Republic of the Philippines
SUPREME COURT
Manila
EN BANC
G.R. No. L-10902 January 31, 1958
FLORIDA LAGMAY and ESTEBAN MADRUŅO, plaintiffs-appellants,
vs.
EMERENCIANA QUINIT, VICENTE GUNDRAN, MARCELA GUNDRAN, and CIRPRIANA GUNDRAN, defendants-appelleess.
Raymundo Meris-Morales for appellants.
Modesto Carino and Bautista and Bautista for appellees.
REYES, J.B.L., J.:
On October 12, 1929, Patricio Basto, now deceased, registered owner of an individual one-half portion of the land described in Original Certificate Title No. 25620, sold said property to the spouses of Emerenciana Qiuntinand Teodoro Gundran for the sum of P280 redeemable within ten years (Exh."A"). The redemption period expired without Basto exercising his right torepurchase.
Sometime in July, 1948, plaintiffs Florida Lagmay and Esteban Madruno filedthe present action (Civil Case No. 10330) against defendant Emerenciana Quinit (since widowed) and her children, claiming that they had bought fromQuinit in 1943, for the amount of P450, the same land that Quinit and her deceased husband had acquired from Patricio Basto under the deed Exh. "A", asevidenced by the writing in the Ilocano dialect appearing at the back of thelast page of Exh. "A", and praying that Quinit be ordered to execute the formal deed of sale as well as to deliver possession of the land in question to them.
After trial, the court below found that the writing at the back of the lastpage of Exh. "A", was subrogation of the rights of the vendor a retro Patricio Basto in favor of the plaintiffs spouses; that before the filing of the present case, Civil Case No. 9859 was filed by one Floserfida Basto(relative of Patricio Basto) against appellee Emerenciana Quinit, caimingownership of the land in question as successor of Patricio Basto by virtue of a repurchase allegedly made by her relative Florida Lagmay and EstebanMadruno (herein plaintiffs-appellants) during the Japanese occupation byvirtue of the writing at the back of Exh. "A"; that said Case No. 9859 was,however, amicably settled with Basto receiving P350 from defendant Quinitand heein plaintiffs Lagmay and Madruno the amount of P450, in considerationfor which both Basto and plintiffs waived, in favor of Quinit, whatever rights they had acquired under the writing at the back of Exh. "A"; and rendered judgment holding that plaintiff have no more right to the property in question and dismissing their complaint.
From the judgment of the trial court, plaintfffs appealed directly to thisCourt, assigning as sole error that the lower court erred in interpreting inthe writing in the Ilocano dialect at the back of Exh. "A" as a subrogationin their favor of the interest of Patricio Basto in the deed of sale con pacto de retro Exh. "A", instead of interpreting it as an absolute sale of the land in question by defendant-appellee Quinit to them.
We find no merit in the appeal. In th first place, the writing in questionis in the Ilocano dialect and no translation thereof appears to have beenpresented evidence. Admission of this writing was objected to by defendantson the gorund that it was not in an official language, and the same was admitted conditionally, subject to plaintiffs' presenting official translation thereof (t.s.n. pp. 12-13), which they never did. Consequently,said writing is not admissable in evidence (Sec. 57 Rule 123, Rules of Court).
In the second place, by limiting their appeal to the legal question of the correct interpretation of the writing in the Ilocano dialect at the back ofExh. "A", appellants are deemed to have admitted the trial court's findingsthat whatever rights they had acquired under said writing had been bought back from them by appellee Quinit for the sum of P450 incident to the settlement of the former case No. 9859 and that therefore, they have no more rights of the land in question. In view thereof, the question of the true nature and import of the contract noted in Exh. "A" has become moot and academic.
The judgment appealed from is, therefore, affirmed, with costs against appellants Florida Lagmay and Esteban Madruno. So ordered.
Bengzon, Paras, C.J., Padilla, Montemayor, Reyes, A., Bautista Angelo, Labrador, Concepcion, Endencia, and Felix, JJ., concur.
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