Marcelina EDROSO vs. Pablo and Basilio SABLAN G.R. No.

6878, September 13, 1913 FACTS: Spouses Marcelina Edroso and Victoriano Sablan had a son named, Pedro who inherited two parcels of land upon the death of his father. Subsequently, Pedro died, unmarried and without issue, the two parcels of land passed through inheritance to his mother. Hence the hereditary title whereupon is based the application for registration of her ownership. The two uncles of Pedro, Pablo and Basilio Sablan (legitimate brothers of Victoriano) opposed the registration claiming that either the registration be denied or if granted to her, the right reserved by law to them be recorded in the registration of each parcel. The Court of Land Registration denied the registration holding that the land in question partake of the nature of property required by law to be reserved and that in such a case application could only be presented jointly in the names of the mother and the said two uncles. Hence, this appeal. ISSUES: 1. Whether or not the property in question is in the nature of a reservable property. 2. Whether or not Marcelina Edroso has the absolute title of the property to cause its registration. RULING: A very definite conclusions of law is that the hereditary title is one without a valuable consideration (gratuitous tile), and it is so characterized in Article 968 of the Civil Code, for he who acquires by inheritance gives nothing in return for what he receives; and a very definite conclusion of law also is that the uncles are within the third degree of blood relationship. Article 811. The ascendant who inherits from his descendant property which the latter acquired without a valuable consideration from another descendant, or form a brother or sister, is under obligation to reserve what he has acquired by operation of law for the relatives who are within the third degree and belong to the line where the property proceeded. Marcelina Edroso, ascendant of Pedro Sablan, inherited from him the two parcels of land which he had acquired without a valuable consideration that is, by inheritance from another ascendant, his father Victoriano. Having acquire them by operation of law, she is obligated to relatives within the third degree and belong to the line of Mariano Sablan and Maria Rita Fernandez (parents of Victoriano), where the lands proceeded. The trial courts ruling that they partake of the nature property required by law to be reserved is therefore in accordance with the law.

The conclusion is that the person required by Article 811 to reserve the right has, beyond any doubt at all, the rights to use and usufruct. He has, moreover, the legal title and dominion, although under a condition subsequent. Clearly he has under an express provision of the law the right to dispose of the property reserved, and to dispose of is to alienate, although under a condition. He has the right to recover it, because he is the one who possesses or should possess it and have title to it, although a limited and revocable one. In a word, the legal title and dominion, even though under a condition, reside in him while he lives. After the right required by law to be reserved has been assured, he can do anything that a genuine owner can do. On the other hadnt, the relatives within the third degree in whose favor of the right is reserved cannot dispose of the property, first because it is no way, either actually or constructively or formally, in their possession; and moreover, because they have no title of ownership or of the fee simple which they can transmit to another, on the hypothesis that only when the person who must reserve the right should die before them will they acquire it.

Constancio SIENES, et al. vs. Fidel ESPARCIA G.R. No. L-12597, March 24, 1961 FACTS: Lot 3368 originally belonged to Saturnino Yaeso. With his first wife, Teresa Ruales, he had four children named Agaton, Fernando, Paulina and Cipriana, while with his second wife, Andrea Gutang, he had an only son named Francisco. According to the cadastral records of Ayuquitan, the properties left by Saturnino upon his death were left to his children as follows: Lot 3366 to Cipriana, Lot 3367 to Fernando, Lot 3375 to Agaton, Lot 3377 (southern portion) to Paulina, and Lot 3368 (western portion) to Francisco. As a result of the cadastral proceedings, an OCT covering Lot 3368 was issued in the name of Francisco. Because Francisco was a minor at the time, his mother administered the property for him, declared it in her name for taxation purposes, and paid the taxes due thereon. When Francisco died at the age of 20, single and without any descendant, his mother, as his sole heir, executed the public instrument and sold the property in question to appellants in consideration of the sum of P800.00. Andrea Gutang died on December 13, 1951, the lone reservee surviving her being Cipriana Yaeso who died only on January 13, 1952. Said vendees demanded from Paulina and her husband, the surrender of the OCT which was in their possession, the latter refused, thus giving rise to the filing of the corresponding motion in the cadastral, which was denied. ISSUE: Whether or not the reservable property in question is part of and must be reverted to the estate of Cipriana Yaeso.

