A.M. No. MTJ-03-1499, P-03-1752

Francisco Varela Calderon was a distinguished physician and a Filipino citizen residing in Manila, with real properties assessed at P188,017.81.
Due to health issues, he traveled abroad and temporarily settled in Hendaye-Plage, France.

On April 14, 1930, while in Paris, the testator executed his last will and testament (referred to as Exhibit B) with the assistance of attorneys F. de Roussy de Sales, Gething C. Miller, and Henri Gadd.
The document was written in French, entirely in his own handwriting, dated, and signed by him, thus fulfilling the basic requirements for a holographic will under Article 970 of the French Civil Code—with one notable exception concerning the attestation clause.
An attestation clause was appended at the bottom of the will which recorded the signatures of the attorneys and witnesses.

Francisco Varela Calderon died on July 15, 1930 at the Grand-Hotel de Leysln Sanatorium in Switzerland.
On September 20, 1930, Francisco Carmelo Varela, the petitioner-appellee and one of the testator’s children, filed a petition in the Court of First Instance of Manila for the probate of the will.
The probate petition was contested by the testator’s brothers (Miguel, Angel, Jesus, Trinidad, Paula, Pilar, and Maria Varela Calderon), with one brother subsequently withdrawing his opposition, claiming respect for the testator’s wish that the will be executed in his own handwriting.

The will was not purely holographic because it contained an attestation clause, which allegedly vitiated its holographic character.
It did not comply with the requisites prescribed by Article 970 of the French Civil Code.
The witnesses were alleged to have lacked the qualifications required by Article 980 of the French Civil Code.
The will did not possess the character of an open (public) will under Article 1001 of the French Civil Code.
The provisions related to the recording of wills under Article 1007 were not observed.

The trial court, under Judge Mariano A. Albert of the Court of First Instance of Manila, allowed and admitted the will to probate, holding that it was validly executed as a holographic will despite the additional attestation clause.
The appellants (the testator’s brothers except for Francisco Carmelo Varela) argued that the trial court erred in its decision, asserting that the inclusion of the attestation clause invalidated the holographic nature of the will.

Does the addition of an attestation clause, which includes the signatures of witnesses and attorneys, vitiate the holographic nature of a will made and executed in accordance with Article 970 of the French Civil Code?

Can a will executed abroad, in conformity with the laws of its place of execution (French law), be admitted to probate in the Philippines under Section 635 of the Code of Civil Procedure despite deviations from strict holographic form?

Does the presence of a non-holographic attestation clause affect the essential elements (handwriting, dating, and signing by the testator) required for a holographic will?