SC junks woman's claim of lot bought from live-in partner

The Supreme Court has ruled that the woman, who claimed ownership of a parcel of lot in barangay Mabolo because she bought it from her common-law husband before he died in 1996, could not own it because the selling of the property is contrary to law.

The SC's third division presided by Justice Leonardo Quisumbing rejected the petition of Maria B. Ching because even if it is true that she bought the 661 square meter lot from Joseph Goyanko Sr. in 1993, the transaction is considered highly questionable.

The High Tribunal affirmed the ruling of the Court of Appeals that reversed the decision of the Regional Trial Court that earlier junked the complaint of Goyanko's children who sought the court's help to recover the property from the possession of Ching.

Goyanko and his wife, Epifania dela Cruz, were married on December 30, 1947 and in 1961 they have acquired the lot but the property was registered in the name of their aunt Sulpicia Ventura because they were Chinese citizens and could not own properties in the country.

It was reported that Goyanko and Epifania separated and later on, Goyanko met Ching and both of them have decided to live together.

On May 1, 1993, Ventura executed a deed of sale over the property in favor of Goyanko. But Goyanko also executed a deed of sale in favor of Ching, his common law-wife, on October 12, 1993.

After the death of Goyanko in 1996, his children found out that the property was already registered in the name of Ching. This prompted them to file a case in court, but it was dismissed.

But the appellate court ruled that since Goyanko acquired the subject property during the existence of a valid marriage between his legal wife, it is considered a conjugal property.

The record shows that while Goyanko and his wife, Epifania, have been estranged for years and that he and Ching have in fact been living together as common law-husband and wife, there has never been a judicial decree declaring the dissolution of his marriage to Epifania nor their conjugal partnership.

"But even if we were to assume that the property is not conjugal, still we cannot sustain the validity of the sale of the property because of the overwhelming evidence on records that Ching and Goyanko have been living together as common law-husband and wife," the High Court ruled.

The SC ruled that the purported sale, having made by Goyanko in favor of Ching, undermines the stability of the family, a basic social institution which public policy vigilantly protects. - Rene U. Borromeo/QSB