FIRST DIVISION

[G.R. No. 126013. February 12, 1997.]

SPOUSES HEINZRICH THEIS AND BETTY THEIS, Petitioners, v. HONORABLE

COURT OF APPEALS, HONORABLE ELEUTERIO GUERRERO, ACTING PRESIDING
JUDGE, BRANCH XVIII, REGIONAL TRIAL COURT, TAGAYTAY CITY, CALSONS
DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION, Respondents.

Rosales Law office for Petitioner.

Dominador B. Lao for Private Respondent.

SYLLABUS

CIVIL LAW; OBLIGATIONS AND CONTRACTS; VOIDABLE CONTRACTS; CONSENT

VITIATED BY MISTAKE; CASE AT BAR. — Private respondent committed an honest
mistake in selling parcel no. 4. As correctly noted by the Court of Appeals, it is quite
impossible for private respondent to sell the lot in question as the same is not owned by
it. The good faith of the private respondent is evident in the fact that when the mistake
was discovered, it immediately offered two other vacant lots to the petitioners or to
reimburse them with twice the amount paid. That petitioners refused either option left
the private respondent with no other choice but to file an action for the annulment of
the deed of sale on the ground of mistake. Art. 1331 of the New Civil Code provides for
the situations whereby mistake may invalidate consent. The concept of error in this
article must include both ignorance, which is the absence of knowledge with respect to
a thing and mistake properly speaking, which is a wrong conception about said thing, or
a belief in the existence of some circumstance, fact, or event, which in reality does not
exist. In both cases, there is a lack of full and correct knowledge about the thing. The
mistake committed by the private respondent in selling parcel no. 4 to the petitioners
falls within the second type. Verily, such mistake invalidated its consent and as such,
annulment of the deed of sale is proper. The petitioners cannot be justified in their
insistence that parcel no. 3, upon which private respondent constructed a two-storey
house, be given to them in lieu of parcel no. 4. The cost of construction for the said
house far exceeds the amount paid by the petitioners to the private Respondent.
Moreover, parcel no. 4, the lot mistakenly sold, was a vacant lot. Thus, to allow the
petitioners to take parcel no. 3 would be to countenance unjust enrichment.
Considering that petitioners intended at the outset to purchase a vacant lot, their
refusal to accept the offer of the private respondent to give them two (2) other vacant
lots in exchange, as well as their insistence on parcel no. 3, which is a house and lot, is
manifestly unreasonable. chanrobles.com.ph : virtual law libra ry

DECISION

HERMOSISIMA, JR., J.:

In the instant petition, we shall have the occasion to apply the concept of mistake in
the annulment of contracts.

Private respondent Calsons Development Corporation is the owner of three (3) adjacent
parcels of land covered by Transfer Certificate of Title (TCT) Nos. 15515 (parcel no. 1 in
the location map), 15516 (parcel no. 2) and 15684 (parcel no. 3), with the area of
1,000 square meters, 226 square meters and 1,000 square meters, respectively. All
three parcels of land are situated along Ligaya Drive, Barangay Francisco, Tagaytay
City. Adjacent to parcel no. 3, which is the lot covered by TCT No. 15684 is a vacant lot
denominated as parcel no. 4.

In 1985, private respondent constructed a two-storey house on parcel no. 3. The lots
covered by TCT No. 15515 and TCT No. 15516, which are parcel no. 1 and parcel no. 2,
respectively, remained idle.

However, in a survey conducted in 1985, parcel no. 3, where the two-storey house
stands, was erroneously indicated to be covered not by TCT No. 15684 but by TCT No.
15515, while the two idle lands (parcel nos. 1 and 2) were mistakenly surveyed to be
located on parcel no. 4 instead (which was not owned by private respondent) and
covered by TCT Nos. 15516 and 15684.

On October 26, 1987, unaware of the mistake by which private respondent appeared to
be the owner of parcel no. 4 as indicated in the erroneous survey, and based on the
erroneous information given by the surveyor that parcel no. 4 is covered by TCT No.
15516 and 15684, private respondent, through its authorized representative, one Atty.
Tarcisio S. Calilung, sold said parcel no. 4 to petitioners.

