SECOND DIVISION
[G.R. No. 244159. March 18, 2019.]
SPOUSES MANUEL B. PACULAN AND EMILIA PACULAN, petitioners,vs. DELIA A. SANTERNA, respondent.
NOTICE
Sirs/Mesdames :
Please take notice that the Court, Second Division, issued a Resolution dated 18 March 2019 which reads as follows:
"G.R. No. 244159 (Spouses Manuel B. Paculan and Emilia Paculan v. Delia A. Santerna)
After a judicious study of the case, the Court resolves to DENY the instant petition 1 and AFFIRM the July 6, 2018 Decision 2 and the November 29, 2018 Resolution 3 of the Court of Appeals (CA) in CA-G.R. CV No. 109886 for failure of petitioners Spouses Manuel B. Paculan and Emilia Paculan (petitioners) to sufficiently show that the CA committed any reversible error in upholding the conclusion 4 of the Regional Trial Court of Agoo, La Union, Branch 32 (RTC) that the assailed Deeds of Absolute Sale 5 (Deed of Sale) were valid.
As correctly ruled by the CA, the defective notarization only removed the presumption as to the validity of the Deed of Sale but did not completely relieve petitioners of their burden to prove the fact of forgery. 6 In such an instance, the courts must counterweigh the respective evidence submitted by the parties to test whether the proof adduced to prove the forgery is more convincing than the proof adduced as to the genuineness of the assailed document. 7 Here, both the RTC and the CA concurred that the preponderance of evidence weighed in favor of respondent Delia A. Santerna, as petitioners failed to present any evidence to substantiate their claim of forgery. 8 Settled is the rule that factual findings of lower courts are accorded respect and are beyond the Court's review, save for exceptional circumstances, 9 none of which obtains in this case. Thus, the questioned Deed of Sale, and the resulting titles, must stand.
SO ORDERED."
Very truly yours,
MARIA LOURDES C. PERFECTODivision Clerk of CourtBy:(SGD.) TERESITA AQUINO TUAZONDeputy Division Clerk of Court
Footnotes
1.Rollo, pp. 12-21.
2.Id. at 199-210. Penned by Associate Justice Apolinario D. Bruselas, Jr. with Associate Justices Pablito A. Perez and Rafael Antonio M. Santos, concurring.
3.Id. at 218-219.
4. See RTC Decision dated July 14, 2017, penned by Presiding Judge Ethelwolda A. Jaravata; id. at 121-137.
5.Id. at 50-51 and 66-67.
6. See id. at 206-207.
7. See Dela Rama v. Papa, 597 Phil. 227, 244 (2009).
8. See rollo, p. 207.
9. See Spouses Aboitiz v. Spouses Po, G.R. Nos. 208450 and 208497, June 5, 2017, 825 SCRA 457, 499.