J.A.B. Bulao & Associates

DISPOSITIVE:

WHEREFORE, the Petition is DENIED. The Decision dated
August 14, 2019 and the Resolution dated June 17, 2020 of the Court of
Appeals in CA-G.R. CV No. 111924 are hereby AFFIRMED.

SO ORDERED.

SUBJECTS/DOCTRINES/DIGEST:

WHAT HAPPENED IN THIS CASE?

SUBJECT PROPERTY WAS OWNED BY LEXUS. SPOUSES KO BOUGHT IT BUT THE DEED OF SALE WAS UNDATED AND UNNOTARIZED. THE PROPERTY WAS AUCTIONED BECAUSE OF TAX DELINQUENCY. GO BOUGHT IT. SPOUSES KO REDEEMED IT. WAS REDEMPTION VALID SINCE SPOUSES KO HAVE NOT YET TRANSFERRED THE TITLE TO THEIR NAMES AND THE DEED OF SALE WAS NOT EVEN NOTARIZED.

YES. THE DEED OF SALE, WHILE NOT NOTARIZED, IS VALID. FURTHER, LAW ALWAYS FAVOR REDEMPTION.

Under the circumstances, it is clear that Spouses Ko had the right
to redeem the subject property as the owners thereof notwithstanding the
fact that the title had yet to be transferred under their own names. Thus,
the only question now is whether Spouses Ko actually exercised their right
of redemption within one year from the date of sale of the subject property.

To stress, it is undisputed that Spouses Ko, through Lynnor, paid
the redemption price as computed by the City Treasurer’s Office well
within the one-year redemption period, as evidenced by Official Receipt
No. 6566377 dated March 29, 2012.

Contrary to Go’s insistence, this constitutes as a valid exercise of
the right of redemption on the part of Spouses Ko despite their nonsubmission
of any proof of ownership or legal interest on the subject
property before the City Treasurer’s Office. To reiterate, the payment of
the redemption price in the case was actually credited to Lexus, not to
Spouses Ko, as shown by the official receipt thereon. Stated differently,
even the City Treasurer’s Office acknowledged that the redemption price
paid by Lynnor was meant specifically for the redemption of the subject
property, which, based on its records, was still owned by Lexus, the
delinquent registered owner thereof.

For these reasons, the Court finds that Spouses Ko had validly
redeemed the subject property upon payment of the full redemption price
of ?348,355.92 within the one-year redemption period provided under
Section 261 of RA 7160.

After all, it is well settled that “where the redemptioner has chosen
to exercise the right of redemption, it is the policy of the law to aid rather
than to defeat such right.”39 Moreover, as the Court emphasized in City
Mayor of Quezon City v. RCBC,40 “redemption should be looked upon
with favor and where no injury will follow, a liberal construction will be
given to our redemption laws, specifically on the exercise of the right to
redeem. “41

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DISPOSITIVE:

“WHEREFORE, the petition is GRANTED. The Decision dated

September 24, 2020, and the Resolution dated February 16, 2022, of the

Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. SP No. 153869, and the Order dated

September 18, 201 7, and the Decision dated September 18, 2017, of

Branch 62, Regional Trial Court, Makati City, in Civil Case No. 02-683

are SET ASIDE.

Accordingly, the Complaint for deficiency claim in Civil Case No.

02-683 is DISMISSED.

SO ORDERED.”

SUBJECTS/DOCTRINES/DIGEST:

Indeed, the RTC is given considerable discretion in deciding

whether a case before it should be dismissed with or without prejudice. It

must be stressed, however, that the exercise of judicial discretion must not

violate Section 16, Article III of the Constitution which provides that “[a]ll

persons shall have the right to a speedy disposition of their cases before

all judicial, quasi-judicial, or administrative bodies.” Courts should decide

cases judiciously and expeditiously as a matter of course keeping in mind

the adage, “justice delayed is justice denied.”

Here, SPV-AMC, Inc. ‘s delay in prosecuting its action is

inexcusable. It is incredulous that the archival period of the case was

longer than the 10-year-prescriptive period on the enforcement of the

promissory notes. 86 Evidently, SPV-AMC and SPV-AMC, Inc. had all the

opportunity in the world to prove their deficiency claim by preponderant

evidence and still failed to do so. Having ruled on the merits of the case

and finding SPV-AMC, Inc.’s evidence insufficient to justify its deficiency

claim, the RTC should have dismissed the Complaint with prejudice.

Considering that the case had already been archived for more than

10 years, the Court rules that the RTC’s order of dismissal without

prejudice after trial on the merits is a violation of petitioners’ right to

speedy disposition of their case, and thus, cannot be sanctioned by the

Court. More, there will be no end to litigation and the courts’ dockets

would be clogged if plaintiffs who, by their own fault, failed to

substantiate their claims after trial on the merits would be allowed to

re-file their case to the prejudice of the defendant.

On a final note, “[t]he expeditious disposition of cases is as much

the duty of the plaintiff as the court’s.” 87 SPV-AMC Inc. ‘s delay in

prosecuting its action for an unreasonable length of time is highly

prejudicial to petitioners whose loan obligation continued ballooning

while the case is pending. The Court cannot, in good conscience, make

petitioners suffer for the negligence of SPV-AMC and SPV-AMC, Inc.

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DISPOSITIVE:

SUBJECTS/DOCTRINES/DIGEST:

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