Upon execution of the Deed of Sale, private respondent delivered TCT Nos. 15516 and
15684 to petitioners who, on October 28, 1987, immediately registered the same with
the Registry of Deeds of Tagaytay City. Thus, TCT Nos. 17041 and 17042 in the names
of the petitioners were issued.

Indicated on the Deed of Sale as purchase price was the amount of P130,000.00. The
actual price agreed upon and paid, however, was P486,000.00. This amount was not
immediately paid to private respondent, rather, it was deposited in escrow in an
interest-bearing account in its favor with the United Coconut Planters Bank in Makati
City. The P486,000.00 in escrow was released to, and received by, private respondent
on December 4, 1987.

Thereafter, petitioners did not immediately occupy and take possession of the two (2)
idle parcels of land purchased from private Respondent. Instead, petitioners went to
Germany.

In the early part of 1990, petitioners returned to the Philippines. When they went to
Tagaytay to look over the vacant lots and to plan the construction of their house
thereon, they discovered that parcel no. 4 was owned by another person. They also
discovered that the lots actually sold to them were parcel nos. 2 and 3 covered by TCT
Nos. 15516 and 15684. respectively. Parcel no. 3, however, could not have been sold to
the petitioners by the private respondents as a two-storey house, the construction cost
of which far exceeded the price paid by the petitioners, had already been built thereon
even prior to the execution of the contract between the disputing parties.

Petitioners insisted that they wanted parcel no. 4, which is the idle lot adjacent to
parcel no. 3, and persisted in claiming that it was parcel no. 4 that private respondent
sold to them. However, private respondent could not have possibly sold the same to
them for it did not own parcel no. 4 in the first place.

The mistake in the identity of the lots is traceable to the erroneous survey conducted in
1985.

To remedy the mistake, private respondent offered parcel nos. 1 and 2 covered by TCT
Nos. 15515 and 15516, respectively, as these two were precisely the two vacant lots
which private respondent owned and intended to sell when it entered into the
transaction with petitioners. Petitioners adamantly rejected the good faith offer. They
refused to yield to reason and insisted on taking parcel no. 3, covered by TCT No.
155864 and upon which a two-storey house stands, in addition to parcel no. 2, covered
by TCT No. 15516, on the ground that these TCTs have already been cancelled and new
ones issued in their name. chanrobles.com : virtual law library

Such refusal of petitioners prompted private respondent to make another offer, this
time, the return of an amount double the price paid by petitioners. Petitioners still
refused and stubbornly insisted in their stand.

Private respondent was then compelled to file an action for annulment of deed of sale
and reconveyance of the properties subject thereof 1 in the Regional Trial Court. 2

The trial court rendered judgment in favor of private Respondent. Identifying the core
issue in the instant controversy to be the voidability of the contract of sale between
petitioners and private respondent on the ground of mistake, the trial court annulled
said contract of sale after finding that there was indeed a mistake in the identification of
the parcels of land intended to be the subject matter of said sale. The trial court
ratiocinated:jgc:chanrobles.com.ph

"Meeting head-on the issue of alleged mistake in the object of the same, defendants in
their answer averred that they relied on the technical descriptions of TCT Nos. 15516
and 15684 appearing in the deed of sale. . .

