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REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

5TH JUDICIAL REGION

REGIONAL TRIAL COURT
Ligao City, Branch 13
AVELINA SALAPATE MARILA
and ROSARIO R. SALAPATE
Plaintiffs,

- versus -

Civil Case No. 2814

JESUS SALCEDA, SR., represented

by his son, JESUS SALCEDA, JR.,
Defendants,
x-------------------------------------------x

ANSWER WITH CUMPOLSORY

COUNTERCLAIM

DEFENDANTS, through counsel and to this Honorable Court,

respectfully AVER, ADMIT and DENY, as follows:

1) AVER that defendants are without knowledge or information

sufficient to form a belief as to the truth of the facts alleged in
paragraphs 1 and 2 of the complaint;

2) ADMIT the facts alleged in paragraph 3 of the complaint

with the qualification that defendant Jesus Salceda, Sr. never
appointed his son, defendant Jesus Salceda, Jr., as his representative
nor did the latter appoint himself as representative of his father;
plaintiffs were the ones who took it upon themselves to appoint
defendant Jesus Salceda, Jr. as his fathers representative;

3) AVER that plaintiffs failed to make it clear in the title of the

complaint or in the allegations therein whether they impleaded Jesus
Salceda, Jr. as a defendant in his own right or as mere representative
of his father;

4) AVER that defendants are without knowledge or information

sufficient to form a belief as to the truth of the allegations in
paragraphs 4 of the complaint;

5) DENY the allegations in paragraph 5 of the complaint the

truth being that Virgilio Salapate had yet to acquire absolute
ownership over Lot No. 1988, the subject propert, at the time of his
death;

6) ADMIT hypothetically the facts alleged in paragraph 6 of the

complaint subject to the affirmative defenses cited in paragraphs 12,
13, 14 and 15 herein;

7) AVER that plaintiffs have judicially admitted in paragraph 7

of the complaint that there was an agreed period of mortgage
provided in the Real Estate Mortgage attached by them to the
complaint as Annex D;

8) DENY the facts alleged in paragraph 8 of the complaint the

truth being that defendant Jesus Salceda, Jr. could not have
unilaterally transferred to his son, Jesus Salceda, Jr., the actual
cultivation of the subject property because Jesus Salceda, Sr. himself
never actually cultivated the subject land;

9) DENY the material allegations in paragraph 9 of the

complaint the truth being that if the government did, indeed, exercise
its right of eminent domain and performed the corresponding duty of
paying just compensation, it would have been bound by law and the
rules to determine first the real owner of the property it was intending
to expropriate and deal only with him;

10) DENY the facts alleged in paragraph 10 of the complaint

the truth being that defendants never received any proper demand
from plaintiffs; moreover, plaintiff Rosario R. Salapate could not have
transferred ownership of the subject property to plaintiff Avelina S.
Marilag because she herself did not acquire by succession ownership
of the subject property from Virgilio Salapate who was not the owner
of the property at the time of his death on February 25, 1998;

11) DENY the material allegations in paragraph 15 of the

complaint the truth being that plaintiffs are not the owners of the
subject property and therefore could not exercise any right of
redemption thereof; having no rights that could have been violated by
defendants, plaintiffs are not entitled to any damages, actual or moral;
and by way of affirmative defenses:

AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSES

12) AVER that by the express and implied tenor of the contract
of mortgage (Annex D of the complaint), the parties agreed that
should the mortgagor Virgilio Salapate fail to pay the mortgagee Jesus
Salceda, Sr. the sum of P150,000.00 within five (5) years after the
execution of the deed, the mortgage obligation that the mortgagor
should pay the mortgagee beyond the five-year period would no

longer be P150,000.00 but an amount to be agreed upon by the

parties;

13) AVER that if it was the intention of the parties to fix the
mortgage obligation at P150,000.00 regardless of when the same is
paid, they would not have stipulated on a period of five (5) years
from and after the date of this instrument within which to pay
the amount of P150,000.00;

