Answer on Forcible Entry Case

Republic of the Philippines National Capital Judicial Region METROPOLITAN TRIAL COURT Branch ___ City of Mandaluyong

SUSMARIA ZEN Plaintiff,

Civil Case No. _______ (For: Forcible Entry) THERESE PASSING Defendants. x ----------------------------------------- x

ANSWER COMES NOW DEFENDANT THERESE PASSING, by counsel and unto this Honorable Court, respectfully states and avers that: 1. Defendant admits the allegations contained in paragraphs 1, 2, and 3 of the Complaint; 2. Insofar as paragraph 4 is concerned, the Plaintiff requested the Defendant to accompany her to the said property to show the Defendant the house which the Plaintiff wants to rent out to the Defendant, to which the Defendant reluctantly agreed. The Defendant at that time was looking for a house to rent and the Plaintiff saw an opportunity to earn money on her otherwise idle property; 3. Defendant strongly denies the allegations contained in paragraph 5 of the Complaint. The Defendant never asked any favor from the Plaintiff. In fact, the Plaintiff is unknown to the Defendant. The Defendant only knew the Plaintiff after the former called her to inquire about the house for rent of the latter; 4. Defendant and Plaintiff entered into a lease agreement whereby the Plaintiff agreed to rent out her house for a period of one (1) year starting in 01 April 2012. The amount paid by the Defendant was PhP120,000.00 for the whole year and a security deposit amounting to PhP20,000.00. A copy of the acknowledgement letter is attached as Annex “1”; 5. denies;

For paragraphs 6, 7, 8 and 9 of the Complaint, the Defendant

6. The Defendant admits paragraph 10 of the Complaint insofar as the receipt of the letter is concerned but not to the contents thereof;

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7. Insofar as paragraph 11 of the Complaint, the Defendant was never arrogant during the conciliation proceedings. How can the Defendant be arrogant when she was new to the community? Furthermore, the Defendant was willing to settle the case by asking the Plaintiff to return the advance rental and security deposit to which the Plaintiff refused; 8. For paragraph 12 of the Complaint, the Defendant admits the receipt of the demand letter but not to the contents thereof; 9. Plaintiff was not in possession of the subject property before the Defendant occupied the same. The Supreme Court held in the following cases, to wit: “Accordingly, in forcible entry, the plaintiff must allege in the complaint and prove that he was in prior physical possession of the property in litigation until he was deprived thereof by the defendant, but in unlawful detainer, the plaintiff need not have prior physical possession of the property (Demamay vs. Court of Appeals, 186 SCRA 608, 612 [1990]) or, elsewise stated, prior physical possession is not an indispensable requirement in an unlawful detainer case. (Pangilinan vs. Aguilar, 43 SCRA 136, 144 [1972]) 10. Considering the Defendant having paid the rentals in advance and the security deposit, Plaintiff has no right to evict the former; 11. Defendant had experienced harassment causing sleepless nights and peace of mind to the extent that the Defendant studies as a law student had suffered. In this regard, the Plaintiff should be made liable to pay moral damages amounting to PhP30,000.00; 12. In instituting this unwarranted and clearly unfounded suit against the Defendant, Plaintiff had acted in a wanton, fraudulent, reckless and malevolent manner and, by way of example or correction for the public good, Plaintiff should be made liable to pay Defendant exemplary damages in the total amount of PESOS:ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND (P100,000.00); 13. As a further consequence of the malicious and wrongful filing of the present action, Defendant was constrained to hire the services of counsel for a legal fee of PESOS: FIFTY THOUSAND (P50,000.00), plus PESOS:TWO THOSUAND (P2,000.00) per court appearance, and to incur expenses of litigation for which plaintiff should be made to pay. PRAYER WHEREFORE, PREMISES CONSIDERED, Defendant respectfully prays to this Honorable Court to: a) Compel the Plaintiff to honor the lease agreement; b) In the alternative, to order the Plaintiff to return the unused advance rental paid amounting to PESOS:TEN THOUSAND 2|P a g e

(PhP10,000.00) and the security deposit PESOS:TWENTY THOUSAND (PhP20,000.00);

amounting

to

c) AWARD moral damages in the amount of PhP 30,000.00; d) AWARD exemplary damages in the amount of PhP 100,000.00; e) AWARD Attorneys’ fee in the amount of PhP 60,000.00; and f) Cost of suit. Defendant prays for such other reliefs, just and equitable under the circumstances. Pasig City; June 13, 2013.

ERNANI T. TADILI Counsel for the Defense 17F AIC Burgundy Empire Tower ADB Avenue, Ortigas Center Pasig City Tel No. 0922-8766890 Email: [email protected] PTR No. 123456; 01-08-2013; Pasig City IBP No. 123456; 01-08-2013; Pasig City Roll of Attorneys No. 999999 MCLE Compliance No. IV-123456; January 8, 2013

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Republic of the Philippines) ___________________) s.s.

VERIFICATION AND CERTIFICATION OF NON-FORUM SHOPPING I, THERESE PASSING, of legal age, Filipino, and with postal address at No. 393 Blk. 28, Brgy. Addition Hills, Mandaluyong City, after having been duly sworn in accordance with law, hereby depose and state that: 1.

I am the Plaintiff in the above-mentioned case;

2.

I have caused the preparation and filing of the foregoing Complaint;

3.

I have read the contents of the foregoing Complaint; the facts stated therein are true and correct to the best of my own personal knowledge and based on authentic records;

4.

I have not commenced any other action or proceeding involving the same issues in the Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, or different divisions thereof, or any other tribunal or agency, and that to the best of my knowledge, no such action or proceeding is pending in the Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, or different divisions thereof, or in any other tribunal or agency;

5.

If I should thereafter learn that the same or similar action or proceeding has been filed or is pending before the Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, or different divisions thereof, or in any other tribunal or agency, I undertake to promptly report such fact within five (5) days to this Honorable Court;

6.

This Verification/Certification of Non-Forum Shopping is being filed in good faith.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto affixed my signature this 10th day of 13 June 2013 at the City of Pasig.

THERESE PASSING Affiant SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN TO before me this 13th day of June 2013 at the City of Pasig; affiant with a competent evidence of identity and exhibiting to me her Driver’s License No. 456789, issued on January 1, 2012 by the Land Transportation Office, bearing her photograph and signature. Doc. No. ____; Page No. ____; Book No. ____; Series of 2013.

Notary Public

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