A resolution of the conflicting claims of the parties to the instant controversy calls for
an inquiry on their real intent relative to the identity of the parcels which plaintiff
intended to sell to defendants and which the latter in turn, intended to buy from the
former. For, the Court cannot ignore the dictates of logic and common sense which,
ordinarily, could not push a person to sell to another, a property which the former does
not own in the first place, for fear of adverse consequences. The vendee, following the
same reasoning, would not buy a thing unless he is totally certain that the seller is the
real owner of the thing offered for sale. It is equally true that when one sells or buys a
real property, he either sells or buys the property as he sees it, in its actual setting and
by its physical metes and bounds, and not be the mere lot number assigned to the
same property in the certificate of title or in any document. And, when a buyer of real
property decides to purchase from his seller, he is ordinarily bound by prudence to
ascertain the true nature, identity or character of the property that he intends to buy
and ascertain the title of his vendor before he parts with his money. It is quite obvious
that the foregoing precepts and precautions were observed by the parties in the case at
bar as there is no question at all that the sale in question was consummated through
the initiative of Mrs. Gloria Contreras and then Vice-Mayor Benjamin Erni. . . both
brokers of the sale who, after a chance meeting with defendants at the Taal Vista Lodge
Hotel prior to the sale of plaintiff’s parcels, brought defendants to the vicinity where
plaintiff’s three (3) adjacent parcels of land are located and pointed to defendants the
two (2) vacant parcels right beside plaintiff’s house. It is also undisputed that when
defendants intimated to the brokers their desire to buy the vacant lots pointed to them
when they visited the same place, they were brought to plaintiff’s representative,
Tarcisio S. Calilung, at the latter’s office in Makati where the parties discussed the
terms of the sale.

The Court notes further from the records that defendants’ desire to buy vacant lots
from plaintiff is not only confirmed by the testimony of Gloria Contreras and the ocular
inspection conducted by the court but by defendant Betty Theis herself when the latter
testified as follows: chanrob1es virtual 1aw library

‘COURT: chanrob1es virtual 1aw library

Q. Why, what was the lot that you intended to buy?

A. The right side of the house, Your Honor.’ (TSN of November 8.1991, page 19)

Similarly, in answer to a question propounded to the same defendant by their counsel,

she stated that —

‘ATTY. ROSALES: chanrob1es virtual 1aw library

Q. In other words, the titles delivered to you were not the titles covering the right side
of the house?

A. No, sir.’ (Ibid., page 20)

It is relevant to mention that when the defendants attempted to take possession of the
parcels of land they bought from the plaintiff on which they intended to construct their
house after their return from a foreign sojourn, they admittedly wanted to take that
vacant area, which as herein shown, turns out to be a property not owned by plaintiff.
From this act of the defendants, a clear meaning is shown. Defendants themselves,
knew right from the beginning that what they intended to buy was that vacant lot, not
the lot where plaintiff’s house stands, covered by TCT No. 15684 which was wrongly
mentioned as one of the objects of the sale. . . .

The fact that the Deed of Sale subsequently executed by plaintiff and the defendants on
October 27, 1987 covers the parcel of land where plaintiff’s two-storey house was
constructed will clearly reflect a situation that is totally different from what defendants
had intended to buy from the plaintiff viz-a-viz [sic] the latter’s intention to sell its two
(2) vacant lots to defendants. Notwithstanding defendants’ claim that it was not
possible for plaintiff’s representative not to be familiar with its properties, the acts and
circumstances established in this case would clearly show, and this Court is convinced,
that the inclusion of the parcel where plaintiff’s house is constructed is solely
attributable to a mistake in the object of the sale between the parties. This mistake,
obviously, was made, on the part of plaintiff’s representative when the latter mistook
the vacant lot situated on the right side of plaintiff’s house as its vacant parcels of land
when its vacant lots are actually situated on the left side of the same house. Indeed,
such mistake on plaintiff’s part appears to be tragic as it turned out later that the
vacant lot on the right side of plaintiff’s house did not belong to plaintiff. Worse, is the
fact that what was conveyed to defendants under the deed of sale was the parcel where
plaintiff’s house already stood at the time of the sale. This, definitely, is not what the
parties intended.

. . . Going by the facts established by defendants’ evidence, it is clear that defendants

did not intend to buy the parcel of land where plaintiff’s house stood as defendant Betty
Theis declared in her testimony that they wanted to buy the parcel at the right side of
plaintiff’s house where she and her husband would construct their house (TSN of June
4, 1991, p. 56). Neither can this Court accept the hypothesis that plaintiff intended to
sell that parcel where its house was already constructed for if this was its true
intention, it would not sell its two (2) lots at the price of P486,000.00 which is way
below the costs of its construction of P1,500,000,00.

