20.

Munoz v Yabut

Gr. No. 146676

Facts:

Subject property is a house and lot formerly owned by Yee Ching married to Emilia M. Ching,
Munoz sister. Herein petitioner lived at the property with the Sps. Ching. As a consideration for the
valuable services rendered by Munoz to the Sps. Chings family, Yee Ching agreed to have the property
transferred in Munoz name, by virtue of a Deed of Absolute Sale executed by Yee Ching. Then a TCT
covering the said property was issued to Munoz.

Barely a week later, in a Deed of Absolute Sale, Munoz purportedly sold the property to her
sister Emilia wherein a TCT was issued to the latter. Several transactions took place, which allowed
successive issuances of TCT, to Sps. Go, BPI Family Bank and Sps. Samuel and Aida Chan.

RTC rendered its decision. It found that Munoz signature was forged in the Deed of Sale and
that Munoz never sold the property to her sister. On appeal, CA not only affirmed RTCs decision but
ordered Sps. Go and their successors-in-interest and assigns and those acting on their behalf to vacate
the property and deliver to Munoz.

Munoz alleged that she had been in actual and physical possession of the property when Samuel
Chan and Atty. Yabut along with 20 men ousted her of possession. On the other hand. Chan and Yabut
denied Munoz allegations and insisted that Chan is the valid, lawful and true legal owner and possessor
of the property.

ISSUE:

(1) Whether or not a case of forcible entry will prosper.

(2) Whether or not Sps. Chan is the owner of the property with TCT under their name and being
buyers in good faith and for value.

RULINGS:

(1) The court reinstated petitioners complaint for forcible entry and to resume the proceedings
only to determine whether or not she was forcibly deprived of possession of property and is
entitled to an award for damages for deprivation of possession. Title is never an issue in
forcible entry, the court should base its decision on who had prior physical possession which
should be respected.
(2) Following the indefeasibility of a Torrens Title, every person dealing with a registered land
may safely rely on the correctness of the title of the vendor. The doctrine to follow is simple
enough: a fraudulent or forged document of sale may become the root of a valid title if the
certificate of title has already been transferred from the name of the true owner to the
name of the forger or the name indicated by the forger. The derivative titles of BPI Family
and Sps. Chan are valid having been acquired in good faith and for value.