CA may annul RTC judgments; requisites

Under authority of Sec. 9, par. (2), of B.P. Blg. 129, a party may now petition the Court of Appeals to annul and set aside judgments of Regional Trial Courts. "Thus, the Intermediate Appellant Court (now Court of Appeals) shall exercise x x x (2) Exclusive original jurisdiction over action for annulment of judgments of the Regional Trial Courts x x x" However, certain requisites must first be established before a final and executory judgment can be the subject of an action for annulment. It must either be void for want of jurisdiction or for lack of due process of law, or it has been obtain by fraud. Conformably with law and the above-cited authorities, the petition to annul the decision of the trial court in Civil Case No. D-7750 before the Court of Appeals was proper. Emanating as it did from a void compromise agreement, the trial court had no jurisdiction to render a judgment based thereon. [G.R. No. 114311. November 29, 1996]