SC junks ejectment vs Eversley hospital

The Supreme Court has issued a permanent injunction against the claimant of the property occupied by the Eversley Childs Sanitarium in Jagobiao, Mandaue City.

The high tribunal also reversed the lower courts' decisions favoring spouses Anastacio and Perla Barbarona, who claimed to be the owners of the property.

The decision, penned by Associate Justice Marvic Leonen of the Supreme Court Third Division, said the Municipal Trial Court in Cities, Regional Trial Court, and the Court of Appeals erred in granting the ejectment case filed by the Barbaronas.

The MTCC in Mandaue City ruled in 2005 in favor of the claimants. The decision was subsequently affirmed by the RTC and the CA. However, the Eversley Childs Sanitarium through the Office of the Solicitor General filed a petition for review before the high court.

The government lawyers argued that the MTCC decision was void because it did not have the jurisdiction over the case. The argument was sustained by SC.

"Considering that respondents filed the improper case before the Municipal Trial Court, it has no jurisdiction over the case. Any disposition made, thereof, was void. The subsequent judgments of the RTC and the CA, which proceeded from the void MTC judgment, are likewise void," reads the SC decision.

The Barbaronas demanded for Eversley hospital, Jagobiao National High School, the Bureau of Food and Drugs, and other occupants of Lot No. 1936 to vacate the property. The couple claimed that they owned the property by virtue of Transfer Certificate of Title No. 53698.

The Eversley officials said they had been in possession of the property for more than 70 years. They argued that the proper action should have been recovery of possession and not ejectment.

But the SC ruled that the MTCC has no jurisdiction over it. —

Mylen P. Manto/FPL