[ G.R. No. L-1506, December 22, 1947 ]
PACIFICO VICTORIANO, PETITIONER, VS. LEOPOLDO, JOSEFINA, OFELIA AND ENRIQUE BRIAS, AND THEIR ATTORNEY IN FACT JOSE ELZINGRE, EMILIO PEÑA, JUDGE OF FIRST INSTANCE OF MANILA, AND THE SHERIFF OF MANILA, RESPONDENTS.
D E C I S I O N
TUASON, J.:
This is an application for certiorari challenging the jurisdiction of the respondent judge to issue the above execution, on the ground that more than two months had expired after the appeal was perfected. The above statement of facts shows that execution was to be issued before the perfection of the appeal but that the petitioner, as defendant in the case, contested its (execution's) legality and succeeded in halting the same, in a petition which was later decided against him by the Court of Appeals.
That being so, the present petition must be denied. Good conscience and fair dealing will not permit a party to take undue advantage of a situation which he himself not only created, but did so against the bitter opposition and to the prejudice of his opponent. As a matter of fact, the execution complained of is practically the same execution issued or to be issued on time and was blocked temporarily by the now petitioner's action. Viewed in this light, the present petition is res adjudicata, the execution in question being the very matter which was actually adjudged and declared in order by the Court of Appeals.
The petitioner's counsel cites section 2 of Republic Act No. 66 and the decision of this court in Santos vs. De Alvarez (78 Phil., 503). That Act and that decision seek to protect honest tenants, not to aid those who refuse to live up to their part of the contract. As has been seen the defendant is very far behind in his rental payments and has not put up any security for the satisfaction of the judgment in the event the appealed decision is affirmed totally or in part as to the amount due and to become due.
The instant petition is one in aid of appellate jurisdiction and should have been filed with the Court of Appeals to which the petitioner has appealed the judgment, the execution of which he wants to stop. His two previous applications for certiorari were addressed to and decided by that court. He has not given any reason why the third one was not presented there also. We should turn down outright this petition for the reason just adverted to if there were a faintest color of merit in it for the proper court to consider.
The petition is denied with costs.
Paras, Perfecto, and Hilado, JJ., concur.