EN BANC

[G.R. No. L-12957. March 24, 1961.]

CONSTANCIO SIENES, ET AL., plaintiffs-appellants, vs. FIDEL

ESPARCIA, ET AL., defendants-appellees.

Proceso R. Remollo for plaintiffs-appellants.

Leonardo O. Mancao for defendants-appellees.

SYLLABUS

1. "RESERVA TRONCAL"; RESERVABLE PROPERTY; RESERVOR HAS

LEGAL TITLE AND DOMINION OVER PROPERTY SUBJECT TO A RESOLUTORY
CONDITION; ALIENATIONS MADE BY HIM SUBJECT TO RESERVATION;
TRANSFEREE'S RIGHT REVOKED BY THE SURVIVAL OF A RESERVEE UPON
DEATH OF RESERVOR. — The reservor has the legal title and dominion to the
reservable property but subject to a resolutory condition. Thus he may
alienate the same but subject to reservation, i.e., the rights acquired by the
transferee being revoked upon the survival of reservees at the time of death
of the reservor (Edroso vs. Sablan, 25 Phil., 295; Lunsod vs. Ortega, 46 Phil.,
664; Florentino vs. Florentino, 40 Phil., 480; and Director of Lands vs. Aguas,
63 Phil., 279.)
2. ID.; ID.; RESERVA INSTITUTED BY LAW IN FAVOR OF RESERVEES
IS ALIENABLE TO A RESOLUTORY CONDITION. — THE reserva instituted 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, although conditionally, the condition being that the
alienation shall transfer ownership to the vendee only if and when the
reservee survives the reservor.
3. ID.; ID.; WHEN RESERVEE BECOMES EXCLUSIVE OWNER. — Upon
the death of the reservor, there being a surviving reservee, the reservable
property passes in exclusive ownership to the latter.

DECISION

DIZON, J : p

Appellants commence this action below to secure judgments (1)

declaring null and void the sale executed by Paulina and Cipriana Yaeso in
favor of appellees, the spouses Fidel Esparcia and Paulina Sienes; (2)
ordering the Esparcia spouses to reconvey to appellants Lot 3368 of the
Cadastral Survey of Ayuquitan (now Amlan), Oriental Negros; and (3)
ordering all the appellees to pay, jointly and severally, to appellants the sum
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 of P500.00 as damages, plus the costs of suit. In their answer appellees
disclaimed any knowledge or information regarding the sale allegedly made
on April 20, 1951 by Andrea Gutang in favor of appellants and alleged that if
such sale was made, the same was void on the ground that Andrea Gutang
had no right to dispose of the property subject matter thereof. They further
alleged that said property had never been in possession of appellants, the
truth being that appellees, as owners, had been in continuous possession
thereof since the death of Francisco Yaeso. By way of affirmative defense
and counterclaim, they further alleged that on July 30, 1951, Paulina and
Cipriana Yaeso, as the only surviving heirs of Francisco Yaeso, executed a
public instrument of sale in favor of the spouses Fidel Esparcia and Paulina
Sienes, the said sale having been registered together with an affidavit of
adjudication executed by Paulina and Cipriana on July 18, 1951, as sole
surviving heirs of the aforesaid deceased; that since then the Esparcias had
been in possession of the property as owners.
After trial upon the issues thus joined, the lower court rendered
judgment as follows:
"In view of all the foregoing, judgment is hereby rendered
declaring (1) that the sale of Lot No. 3368 made by Andrea Gutang to
the plaintiff spouses Constancio Sienes and Genoveva Silay is void, and
the reconveyance prayed for by them is denied; (2) that the sale made
by Paulina and Cipriana Yaeso in favor of defendants Fidel Esparcia and
Paulina Sienes involving the same lot is also void, and they have no
valid title thereto; and (3) that the reservable property in question is
part of and must be reverted to the estate of Cipriano Yaeso, the lone
surviving relative and heir of Francisco Yaeso at the death of Andrea
Gutang as of December 13, 1951. No pronouncement as to costs."

From the above decision the Sienes spouses interposed the present
appeal, their principal contentions being, firstly, that the lower court erred in
holding that Lot 3368 of the Cadastral Survey of Ayuquitan was a reservable
property; secondly, in annuling the sale of said lot executed by Andrea
Gutang in their favor; and lastly, in holding that Cipriana Yaeso, as reservee,
was entitled to inherit said land.
There is no dispute as to the following facts:
Lot 3368 originally belong 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 - the date of which does not
clearly appear of record - where 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. Original Certificate of Title No. 10275 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 (Exhs. A & A-1), and paid the taxes due
thereon (Exhs. B, C, C-1 & A-2). When Francisco died on May 29, 1932 at the
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 age of 20, single and without any descendant, his mother, as his sole heir,
executed the public instrument Exhibit F entitled extra-judicial settlement
and sale whereby, among other things, for and in consideration of the sum
of P800.00, she sold the property in question to appellants. When thereafter
said vendees demanded from Paulina Yaeso and her husband Jose Esparcia,
the surrender of Original Certificate of Title No. 10275 — which was in their
possession — the latter refused, thus giving rise to the filing of the
corresponding motion in the cadastral record No. 507. The same, however,
was denied (Exhs. 8 & 9).
Thereafter, or more specifically, on July 30, 1951, Cipriana and Paulina
Yaeso, the surviving half-sisters of Francisco, and who as such had declared
the property in their name on January 1, 1951 executed a deed of sale in
favor of the spouses Fidel Esparcia and Paulina Sienes (Exh. 2) who, in turn,
declared it in their name for tax purposes and thereafter secured the
issuance in their name of Transfer Certificate of Title No. T-2141 (Exhs. 5 and
5-A).
As held by the trial court, it is clear upon the facts already stated, that
the land in question was reservable property. Francisco Yaeso inherited it by
operation of law from his father Saturnino, and upon Francisco's death,
unmarried and without descendants, it was inherited, in turn, by his mother,
Andrea Gutang. The latter was, therefore, under obligation to reserve it for
the benefit of relatives within the third degree belonging to the line from
which said property came, if any survived her. The record discloses in this
connection that Andrea Gutang died on December 13, 1951, the lone
reservee surviving her being Cipriana Yaeso who died only on January 13,
1952 (Exh. 10).
In connection with reservable property, the weight of opinion is that
the reserva 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 (6 Manresa 268-269; 6 Sanchez Roman 1934). The 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 reservista, the rights
acquired by the transferee being revoked or resolved by the survival of
reservatorios at the time of death of the reservista (Edroso vs. Sablan, 25
Phil., 295; Lunsod vs. Ortega, 46 Phil., 664; Florentino vs. Florentino, 40 Phil.,
480; and Director of Lands vs. Aguas, 63 Phil., 279).
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 as when Andrea
Gutang died, Cipriano 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
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 passed in exclusive ownership to Cipriana.
On the other hand, it is also clear that the sale executed by the sisters
Paulina and Cipriana Yaesco in favor of the spouse 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 — the Esparcia spouses — did not appeal therefrom.
WHEREFORE, the appealed decision — as above modified — is
affirmed, with costs, and without prejudice to whatever action in equity the
Esparcia spouses may have against the Estate of Cipriana Yaeso for the
reconveyance of the property in question.
Bengzon, Actg. C.J., Padilla, Bautista Angelo, Labrador, Concepcion,
Reyes, J.B.L., Barrera and Paredes, JJ., concur.

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