SECOND DIVISION
[G.R. No. 103635.
CATALINA BUAN VDA. DE ESCONDE, CONSTANCIA ESCONDE VDA. DE
PERALTA, ELENITA ESCONDE and BENJAMIN E SCONDE, petitioners, vs. HONORABLE COURT OF APPEALS and PEDRO ESCONDE, respondents.
D E C I S I O N
ROMERO, J.:
This petition for review on certiorari seeks the reversal of the
Petitioners Constancia, Benjamin and Elenita, and private
respondent Pedro, are the children of the late Eulogio Esconde and petitioner
Catalina Buan. Eulogio Esconde was one
of the children[3]
and heirs of Andres Esconde. Andres is
the brother of Estanislao Esconde, the original owner of the disputed lot who
died without issue on April 1942. Survived by his only brother, Andres,
Estanislao left an estate consisting of four (4) parcels of land in Samal,
Bataan, namely: (a) Lot No. 1865 with 22,712 square meters; (b) Lot No. 1902
with 54,735 square meters; (c) Lot No. 1208 with
20,285 square meters; and (d) Lot No.
1700 with 547 square meters.
Eulogio died in April, 1944 survived by petitioners and private respondent. At that time, Lazara and Ciriaca, Eulogio’s sisters, had already died without having partitioned the estate of the late Estanislao Esconde.
On December 5, 1946, the heirs of Lazara, Ciriaca and Eulogio
executed a deed of extrajudicial partition,[4]
with the heirs of Lazara identified therein as the Party of the First Part,
that of Ciriaca, the Party of the Second Part and that of Eulogio, the Party of
the Third Part. Since the children of
Eulogio, with the exception of Constancia, were then all minors, they were
represented by their mother and judicial guardian, petitioner Catalina Buan vda. de Esconde who renounced and
waived her usufructuary rights over the parcels of land in favor of her
children in the same deed. Salient
provisions of the deed state as follows:
“1. TO ARTURO DOMINGUEZ, minor, Party of the First Part is adjudicated:
(a)
(b) Portion of Lot No. 1208, Samal Cadastre, which portion has an area of FIVE (5) Luang;
2. TO JOVITA BUAN, RICARDO BUAN, and MELODY and LEOPOLDO OCONER, are adjudicated Lot No. 1902 Samal Cadastre, and to de (sic) divided as follows:
(a) Jovita Buan - Undivided one-third (1/3) share;
(b) Ricardo Buan - Undivided one-third (1/3) share;
(c) Melody Oconer - Undivided one-sixth (1/6) share;
(d) Leopoldo Oconer - Undivided one-sixth (1/6) share;
3. TO CONSTANCIA, PEDRO, BENJAMIN and ELENITA, all Surnamed ESCONDE, are adjudicated, in undivided equal shares each, the following:
(a) Lot No. 1208 Samal Cadastre, subject to the encumbrance of the right of ownership of Arturo Dominguez on the FIVE LUANG;
4. TO PEDRO ESCONDE is adjudicated exclusively
The deed bears the thumbmark of Catalina Buan and the signature of Constancia Esconde, as well as the approval and signature of Judge Basilio Bautista.[5]
Pursuant to the same deed, transfer certificates of title were
issued to the new owners of the properties.[6]
Transfer Certificate of Title No. 394 for Lot No. 1700 was issued on
Meanwhile, Benjamin constructed the family home on Lot No. 1698-B[7]
which is adjacent to
Sometime in December, 1982, Benjamin discovered that Lot No. 1700 was registered in the name of his brother, private respondent. Believing that the lot was co-owned by all the children of Eulogio Esconde, Benjamin demanded his share of the lot from private respondent.[8] However, private respondent asserted exclusive ownership thereof pursuant to the deed of extrajudicial partition and, in 1985 constructed a “buho” fence to segregate Lot No. 1700 from Lot No. 1698-B.
Hence, on
In its decision of
“Although the parties to the partition did not either contemplate
or express it in said document, the resulting
trust arose or was created by operation of Article 1456 of the new Civil
Code, which reads: ‘If property is acquired through mistake or fraud, the person obtaining it is, by force of law, considered a trustee
of an implied trust for the benefit of the person from whom the property
comes.’ The persons from whom the two-thirds portion of
However, the lower court ruled that the action had been barred by
both prescription and laches. Lot No. 1700 having been registered in the name
of private respondent on February 11, 1947, the action to annul such title
prescribed within ten (10) years on February 11, 1957 or more than thirty (30)
years before the action was filed on June 29, 1987. Thus, even if Art. 1963 of
the old Civil Code providing for a 30-year prescriptive period for real actions
over immovable properties were to be applied, still, the action would have
prescribed on
Hence, petitioners elevated the case to the Court of Appeals which affirmed the lower court’s decision. The appellate court held that the deed of extrajudicial partition established “an implied trust arising from the mistake of the judicial guardian in favoring one heir by giving him a bigger share in the hereditary property.” It stressed that “an action for reconveyance based on implied or constructive trust” prescribes in ten (10) years “counted from the registration of the property in the sole name of the co-heir.”[10]
Petitioners are now before this Court charging the Court of Appeals with having erred in: (a) denying their appeal by reason of prescription and laches, and (b) not reversing the decision of the lower court insofar as awarding them damages is concerned.
