Republic of the Philippines

Court of Appeals
Manila

SPECIAL FORMER THIRD DIVISION

HRS. OF VICENTE VILLA, CA-G.R. CV No. 115906

Namely: HELEN VILLA
GOMEZ, BIENVENIDA
VILLA, GENOVEVA V.
VILLAR, VICTORIA VILLA
LIROM, ELANIA V.
MARANAN, MELINDA V.
NUNEZ, DALISAY G. DE
ROXAS, LUZVIMINDA M.
AGUILAR, MA. LUISA P.
VILLA,
Plaintiffs-Appellants,
Members:

Azcarraga-Jacob, Acting Chairperson

- versus - *Ong, and
**Quimpo-Sale, JJ.

ALBERT PEREZ, LORENA Promulgated:

SANCHEZ, JUANITO V.
SANCHEZ, TERESITA __________________
August 31, 2022
PORNESO SANCHEZ,
Defendants-Appellees.
x- - - – - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - x
RESOLUTION

Quimpo-Sale, J.

This Court, on July 28, 2021, rendered a Decision 1 denying

plaintiffs-appellants' appeal of the Order2 and Resolution3 of the
Regional Trial Court, Third Judicial Region, Cabanatuan City,
* New member vice Justice Japar B. Dimaampao, per raffle on February 24, 2022.
** New ponente vice Justice Japar B. Dimaampao, per raffle on February 24, 2022.
1 Decision, July 28, 2021, Rollo, pp. 48-55.
2 Order in Civil Case No. 7207-AF, Rollo, pp. 30-31.
3 Resolution in Civil Case No. 7207-AF, Rollo, pp. 27-29.
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Resolution
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Nueva Ecija, Branch 29. The dispositive portion of this Court's
Decision reads:

“WHEREFORE, the Appeal is hereby DENIED. The Order

dated 10 March 2020 and the Resolution dated 17 September 2020 of
the Regional Trial Court, Third Judicial Region, Cabanatuan City,
Nueva Ecija, Branch 29, in Civil Case No. 7207-AF, are AFFIRMED.

SO ORDERED.”4

Plaintiffs-appellants then filed the herein Motion for

Reconsideration5 of the Decision alleging that they had no
intention to absent themselves at the scheduled March 10, 2020
hearing. The judicial affidavit of their witness was already
finished but there was a hard time securing the certified true
copies of the documents to be attached as exhibits to the affidavit.
The March 10, 2020 hearing was scheduled five (5) days prior to
the announcement by the government of the lockdown of the
entire Luzon and during that time, most of the offices were
already closed due to the COVID-19 lockdown. Thus, this
explains the delay in the submission of the required affidavit.

Defendants-appellees, on the other hand, filed their

Comment6 to the motion arguing that their counsel was present at
the March 10, 2020 pre-trial conference. However, for failure of
both parties to appear at the said hearing and submit their
respective judicial affidavits, the case was dismissed. The
unconvincing excuse cited by plaintiffs-appellants is not the
exceptionally meritorious cases for the relaxation of the rules,
hence, there is no reason to exempt plaintiffs-appellants from the
effects of their failure to comply with the Rules of Court.
4 Rollo, p. 54.
5 Motion for Reconsideration, August 26, 2021, Rollo, pp. 58-60.
6 Comment/Opposition to the Motion for Reconsideration by the Plaintiffs-Appellants, March 21,
2022, Rollo, pp. 63-67.
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A scrutiny of the motion reveals that the argument

regarding plaintiffs-appellants' absence at the scheduled pre-trial
conference on March 10, 2020 was already resolved in this Court's
Decision. Plaintiffs-appellants were given ample opportunity to
prosecute their case. As stated in the Decision, the records reflect
that it was not the first time that the pre-trial did not push
through due to plaintiffs-appellants' fault and that of their
counsel. The January 21, 2019 and April 8, 2019 pre-trial did not
materialize for the reason that their counsel was absent, while the
one scheduled for November 26, 2019 was reset due to their
failure to file their witnesses' Judicial Affidavits. Therefore, there
exists no cogent reason to reconsider the Decision of this Court.

IN VIEW WHEREOF, the Motion for Reconsideration is

DENIED.

SO ORDERED.

Original Signed
ANGELENE MARY W. QUIMPO-SALE
Associate Justice

WE CONCUR:

Original Signed
MARIE CHRISTINE AZCARRAGA-JACOB
Associate Justice

Original Signed
WALTER S. ONG
Associate Justice