ALIDA MORES v. SHIRLEY M. YU-GO

FACTS:

Shirley M. Yu-Go, Ma. Victoria M. Yu-Lim, and Ma. Estrella M. Yu (Yu siblings) filed a complaint for injunction and damages against spouses Antonio and Alida Mores (spouses Mores) before the Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Naga City. The Yu siblings alleged that they co-owned a parcel of land in Magarao, Camarines Sur, on which a building was built. In 1983, the spouses Mores asked to stay in the property, to which the Yu siblings agreed on the condition that their stay would last until the Yu siblings needed the property. In November 1997, the Yu siblings informed the spouses Mores of their need for the property, but the spouses Mores requested for extensions until January 1999. However, instead of vacating the property by that time, the spouses Mores started demolishing the building on January 20, 1999. Consequently, the Yu siblings filed the complaint for injunction and damages, seeking reimbursement for the value of the demolished building and payment of moral damages, attorney's fees, litigation expenses, and costs of suit. The spouses Mores denied the allegations and claimed that they were allowed to occupy the property as their dwelling place after the expiration of a lease contract, and that they only removed the improvements they introduced without destroying the principal building. The RTC ruled in favor of the spouses Mores, finding them to be possessors in good faith and dismissing their counterclaims. The Yu siblings appealed the decision to the Court of Appeals (CA), which partially granted their appeal. The CA disagreed with the RTC's finding that the spouses Mores were builders in good faith and held that they should have given the Yu siblings the option to appropriate or remove the improvements. The CA ordered the spouses Mores to pay the Yu siblings moral damages in the amount of P100,000. Alida Mores filed a petition for review assailing the CA's decision.

ISSUES:

RULING:

PRINCIPLES: