Republic of the Philippines
SUPREME COURT
Manila
EN BANC
G.R. No. L-16925 July 24, 1962
FABIAN PUGEDA, plaintiff-appellee,
vs.
RAFAEL TRIAS, MIGUEL TRIAS, SOLEDAD TRIAS, assisted by her husband ANGEL SANCHEZ,
CLARA TRIAS, assisted by her husband VICTORIANO SALVADOR,
GABRIEL TRIAS, minors ROMULO VINIEGRA, GLORIA VINIEGRA and FERNANDO VINIEGRA, JR., assisted by guardian-ad-litem,
RAFAEL TRIAS, TEOFILO PUGEDA, and VIRGINIA PUGEDA, assisted by her husband RAMON PORTUGAL, defendants-appellants.
Placido C. Ramos and Fortunato Jose for plaintiff-appellee.
Ramon C. Aquino for defendants-appellants Teofilo Pugeda and Virginia Pugeda.
Jose T. Cajulis, Miguel F. Trias and Carlos T. Viniegra for all other defendants-appellants.
R E S O L U T I O N
LABRADOR, J.:
This resolution concerns a motion for the reconsideration of the decision rendered by this Court. The main argument in support of the motion is that the lots not fully paid for at the time of the death of Miguel Trias, which lots were, by provision of the Friar Lands Act (Act No. 1120), subsequently transferred to the widow's name and later paid for by her out of the proceeds of the fruits of the lands purchased, and for which titles were issued in the name of the widow, belong to the latter as her exclusive paraphernal properties, and are not conjugal properties of her deceased husband and herself. In our decision we laid down the rule that upon the issuance of a certificate of sale to the husband of a lot in a friar lands estate, purchased by the Government from the friars, the land becomes the property of the husband and the wife, and the fact that the certificate of sale is thereafter transferred to the wife does not change the status of the property so purchased as conjugal property of the deceased husband and wife. The reason for this ruling is the provision of the Civil Code to the effect that properties acquired by husband and wife are conjugal properties. (Art. 1401, Civil Code of Spain). The provision of the Friar Lands Act to the effect that upon the death of the husband the certificate of sale is transferred to the name of the wife is merely an administrative device designed to facilitate the documentation of the transaction and the collection of installments; it does not produce the effect of destroying the character as conjugal property of the lands purchased. Hence, the issuance of the title, after completion of the installments, in the name of the widow does not make the friar lands purchased her own paraphernal property. The said lands, notwithstanding a certificate of sale, continue to be the conjugal property of her deceased husband and herself.
The case of Arayata vs. Joya, et al., 51 Phil. 654, cited by the movants, is not applicable to the case at bar because it refers to the superior rights of the widow recognized in Section 16 of Act No. 1120 over transfers made by the husband which have not been approved by the Director of Lands. As a matter of fact the syllabus in said case is as follows:
Widow's rights. — The widow of a holder of a certificate of sale of friar lands acquired by the Government has an exclusive right to said lands and their fruits from her husband's death, provided that the deceased has not conveyed them to another during his lifetime and she fulfills the requirements prescribed by the law for the purchase of the same.
A minor ground for the reconsideration is that the decision of Judge Lucero, having been set aside by the Court of Appeals, could not be affirmed by Us. The setting aside of the said decision was due to the fact that newly discovered evidence was found regarding the partition of the estate of the deceased. The setting aside of the decision was not aimed or directed at the judge's ruling that the properties acquired by the husband during his lifetime from the friar lands estate were conjugal properties of the husband and the wife..
The third ground raised is that the lots were never partitioned as conjugal assets of Mariano Trias and Maria C. Ferrer. One of the arguments adduced in favor of the claim of the movants that the properties in question, which were acquired during the lifetime of Mariano Trias, were never partitioned is that, according to the records of the Register of Deeds and according to the friar lands agents, the alleged partition of the said properties as conjugal properties of the deceased Mariano Trias and Maria C. Ferrer had not been registered in said offices. The failure to make the registration is perhaps due to the neglect the heirs. The fact, however, remains that the exhibits presented in Court, especially Exhibit "3-Trias" and Annex "E", which are the project of partition and the approval thereof, cannot be ignored by this Court. The neglect of the parties in not actually partitioning the properties do not argue in favor of the fact that partition was not a actually decreed. Adjudications may be made pro indiviso without actual division or partition of the properties among the heirs.
WHEREFORE, the motion for reconsideration is hereby denied and the judgment rendered declared final. So ordered.
Bengzon, C.J., Padilla, Concepcion, Barrera, Paredes, and Dizon, JJ., concur.
Bautista Angelo, Reyes, J.B.L., Regala and Makalintal, JJ., took no part.
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