2.) Berico Vs - CA

2.) Berico vs. CA constructed a house occupied by one of his tenants.
He
GR NO. 96306 possessed his property since 1961. He planted around 400
coconut trees.
August 20, 1993 o Berico had knowledge of the plaintiff's possession and
FACTS occupation of their disputed property when he caused the
 A certain Jose de los Santos owned a 98,254 square-meter parcel of land cancellation of OCT No. P-671 and secured in lieu thereof TCT
designated as Lot No. 785, OCT No. P-671 issued on 31 May 1956. On 31 No. T-1346 on June 5, 1968 and when, on the same date, he
October 1961, Jose sold, in a private document, a 2 1/4 hectare portion registered the deeds of sale with the Register of Deeds
thereof to the private respondents. On 26 November 1963, however, he conveying to him the entire property. These facts undoubtedly
executed another deed of sale, which he acknowledged before a notary show Lorenzo Berico's evident bad faith.
public. Private respondents took possession of the portion sold to them  On the other hand, it was only on 8 November 1978 that the private
immediately after the 1961 sale and declared the same for taxation respondents registered the deed of sale in their favor after discovering
purposes in the name of private respondent Ciriaco Flores. the cancellation of OCT No. P-671 and issuance in favor of petitioner
 On 3 January 1963, Jose de los Santos sold one-half of Lot No. 785 to Berico of TCT No. T-1346.
petitioner Lorenzo Berico . Thereafter, or on 30 March 1963, Jose's minor  On 14 December 1978, private respondents filed against the petitioners a
children sold to the same petitioner the remaining half. Jose de los Santos complaint for "Annulment of Title with the then RTC of Masbate
represented his children in this transaction.
 Petitioner Berico was aware of the 1961 sale of a portion of the lot to ISSUE
the private respondents and of the latter's possession thereof. 1. Whether the action of the private respondents is barred by prescription
 On this point, the trial, court made the following factual findings which (NO)
the public respondent adopted: 2. Whether the acquisition by the petitioners of Jose de los Santos' land was
o When Berico bought the land from Jose delos Santos covered tainted with bad faith. (YES)
by Original Certificate of Title No. P-671 in 2 separate HELD/RATIO
instruments on January 3, 1963 and March 30, 1963, he had  On the issue of prescription, the respondent Court ruled that the
prior knowledge that a portion thereof had been sold to registration of the questioned land's sale in favor of the petitioners the
plaintiffs Ciriaco Flores and Felisa Bareja in 1961. Such issuance of the corresponding certificate of title to them were fraudulent
knowledge was established by the fact that when Lorenzo and vitiated by bad faith; hence, the same did not operate as constructive
Berico went to the disputed land in 1963, plaintiff confronted notice thereof to the whole world.
him concerning the boundaries of the area (t.s.n., p. 41, March  It added that the four-year prescriptive period for the filing of the private
1, 1988), and in fact, pointed to him the boundary of the respondents' action against the petitioners must be counted or
property he bought from Jose delos Santos in the presence of computed from the former's discovery of the fraud committed against
his wife and the former owner, Jose de los Santos. them by the latter which, in this case, was on 8 November 1978 — the
o They even traced out the boundary through a tie line. In fact, day they came to know for the first time that petitioner Lorenzo Berico
Flores planted coconut trees along the boundary of his property had caused the cancellation of OCT No. P-671 and the issuance of TCT No.
and Berico also planted coconut trees along the boundary of his T-1346.
property.  Petitioners cannot seek refuge in the theory of implied or constructive
o These facts were not denied by Berico. Thus, Lorenzo Berico trust and its corresponding rule on prescription. No trust, be it express or
was aware that the area plaintiffs bought from Jose de los implied, is involved in the instant case. It cannot be inferred, as the
Santos was within, or part of, the whole area covered by OCT petitioners suggest, from the fraudulent inclusion of the private
No. P-671. respondents' property in TCT No. T-1346. Such a position probably stems
o At the time of the confrontation concerning the boundaries of from the petitioners' erroneous reading of Article 1456 of the new Civil
the properties of plaintiffs and defendants, Flores had already Code which provides:
o Art. 1456. If property is acquired through mistake or fraud, the
person obtaining it is, by force of law, considered a trustee of
an implied trust for the benefit of the person from whom the
property comes.
 It is to be emphasized that the private respondents never parted with
the ownership and possession of that portion of Lot No. 785 which they
had purchased from Jose de los Santos; nor did the petitioners ever
enter into possession thereof.
 As regards the second issue, the public respondent enumerated the
instances which prove the petitioners' knowledge of the prior sale in
favor of the private respondents.
 Furthermore, the public respondent reiterated the rule that the rights
conferred by law upon one of the two purchasers of the same real
property who has registered his title in the registry of deeds, do not
come into being if the registration is not made in good faith. "Mere
registration of the sale is not enough; good faith must concur with
registration, for bad faith renders the registration futile."

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2.) Berico vs. CA constructed a house occupied by one of his tenants.

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