Trust is the legal relationship between one person having an equitable ownership in property and another person owning the legal title to such property, the equitable ownership of the former entitling him to the performance of certain duties and the exercise of certain powers by the latter.[11] Trusts are either express or implied. An express trust is created by the direct and positive acts of the parties, by some writing or deed or will or by words evidencing an intention to create a trust.[12] No particular words are required for the creation of an express trust, it being sufficient that a trust is clearly intended.[13]
On the other hand, implied trusts are those which, without being expressed, are deducible from the nature of the transaction as matters of intent or which are superinduced on the transaction by operation of law as matters of equity, independently of the particular intention of the parties.[14] In turn, implied trusts are either resulting or constructive trusts. These two are differentiated from each other as follows:
“Resulting trusts are based on the equitable doctrine that valuable
consideration and not legal title determines the equitable title or interest
and are presumed always to have been contemplated by the parties. They arise from the nature or circumstances
of the consideration involved in a transaction whereby one person thereby
becomes invested with legal title but is obligated in equity to hold his legal title for the benefit of another. On the other hand, constructive trusts are
created by the construction of equity in order to satisfy the demands of
justice and prevent unjust enrichment.
They arise contrary to intention against one who, by fraud, duress or
abuse of confidence, obtains or holds the legal right to property which he
ought not, in equity and good conscience, to hold.”[15]
While the deed of extrajudicial partition and the registration of Lot No. 1700 occurred in 1947 when the Code of Civil Procedure or Act No. 190 was yet in force, we hold that the trial court correctly applied Article 1456. In Diaz, et al. v. Gorricho and Aguado,[16] the Court categorically held that while it is not a retroactive provision of the new Civil Code, Article 1456 “merely expresses a rule already recognized by our courts prior to the Code’s promulgation.” This article provides:
“Art. 1456. If property is acquired through mistake or fraud, the person obtaining it is, by force of law, considered a trustee of an implied trust for the benefit of the person from whom the property comes.”
Construing this provision of the Civil Code, in Philippine National Bank v. Court of Appeals, the Court stated:
“A deeper analysis of Article 1456 reveals that it is not a trust
in the technical sense for in a typical trust, confidence is reposed in one
person who is named a trustee for the benefit of another who is called the cestui que trust, respecting property
which is held by the trustee for the benefit of the cestui que trust. A constructive
trust, unlike an express trust, does
not emanate from, or generate a fiduciary relation. While in an express trust, a beneficiary and
a trustee are linked by confidential or fiduciary relations, in a constructive
trust, there is neither a promise nor any fiduciary relation to speak of and
the so-called trustee neither accepts any trust nor intends holding the
property for the beneficiary.”[17]
In the case at bench, petitioner Catalina Buan vda. de Esconde, as mother and legal guardian of her children, appears to have favored her elder son, private respondent, in allowing that he be given Lot No. 1700 in its entirety in the extrajudicial partition of the Esconde estate to the prejudice of her other children. Although it does not appear on record whether Catalina intentionally granted private respondent that privileged bestowal, the fact is that, said lot was registered in private respondent’s name. After TCT No. 394 was handed to him by his mother, private respondent exercised exclusive rights of ownership therein to the extent of even mortgaging the lot when he needed money.
If, as petitioners insist, a mistake was committed in allotting Lot
No. 1700 to private respondent, then a trust relationship was created between
them and private respondent. However,
private respondent never considered himself a trustee. If he allowed his brother Benjamin to
construct or make improvements thereon, it appears to have been out of
tolerance to a brother. Consequently, if
indeed, by mistake,[18] private respondent was given the
entirety of Lot No. 1700, the trust relationship between him and petitioners was a constructive, not resulting, implied
trust. Petitioners, therefore, correctly
questioned private respondent’s exercise of absolute ownership over the
property. Unfortunately, however,
petitioners assailed it long after their right to do so had prescribed.
The rule that a trustee cannot acquire by prescription ownership over property entrusted to him until and unless he repudiates the trust, applies to express trusts[19] and resulting implied trusts.[20] However, in constructive implied trusts, prescription may supervene[21] even if the trustee does not repudiate the relationship. Necessarily, repudiation of the said trust is not a condition precedent to the running of the prescriptive period.
