Venancio died intestate on August 12, 1943. At the time of his death he owned a parcel of land with an area of 7.7837 hectares located in Mindoro which he obtained under a free patent and covered by Original Certificate of Title No. 3014. He died single but was survived by a son Pepe whose mother was Emilia, and daughter Lina whose mother was Juana. Five years later or on May 26, 1948, his sister Delia was able to sell the parcel of land. Delia secured letters of guardianship over Pepe and obtained authority of the guardianship court to sell the same. Then she executed a Deed of Absolute Sale in favor of Serapio for and in consideration of P750. Serapio thereafter declared the property for taxation purposes in his name but he failed to register the deed in the Register of Deeds and consequently also failed to secure a Torrens Title over the same.
On October 12, 1963, when Pepe’s guardianship was already terminated as he was already of age, Pepe filed a complaint against Serapio to compel the latter to resell the property to him for the same amount of P750. But the court dismissed the complaint because Pepe’s right to repurchase the same under Commonwealth Act 141 had long expired. Pepe did not appeal the decision anymore.
Twenty-four years later or on March 3, 1987, it was Lina who filed a complaint in Court against Mila, the wife of Serapio who had died by that time. Lina asked the court to order Mila to re-convey possession of one half of the property to her as she was a co-owner thereof. She told the court that she only learned that she was a co-owner of the property one year before. Could Lina recover one-half of the property?
Yes. At the time of Venancio’s death, the New Civil Code was not yet in effect, so the Old Civil Code should be applied. Under Article 939 of the Old Civil Code, in the absence of legitimate descendants or ascendants, the natural children legally acknowledged… shall succeed to the entire estate of the deceased. Article 932 of the same code provides that the children of the deceased shall always inherit from him in their own right, dividing the inheritance in equal shares. When Venancio died on August 12, 1943, he was survived by his daughter Lina, his son Pepe and their respective mothers, Juana and Emilia. Conformably to Article 939 only Lina and Pepe inherited the property in equal shares, to the exclusion of Juana and Emilia neither of them was the lawful wife of Venancio.
Consequently when Pepe, through his guardian Delia executed the Deed of Sale on May 26, 1948 in favor of Serapio, the latter did not acquire title to the entire property but only to the one half undivided portion thereof which Pepe inherited from Venancio. Serapio could not have purchased and acquired the other half of the property from Pepe through his guardian because the latter was not the owner thereof (Balilo-Montero vs. Septimo. G.R. 149751. March 11, 2005).