GR L 612; (April, 1948) (Digest)
G.R. No. L-612; April 3, 1948
JOSEFA AGUSTINES, ENCARNACION AGUSTINES, JOSE AGUSTINES, LOURDES AGUSTINES, ESTELA AGUSTINES, and ABELARDO AGUSTINES, petitioners, vs. THE JUDGE OF COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE OF BULACAN, SEVERO VALENZUELA, and THE ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP OF MANILA, respondents.
FACTS
Generosa Agustines died in 1934, naming her husband Severo Valenzuela as universal heir in her will. The will directed Valenzuela to donate a portion, not exceeding nine hectares, of her Quiririt farm to the Catholic Church of Polo for masses for her soul, with the exact area left to his discretion. In 1935, Valenzuela and the petitioners (Generosa’s relatives) executed an extrajudicial partition, approved by the probate court in 1936, which adjudicated the Quiririt land to the petitioners except for “that portion of nine (9) hectares” for masses and three hectares for Valenzuela. Years later, Valenzuela failed to donate the land. In 1944, petitioners sued Valenzuela for breach of trust. Valenzuela then filed a motion in the testamentary proceeding, without notice to petitioners, seeking approval of a donation of only about one hectare to the church. The court granted this in an order dated December 2, 1944. Petitioners sought to annul this order via certiorari, arguing it amended the final 1936 distribution order.
ISSUE
1. Whether the December 2, 1944 order, which approved Valenzuela’s donation of only about one hectare, is valid.
2. Whether certiorari is the proper remedy.
RULING
The Supreme Court granted the petition and annulled the December 2, 1944 order. The Court held that the 1936 order approving the extrajudicial partition had long become final and executory. The lower court therefore lost jurisdiction to amend it through the 1944 order, which was issued without due notice to the petitioners and substantially altered the final distribution. The Court found that the partition clearly allotted a nine-hectare parcel to the church, not a discretionary area of less than nine hectares. On the constitutional issue raised in the resolution of the case, the Court also declared the donation void, as the donee (the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Manila, representing the Church of Polo) is a branch of a foreign religious institution and did not show compliance with the constitutional requirement that at least 60% of its capital be owned by Filipino citizens for it to validly acquire private agricultural land. Certiorari was deemed proper as the lower court acted without jurisdiction.
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