AN ACTION FOR RECONVEYANCE IS AN ACTION IN PERSONAM

An action for reconveyance is an action in personam available to a person whose property has been wrongfully registered under the Torrens system in another’s name.  Although the decree is recognized as incontrovertible and no longer open to review, the registered owner is not necessarily held free from liens.  As a remedy, an action for reconveyance is filed as an ordinary action in the ordinary courts of justice and not with the land registration court.  Reconveyance is always available as long as the property has not passed to an innocent third person for value.  A notice of lis pendens may thus be annotated on the certificate of title immediately upon the institution of the action in court.  The notice of lis pendens will avoid transfer to an innocent third person for value and preserve the claim of the real owner.( Id. at 190.  (Emphases ours.)

 The rule is that: (1) a judgment in rem is binding upon the whole world, such as a judgment in a land registration case or probate of a will; and (2) a judgment in personam is binding upon the parties and their successors-in-interest but not upon strangers.  A judgment directing a party to deliver possession of a property to another is in personam; it is binding only against the parties and their successors-in-interest by title subsequent to the commencement of the action.  An action for declaration of nullity of title and recovery of ownership of real property, or re-conveyance, is a real action but it is an action in personam, for it binds a particular individual only although it concerns the right to a tangible thing.  Any judgment therein is binding only upon the parties properly impleaded. (Alonso v. Cebu Country Club, Inc., 426 Phil. 61, 86-87 (2002).

In Domagas v. Jensen, we have explained the nature of an action in personam and enumerated some actions and proceedings which are in personam, viz:

“The settled rule is that the aim and object of an action determine its character. Whether a proceeding is in rem, or in personam, or quasi in rem for that matter, is determined by its nature and purpose, and by these only. A proceeding in personam is a proceeding to enforce personal rights and obligations brought against the person and is based on the jurisdiction of the person, although it may involve his right to, or the exercise of ownership of, specific property, or seek to compel him to control or dispose of it in accordance with the mandate of the court. The purpose of a proceeding in personam is to impose, through the judgment of a court, some responsibility or liability directly upon the person of the defendant.  Of this character are suits to compel a defendant to specifically perform some act or actions to fasten a pecuniary liability on him.  An action in personam is said to be one which has for its object a judgment against the person, as distinguished from a judgment against the propriety to determine its state. It has been held that an action in personam is a proceeding to enforce personal rights or obligations; such action is brought against the person. As far as suits for injunctive relief are concerned, it is well-settled that it is an injunctive act in personam. In Combs v. Combs, the appellate court held that proceedings to enforce personal rights and obligations and in which personal judgments are rendered adjusting the rights and obligations between the affected parties is in personam. Actions for recovery of real property are in personam.” (Emerita Munoz vs. ATTY. VICTORIANO R. YABUT, JR. and SAMUEL GO CHAN, G.R. No.  142676, June 6, 2011, LEONARDO-DE CASTRO, J.).