GR 227894; (July, 2017) (Digest)
G.R. No. 227894 , July 5, 2017. JOSE S. OCAMPO, Petitioner, vs. RICARDO S. OCAMPO, SR., Respondent.
FACTS
Petitioner Jose S. Ocampo and respondent Ricardo S. Ocampo, Sr. are full-blooded brothers. The subject property, originally registered under their parents, became a conjugal estate upon their demise. Respondent filed a complaint for partition and annulment of TCT No. 102822, alleging that petitioner, through a forged Extra-Judicial Settlement with Waiver (ESW), fraudulently transferred sole ownership to himself. The NBI confirmed the forgery of respondent’s signature. Petitioner defended his title, claiming a prior donation from their parents, his payment of loans on the property, and a subsequent Deed of Absolute Sale from their father. He argued the action had prescribed and constituted an impermissible collateral attack on a Torrens title.
ISSUE
The core issue is whether the action for partition and annulment of title, grounded on forgery and co-ownership, has prescribed.
RULING
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the respondent, affirming the lower courts’ decisions. The legal logic proceeds from the nature of co-ownership and the imprescriptibility of an action for partition. A co-owner cannot acquire exclusive ownership over the property to the prejudice of other co-owners merely by registering it in his name. Such registration is considered a trust, and the other co-owners have the right to seek reconveyance based on an implied trust. Crucially, an action for reconveyance based on an implied trust, when the property is registered through fraud, does not prescribe as long as the property remains registered in the name of the fraudulent party. The one-year period for review of a decree of title does not apply when the action is grounded on fraud and the plaintiff is in possession, as a co-owner is deemed in constructive possession of the property. Therefore, respondent’s action, filed 21 years after the title’s issuance, was not barred. The forged ESW was void, and petitioner held the property in trust for his brother, making partition proper.