No legal personality

What are the requisites for the registration of a notice of lis pendens by the Register of Deeds? This is the question answered in this case of the heirs of Don Eusebio.

The case involved several lots subject of an application for registration of title filed by Alfredo and Ramon before the Regional Trial Court docketed as LRC Case No. N-18887. After the necessary publication was completed and in view of lack of any oppositors, the RTC issued an order of general default and hearings on the application followed. Then the RTC granted the application in a decision that became final and executory on March 8, 1991. On August 24, 1993, the RTC then ordered the Land Registration Authority (LRA) to issue the decree of registration of title in favor of Alfredo and Ramon.

On July 16, 1997 however, the heirs of Don Eusebio filed a motion before the RTC in LRC Case No. N-18887 praying that it considers in the land registration case, the Deed of Absolute Sale over the lots executed by Alfredo and Ramon and their respective spouses in favor of Don Eusebio way back on September 23, 1970. They also prayed that the court issue the decree of registration in their names as successors-in-interest of Don Eusebio. The RTC gave due course to the motion and conducted hearings.

But on August 8 and 13, 1998 the LRA already issued decrees (Nos. N-217643 and 217644) in the names of spouses Alfredo and Rita and Ramon and Sally. Pursuant to said degrees, the Register of Deeds of Marikina City issued the corresponding Original Certificate of Title (OCT) Nos. 0-1603 and 0-1604 in the names of Alfredo and Ramon and their spouses.

On November 25, 1998, the heirs filed another motion to declare void the said decrees and the OCTs. At the same time they filed with the register of Deeds of Marikina City an application to annotate the notice of lis pendens at the back of the OCTs on the ground that they have filed with the land registration court a motion to declare said OCTs void. Can the notice of lis pendens be annotated?

No. The doctrine of lis pendens refers to the jurisdiction, power or control which a court acquires over a property involved in a suit, pending the continuance of the action, and until final judgment. Its purposes are (1) to protect the rights of the party causing the registration of the lis pendens, and (2) to advise third persons who purchase or contract on the subject property that they do so at their peril and subject to the result of the pending litigation. A notice of lis pendens is proper in the following cases: (a) an action to recover possession of real estate; (b) an action to quiet title thereto; (c) an action to remove clouds thereon; (d) and action for partition; and (e) and any other proceedings of any kind in Court directly affecting the title to the land or the use or occupation thereof or the buildings thereon (Magdalena etc. vs. CAS, 184 SCRA 325).

The notice of lis pendens should contain a statement of the institution of an action or proceeding, the court where the same is pending, and the date of its institution. It should also contain a reference to the number of the certificate of title of the land, an adequate description of the land affected and its registered owner (Section 76, PD 1526). In this case, the heirs have not complied with the requisites. They are mere movants, not parties to an action contemplated by Section 76 of PD 1529; they failed to present the requisite original petition or complaint upon which the Register of Deeds will base its action to annotate the lis pendens. A notice of lis pendens based on a motion filed in LRC Case no. 18887 to declare the OCTs void is not registrable. Only a party to a case has the legal personality to file a notice of lis pendens relative to the pending case. This motion is insufficient to give them standing in the land registration proceedings or purposes of filing an application of a notice of lis pendens. It was filed only on November 25, 1998 long after the decision in LRC Case No. 18887 became final and executory. The decision of the Land Registration Court granting the application for registration of title was dated May 31, 1966 and a certificate of its finality was issued on March 8, 1991.

The heirs should have filed an ordinary action for re-conveyance in the ordinary courts of justice not a motion in the land registration court. Re-conveyance is always available as long as the property has not passed to an innocent third person for value. A notice of lis pendens may thus be annotated on the title immediately upon the institution of the action in court (Heirs of Lopez, Sr. vs. Enriquez, etc., et. al. G.R. 146262 January 21, 2005).

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