Republic of the Philippines

REGIONAL TRIAL COURT

Ninth Judicial Region
Branch 2
Zamboanga City
BRUNO TAN
Plaintiff,
-versus-

CIVIL CASE NO. 2314

FOR: NULLIFICATION OF ABSOLUTE
DEED OF SALE, CANCELLATION OF
TITLE, RECONVEYANCE AND
RECOVERY OF OWNERSHIP OF
REAL PROPERTY AND DAMAGES

CHINA-ARAB BANK OF THE

PHILIPPINES, INC as represented
By ABULANNANG CHAN; and
ALBERTO TAN
Defendants.
x-----------------------------------x
ANSWER WITH AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSES
COMES NOW, the defendant Alberto Tan, through undersigned
counsel and unto this Honorable Court, respectfully aver s:
ADMISSIONS AND DENIALS
1. That the defendant ADMITS the allegations in paragraphs 1 and 3
to 5 of the complaint;
2. That the defendants ADMIT the allegations in paragraph 6 but
denies that the land covered by TCT 090637 is located in Sinunuc,
Zamboanga City;
3. That the defendant DENY the allegations in paragraph 7and 8 of
the complaint;
4. That the defendant ADMITS the allegations in paragraphs 9 and 10
of the complaint to the effect that the plaintiff Bruno Tan, the defendants
brother, is a Nurse in the United States and has entrusted to the defendant
TCT No. W-5672 with SN No. 1434432;

5. That the defendant DENY the allegation in paragraph 11 as the

defendant had never executed a deed of absolute sale in favor of himself as
the buyer;
6. That the defendant ADMITS the allegations in paragraph 13 to 15
to the effect that defendant entered into a Loan Agreement in the amount of
P500,000.00, payable in two years from the date of the loan agreement with
annual interest rate of three percent and as a collateral, entered into a Real
Estate Mortgage with China Arab Bank of the Philippines over TCT No. W5673 and that defendant failed to pay an installment due thus leading to the
extrajudicial foreclosure of the property which the Defendant and China
Arab agreed upon and;
7. That the defendant is without knowledge or information sufficient
to form a belief as to the veracity of the averments in paragraphs 18 to 20 of
the complaint;
8. That the defendant DENIES all other allegations stated in the
complaint of the Plaintiff
AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSES
9. The Complaint filed by Plaintiff is nothing but a malicious lawsuit
calculated to harass the Defendant, not to mention that it does not state a
cause of action, thereby rendering it dismissible outright;
NO CAUSE OF ACTION
10. The Supreme Court in various cases have laid down the requisites
for a cause of action which are the following:
a) a right in favor of the plaintiff by whatever means and under
whatever law it arises or is created;
b) an obligation on the part of the defendant to respect and not
to violate such right; and,
c) an act or omission on the part of the defendant constituting a
violation of the plaintiff's right or breach of the obligation of the
defendant to the plaintiff. However, in the case at bar clearly the
Plaintiff does not have any cause of action against the Defendant as all
of the requisites are not present.

No Right in Favor of Plaintiff

11. Defendant asserts that upon the death of Ngu Tan, the father of
Plaintiff Bruno and Defendant Alberto, the land in Ayala, Zamboanga City,
covered by TCT No. T-090637 was partitioned extra judicially by the
siblings along with other heirs on January 6, 2008 where Transfer
Certificates of Titles were issued to the siblings with the parties taking
possession of their respective lots in the following manner:
Lot No.
Lot No. 2189-G
Lot No. 2189-H
Lot No. 2189-I