RULING: As held by the trial court, it is clear upon the facts already stated, that the land in question was reservable property. In connection with reservable property, the weight of opinion is that the reserve creates two resolutory conditions, namely, (1) the death of the ascendant obliged to reserve and (2) the survival, at the time of his death, of relatives within the third degree belonging to the line from which the property came. This Court has held in connection with this matter that the reservista has the legal title and dominion to the reservable property but subject to a resolutory condition; that he is like a life usufructuary of the reservable property; that he may alienate the same but subject to reservation, said alienation transmitting only the revocable and conditional ownership of the reservists, the rights acquired by the transferee being revoked or resolved by the survival of reservatarios at the time of the death of the reservista. The sale made by Andrea Gutang in favor of appellees was, therefore, subject to the condition that the vendees would definitely acquire ownership, by virtue of the alienation, only if the vendor died without being survived by any person entitled to the reservable property. Inasmuch much as when Andrea Gutang died, Cipriana Yaeso was still alive, the conclusion becomes inescapable that the previous sale made by the former in favor of appellants became of no legal effect and the reservable property subject matter thereof passed in exclusive ownership to Cipriana. On the other hand, it is also clear that the sale executed by the sisters Paulina and Cipriana Yaeso in favor of the spouses Fidel Esparcia and Paulina Sienes was subject to a similar resolutory condition. The reserve instituted by law in favor of the heirs within the third degree belonging to the line from which the reservable property came, constitutes a real right which the reservee may alienate and dispose of, albeit conditionally, the condition being that the alienation shall transfer ownership to the vendee only if and when the reservee survives the person obliged to reserve. In the present case, Cipriana Yaeso, one of the reservees, was still alive when Andrea Gutang, the person obliged to reserve, died. Thus the former became the absolute owner of the reservable property upon Andrea's death. While it may be true that the sale made by her and her sister prior to this event, became effective because of the occurrence of the resolutory condition, we are not now in a position to reverse the appealed decision, in so far as it orders the reversion of the property in question to the Estate of Cipriana Yaeso, because the vendees did not appeal therefrom.

Beatriz L. GONZALES vs. COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE OF MANILA, et al. G.R. No. L-34395, May 19, 1981 FACTS:

Benito Legarda y De la Paz, the son of Benito Legarda y Tuason, died and was survived by his widow, Filomena Roces, and their seven children. The real properties left by Benito were partitioned in three equal portions by his daughters, Consuelo and Rita, and the heirs of his deceased son Benito Legarda y De la Paz who were represented by Benito F. Legarda. Filomena Legarda y Roces died intestate and without issue. Her sole heiress was her mother, Filomena Roces Vda. de Legarda. Mrs. Legarda executed an affidavit adjudicating extrajudicially to herself the properties which she inherited from her deceased daughter, Filomena Legarda. As a result of the affidavit of adjudication, Filomena Roces succeeded her deceased daughter Filomena Legarda as co-owner of the properties held proindiviso by her other six children. Mrs. Legarda executed two hand-written identical documents wherein she disposed of the properties, which she inherited from her daughter, in favor of the children of her sons, Benito, Alejandro and Jose (sixteen grandchildren in all). She later died and her will was admitted to probate as a holographic will in the Court of First Instance of Manila which was affirmed by the Court of Appeals. In the testate proceeding, Beatriz Legarda Gonzalez, a daughter of the testatrix, filed a motion to exclude from the inventory of her mother's estate the properties which she inherited from her deceased daughter, Filomena, on the ground that said properties are reservable properties which should be inherited by Filomena Legarda's three sisters and three brothers and not by the children of Benito, Alejandro and Jose, all surnamed Legarda. That motion was opposed by the administrator, Benito F. Legarda. Without awaiting the resolution on that motion, Mrs. Gonzalez filed an ordinary civil action against her brothers, sisters, nephews and nieces and her mother's estate for the purpose of securing a declaration that the said properties are reservable properties which Mrs. Legarda could not bequeath in her holographic will to her grandchildren to the exclusion of her three daughters and her three sons. The lower court dismissed the action of Mrs. Gonzalez. Mrs. Gonzales appealed under Republic Act No. 5440 and contends that the lower court erred in not regarding the properties in question as reservable properties under article 891 of the Civil Code. ISSUES: 1. Whether or not the properties in question are subject to reserva troncal? 2. Whether or not Filomena Roces Vda. de Legarda could dispose of the properties in question in her will in favor of her grandchildren to the exclusion of her six children? RULING: The properties in question were indubitably reservable properties in the hands of Mrs. Legarda. Undoubtedly, she was a reservor. The reservation became a certainty

when at the time of her death the reservees or relatives within the third degree of the prepositus Filomena Legarda were living or they survived Mrs. Legarda. Mrs. Legarda could not convey in her holographic will to her sixteen grandchildren the reservable properties which she had inherited from her daughter Filomena because the reservable properties did not form part of her estate. The reservor cannot make a disposition mortis causa of the reservable properties as long as the reservees survived the reservor. The said properties, by operation of article 891, should go to Mrs. Legarda's six children as reservees within the second degree from Filomena Legarda. The reservable property bequeathed by the reservor to her daughter does not form part of the reservor's estate nor of the daughter's estate but should be given to all the seven reservees or nearest relatives of the prepositus within the third degree. It should be repeated that the reservees do not inherit from the reservor but from the prepositus, of whom the reservees are the heirs mortis causa subject to the condition that they must survive the reservor.