GR L 15924; (May, 1961) (Digest)
G.R. No. L-15924; May 31, 1961
Ude Soliman (Bagoba), plaintiff-appellee, vs. Icdang (Bagobo) and Yo-on (Bagoba), defendants-appellants.
FACTS
Adolfo Icdang, son of defendants Icdang and Yo-on, married plaintiff Ude Soliman in 1940. His homestead application for land in Davao was approved in 1941. During the Japanese occupation, Adolfo was arrested in 1944 and presumed dead. The childless plaintiff left the land and resided with her parents. In 1954, after paying survey costs, she secured a patent and Original Certificate of Title issued in the name of “the heirs of Adolfo Icdang.” Defendants, who had been in possession, refused her demand for delivery. Plaintiff sued for partition, accounting, and damages, claiming a one-half conjugal share. Defendants countered that they were the original possessors and cultivators, alleging plaintiff fraudulently obtained the title. The trial court, upon the parties’ agreement, limited the issue to determining the heirs of Adolfo Icdang.
ISSUE
The core issue is the correct determination of the heirs of Adolfo Icdang and their respective shares in the homestead land, resolving whether the property belonged to the conjugal partnership or to the heirs by succession.
RULING
The Supreme Court reversed the trial court’s finding that the land formed part of the conjugal partnership. The legal logic is twofold. First, regarding the nature of the property, a homestead applicant acquires a vested right only upon the approval of the final proof by the Director of Lands. This approval occurred in 1954, years after Adolfo’s death and the dissolution of the conjugal partnership. Thus, the land never became a conjugal asset but was an inheritance for his heirs under Commonwealth Act No. 141 .
Second, on the determination of heirs, the Court applied the Civil Code of Spain, governing succession at the time of death. In default of descendants, ascendants inherit to the exclusion of collaterals. Therefore, the defendants, as legitimate parents, are the primary heirs. However, Article 836 provides a surviving spouse with a usufruct over one-third of the estate. Consequently, the property belongs to the heirs of Adolfo Icdang: defendants Icdang and Yo-on as ascendants, and plaintiff Ude Soliman as surviving spouse. The defendants inherit the land in equal shares of three-sixths each, but one-third of each of their shares (totaling one-sixth each) is subject to the usufruct of the plaintiff. The trial court’s decision was modified accordingly, with instructions for an accounting of net produce and reimbursement of proportional expenses for the patent and taxes.