This case domingo valientes to mortgage a land to spouses belen the heirs tried to retrieve it but
nothing happened after domingo died his heirs filed an adverse claim the belens sell the land to minor
the rtc dismissed the claim for forum shopping
filed a appeal to the CA said that their was no forum shopping according to the CA dismissed the
petitioners claim of the laches and prescription their litis pedencia
ISSUE whether their is litis pendicia
HELD NO
Section 9 of the rules of court defense or pleading not filed in a motion
no jurisdiction , litis pendcia and res judicata cannot be claim only declare these things it thus not need
to be alleged
Petitioners claim that they are the heirs of Domingo Valientes who, before his death, was the owner of a parcel of land in Gabay,
Margosatubig, Zamboanga del Sur then covered by Original Certificate of Title (OCT) No. P-18,208 of the Register of Deeds of
Zamboanga del Sur. In 1939, Domingo Valientes mortgaged the subject property to secure his loan to the spouses Leon Belen and
Brigida Sescon (spouses Belen). In the 1950s, the Valientes family purportedly attempted, but failed, to retrieve the subject property
from the spouses Belen. Through an allegedly forged document captioned VENTA DEFINITIVA purporting to be a deed of sale of the
subject property between Domingo Valientes and the spouses Belen, the latter obtained Transfer Certificate of Title (TCT) No. T-5,427
in their name. On February 28, 1970, Maria Valientes Bucoy and Vicente Valientes, legitimate children of the late Domingo Valientes,
had their Affidavit of Adverse Claim duly entered in the Memorandum of Encumbrances at the back of TCT No. T-5,427. Upon the
death of the spouses Belen, their surviving heirs Brigida Sescon Belen and Maria Lina Belen executed an extra-judicial settlement
with partition and sale in favor of private respondent Vilma Valencia-Minor, the present possessor of the subject property.
On June 20, 1979, herein private respondent Minor filed with the then Court of First Instance of Pagadian City a "PETITION FOR
CANCELLATION OF MEMORANDUM OF ENCUMBRANCE APPEARING IN TCT NO. T-5,427 OF THE REGISTRY OF DEEDS OF
ZAMBOANGA DEL SUR," which was docketed as SPL Case No. 1861.On July 31, 2000, the Regional Trial Court (RTC) granted
Minor’s prayer to allow the Register of Deeds to have the title to the subject property transferred to her name.
Omnibus Motion to Dismiss Civil Case No. 98-021 on the grounds of forum shopping and litis pendentia. On August 3, 2000, the RTC
issued an order in open court ruling that forum shopping does not apply. On September 22, 2000, private respondent Minor filed a
Motion for Reconsideration5 of the August 3, 2000 Order. On May 7, 2001, the RTC issued an Order granting the Motion for
Reconsideration by dismissing Civil Case No. 98-021 on the ground of forum shopping
The Court of Appeals rendered its assailed Decision on said petition on August 16, 2002. Despite agreeing with petitioners that there
was no forum shopping, litis pendentia or res judicata in the filing of Civil Case No. 98-021, the Court of Appeals, asserting that it has
the discretion to review matters not otherwise assigned as errors on appeal if it finds that their consideration is necessary at arriving at
a complete and just resolution of the case, held that Civil Case No. 98-021 cannot prosper on the grounds of prescription and laches
