SECOND DIVISION
[G.R. No. 242111. November 11, 2019.]
MANOLITO E. GAMBOA, petitioner, vs.ELENA A. LOPEZ, REPRESENTED BY TOMAS A. LOPEZ, respondent.
NOTICE
Sirs/Mesdames :
Please take notice that the Court, Second Division, issued a Resolution dated11 November 2019which reads as follows:
"G.R. No. 242111 (Manolito E. Gamboa v. Elena A. Lopez, represented by Tomas A. Lopez)
After a judicious study of the case, the Court resolves to DENY the instant petition 1 and AFFIRM the November 29, 2017 Decision 2 and the September 14, 2018 Resolution 3 of the Court of Appeals (CA) in CA-G.R. CV No. 105255 for failure of petitioner Manolito E. Gamboa (petitioner) to sufficiently show that the CA committed any reversible error in affirming the court a quo's nullification 4 of the Assignment of Rights 5 and Deed of Absolute Sale 6 involving the subject property on the ground of forgery.
As correctly ruled by the CA, respondent Elena A. Lopez, represented by Tomas A. Lopez, was able to prove that Bienvenido P. Molina's signatures in the aforesaid documents were forged, notwithstanding her failure to present an expert witness. 7 It is settled that the trial court may validly determine forgery from its own independent examination of the documentary evidence at hand. This the trial court judge can do without necessarily resorting to experts, especially when the question involved is mere handwriting similarity or dissimilarity, which can be determined by a visual comparison of specimen of the questioned signatures with those of the currently existing ones, 8 as in this case. Moreover, absent any of the recognized exceptions, factual findings of the trial court, when affirmed by the CA, are binding upon the Court. 9 AaCTcI
SO ORDERED. (INTING, J., on official leave. ZALAMEDA, J., designated as Additional Member per Special Order No. 2727 dated October 25, 2019.)''
Very truly yours,
(SGD.) TERESITA AQUINO TUAZONDeputy Division Clerk of Court
Footnotes
1.Rollo, pp. 3-13.
2.Id. at 33-46. Penned by Associate Justice Zenaida T. Galapate-Laguilles with Associate Justices Magdangal M. De Leon and Franchito N. Diamante, concurring.
3.Id. at 47-48. Penned by Associate Justice Zenaida T. Galapate-Laguilles with Associate Justices Sesinando E. Villon and Franchito N. Diamante, concurring.
4. See RTC Decision dated October 3, 2014, penned by Presiding Judge Jean Marie A. Bacorro-Villena; RTC Records, pp. 963-977.
5. Not attached to the rollo.
6. Not attached to the rollo.
7. See rollo, pp. 42-43.
8.Manzano, Jr. v. Garcia, 677 Phil. 376, 384 (2011), citing Estacio v. Jaranilla, 462 Phil. 723, 733 (2003).
9. See Gatan v. Vinarao, G.R. No. 205912, October 18, 2017, 842 SCRA 602, 618, citing Bank of the Philippine Islands v. Leobrera, 461 Phil. 461, 469 (2003).