14) AVER that the parties made even clearer their intention to
renegotiate the amount of the mortgage obligation should the same be
unpaid within five (5) years after the execution of the mortgage
agreement by stipulating that OTHERWISE, this contract shall be
extended until the Mortgagor shall have paid unto the
Mortgagee; by intentionally omitting the amount of P150,000.00
in the above quoted clause, the parties clearly intended to leave the
amount of the mortgage obligation open to renegotiation if the same is
paid beyond the five-year period;

15) AVER that the parties had good and obvious reason to
subject the amount of the mortgage obligation to renegotiation if paid
five years after the execution of the contract of mortgage; after five
years, the real value of the P150,000.00 mortgage obligation would
have considerably shrank to the prejudice and detriment of the
mortgagee-creditor; much greater prejudice would be caused to
defendants if the P150,000.00 mortgage obligation would be paid to
them seventeen (17) years after they gave the same amount to the
mortgagor-debtor by way of a loan;

16) AVER that even assuming that that the plaintiffs succeeded
to Virgilio Salapates right of redemption, they have lost such right by
reason of laches; plaintiffs waited for sixteen (16) long years after the
death of Virgilio Salapate on February 25, 1998 before acting on their
right; should plaintiffs be allowed to exercise the right of redemption
after sleeping on it for sixteen (16) years, defendants would suffer
great and irreparable damage having long acted and transacted with
third parties regarding the subject property on the assumption that
plaintiffs had long abandoned the same; and by way of:

COMPULSORY COUNTERCLAIM

16) AVER that by referring their imagined grievances to TV 5

as alleged in paragraph 12 of the complaint, and suggesting to the
Tulfo brothers who are known to be hard-hitting and insult-spewing
national broadcasters that the defendants and their family would use
their influence to violate their rights and escape liability, plaintiffs,
without any provocation besmirched, defamed and slandered the good
name and reputation of defendants for which plaintiffs should be
made to pay defendants the sum of P500,000.00 as moral damages;

17) AVER that by filing this patently baseless and malicious

suit, defendants were constrained to retain the services of counsel for
which they incurred expenses in the amount of P50,000.00 as
attorneys fees;
18) To deter others from emulating plaintiffs irresponsible act
of filing this malicious, oppressive and capricious suit against
defendants, the former should be made to pay the latter the sum of
P30,000.00 as exemplary damages;

PRAYER

WHEREFORE, it is respectfully prayed that after hearing and

trial, judgment be rendered dismissing the complaint and ordering
plaintiffs:

a) To pay defendants the sum of P500,000.00 as moral

damages;
b) To pay defendants the sum of P50,000.00 as attorneys fees;

c) To pay defendants the sum of P30,000.00 as exemplary

damages;

d) To pay the cost of suit;

Other reliefs just and equitable under the premises are likewise
prayed for.

Polangui, Albay, July 7, 2015.

JESUS A. OBRA
Counsel for Defendants
446 Jupiter Street, Centro Occidental
Polangui, Albay
PTR No. 10808408J /1-6-15/L.P.
Roll of Attorneys No. 32568
IBP No. 943317/11-25-13/ Pasig City (2014)
MCLE Exemption No. IV-000295
September 28, 2012/ Pasig City

Copy filed by registered mail:

REGIONAL TRIAL COURT

Branch 13, Ligao City
2nd Floor, Hall of Justice
Ligao City (Albay)

Copy furnished by registered mail:

ATTY. ERNESTO S. LOZANO, JR.

Counsel for Plaintiffs
PAO Ligao City District Office
Hall of Justice, Ligao City (Albay)

EXPLANATION
Copies of the foregoing Answer were filed with this Honorable
Court and served upon plaintiffs counsel by registered mail and
LBC due to time constraint and counsels lack of personnel to effect
personal filing and service.

JESUS A. OBRA