
ISSUE
Whether or not the defendants-appellants perfected their appeal on time from the order confirming the foreclosure sale.
RULING
No, the appeal was not perfected on time and is therefore dismissed. The Supreme Court found that the order confirming the foreclosure sale became appealable on November 28, 1953, when appellants received a copy. While the filing of their first motion for reconsideration suspended the running of the 30-day appeal period, their second motion for reconsideration did not, as it raised a ground (that the debt was payable in palay) that was available and could have been alleged in the first motion, pursuant to Rule 37, Section 4 of the Rules of Court. Consequently, the appeal period expired on February 11, 1954. Appellants filed their notice of appeal and record on appeal within the period, but they filed their cash appeal bond only on March 13, 1954, which was 31 days late. The failure to file the appeal bond on time is fatal to the appeal. The order appealed from is declared final.