Republic of the Philippines

REGIONAL TRIAL COURT

8th Judicial Region
BRANCH 15
Burauen, Leyte

PABLO T. TY and
LOVELY LHYN ANCAYAN, CIVIL CASE No. B-08-07-614
Plaintiffs, for:

-versus- OWNERSHIP, ANNULMENT OF

SALE, CANCELLATION OF
LILIOSA L. JORDAN, joined by her CERTIFICATE OF TITLE No.
husband MANUEL C. JORDAN, 22894, RECONVEYANCE, with
Defendants. DAMAGES
x- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - x

ANSWER

DEFENDANTS, through counsel, unto this Honorable Court respectfully

aver: THAT---

1. Defendants admit paragraphs 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the complaint.

2. Defendants have no personal knowledge to form a belief as to the truth

of the allegations in paragraph 5 of the complaint that plaintiff Pablo Ty sold the
property to plaintiff Lovely Lhyn Ancayan by way of Deed of Extrajudicial
Adjudication with Sale on 7 June 2008. But if plaintiff Pablo Ty admits the
genuineness and authenticity of the Deed of Extrajudicial Adjudication he
executed in favor of Lovely Lhyn Ancayan, this case is one of double sale,
which would warrant the application of Article 1544 of the Civil Code. ---
because Pablo Ty sold the property to herein defendants in February 7, 1990 by
way of a valid Deed of Absolute Sale. “Prius tempore potior jure.”

3. Defendants have no personal knowledge to form a belief as to the

allegation in paragraph 6 of the complaint that plaintiffs tried to register their
Deed of Extrajudicial Adjudication with Sale, but admit to the fact that a
Certificate of Title No. 22894 under CLOA No. A-00309494 was issued in the
name of defendant Liliosa Jordan.

4. Defendants admit paragraph 7 of the complaint that defendants

submitted the said Deed of Absolute Sale as basis for the issuance of Certificate
of Title No. 22894.
 2

5. For the truth of the matter as hereunder stated in the Positive

Allegations, and Special and Affirmative Defenses of this Answer, defendants
specifically deny paragraphs 8, 9, 10 and 11 of the complaint.

POSITIVE ALLEGATIONS

6. Defendants are the owners and possessors of the land in dispute

described in paragraph 3 of the complaint, previously covered by Tax Declaration
No. 71951 containing an area of 1.8567 hectares more or less, and registered in
the name of claimant CORNELIA TIBE.

7. Plaintiff Pablo Ty, the sole heir of the late Cornelia Tibe, mortgaged half-
hectare of his property to defendants on 26 July 1989 via a notarized Deed of
Real Estate Mortgage2 executed by the parties in Manila. Then, on 7 February
1990, Pablo Ty decided to sell the entire property to plaintiffs via a notarized
Deed of Absolute Sale3 also executed by them in Manila.

8. After acquiring the property by sale, defendants paid its arrearages and
current real property taxes from 1975 up to 2008, evidenced by the following
official property tax receipts:
OR No. 4812981 dated 9 January 1992 (for Years 1975-87)4
OR No. 8411910 dated 25 May 1992 (for Years 1988-91)5
OR No. 8411988 dated 13 July 1992 (for Year 1992)6
OR No. 2927985 dated 22 June 1993 (for Year 1993)7
OR No. 0233205 dated 30 July 2008 (for Year 1994)8
OR No. 0157585 dated 26 February 1996 (for Year 1995)9
OR No. 0157584 dated 26 February 1996 (for Year 1996)10
OR No. 4832614 dated 14 January 1997 (for Year 1997)11
OR No.0259169 dated 30 March 2005 (for Years 1998-2002)12
OR No. 0331993 dated 21 March 2006 (for Years 2003- 2006)13
OR No. 0098541 dated 12 April 2007 (for Year 2007)14
OR No. 0233062 dated 12 May 2008 (for Year 2008)15

1
Annex 1 – Tax Declaration No. 7195
2
Annex 2 – Deed of Real Estate Mortgage dated 26 July 1989
3
Annex 3 – Deed of Absolute Sale dated 7 February 1990
4
Annex 4 - OR No. 4812981
5
Annex 4a- OR No. 8411910
6
Annex 4b- OR No. 8411988
7
Annex 4c- OR No. 2927985
8
Annex 4d- OR No. 0233205
9
Annex 4e- OR No. 0157585
10
Annex 4f- OR No. 0157584
11
Annex 4g- OR No. 4832614
12
Annex 4h- OR No.0259169
13
Annex 4i- OR No. 0331993
14
Annex 4j- OR No. 0098541
15
Annex 4k- OR No. 0233062
 3

9. Defendants took actual possession of the property on 15 January

1990, after they paid the sum of P6,092.00 to the tenants of Pablo Ty, namely,
Hermogenes Martinada and Amparo Martinada, evidenced by a Panumduman16.

