Gallardo v IAC; G.R. No. L-67742; October 29, 1987; Paras, J.

FACTS:

The contested land was owned late Pedro Villanueva. Petitioners asserted that the land was sold to them in a private document signed by Pedro. They claimed that the original title thereof was cancelled by virtue of the private document. Private respondent, daughter of Pedro, was with her siblings before when they filed Affidavit of Adverse Claims on the Affidavit of Reconstitution by Teresita Villanueva but the two withdrew. Teresita testified that she did not have nay knowledge of said affidavit nor did she appear before the notary.

ISSUE:

Whether or not deed of sale in private document was valid.

RULING:

No.

Article 1356 provides in its next sentence the exception where the contract must follow the forms which required by law for its validity and enforceability. In the case, there is a special law for Land Registration. Upon consideration of the facts and circumstances surrounding the execution of the assailed document, the trial court found that said private document (Exhibit "B") was null and void and that it was signed by somebody else not Pedro Villanueva. Such findings of fact besides being based on the records, were sustained by the Court of Appeals.

The contention that ownership over registered property may be acquired by prescription or adverse possession is absolutely without merit. No title to registered land in derogation of that of the registered owner shall be acquired by prescription or adverse possession. Prescription is unavailing not only against the registered owner but also against his hereditary successors (Umbay vs. Alecha, 135 SCRA 427 [1985]). The right to recover possession of registered land is imprescriptible because

possession is a mere consequence of ownership where land has been registered under the Torrens System because the efficacy and integrity of the Torrens System must be protected (Director of Lands v. CA, 120 SCRA 370). As prescription is rightly regarded as a statute of repose whose objective is to suppress fraudulent and stale claims from springing up at great distances of time and surprising the parties or their representatives when the facts have become obscure from the lapse of time or the defective memory or death or removal of witnesses.