Bonilla vs. Barcena
G.R. No. L-41715. June 18, 1976.
FACTS:
On March 31, 1975 Fortunata Barcena, mother of minors
Rosalio Bonilla and Salvacion Bonilla and wife of Ponciano Bonilla, instituted
a civil action to quiet title over certain parcels of land.
On August 4, 1975, the defendants filed a motion to dismiss
the complaint on the ground that Fortunata Barcena is dead and, therefore, has
no legal capacity to sue. Said motion to dismiss was heard on August 14, 1975.
In said hearing, counsel for the plaintiff confirmed the death of Fortunata
Barcena and asked for substitution by her minor children and her husband, the
petitioners herein; but the court after the hearing immediately dismissed the
case on the ground that a dead person cannot be a real party in interest and
has no legal personality to sue.
ISSUE:
Whether or not the Court was correct in dismissing the
action in view of the death of Fortunata
RULING:
While it is true that a person who is dead cannot sue in
court, yet he can be substituted by his heirs in pursuing the case up to its
completion. The records of this case show that the death of Fortunata Barcena
took place on July 9, 1975 while the complaint was filed on March 31, 1975.
This means that when the complaint was filed on March 31, 1975, Fortunata
Barcena was still alive, and therefore, the court had acquired jurisdiction
over her person.
Article 777 of the Civil Code provides “that the rights to
the succession are transmitted from the moment of the death of the decedent.”
From the moment of the death of the decedent, the heirs become the absolute
owners of his property, subject to the rights and obligations of the decedent,
and they cannot be deprived of their rights thereto except by the methods
provided for by law. The moment of death is the determining factor when the
heirs acquire a definite right to the inheritance whether such right be pure or
contingent. The right of the heirs to the property of the deceased vests in
them even before judicial declaration of their being heirs in the testate or
intestate proceedings. When Fortunata Barcena, therefore, died her claim or
right to the parcels of land in litigation was not extinguished by her death
but was transmitted to her heirs upon her death. Her heirs have thus acquired
interest in the properties in litigation and became parties in interest in the case.
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