[ Malaya.com.ph ] March 11, 2009
BY EVANGELINE DE VERA
THE Supreme Court has affirmed the decision by the Court of Appeals to declare as null and void the title to the 50-hectare property of the Gregorio Araneta University Foundation (GAUF) which formed part of the controversial Maysilo estate.
The SC’s First Division denied the petition of GAUF seeking a reversal of the CA’s ruling dated March 31, 1999, which upheld the joint order issued by the Caloocan City regional trial court that directed the cancellation of GAUF’s Transfer Certificate of Title no. C-24153.
Based on records, by virtue of decision of the Caloocan RTC issued on March 29, 1950 and affirmed by the Supreme Court on May 14, 1954, the Maysilo-Gonzales estate in then Malabon, Rizal, with an area of 871,982 square meters and owned originally by Gregorio Bajamonde, was expropriated by the government, with the understanding that the government would resell the property to its occupants.
The source of GAUF’s title, the Court ruled, was the compromise agreement purportedly executed by Bajamonde on Nov. 28, 1961 conveying to GAUF the priority rights to purchase a portion of the 50-hectare property, which was later approved by the trial court in a decision dated Dec. 23, 1961.
On the basis of the compromise agreement and the trial court’s decision, GAUF was able to register the lots in its name with the Register of Deeds of Caloocan City.
However, the same compromise agreement and decision of the trial court were declared null and void in a subsequent ruling by the trial court for being forged.
"With the reality that the presumption of authenticity and regularity enjoyed by the petitioner’s title has been overcome and overturned by the decisions nullifying the compromise agreement from whence the petitioner’s title sprung, that title can never be indefeasible as its issuance was replete with badges of fraud and irregularities that rendered the same nugatory," the Court said.
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