G.R. No. 246997, May 05, 2021
IN THE MATTER OF THE PETITION FOR THE PROBATE OF THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF CECILIA ESGUERRA COSICO, THELMA ESGUERRA GUIA, PETITIONER, VS. JOSE M. COSICO, JR., MANUEL M. COSICO, MINERVA M. COSICO, AND ELEANOR M. COSICO-CHAVEZ, RESPONDENTS.

FACTS

Cecilia Esguerra Cosico, born in 1932, had a physical disability, never attended school, and was illiterate. In 1996, at age 64, she decided to execute a last will and testament (“Huling Habilin at Pagpapasiya”) with the assistance of Atty. Danton Q. Bueser. The will, written in Tagalog, consisted of four pages and devised her properties to her maternal aunt, Mercedes Esguerra Guia, who raised her, and named Mercedes as executor, with petitioner Thelma Esguerra Guia (Mercedes’s daughter) as substitute. On September 10, 1996, Atty. Bueser and three instrumental witnesses (Liberato B. Benedictos, Reynaldo M. Gigante, and Ricardo C. Pandino) went to Cecilia’s house. Atty. Bueser read and explained the will’s contents to Cecilia, who affirmed her understanding and wishes. Cecilia affixed her thumbmark on the will over her printed name and on the lower left portion of the first two pages, and signed on the left margin of those pages and at the end of the attestation clause, all in the presence of the notary public and the three witnesses, who also signed. Cecilia died in 2006. After Mercedes died in 2009, Thelma filed a petition for probate of the will in 2010. Respondents, Cecilia’s half-siblings, opposed, alleging non-compliance with the formalities for executing a will under the Civil Code, particularly that Cecilia, being illiterate, could not have signed the will as required, and that the attestation clause was defective.

ISSUE

Whether the last will and testament of Cecilia Esguerra Cosico was executed in accordance with the formalities prescribed by law, making it valid and admissible to probate.

RULING

The Supreme Court REVERSED the Court of Appeals and REINSTATED the Regional Trial Court’s decision admitting the will to probate. The Court held that the will was executed in substantial compliance with the legal formalities. The requirement of “signing” under Article 804 of the Civil Code includes the testator’s thumbmark or cross mark, especially when the testator is illiterate. Cecilia’s affixing of her thumbmark constituted a valid signature. The attestation clause was also valid as it stated the essential facts required by Article 805: that the testator signed or caused another to write her name in the presence of the instrumental witnesses, that the witnesses signed in the presence of the testator and each other, and that the testator was of sound mind at the time. The witnesses’ testimonies corroborated that all formalities were observed. The fact that Cecilia was illiterate did not invalidate the will, as the law permits such a testator to cause another to write her name, which was done here by printing her name for her thumbmark. The will was read and explained to her in Tagalog, a language she understood. Therefore, the will was executed and attested in substantial compliance with Articles 805 and 806 of the Civil Code and is valid.