10. That same year, defendants installed FRANCISCO QUANO as their

tenant in about more than half of the property; then, in 1993, they installed
NESTOR V. CORNISTA as their tenant in the remainder of the property.

11. However, on 9 November 1998, in dire need of money, defendants

mortgaged half hectare (5 ka tagpolos) of the property to NEMESIO
ALMENARIO for P25,000.00 only, by way of an unnotarized Deed of Sale with
Right to Repurchase17.

12. On 24 April 2007, defendants redeemed the mortgaged portion of the

land from Almenario, evidenced by OR No. 036013318 in the amount of
P25,000.00 only, which Almenario withdrew from the Office of the Dagami
Municipal Treasurer on 17 October 2007, evidenced by a Certification19 from
said office.

13. Without defendants’ knowledge, the plaintiffs have deforced the

defendants from their possession of the property under the following manners:

(a) by making a double sale of the property to LOVELY LHYN ANCAYAN

on 7 June 2008 by way of a Deed of Extrajudicial Adjudication with Sale 20
despite his earlier sale of the land to defendants in 1990;

(b) filing a Petition for Cancellation21 of CLOA No. 003309494 registered

in the name of Liliosa L. Jordan registered on 28 December 2007 concerning Lot
2027 before the Municipal Agrarian Reform Office at Burauen, Leyte;

(c) Intimidating and pressuring defendants’ tenant Nestor Cornista to

accept P20,000.00 to vacate the land he is tilling for the defendants, and making
him sign a compromise agreement22 purportedly between a “landlord and
tenant”, when in fact plaintiff Ancayan is not his landlord; and

(d) By strategy or stealth, they have convinced defendants’ other tenant

Francisco Quano not to give the proceeds of the land to the defendants Jordan,
with a promise to retain him as their tenant on the land;

16
Annex 5 – Panumduman executed by Hermogenes & Amparo Martinada dated 15 January 1990
17
Annex 6 – Deed of Sale with Right to Repurchase dated 9 November 1998
18
Annex 7 – Photocopy of OR No. 0360133 dated 24 April 2007
19
Annex 8– Certification from Dagami Municipal Treasurer Nimfa Dumduma dated 18 July 2008
20
Annex 9 – Deed of Extrajudicial Adjudication with Sale dated 7 June 2008
21
Annex 10 – Petition for Cancellation dated 26 June 2008
22
Annex 11 – Compromise Agreement dated 30 June 2008
 4

14. Further allegations surrounding the above circumstances are

supported by the affidavits of Nestor Cornista23 and Promencio Venezuela24.

SPECIAL AND AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSES

15. Defendants replead and incorporate all the above stated allegations,
the truth of the matter are stated hereunder.

16. Ownership and possession of the property has been conveyed to

defendants by plaintiff Pablo Ty himself by virtue of a valid Deed of Absolute
Sale, and their possession of the land was never disturbed from 1990 until July
2008 when plaintiffs have forcibly entered their land.

17. A Certificate of Title No. 22894 was validly issued by DAR thru
CLOA No. A-00309494 covering the subject lot on December 28, 2007.
Plaintiff Pablo Ty filed a Petition for Cancellation of this title before DAR which
issued the same, alleging under oath in par. 2 thereof that “the aforementioned
applicant (Jordan) for CLOA is not a tenant nor a tiller of the aforesaid land because this
was only used as a guaranty for a loan obtained by the herein petitioner (Pablo Ty) from
Liliosa Lamamigo Jordan with the agreement tht the latter shall take possession of the
land for a period of three (3) years after which the same shall be redeemed and
cancelled automatically (attached hereto is the Deed of Mortgage as Annex “A” of this
petition). The filing of the petition for cancellation of title before the DAR by
plaintiffs vests in said office primary jurisdiction, being the issuing party of
the title, the filing of this case before this Honorable Court would constitute
forum-shopping and a violation of exhaustion of administrative remedies.

18. The action for reconveyance based on fraud, when the plaintiffs
were not in the possession of the property for 18 years since 1990, has
prescribed after a lapse of 10 years. The mere allegation of Pablo Ty --- that his
signature was forged as he could not have signed it in Manila because he was in
Burauen all the time* --- is not enough, as the positive allegations of the
defendants reveal that there was no such intention to deceive or deprive him of
his rights, or in some manner, injure him. *Wasn’t he not in Manila when he
signed the Deed of Real Estate Mortgage which he admitted under oath in the
abovementioned Petition for Cancellation?

