[ G.R. No. 47626, April 25, 1941 ]
GREGORIA R. DE MESA, PLAINTIFF AND APPELLANT, VS. CIPRIANO V. DE GALICIA, ANDRES IMPERIAL AND THE PROVINCIAL SHERIFF OF TAYABAS, DEFENDANTS AND APPELLEES.
D E C I S I O N
MORAN, J.:
Upon these facts, the trial court rendered judgment in favor of appellee Cipriano V. de Galicia, on the theory that, according to article 1473 of the Civil Code, as the property had been sold twice, it shall belong to the purchaser who first recorded it in the register of deeds.
It is a settled rule that the inscription in the registry, to be effective, must be made in good faith (Palanca v. Director of Lands, 43 Phil., 149; Fernandez v. Mercader, 43 Phil., 581). Cipriano V. de Galicia knew, before purchasing the right of legal redemption from Andres Imperial, that the same had already been sold to Gregoria R. de Mesa, he having signed as an attesting witness the deed of sale, Exhibit A, executed in favor of Gregoria R. de Mesa. The registration, therefore, of his deed of purchase, by which he acquired the same legal right of redemption from Andres Imperial, has been made in bad faith.
We have once held that when one purchases property with full knowledge that his vendor has previously sold the property to another person, he acquires only the right, if any, which the vendor then had (Ramos et al. v. Dueno et al., 50 Phil., 786). Accordingly, the only right which Cipriano V. de Galicia has acquired from Andres Imperial, was the latter's right to redeem the property from Gregoria R. de Mesa up to March 26, 1937. As he offered to repurchase the property from Gregoria R. de Mesa, only on March 29, 1937, or three days after the expiration of the period agreed upon in Exhibit A, Cipriano V. de Galicia lost the only right he had acquired from Andres Imperial, and it is an error to give him the transfer certificate of title No. 11086.
We, therefore, hold that Gregoria R. de Mesa acquired validly the legal redemption pertaining to Andres Imperial, and, consequently, when she offered to repurchase the property on the last day of the redemption period, the provincial sheriff should have allowed such repurchase and should have executed the corresponding deed.
Judgment is reversed, and let another be entered ordering that, upon payment by appellant Gregoria R. de Mesa of the sum of P154.93 to the provincial sheriff, the latter should execute in her favor a deed of repurchase and that certificate of title No. 11086 in the name of Cipriano V. de Galicia be cancelled and a new one issued in favor of Gregoria R. de Mesa, with costs against appellees.
Imperial, Diaz, and Laurel, JJ., concur.
Judgment reversed.