Elena J. Tomas v. The Court of Appeals

Summary

This case involves a land reconveyance dispute where respondents Maxima Carreon and Amado Nolasco sought to recover 65 square meters wrongfully included in petitioners' cadastral title registration. Respondents had continuously possessed and improved the land since purchasing it in 1961-1963, constructing a rental apartment and paying taxes. In 1978, they discovered petitioners had included their land in OCT No. 0-6337 during registration of Lot No. 2826. The Regional Trial Court dismissed their complaint, but the Court of Appeals reversed, ordering reconveyance. The Supreme Court affirmed, applying Civil Code provisions on implied trusts and finding the action timely filed within the 10-year prescriptive period. The decision reinforces property rights of actual possessors and the remedy of reconveyance for wrongfully registered lands under the Torrens System.