109 Cano v. Director of Lands
109 Cano v. Director of Lands
Director of Lands
Succession Art. 891 NCC 1959 Reyes, J.B.L.
SUMMARY
In Oct. 1951, two parcels of lot in Sorsogon were adjudged to be allowed registration under Maria Cano’s
name subject to reserva troncal in favor of Eustaquia Guerrero. Upon Cano’s death in 1955, Guerrero
prayed to the CFI that subject lots be allowed to be transferred to her name. Oppositors Jose and Teotimo
Fernandez, sons of Cano, averred that there should be a judicial proceedings and several facts (please see
under FACTS) must be established first before the property be transferred to Guerrero. CFI ruled in favor
of Guerrero. Upon appeal to SC, the same was upheld. The Court said that the facts were already established
in the prior proceeding (Oct. 1951). Further, no proceeding is necessary since the reservatorio is not a
successor mortis causa nor is the reservable property part of the reservisat’s estate.
FACTS
Oct. 9, 1951 – the CFI of Sorsogon issued a decision stating that Lots 1798 and 1799, with their
improvements (located in Juban/Sorsogon) be allowed to be registered under Maria Cano subject to
reserva troncal in favor of Eustaquia Guerrero;
Sept. 8, 1955 – Cano died;
Oct. 1955 – Guerrero filed a motion with the Cadastral Court alleging the death of reservista Cano and
praying that the original Certificate of Title be ordered cancelled and a new one issued in her
(Guerrero) favor;
The motion was opposed by Jose and Teotimo Fernandez, sons of Maria Cano, who contended that the
application and operation of the reserva troncal should be ventilated in an ordinary contentious
proceeding, and that the Registration Court did not have jurisdiction to grant the motion;
Lower court granted the petition for the issuance of a new certificate, for the reason that the death of
reservista vested the ownership of the property in the petitioner as the sole reservatorio troncal;
The oppositors appealed to the SC, averring that the ownership of the reservatorio cannot be decreed
in a mere proceeding under Sec. 112 of Act 496, but requires a judicial administration proceedings,
wherein the rights of appellee, as the reservatorio entitled to the reservable property, are to be
declared;
Further, according to the oppositors, the following facts must be established before the reversion in
favor of the reservatorio be declared:
o The property was received by an ascendant by gratuitous titled from an ascendant or from a
brother or sister;
o Said descendant dies without issue;
o The property ascendant (sic) by operation of law; and
o The existence of relatives within the third degree belonging to the line from which said
property came
RATIO
W/N the said facts as enumerated by oppositors need be proven after death of reservista Cano
No.
The requisites enumerated by appellants have already been declared to exist by the decree of registration
wherein the rights of the appellee as reservatario troncal were expressly recognized.
The previous decree (Oct. 1951) having become final all persons (appellees included) are barred thereby
from contesting the existence of the constituent elements of the reserva. The only requisites for the
passing of the titled from the reservista to the appellee are: (1) the death of the reservista; and (2)
the fact that the reservatario has survived the reservista. Both facts are admitted, and their existence
in nowhere questioned.
W/N intestacy proceeding is necessary for a reservatorio to inherit the reservable property
No.
The reservatorio is not the reservista’s successor mortis causa nor is the reservable property part of the
reservisat’s estate; the reservatorio receives the property as a conditional heir of the descendant
(prepositus), said property merely reverting to the line of origin from which it had temporarily and
accidentally strayed during the reservatarios that survive the reservista, the latter must be deemed to have
enjoyed no more than a life interest in the reservable property.
It is a consequence of these principles that upon the death of the reservista, the reservatario nearest to the
prepositus (the appellee in this case) becomes, automatically and by operation of law, the owner of the
reservable property. As already stated, that property is no part of the estate of the reservista, and does not
even answer for the debts of the latter. Hence, its acquisition by the reservatario may be entered in the
property records without necessity of estate proceedings, since the basic requisites therefor appear of
record. It is equally well settled that the reservable property cannot be transmitted by a reservista to her
or his own successors mortis causa, (like appellants herein) so long as a reservatario within the third degree
from the prepositus and belonging to the line whence the property came, is in existence when the reservista
dies.
FALLO
We find no error in the order appealed from therefore, the same is affirmed with costs against appellants in
both instances. So ordered
Notes:
ARTICLE 891. The ascendant who inherits from his descendant any property which the latter may have
acquired by gratuitous title from another ascendant, or a brother or sister, is obliged to reserve such property
as he may have acquired by operation of law for the benefit of relatives who are within the third degree and
who belong to the line from which said property came. (871)
Family Tree:
-No mention of the prepositus nor the mediate source
*It was not clear in the ponencia how Eustaquia and Maria were related; what was clear though was Eustaquia was the named
reservatorio in the land registration case mentioned in the facts