G.R. No. L-22399




Republic of the Philippines SUPREME COURT Manila EN BANC G.R. No. L-22399 December 12, 1924 In the matter of the will of Laureana Antonio, deceased. MARIANO ANTONIO, petitioner-appellant, vs. SANTIAGO ANTONIO, ET AL., opponents-appellees, and JORGE R. NERI, ET AL., opponents-appellants. Vicente Zacarias, Antolin Frias, Del Rosario and Del Rosario, McVean and Vickers, and Camus and Delgado for petitioner-appellant. No appearance for opponents-appellants. Fisher, DeWitt, Perkins and Brady, Araneta and Zaragoza, Paredes, Buencamino and Yulo, and Palma, Leuterio and Yamson for opponents-appellees. AVANCEÑA, J.: This is a proceeding for the probate of the will of Laureana Antonio.lawphi1.net The lower court denied the probate of this will on the ground that it was not executed with the solemnities prescribed by the law. The will in question consists of seven pages actually used. It is not denied that its first six pages are in accordance with the law, but there is a dispute as to the last page 7. In this page the will ends, and at the bottom thereof there appear the signatures of the testator and the three witnesses to the will, after which comes the attestation clause signed also at the bottom by the three witnesses. No signature whatever appears on either margin of this page, and the lower court denied the probate of the will on account of the testator and the three subscribing witnesses not having signed on the left margin. The decision of this court in the case of Abangan vs. Abangan (40 Phil., 476), is square in point. In that case the will had but two pages. The first contained entirely the whole text of the will, and the second contained the last part of the attestation clause. The first page was signed by the testator at the bottom of the text of the will with the three attesting witnesses, and the second was also signed at the bottom of the attestation clause by the three witnesses. In none of said pages was there any signature on either margin. In that case this court held that the will should be admitted to probate. On principle there is no difference between the instant, and the Abangan case. If there is any, as in fact there is, as to certain details, it is in favor of the probate of the will in the instant case. It must not be forgotten that the object of the law in prescribing certain solemnities for the execution of wills is to insure and safeguard their authenticity, and consequently the courts, in deciding the various cases that may present themselves on this matter, must not lose sight of this object of the law. In the instant case, as above indicated, the attesting witnesses signed twice on the last page of the will of Laureana Antonio, while in the Abangan case the witnesses signed only once in each of its two pages. So that the only possible objection to this page of the will of Laureana Antonio is that it was not signed on the left margin by the testator and the three attesting witnesses, it having been signed only at the bottom of the text of the will and the attestation clause. This is exactly the rule laid down in the Abangan case to the effect that under such circumstances the absence of the signatures of the testator and the attesting witnesses from the left margin is not such a defect as would justify the denial of its probate. The judgment appealed from is reversed, and the will of Laureana Antonio admitted to probate, without special findings as to costs. So ordered. Johnson, Street, Malcolm, Villamor, Ostrand, Johns, and Romualdez, JJ., concur. The Lawphil Project - Arellano Law Foundation