G.R. No. 1380 : January 18, 1904
CONSOLACION MIJARES, plaintiff-appellant, vs. DELFINA NERY, ET AL., defendants-appellees.

FACTS:
Don Mariano Mijares died intestate in 1899, leaving an estate. He had no legitimate descendants or ascendants. He left six acknowledged illegitimate daughters: the plaintiff, Consolacion Mijares (born in 1862 to an unnamed mother), and five defendants (born between 1862 and 1889 to Delfina Nery, the decedent’s niece). A papal bull from 1878 had authorized Mariano Mijares to marry Delfina Nery, but they never married. Consolacion Mijares filed suit, claiming to be the sole heir. She argued that under the old law (Law 11 of Toro), the five defendants, being children of parents related within a prohibited degree (uncle and niece), could not be considered natural children with inheritance rights. The defendants opposed, contending that under the Civil Code, which took effect in the Philippines in 1889, they had acquired the status of natural children entitled to inherit, as they were acknowledged and their parents could have married with a dispensation at the time of conception.

ISSUE:
Whether the five defendant daughters of Mariano Mijares and Delfina Nery are entitled to inherit from their father as acknowledged natural children, sharing the estate with the plaintiff, or whether the plaintiff is the sole heir under the old law.

RULING:
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the defendants. The five defendant daughters are acknowledged natural children entitled to inherit equally with the plaintiff.
1. Applicable Law: The succession opened upon the death of Mariano Mijares in 1899, when the Civil Code was already in force. Hereditary rights vest only upon the death of the decedent. Therefore, the provisions of the Civil Code govern the determination of heirship and the successory rights of the parties.
2. Status of the Defendants: Under Article 119 of the Civil Code, natural children are those born of parents who, at the time of conception, could have married with or without dispensation. The defendants’ parents, though related as uncle and niece, could have married by virtue of the papal dispensation obtained in 1878. This qualified the defendants as natural children under the new code. Their express and tacit acknowledgment by their father was established.
3. Retroactive Effect: Under the transitory provisions of the Civil Code (Rule 1, paragraph 2), a new right declared for the first time in the Code shall be effective at once, even if the fact from which it originated occurred under the old law, provided it does not prejudice other vested rights. The right of the defendants to be considered natural children under Article 119 was a new right not recognized by the old Law of Toro, which required parents to be qualified to marry without dispensation.
4. No Prejudice to Plaintiff’s Vested Right: The plaintiff had no vested right to the succession prior to her father’s death; she only had a mere expectancy. Since her hereditary right vested only upon her father’s death in 1899 (when the Civil Code was operative), applying the new code to recognize the defendants as co-heirs did not prejudice any vested right of the plaintiff. All six acknowledged natural daughters share equally in the inheritance.
The appealed decision was affirmed. The case was remanded to the lower court for further proceedings, if necessary, regarding a will and codicil presented by the defendants, the validity of which was not ruled upon.