March 24, 1961
Ponente: Dizon, J.
FACTS
Lot 3368 of the Cadastral Survey of Ayuquitan (now Amlan), Oriental Negros was one of the many properties belonging 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.
When Saturnino died, his properties were left to his children. Francisco was left with Lot 3368. But since he was still a minor at the time, his mother Andrea administered the property for him.
Francisco died on May 29, 1932 at the age of 20, single and without any descendant.
Without any descendant, his mother, Andrea, as his sole heir, executed a public instrument entitled EXTRAJUDICIAL SETTLEMENT AND SALE whereby, among other things, for and in consideration of the sum of P800.00 she sold the property in question to Constancio Sienes and Genoveva Silay.
Thereafter, said vendees (Constancia Sienes and Genoveva Silay) demanded from Paulina Yaeso (half-sister of the deceased Francisco) and her husband Jose Esparcia, the surrender of OCT for Lot 3368, which was in their possession. The latter refused, prompting the latter to file an action in court.
Meanwhile, 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, executed a deed of sale in favor of the spouses Fidel Esparcia and Paulina Sienes who, in turn, declared it in their name for tax purposes and thereafter secured the issuance in their name of the TCT.
Andrea Gutang died on December 13, 1951. Cipriana Yaeso died on January 13, 1952.
TRIAL COURT: (a) The sale of Lot No. 3368 made by Andrea Gutang to the spouses Constancio Sienes and Genoveva Silay is void, and the reconveyance prayed for by them is denied; (b) the sale made by Paulina and Cipriana Yaeso in favor of Fidel Esparcia and Paulina Sienes involving the same lot is also void, and they have no valid title thereto; and (c) Lot 3368 is part of and must be reverted to the estate of Cipriana Yaeso, the lone surviving relative and heir of Francisco Yaeso at the death of Andrea Gutang as of December 13, 1951.
RULING
Whether Lot 3368 is a reservable property. -- YES. Petition is denied. Trial court ruling modified.
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.
In reserva troncal, 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. 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, the Court is not 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.