Pajarillo vs IAC [G.R. No. 72908] Case Digest

 

Pajarillo vs IAC

G.R. No. 72908

 

Facts:

Perfecta died in 1945 leaving inter alia a tract of land consisting of about 28 hectares in Quezon Province. On May 20, 1946, Juana and Felipe executed a public instrument.

The said extra-judicial settlement contains the following: "That whereas, we Felipe Balane and Juana Balane de Suterio, the only heirs of the property described above left by the deceased Perfecta Balane de Cordero, do hereby agree in carrying out the antemortem wish of our beloved deceased sister that in consideration of love and affection the property described above be donated to Salud Sutexio de Matias."

On June 20, 1946, Salud Suterio receive and accept this donation. Petitioner Eufemia Pajarillo was one of the witnesses.

These instruments were never registered nor was title transferred in Salud's name although she says she immediately took possession of the land. Meantime, intestate proceedings were instituted on the estate of Perfecta and the said land was among those included in the inventory of the properties belonging to the decedent. Salud interposed no objection to its inclusion nor did she oppose its subsequent adjudication to her mother Juana in the project of partition.

Juana executed a deed of absolute sale conveying the land to Claudio for the declared consideration of P12,000.00. Two years later, on August 27, 1958, Claudio had the land registered in as name and was issued TCT in the land records of Quezon Province. The private respondents filed a complaint for the reconveyance of the property on the ground that the deed of sale in favor of Claudio was fictitious and its registration in his name was null and void.

CFI Quezon rendered judgment upholding the donation to the plaintiff and annulling the deed of sale and the registration of the land in favor of Claudio Suterio, Sr.

 

Issue:

Whether or not the donation to Salud as legally inefficacious and defective.

 

Held:

No.

 

Ratio:

Felipe and Juana had declared themselves the heirs of Perfecta and the owners of the property in question. As such, they were free to give the land to whomever they pleased and for whatever reason they saw fit. Hence, if they chose to respect Perfecta's wishes and carry out her intentions by donating the land to Salud, there was no legal impediment to their doing so. In fact, that was not only the legal but also the moral thing to do.