CREDIT TRANSACTION CASE DIGEST/ RAMIREZ VS. CA, 144 SCRA 292
RAMIREZ VS. CA,
144 SCRA 292
TOPIC/DOCTRINE
An antichretic creditor cannot acquire land of debtor by
prescription. Fact that such creditor has been in actual possession of land
given as security will not bar its registration in favor of heirs of
antichretic debtor.
FACTS
On September 15, 1959, petitioners-spouses Hilario
Ramirez and Valentina Bonifacio filed an application for registration
of a parcel of riceland in Rizal. In their application for registration, they
alleged that to the best of their knowledge and belief, there is no mortgage or encumbrance
of any kind whatsoever affecting said land and that they had acquired it by purchase
from certain Gregoria Pascual during the early part of the American regime but the
corresponding contract of sale was lot and no copy or record of the same was
available.
The Court
found, however, that the applicants are not the owners of the land sought to be registered. They
were ANTICHRETIC CREDITORS- mere holders placed in possession of the land
by its owners as security for loan. The applicants were found guilty of fraudulent
misrepresentation and concealment when they declared that no other person had any
claim or interest in the said land.
ISSUE
Can an antichretic creditor
acquire land of debtor by prescription?
RULING
No.
The court held that an antichretic creditor cannot acquire
land of debtor by prescription. Fact that such creditor has been in actual
possession of land given as security will not bar its registration in favor of
heirs of antichretic debtor.
Here, the court held that the court below found that the
petitioners are merely antichretic creditors. This finding and its factual
bases were affirmed by the Court of Appeals. On the basis of the evidence
supporting this conclusion, this finding is binding on us as it is not our duty
to weigh evidence on this point all over again. This court has on several
occasions held that the antichretic creditor cannot ordinarily acquire by
prescription the land surrendered to him by the debtor (Trillana v. Manansala,
et al., 96 Phil. 865; Valencia v. Acala, 42 Phil. 177; Barreto v. Barreto, 3
Phil. 234). The petitioners are not possessors in the concept of owner but mere
holders placed in possession of the land by its owners. Thus, their possession
cannot serve as a title for acquiring dominion (See Art. 540, Civil Code).