The law itself explicitly recognizes that consent of the parties is one of the essential
elements to the validity of the contract and where consent is given through mistake,
the validity of the contractual relations between the parties is legally impaired.

As earlier stated, the facts obtaining in the case at bar undoubtedly show that when
defendants bought the properties of plaintiff, they intended to buy the vacant lots
owned by the latter. As the sale that was finally consummated by the parties had
covered the parcel where plaintiff’s house was constructed even before the sale took
place, this Court can safely assume that the deed of sale executed by the parties did
not truly express their true intention. In other words, the mistake or error on the
subject of the sale in question appears to be substantial as the object of the same
transaction is different from that intended by the parties. This fiasco could have been
cured and the pain and travails of this litigation avoided, had parties agreed to
reformation of the deed of sale. But, as shown by the sequence of events occurring
after the sale was consummated, and the mistake was discovered, the defendants
refused, insisting that they wanted the vacant lots on the right side of plaintiff’s house,
which was impossible for plaintiff to do, as said vacant lots were not of its own
dominion." 3 [Emphasis supplied]

Aggrieved by the decision of the trial court, petitioners sought its reversal 4 from
respondent Court of Appeals. 5 Respondent court, however, did not find the appeal
meritorious and accordingly affirmed 6 the trial court decision. Ruled the respondent
appellate court:jgc:chanrobles.com.ph

"There is no doubt that when defendants-appellants attempted to take physical

possession of Parcel No. 4 in May, 1990, they were prevented by the true owner thereof
from taking possession of said land. To clear the matter, plaintiff-appellee hired a new
surveyor who revealed in his survey that Parcel No. 4 is not included in plaintiff-
appellee’s Transfer Certificates of Title from which said plaintiff-appellee mistakenly
offered defendants-appellants said Parcel No. 4. Realizing its mistake, plaintiff-appellee
offered defendants-appellants Parcels Nos. 1 and 2 under the same Transfer Certificates
of Title or the reimbursement of the purchase price in double amount. But defendants-
appellants insisted this time to acquire Parcel No. 3 wherein plaintiff-appellee had
already a house, and was not the object of the sale.

Said Parcel No. 3 cannot be the object of the sale between the parties as plaintiff-
appellee’s house already stands in the said area even before defendants-appellants had
chosen Parcel No. 4 which was described to be on the right side of said plaintiff-
appellee’s house in Parcel No. 3. There is no dispute that defendants-appellants wanted
to buy Parcel No. 4 as testified to by defendant-appellant Betty Theis, herself (p. 19,
tsn, Nov. 8, 1991), which lot turned out to be outside of the Transfer Certificates of
Title of plaintiff-appellee. Defendants-appellants cannot now insist on Parcel No. 3 as
the same was not the object of the sale between the parties.

Clearly, therefore, there was honest mistake on the part of plaintiff-appellee in the sale
of Parcel No. 4 to defendants-appellants which plaintiff-appellee tried to remedy by
offering defendants-appellants instead his Parcels Nos. 1 or 2, or reimbursement of the
purchase price in double amount." 7 [Emphasis ours]

We find that respondent court correctly affirmed the findings and conclusions of the trial
court in annulling the deed of sale as the former are supported by evidence and the
latter are in accordance with existing law and jurisprudence.

Art. 1390 of the New Civil Code provides: jgc:chanrobles.com.ph

"Art. 1390. The following contracts are voidable or annullable, even though there may
have been no damage to the contracting parties: chanrob1es virtual 1aw library

(1) . . . (2) Those where the consent is vitiated by mistake, violence, intimidation,
undue influence, or fraud.

x x x"

In the case at bar, the private respondent obviously committed an honest mistake in
selling parcel no. 4. As correctly noted by the Court of Appeals, it is quite impossible for
said private respondent to sell the lot in question as the same is not owned by it. The
good faith of the private respondent is evident in the fact that when the mistake was
discovered, it immediately offered two other vacant lots to the petitioners or to
reimburse them with twice the amount paid. That petitioners refused either option left
the private respondent with no other choice but to file an action for the annulment of
the deed of sale on the ground of mistake. As enunciated in the case of Mariano v.
Court of Appeals: 8

