G.R. No. 46345. December 16, 1938.
In the matter of the intestate estate of the deceased Filomeno Nery Velez. CASIMIRO TAMPARONG, claimant-appellant, vs. ROQUE V. NERY, administrator-appellee.

FACTS

Filomeno Nery Velez died on September 3, 1931. Intestate proceedings were commenced, and a committee on claims was appointed. Casimiro Tamparong filed claims with the committee for two loans totaling P6,045 against the estate. The committee approved the claims, but the administrator appealed. Instead of refiling his claim in court as required by law after the administrator’s appeal, Tamparong pursued separate ordinary actions (civil cases) to collect the same debts. Those separate cases were decided against him. Years later, on July 7, 1936, he attempted to file an amended claim in the intestate proceedings. The lower court rejected this claim as filed out of time and due to the prior adjudication in the separate cases.

ISSUE

Whether the lower court erred in rejecting Tamparong’s claim against the estate.

RULING

No, the lower court did not err. The Supreme Court affirmed the rejection of the claim on two grounds. First, under Section 708 of Act No. 190 (Code of Civil Procedure), a creditor with a claim against a deceased’s estate must elect between filing the claim in the estate proceedings or enforcing it by a separate ordinary action; he cannot pursue both remedies simultaneously or successively after an adverse decision in one. Tamparong chose to file separate ordinary actions, which were decided against him, barring him from later prosecuting the same claims in the estate proceedings. Second, procedurally, when the administrator appealed the committee’s approval, Tamparong was required by Section 776 of Act No. 190 to file his claim in court within 30 days. He filed it only on July 7, 1936, which was five months after receiving notice of the appeal, and thus was filed out of time.

AI Generated by Armztrong.