23
Annex 12 – Affidavit of Nestor Cornista
24
Annex 13 – Affidavit of Promencio Venezuela
 5

19. The assailed notarized Deed of Absolute Sale dated 7 February 1990
itself shows that the vendor Pablo Ty had acknowledged receipt of the amount of
P35,000.00 as consideration of the sale of the land covered by Tax Declaration
7195. He also acknowledged receipt of P4,000.00 for the mortgage of ½ hectare
to defendants in the Deed of Real Estate Mortgage dated 26 July 1989 which he
executed in Manila.

20. In their rush to file the instant case, plaintiffs failed to comply
with the condition precedent of referring this case against defendants to
the Lupon Tagapamayapa. On the contrary, it is the defendant Liliosa Jordan
who filed a case against plaintiffs for “land ownership dispute” before the lupon
tagapamayapa, and was issued a certification to file action25 on 12 July 2008.
It is not proper for the plaintiffs to make any excuse of using or adopting this
certification as their compliance in this case.

21. If plaintiffs incurred alleged litigation expenses and attorney’s fees and
suffered moral damages, they themselves have to be blamed for filing the
present malicious, unfounded, and false complaint against herein defendants and
plaintiffs are not entitled to moral damages for the reason that their claims over
the subject lot is bereft of basis, in fact and in law, as hereinabove already
discussed.

COUNTERCLAIM

22. Defendants replead, adopt and incorporate by way of reference all the
allegations of the preceding paragraphs of their answer.

23. The filing of this malicious and groundless complaint by plaintiffs

against defendants has caused the latter mental anguish, serious anxiety and
embarrassment and has besmirched their reputation for which they should be
compensated by way of moral damages the amount of which, though not capable
of pecuniary estimation, would not be less than P150,000.00;

24. The reckless and wanton attitude of plaintiffs in brining the present
action against defendants should be penalized by way of exemplary damages,
the amount of which is left to the sound discretion of the Honorable Court.

25
Annex 14– Certification to file action dated 12 July 2008 issued to Liliosa Jordan
 6

25. Having been made to defend themselves in an unfounded suit, the

defendants were compelled to retain the services of counsel to whom they paid
the sum of P50,000.00 as attorney’s fees, and will be obligated to pay the
appearance fee of P3,000.00 per court appearance and further incur litigation
expenses estimated to be no less than P100,000.00.

PRAYER

WHEREFORE, premises considered, defendants respectfully pray to the

Honorable Court to render judgment as follows:

1. By dismissing the complaint against defendants;

2. By ordering plaintiffs to pay defendants moral damages amounting to

not less than P150,000.00, plus exemplary damages as the Honorable Court
may find reasonable, plus attorney’s fees of P50,000.00 and P3,000.00 per
appearance fee and the costs of suit.

Defendants also pray for such other relief as may be just and equitable in
the premises.

Tacloban City for Burauen, Leyte. August 4, 2008.

LEO S. GIRON
Counsel for Defendants
253 Avenida Veteranos, Tacloban City
Roll No. 37379
IBP Lifetime Member No. 00733
PTR No. 6338003; 1-2-08; Tacloban City

COPY FURNISHED:

ATTY. BIENVENIDO G. SAY

Counsel for the Plaintiffs
162 P. Gomez St., Tacloban City

EXPLANATION

A legible copy of this ANSWER was furnished Atty. BIENVENIDO G. SAY by

registered mail for lack of messengerial service. (If served personally, please disregard
explanation.)

LEO S. GIRON
 7

Republic of the Philippines )

Province of Leyte ) SS
City of Tacloban )

VERIFICATION AND CERTIFICATION

OF NON-FORUM SHOPPING

We, LILIOSA L. JORDAN and MANUEL C. JORDAN, both of legal age,

Filipino citizens, married and with postal address at Guinarona, Dagami, Leyte,
after having been first sworn according to law, hereby state:

We are the defendants in the above-entitled case; we have caused the

preparation of the foregoing Answer; we have read it and the allegations therein
are true and correct of our own personal knowledge or based on relevant and
authentic records.

That on the COUNTERCLAIM, we have not theretofore commenced any

action or filed any claim or pleading involving the same or similar issues or
subject matter in the Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, lower courts or
administrative bodies and quasi-judicial agency and to the best of our knowledge,
no such other action or claim is pending therein; and if there is such other
pending action or claim, a complete statement of the present status thereof; and,
if we should thereafter learn hereafter that the same or similar action or claim or
pleading has been filed or is pending with the Supreme Court, Court of Appeals,
lower courts, administrative bodies or quasi judicial agency; we shall undertake
to report that fact within five (5) days from knowledge thereof to the court wherein
this aforesaid complaint or initiatory pleading has been filed.

LILIOSA L. JORDAN MANUEL C. JORDAN

Affiants

SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN to before me this 4 August 2008 at Tacloban

City, Philippines.

Doc. No. ___

Page No. ___
Book No. 54
SERIES OF 2008