"A contract may be annulled where the consent of one of the contracting parties was
procured by mistake, fraud, intimidation, violence, or undue influence." cralaw virtua1aw library

Art. 1331 of the New Civil Code provides for the situations whereby mistake may
invalidate consent. It states:jgc:chanrobles.com.ph
"Art. 1331. In order that mistake may invalidate consent, it should refer to the
substance of the thing which is the object of the contract, or to those conditions which
have principally moved one or both parties to enter into the contract." cralaw virtua1aw library

Tolentino 9 explains that the concept of error in this article must include both
ignorance, which is the absence of knowledge with respect to a thing, and mistake
properly speaking, which is a wrong conception about said thing, or a belief in the
existence of some circumstance, fact, or event, which in reality does not exist. In both
cases, there is a lack of full and correct knowledge about the thing. The mistake
committed by the private respondent in selling parcel no. 4 to the petitioners falls
within the second type. Verily, such mistake invalidated its consent and as such,
annulment of the deed of sale is proper.

The petitioners cannot be justified in their insistence that parcel no. 3, upon which
private respondent constructed a two-storey house, be given to them in lieu of parcel
no. 4. The cost of construction in 1985 for the said house (P1,500,000.00) far exceeds
the amount paid by the petitioners to the private respondent (P486,000.00). Moreover,
the trial court, in questioning private respondent’s witness, Atty. Tarciso Calilung (who
is also its authorized representative) clarified that parcel no. 4, the lot mistakenly sold,
was a vacant lot: 10

"COURT: What property did you point to them?

A. I pointed to parcel No. 4, as appearing in the sketch.

COURT: Parcel No. 4 is a vacant lot?

A. Yes, your Honor.

COURT: So, there was no house on that lot?

A. There was no house. There were pineapple crops existing on the property.

COURT: So, you are telling the Court that the intended lot is vacant lot or Parcel 4?

A. Yes, your Honor.

Thus, to allow the petitioners to take parcel no. 3 would be to countenance unjust
enrichment. Considering that petitioners intended at the outset to purchase a vacant
lot, their refusal to accept the offer of the private respondent to give them two (2)
other vacant lots in exchange, as well as their insistence on parcel no. 3, which is a
house and lot, is manifestly unreasonable. As held by this Court in the case of Security
Bank and Trust Company v. Court of Appeals: 11

"Hence, to allow petitioner bank to acquire the constructed building at a price far below
its actual construction cost would undoubtedly constitute unjust enrichment for the
bank to the prejudice of the private Respondent. Such unjust enrichment, as previously
discussed, is not allowed by law." cralaw virtua1aw library
WHEREFORE, the petition is hereby DISMISSED and the decision of the Court Appeals
in CA-G.R. 47000 dated May 31, 1996 AFFIRMED. Costs against the petitioner.

SO ORDERED

Padilla, Bellosillo, Vitug and Kapunan, JJ., concur.

Endnotes:

1. Civil Case No. TG-1167.

2. Branch 18, Tagaytay City, Cavite.

3. Decision of the RTC in Civil Case No. TG-1167 penned by Judge Julieto P. Tabiolo and
dated December 15, 1993, pp. 3-6, Rollo, pp. 87-90.

4. Petitioners’ appeal was docketed as CA-G.R CV No. 47000.

5. Eighth Division.

6. Decision promulgated on May 31, 1996 and penned by Associate Justice Lourdes K.
Tayao-Jaguros, with Associate Justices Jaime M. Lantin and B.A. Adefuin-de la Cruz
concurring, Rollo, pp. 28-34.

7. Id., pp. 6-7, Rollo, pp. 31-32.

8. 220 SCRA 716 (1993).

9. TOLENTINO, CIVIL CODE OF THE PHILIPPINES p. 476, Vol. 4 (1991 ed.)

10. Rollo, pp. 109-110.

11. 249 SCRA 206 (1995).