GR 47686; (June, 1941) (Digest)
G.R. No. 47686; June 10, 1941
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES, petitioner-appellee, vs. TEODORO SANDIKO as administrator of the estate, opponent-appellant.
FACTS
During his marriage to Mercedes Tiongson (married 1901), Teodoro Sandiko acquired several properties, including three specific parcels of land in Pampanga. Mercedes Tiongson died intestate in 1931, survived by her husband and her only sister, Agapita Tiongson. Several years later, Teodoro Sandiko applied for and obtained registration of the three parcels in his own name, with certificates of title issued to him “married to Gregoria Morales.” Agapita Tiongson died on April 8, 1937, and her will instituted Teodoro Sandiko as an heir to one-half of her estate. The Collector of Internal Revenue filed a claim for inheritance taxes on the property Agapita inherited from her sister Mercedes. Teodoro Sandiko, as administrator of Agapita’s estate, opposed the claim for taxes on the three parcels, arguing they were his exclusive properties and not part of the conjugal partnership with Mercedes. The trial court declared the properties conjugal and ordered Sandiko to pay the inheritance taxes, prompting this appeal.
ISSUE
Whether the three parcels of land are the exclusive property of Teodoro Sandiko (and thus exempt from the inheritance tax claim) or are conjugal properties of his marriage to Mercedes Tiongson.
RULING
The Supreme Court affirmed the trial court’s judgment, holding the properties are conjugal. Appellant’s claim of exclusive ownership based on (1) the deeds of purchase being in his name alone and (2) the subsequent certificates of registration being in his name alone is not decisive. The settled rule is that, in the absence of affirmative evidence showing the acquisition was with the exclusive funds of one spouse, properties acquired during marriage are presumed conjugal (Article 1401, Civil Code), even if the title is in the name of only one spouse. Citing Flores vs. Flores, the Court ruled that a surviving husband obtaining a Torrens title to land from the conjugal estate does not make it his absolute property; it remains ganancial until the conjugal partnership is liquidated. The inheritance taxes were properly assessed. Costs are against appellant.