SECOND DIVISION
[UDK-16886. July 12, 2021.]
ROMULO SOMBITO, JR. AND YVONNE SARONA, petitioners, vs.PHILIPPINE VETERANS BANK, respondent.
NOTICE
Sirs/Mesdames :
Please take notice that the Court, Second Division, issued a Resolution dated12 July 2021which reads as follows:
"UDK-16886 (Romulo Sombito, Jr. and Yvonne Sarona v. Philippine Veterans Bank). — After a judicious review of the case, the Court resolves to DENY the instant petition 1 and AFFIRM the Decision 2 dated October 14, 2019 and the Resolution 3 dated November 23, 2020 of the Court of Appeals (CA) in CA-G.R. CV No. 06260 for failure of petitioners Romulo Sombito, Jr. and Yvonne Sarona (petitioners) to sufficiently show that the CA committed any reversible error in upholding the dismissal of their Complaint for Annulment of Foreclosure and Certificate of Sale for lack of merit.
As correctly ruled by the CA, petitioners failed prove that the foreclosure proceedings for the property under Transfer Certificate of Title (TCT) No. T-28293 (subject property) did not observe the requirements of posting and publication of the notice of sale. Their bare allegations of such cannot overcome the presumption of regularity enjoyed by foreclosure proceedings. 4 Petitioners' action is also barred by laches as they could have filed an action to annul the foreclosure within a reasonable time thereafter, but, for unexplained reasons, failed to do so. 5 Instead, they filed the instant complaint 21 years from annotation of the sale on the TCT, eleven (11) years after the respondent Philippine Veterans Bank (PVB) informed them of the foreclosure, and only after negotiations had failed. Verily, to allow petitioners to assert their right to the subject property now after their unjustified failure to act within a reasonable time would be grossly unfair to PVB. 6 Settled is the rule that factual findings of trial courts, especially when affirmed by the appellate court and supported by evidence on record, as in this case, deserve respect and finality by this Court. 7
SO ORDERED." (Lopez, J., J., designated additional member per Special Order No. 2822 dated April 7, 2021.) CAIHTE
By authority of the Court:
(SGD.) TERESITA AQUINO TUAZONDivision Clerk of Court
Footnotes
1.Rollo, pp. 13-21.
2.Id. at 25-42. Penned by Associate Justice Dorothy P. Montejo-Gonzaga with Associate Justices Pamela Ann Abella Maxino and Carlito B. Calpatura, concurring.
3.Id. at 43-44. Penned by Associate Justice Dorothy P. Montejo-Gonzaga with Associate Justices Pamela Ann Abella Maxino and Raymond Reynold R. Lauigan, concurring.
4. See Century Savings Bank v. Spouses Samonte, 648 Phil. 479 (2010), citing Cristobal v. Court of Appeals, 384 Phil. 807, 814 (2000).
5. See Ang v. Abaldonado, G.R. No. 231913, January 15, 2020; Spouses Sierra v. Paic Savings and Mortgage Bank, Inc., 742 Phil. 719, 733 (2014); Far East Bank and Trust Company v. Spouses Cayetano, 624 Phil. 762, 772 (2010).
6.Spouses Sierra v. Paic Savings and Mortgage Bank, Inc., id.
7. See Pacific Airways Corporation v. Tondal, 441 Phil. 156, 161-162 (2002).