Dear PAO,
Delio is convincing me to buy his land. I am hesitant because the land was the subject of a dispute between him and his relatives. I relayed my concern to Delio, and he assured me that there will be no problem because there is no annotation whatsoever of any pending suit at the back of his title. He added that I will not be bound by any decision affecting the land. Is he correct?
Adivay
Dear Adivay,
Notice of lis pendens is essentially governed by Section 76 of Presidential Decree (PD) 1529, as amended, or otherwise known as the Property Registration Decree. Under the said provision of law:
“No action to recover possession of real estate, or to quiet title thereto, or to remove clouds upon the title thereof, or for partition, or other proceedings of any kind in court directly affecting the title to land or the use or occupation thereof or the buildings thereon, and no judgment, and no proceeding to vacate or reverse any judgment, shall have any effect upon registered land as against persons other than the parties thereto, unless a memorandum or notice stating the institution of such action or proceeding and the court wherein the same is pending, as well as the date of the institution thereof, together with a reference to the number of the certificate of title, and an adequate description of the land affected and the registered owner thereof, shall have been filed and registered.”
Generally, the annotation of a notice of lis pendens on the title binds a prospective buyer to the outcome of the case. Nonetheless, failure to annotate lis pendens does not necessarily mean that non-parties to the case will not be bound by the decision. A buyer may still be bound by the judgment even in the absence of an annotation if he or she has actual knowledge of the pending suit. As illustrated in Heirs of Esquivel vs. Clemente III, GR 260049, Aug. 4, 2025, penned by Associate Justice Henri Jean Paul B. Inting
“A purchaser of registered land in litigation may be bound by the judgment against its predecessor-in-interest if it had actual knowledge of the pending suit. The principle applies even when the pending litigation was unrecorded, or in instances when the notice was already cancelled at the time of the property’s transfer. Certainly, while our present laws and procedural rules dictate that it is the act of registration of a notice of lis pendens that constitutes constructive notice of the pending suit, actual notice and knowledge must be deemed equivalent to registration because to hold otherwise is to tolerate deceit and misuse of the Torrens System as a shield for fraud.”
Applying the above-quoted jurisprudence to your situation, you will be bound by the judgment involving the property you intend to buy from Delio even if there is no annotation of notice of lis pendens at the back of his title because of your personal knowledge of the pending suit between him and his relatives. That actual notice and knowledge is deemed equivalent to registration of notice of lis pendens. Thus, Delio is not correct in his statement that you will not be bound by the decision in the case, merely because his relatives failed to register a notice of lis pendens.
We hope that we were able to answer your queries. This advice was based solely on the facts you have narrated and our appreciation of the same. Our opinion may vary when other facts are changed or elaborated.
Thank you for your continued trust and support.
Editor’s note: Dear PAO is a daily column of the Public Attorney’s Office. Questions for Chief Acosta may be sent to dearpao@manilatimes.net
