Title
Spouses Lebin vs. Mirasol
Case
G.R. No. 164255
Decision Date
Sep 7, 2011
Petitioners sought to appeal a decision concerning the estate of L.J. Hodges, but their appeal was dismissed due to late filing. The RTC's decision on property allocation was upheld as legally valid.
estate settlement
appeal
jurisdiction

Case Summary (G.R. No. 164255)

Factual Background

In January 1985 the petitioners offered to buy Lot 18, Block 7 of 971, in Jaro, Iloilo City, for P22,560 and paid a deposit of P4,512. The administrator of the Estate of L.J. Hodges sought judicial approval of that offer on August 1, 1985 and represented that petitioner Erlinda Lebin was the actual occupant of Lot 18. The RTC commissioned an ocular inspection by Atty. Tabares, whose report confirmed that Erlinda was the only occupant. The RTC approved the offer on August 28, 1985. Respondent Mirasol also offered to purchase a lot where her house stood and initially identified it as Lot 4, Block 7 of 971. A later survey showed that her house was actually on Lot 18. Upon learning of the approval on November 11, 1985, Mirasol filed a petition for relief on December 6, 1985. Pending resolution, the petitioners paid the last installment on December 17, 1987 and moved for execution of the deed of sale. The RTC resolved the petition for relief on May 3, 1995 by directing an equal partition of the subject lot between the two offerors, ordering a relocation survey plan, directing the administrator to execute deeds of sale to each, and directing adjustment of payments if necessary.

Trial Court and Procedural History

The petitioners moved for reconsideration and/or new trial on May 23, 1995. The RTC denied that motion on March 2, 1998. The petitioners filed a notice of appeal on March 27, 1998 and allegedly filed a record on appeal on May 5, 1998. They later presented an ex parte motion to approve the record on appeal on January 25, 1999. On June 15, 2000, Mirasol moved to dismiss the appeal for tardiness of the record on appeal. The RTC granted the motion and dismissed the appeal on February 1, 2002. The petitioners filed a motion for reconsideration on March 13, 2002, which the RTC denied on May 21, 2004. The petitioners filed a petition for review on certiorari with the Supreme Court on June 23, 2004, seeking reversal of the RTC orders dated February 1, 2002 and May 21, 2004.

Issues Presented

Whether the RTC erred in dismissing the petitioners' appeal for failure to timely file a record on appeal.
Whether the RTC committed reversible error in adjudging that Lot 18 be sold and partitioned in equal portions between the petitioners and respondent Mirasol.

Parties' Contentions

The petitioners contended that producing a record on appeal would have required reproducing more than eighteen volumes of records, which they deemed impracticable, and that most of those records were irrelevant to the controversy. They also maintained that counsel honestly believed a record on appeal was unnecessary because the matter was civil and not intestate. Respondent Mirasol moved to dismiss the appeal on the ground that the record on appeal was filed late and that the appeal was therefore not perfected.

Ruling

The petition for review lacked merit. The Supreme Court denied the petition for review and affirmed the RTC final orders dated May 3, 1995 and March 2, 1998. The petitioners were ordered to pay the costs of suit.

Legal Basis and Reasoning — Timeliness and Perfection of Appeal

The Court observed that the perfection of an appeal in the manner and within the period prescribed by law is mandatory and jurisdictional. The Court explained that Batas Pambansa Blg. 129, Section 39, eliminated the record on appeal in most cases but expressly preserved the requirement of a record on appeal in special proceedings. The Court relied on its guidance in Murillo v. Consul to stress that an appellant must determine the correct mode of appeal and comply strictly with procedural requisites. Under the 1997 revisions to the Rules of Civil Procedure, the Court cited Section 2 and Section 3 of Rule 41, which continue to require a record on appeal and prescribe a thirty-day period for filing a notice of appeal and a record on appeal in cases where a record is required, including special proceedings. The Court further cited Section 6 of Rule 41 to explain the contents of a record on appeal and Section 13 of Rule 41 to show that the trial court may, motu proprio or on motion, dismiss an appeal taken out of time or for non-payment of docket fees. Applying these provisions to the case, the Court found that the petitioners received the May 3, 1995 order on May 15, 1995 and timely filed a motion for reconsideration on May 24, 1995, which interrupted the running of the appeal period. The denial of that motion on March 2, 1998 was served on the petitioners on March 23, 1998, at which point the appeal period resumed and expired on April 13, 1998. The record on appeal was filed only on May 5, 1998, beyond the thirty-day period. The Court held that the appeal was not perfected and that the RTC correctly dismissed it for tardiness.

Legal Basis and Reasoning — Merits of the Partition Order

Although the Supreme Court disposed of the petition on procedural grounds, it also addressed the substantive correctness of the RTC order. The Court affirmed that the RTC did not err in directing the equal partition of Lot 18. The Court explained that the administrator conditioned approval of the petitioners' offer on the factual predicate that the petitioners were the sole actual occupants, a condition intended to avoid displacing actual occupants. The

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