PO SUN TUN vs. W.S. PRICE and PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT OF LEYTE

PO SUN TUN vs. W.S. PRICE and PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT OF LEYTE

   November 17, 2017       FJ

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PO SUN TUN vs. W.S. PRICE and PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT OF LEYTE

G.R. NO. 31346

DECEMBER 28, 1929

PONENTE: MALCOLM, J.

FACTS:

            On November 29, 1921, Gabino Po Ejap was the owner of a certain parcel of land situated in the Tacloban, Leyte. On the same date, he sold the land to Po Tecsi for the sum of P8,000 and the latter gave general power of attorney to the former including the right to sell. Gabino and Po Tecsi are brothers, while Gabino and Po Sun Tun are father and son.

On June 21, 1923, Po mortgaged the land to W. S. Price in the amount of P17,000. The mortgage was duly noted in the office of the RD on August 18th of the same year.

Acting under this power, Gabino sold the land on November 22, 1923, for P8,000 to Jose H. Katigbak. On this document there appears on the upper right-hand margin the following: "Register of Deeds, Received, Dec. 15, 1923, Province of Leyte."

On December 17, 1924, Po executed a deed of sale of the land to Price in consideration of P17,000. This sale was recorded with the RD on January 22, 1925.

On February 16, 1927, Price with the consent of his wife, sold the land to the Province of Leyte for P20,570. On March 17, 1927, the OCT was issued in the name of the spouses Price. Later, the proper transfer certificate of title was provided for the Province of Leyte. On October 12, 1927, Katigbak transferred the property to Po Sun Tun for P8,000.

Presently, the possession of the property has been under the control of Price and the Provincial Government and has not been under the material control of Po Sun Tun. The latter filed an action to gain the possession of the property before the CFI and decided in favor of Price.

            On the appeal, it was found out that the deed in favor of Katigbak had not been registered in the corresponding registry of property.

ISSUE:

            Whether the deed in favor of Katigbak with the note “ Register of Deeds, Received  December 23, 1923, Province of Leyte” can it be said to be recorded in the Registry of Deeds.

HELD:

No. the term "To register" it has been said that it means to "enter in a register; to record formally and distinctly; to enroll; to enter in a list"

The mere presentation to the office of the register of deeds of a document on which acknowledgment of receipt is written is not equivalent to recording or registering the real property. Escriche says that registration, in its juridical aspect, must be understood as the entry made in a book or public registry of deeds.

If any doubt remained on the subject, it would be dispelled by turning to Act No. 2837 amendatory of section 194 of the Administrative Code, and recalling that it is therein provided that "No instrument or deed establishing, transmitting, acknowledging, modifying or extinguishing rights with respect to real estate not registered under the provisions of Act No. 496, entitled 'The Land Registration' and its amendments, shall be valid, except as between the parties thereto, until such instrument or deed has been registered, in the manner hereinafter prescribed, in the office of the register of deeds for the province or city where the real estate lies."

Hence, since the deed made by Gabino in favor of Katigbak was not only not first recorded in the registry of deeds but never legally so recorded, and since the purchaser who did record his deed was Price, who secured a Torrens title and transferred the same to the Province of Leyte, that Po Sun Tun, the holder of a defeasible title, has no legal rights as against Price and the Province of Leyte, the holders of indefeasible titles. Further, it could beruled that within the meaning of section 38 of the Land Registration Law, Price and the Province of Leyte are innocent purchasers for value of the disputed property.