G.R. No. 117740 October 30, 1998
CAROLINA ABAD GONZALES, petitioner, vs. COURT OF APPEALS, HONORIA EMPAYNADO, CECILIA H. ABAD, MARIAN H. ABAD and ROSEMARIE S. ABAD, respondents.

FACTS

Petitioners Carolina Abad Gonzales, Dolores de Mesa Abad, and Cesar de Mesa Tioseco filed a petition for the settlement of the intestate estate of their brother, Ricardo de Mesa Abad, claiming they were his only heirs as he died a bachelor. They later amended the petition to allege that certain real properties registered in Ricardo’s name were actually owned by their late mother, Lucila de Mesa. The trial court appointed Cesar Tioseco as administrator. Petitioners then executed an extrajudicial settlement of their mother’s estate, including the disputed properties, leading to the cancellation of the titles in Ricardo’s name and the issuance of new titles in their names, which they subsequently mortgaged.
Private respondents Honoria Empaynado (claiming to be Ricardo’s common-law wife for 27 years), Cecilia Abad, Marian Abad (their children), and Rosemarie Abad (Ricardo’s child with another woman) moved to intervene, alleging petitioners concealed their existence to deprive them of their hereditary rights. They also moved to annul the extrajudicial partition, the new titles, and the mortgages.
The trial court declared Cecilia, Marian, and Rosemarie as the acknowledged natural children and only surviving legal heirs of Ricardo, entitled to his entire estate, and appointed Honoria as administratrix. It also declared the extrajudicial partition void, ordered the restoration of the titles in Ricardo’s name, and annulled the mortgages. Petitioners’ appeals were initially dismissed as filed out of time but were eventually given due course by Supreme Court order. The Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s orders. Petitioners now seek certiorari.

ISSUE

1. Whether the Court of Appeals and the trial court erred in holding that respondents Cecilia, Marian, and Rosemarie Abad are the acknowledged natural children of Ricardo de Mesa Abad.
2. Whether petitioners are entitled to the subject estate whether owned by Ricardo de Mesa Abad or by their mother, Lucila de Mesa.

RULING

The Supreme Court DENIED the petition and AFFIRMED the decision of the Court of Appeals with modification.
1. The Court upheld the finding that Cecilia, Marian, and Rosemarie are the acknowledged natural children of Ricardo. Petitioners argued that Honoria’s husband, Jose Libunao, was still alive when Cecilia and Marian were born, giving rise to the presumption that they are Libunao’s children. The Court found this claim unsupported by evidence. In contrast, private respondents presented ample evidence of Ricardo’s open and continuous acknowledgment of the children, including their birth certificates naming him as father, his provision of support, and his listing of them as beneficiaries in his GSIS policy. The trial court’s factual findings on this matter, affirmed by the Court of Appeals, are binding and entitled to great weight.
2. The Court rejected petitioners’ alternative claim to the estate. Both lower courts found that the disputed properties belonged to Ricardo, not Lucila de Mesa, based on the evidence. Petitioners’ contention that they are entitled whether the estate belongs to Ricardo or Lucila fails because the children, as direct descendants, exclude collateral relatives like petitioners from succession.
The Court MODIFIED the Court of Appeals decision by setting aside its affirmance of the trial court’s order denying the appeal of Dolores Abad and Cesar Tioseco as filed out of time, as the Supreme Court had previously ruled that said appeal was timely filed.