Heir
Bruno Tan
Alberto Tan
Cynthia Tan

TCT No.
TCT No. W-5672
TCT No. W-5673
TCT No. W-5674

Serial No. of TCT

SN No. 1434432
SN No. 1434431
SN No. 1434433

12. That as shown in the TCT attached herein, the property claimed by
Plaintiff to be his own is clearly that of the defendants. His ownership of
Lot No. 2189-H stems from his father right over the property which he
inherited upon his death and the execution of the Extrajudicial Settlement of
Estate duly signed by all the parties concerned;
13. The defendant being the lawful and registered owner of the
property is the only party who has the absolute right to use, dispose and
protect the property and not the plaintiff in this case.
No Obligation to Respect Right
14. The obligation to respect the right of the owner therefore arises on
the part of the plaintiff and not the defendant. The Plaintiff having no excuse
to deny the knowledge of the ownership of the property by his brother, the
Defendant, being one of the signatories in the Extra Judicial Settlement and
Partition and thus fully consented and agreed to the partition of the property
of their father Ngu Tan;
No Act or Omission Constituting Violation on the Part of the Defendant
15. Paragraph 11 of the Complaint alleges that the Defendant sold the
parcel of land evidenced by TCT No. W-5673 through a Deed of Sale and
subsequently registering such property with the Registry of Deeds of
Zamboanga City. These allegations are absolutely false.

16. The Defendant had never signed or executed a Deed of Sale

regarding the parcel of land covered by TCT No. W-5673 and has never
prompted the registration of a property covered by TCT No. W-5198.
Verification with the Registry of Deeds also revealed that there is no TCT
No. W-5198 existing in their records. Attached herein as Annex E is the
Certification executed by the Registry of Deeds;
17. Therefore even presuming the allegations of plaintiff, the
defendant had not committed any act breaching the supposed title of the
plaintiff.
18. However, even at the risk of being called repetitive, the Defendant
asserts that the Plaintiff herein has absolutely no right to assert as he is not
even the true owner of the property he claims.
CASE WAS FILED WITH THE INTENT TO HARRASS
19. That the claims filed by the Plaintiff has been done only to vex
and harass the Defendant as the Plaintiff is the child who received the
smallest share in his fathers estate;
20. That even without any cause of action against his brother, he still
chose to resolved to file a case in court against him even without resorting to
Barangay Conciliation first as required by the law;
21. That there is a discrepancy between the actual date of his return to
the Philippines in June 2014 and the date he claims to have arrived in the
country on November 2014 as stipulated in his Complaint.
22. That the intentional misrepresentation of his actual return to the
Philippines casts a significant doubt as to his whereabouts within the 5
month lapse of time between June and November 2014;
23. That such significant doubt is exacerbated by the documents he
attached in his Complaint which are patently forged. The Extra Judicial
Settlement of Estate he attached did not even have evidences of the
signatures of the parties on each and every page thereof, and thus susceptible
to being changed or revised. Also, all the Transfer Certificates of Title the
Plaintiff attached bear the same Serial Numbers, thereby also revealing their
inauthenticity;

24. Absent these forged documents, the claims and the allegations of
the Plaintiff are mere allegations and conjectures which led to the
Defendants anguish and sleepless nights.
WHEREFORE, defendant respectfully prays for judgement in his
favour by ordering:
1. The dismissal of this Complaint against Defendant Alberto Tan;
2. Moral damages of SEVENTY FIVE THOUSAND PESOS
(P75,000.00) for the severe anxiety, mental anguish and besmirched
reputation caused by the Plaintiffs filing of this suit against Defendant;
3. Exemplary damages of SEVENTY FIVE THOUSAND PESOS
(P75,000.00) to serve as a deterrent against other individuals from filing a
cases only for the purpose of harassment; and,
4. Attorneys fees of SEVENTY FIVE THOUSAND PESOS
(P75,000.00) with costs against the plaintiff.
Other relief and remedies as may be deemed just and equitable under
the premises are likewise prayed for.
City of Zamboanga, February 5, 2015
CCGLR and Associates
Counsel for Defendant
Ground Floor, Red Building
Corcuerra St., Zamboanga City 7000
By:
ATTY. MA. CHERYL P. CARDENAS
Roll No. 57893/Page No. 12/Book No. XV
PTR No. 1234545/Jan. 2, 2015/Zamboanga City
IBP No. 7654555/Dec. 8, 2014/Zamboanga City
MCLE Compliance No. IV-0000665/Nov. 15, 2014
Copy furnished:
Atty. Phyllisabelle Bethany W. General
Counsel for Plaintiff
La Purisima, Zamboanga City