This case has been cited 1 times or more.
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2014-08-05 |
CARPIO, ACTING C.J. |
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| In Dueñas v. Santos Subdivision Homeowners Association,[8] the Court held that the Santos Subdivision Homeowners Association (SSHA), which was an unincorporated association, lacks capacity to sue in its own name, and that the members of the association cannot represent the association without valid authority, thus: There is merit in petitioner's contention. Under Section 1, Rule 3 of the Revised Rules of Court, only natural or juridical persons or entities authorized by law may be parties in a civil action. Article 44 of the Civil Code enumerates the various classes of juridical persons. Under said Article, an association is considered a juridical person if the law grants it a personality separate and distinct from that of its members. The records of the present case are bare of any showing by SSHA that it is an association duly organized under Philippine law. It was thus error for the HLURB-NCR Office to give due course to the complaint in HLURB Case No. REM-070297-9821, given SSHA's lack of capacity to sue in its own name. Nor was it proper for said agency to treat the complaint as a suit by all the parties who signed and verified the complaint. The members cannot represent their association in any suit without valid and legal authority. Neither can their signatures confer on the association any legal capacity to sue. Nor will the fact that SSHA belongs to the Federation of Valenzuela Homeowners Association, Inc., suffice to endow SSHA with the personality and capacity to sue. Mere allegations of membership in a federation are insufficient and inconsequential. The federation itself has a separate juridical personality and was not impleaded as a party in HLURB Case No. REM-070297-9821 nor in this case. Neither was it shown that the federation was authorized to represent SSHA. Facts showing the capacity of a party to sue or be sued or the authority of a party to sue or be sued in a representative capacity or the legal existence of an organized association of persons that is made a party, must be averred. Hence, for failing to show that it is a juridical entity, endowed by law with capacity to bring suits in its own name, SSHA is devoid of any legal capacity, whatsoever, to institute any action.[9] | |||||