Since the action for the annulment of private respondent’s title to Lot No. 1700 accrued during the effectivity of Act No. 190, Section 40 of Chapter III thereof applies. It provides:
“Sec. 40. Period of prescription as to real estate. - An action for recovery of title to, or possession of, real property, or an interest therein, can only be brought within ten years after the cause of such action accrues.”
Thus, in Heirs of Jose Olviga v. Court of Appeals,[22] the Court ruled that the ten-year
prescriptive period for an action for reconveyance of real property based on
implied or constructive trust which is counted from the date of registration of the property, applies when the
plaintiff is not in possession of the
contested property. In this case, private respondent, not petitioners who
instituted the action, is in actual possession of Lot No. 1700. Having filed their action only on
Not only that. Laches has also circumscribed the action for, whether the implied trust is constructive or resulting, this doctrine applies.[23] As regards constructive implied trusts, the Court held in Diaz, et al. v. Gorricho and Aguado[24] that:
“x x x in constructive trusts (that are imposed by law), there is neither promise nor fiduciary relation; the so-called trustee does not recognize any trust and has no intent to hold for the beneficiary; therefore, the latter is not justified in delaying action to recover his property. It is his fault if he delays; hence, he may be estopped by his own laches.”
It is tragic that a land dispute has once again driven a wedge
between brothers. However, credit must
be given to petitioner Benjamin Esconde[25]
for resorting to all means possible in arriving at a settlement between him and
his brother in accordance with Article 222 of the Civil Code.[26]
Verbally and in two letters,[27] he demanded that private respondent give
him and his sisters their share in
On the other hand, private respondent should not be unjustly enriched by the improvements introduced by his brother on Lot No. 1700 which he himself had tolerated. He is obliged by law to indemnify his brother, petitioner Benjamin Esconde, for whatever expenses the latter had incurred.
WHEREFORE, the instant petition for review on certiorari is hereby DENIED and the questioned decision AFFIRMED subject to the modification that private respondent shall indemnify petitioner Benjamin Esconde the expenses the latter had incurred for the improvements on Lot No. 1700. No costs.
SO ORDERED.
Regalado, Puno and Mendoza, JJ., concur.
[1] Penned by Associate Justice Minerva P. Gonzaga-Reyes and concurred in by Associate Justices Arturo B. Buena and Quirino D. Abad Santos, Jr.
[2] Presided by Judge Romeo G. Maglalang.
[3] Andres had two other children namely: Lazara and Ciriaca.
[4] Exh. “B”.
[5] Page 3 of Exh. “B”; Record, p. 11.
[6]
TCT No. 391 for
[7]
This lot, which used to be part of Lot No. 1698 and co-owned by Eulogio and his
sister Lazara, became the property of the former’s heirs after Lot No. 1698 was
extrajudicially partitioned on
[8]
TSN,
[9] RTC Decision, p. 29.
[10] CA Decision, p. 5.
[11] TOLENTINO CIVIL CODE OF THE PHILIPPINES, Vol. IV, 1991 ed., p. 669 citing 54 Am. Jur. 21.
[12]
Sotto v. Teves, L-380l8,
[13]
Art. 1443, Civil Code; Heirs of Maria de Ia Cruz y Gutierrez v. Court of Appeals, G.R. No. 76590,
February 26, 1990, 182 SCRA 638, 643 citing Vda. de Mapa v. Court of Appeals, L-38972,
[14]
Philippine National Bank v. Court of
Appeals, G.R. No. 97995.
[15] O’Laco v. Co Cho Chit, G.R. No. 58010, March 31, 1993.220 SCRA 656, 663.
[16] 103 Phil. 261, 264 (1958).
[17] Supra at pp. 353-3 54.
[18] This appears to have a factual basis as Catalina Buan vda. de Esconde joined the other petitioners in filing the action for annulment of title against private respondent.
[19]
See: Ramos v. Ramos, L-19872,
[20]
O’Laco v. Co Cho Chit, supra at p. 668. See: Huang v. Court of
Appeals. G.R. No. 108525,
[21] Ibid.
[22]
G.R. No. 104813,
[23] Philippine National Bank v. Court of Appeals, supra at pp. 357-358.
[24] Supra at pp. 266.
[25] He was granted by the other petitioners a special power of attorney to appear for them in Civil Case No. 5552 and to enter into any agreement regarding the case (Record, p. 34).
[26] “Art 222. No suit shall be filed or maintained between members of the same family unless it should appear that earnest efforts toward a compromise have been made, but that the same have failed, subject to the limitations in Article 2035.”
[27] Exhs. “E” & “F”.
[28] RTC Decision, p. 7.