Case Digest (G.R. No. 126996)
Facts:
Heirs of Cesario Velasquez, Namely: Anastacia Velasquez, Sofia Velasquez, Eliseo Velasquez, Jose Velasquez, Corazon Velasquez, Leonora Velasquez, and Nieves Velasquez v. Court of Appeals and Heirs of Anatalia de Guzman, Namely: Santiago Meneses, Andres Meneses, Felicidad Meneses, and Apolonio Meneses, G.R. No. 126996, February 15, 2000, Supreme Court Third Division, Gonzaga-Reyes, J., writing for the Court.The dispute arose from the intestate deaths of spouses Cornelio Aquino (d. 1947) and Leoncia de Guzman (d. 1945), who were childless and survived by Leoncia's sisters Anatalia de Guzman (mother of the private respondents) and Tranquilina de Guzman (grandmother of the petitioners). During the Aquinos' marriage they executed various conveyances and otherwise disposed of six parcels of land in Mangaldan, Pangasinan (described in the records). Petitioners are heirs of Cesario Velasquez (son of Tranquilina) who claim title under deeds executed in favor of Cesario, his wife Camila de Guzman, and petitioners Jose and Anastacia Velasquez. Private respondents (the Meneses heirs of Anatalia) sued in 1989 for annulment of those instruments, partition and damages, alleging the Aquinos' purported conveyances were not genuine and that the properties remained conjugal and thus part of the heirs' hereditary estate.
At the Regional Trial Court, Branch 40, Dagupan City (Civil Case No. D-9288), a pretrial order (May 18, 1990) defined the issues (ownership/co-ownership, res judicata and prescription, and whether partition was proper). After trial the RTC, in a decision dated April 8, 1992, found for the plaintiffs (private respondents), credited the testimony of Santiago Meneses that the Aquinos had repudiated earlier transfers and declared that one-half of the six parcels belonged to Anatalia (or her heirs) and one-half to Tranquilina (or her heirs); it annulled or declared void as to one-half various deeds to petitioners and ordered reconveyance and damages.
Petitioners appealed to the Court of Appeals, which affirmed in a decision dated December 29, 1995, rejecting the defense of res judicata as not having been timely raised and holding that the action for partition was imprescriptible. The CA also agreed with the RTC that the transfers had been repudiated before Leoncia's death. A motion for reconsideration was denied (Nov. 6, 1996)....(Subscriber-Only)
Issues:
- Was the action barred by res judicata or by the statute of limitations?
- Do the properties in question form part of the conjugal/hereditary estate of spouses Cornelio Aquino and Leoncia de Guzman?
- Did petitioners acquire absolute and exclusive ownership of the properties by virtue of the alleged donations and conveyances?
- Were the private respondents (heirs of Anatalia de Guzman) legal heirs entitled to partition?
- Was an action for partiti...(Subscriber-Only)
Ruling:
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Ratio:
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Doctrine:
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