Agapay Vs Palang
Agapay Vs Palang
Agapay Vs Palang
ERLINDA A. AGAPAY, petitioner, vs. CARLINA (CORNELIA) V. PALANG and HERMINIA P. DELA
CRUZ, respondents.
DECISION
ROMERO, J.:
Before us is a petition for review of the decision of the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. CV No. 24199 entitled Erlinda
Agapay v. Carlina (Cornelia) Palang and Herminia P. Dela Cruz dated June 22, 1994 involving the ownership of two parcels
of land acquired during the cohabitation of petitioner and private respondents legitimate spouse.
Miguel Palang contracted his first marriage on July 16, 1949 when he took private respondent Carlina (or Cornelia)
Vallesterol as a wife at the Pozorrubio Roman Catholic Church in Pangasinan. A few months after the wedding, in October
1949, he left to work in Hawaii. Miguel and Carlinas only child, Herminia Palang, was born on May 12, 1950.
Miguel returned in 1954 for a year. His next visit to the Philippines was in 1964 and during the entire duration of his
year-long sojourn he stayed in Zambales with his brother, not in Pangasinan with his wife and child.The trial court found
evidence that as early as 1957, Miguel had attempted to divorce Carlina in Hawaii. [1] When he returned for good in 1972,
he refused to live with private respondents, but stayed alone in a house in Pozorrubio, Pangasinan.
On July 15, 1973, the then sixty-three-year-old Miguel contracted his second marriage with nineteen-year-old Erlinda
Agapay, herein petitioner.[2] Two months earlier, on May 17, 1973, Miguel and Erlinda, as evidenced by the Deed of Sale,
jointly purchased a parcel of agricultural land located at San Felipe, Binalonan, Pangasinan with an area of 10,080 square
meters. Consequently, Transfer Certificate of Title No. 101736 covering said rice land was issued in their names.
A house and lot in Binalonan, Pangasinan was likewise purchased on September 23, 1975, allegedly by Erlinda as the
sole vendee. TCT No. 143120 covering said property was later issued in her name.
On October 30, 1975, Miguel and Cornelia Palang executed a Deed of Donation as a form of compromise agreement
to settle and end a case filed by the latter.[3] The parties therein agreed to donate their conjugal property consisting of six
parcels of land to their only child, Herminia Palang.[4]
Miguel and Erlindas cohabitation produced a son, Kristopher A. Palang, born on December 6, 1977. In 1979, Miguel
and Erlinda were convicted of Concubinage upon Carlinas complaint.[5] Two years later, on February 15, 1981, Miguel died.
On July 11, 1981, Carlina Palang and her daughter Herminia Palang de la Cruz, herein private respondents, instituted
the case at bar, an action for recovery of ownership and possession with damages against petitioner before the Regional
Trial Court in Urdaneta, Pangasinan (Civil Case No. U-4265). Private respondents sought to get back the riceland and the
house and lot both located at Binalonan, Pangasinan allegedly purchased by Miguel during his cohabitation with petitioner.
Petitioner, as defendant below, contended that while the riceland covered by TCT No. 101736 is registered in their
names (Miguel and Erlinda), she had already given her half of the property to their son Kristopher Palang. She added that
the house and lot covered by TCT No. 143120 is her sole property, having bought the same with her own money. Erlinda
added that Carlina is precluded from claiming aforesaid properties since the latter had already donated their conjugal estate
to Herminia.
After trial on the merits, the lower court rendered its decision on June 30, 1989 dismissing the complaint after declaring
that there was little evidence to prove that the subject properties pertained to the conjugal property of Carlina and Miguel
Palang. The lower court went on to provide for the intestate shares of the parties, particularly of Kristopher Palang, Miguels
illegitimate son. The dispositive portion of the decision reads:
2) Confirming the ownership of defendant Erlinda Agapay of the residential lot located at Poblacion, Binalonan, Pangasinan, as
evidenced by TCT No. 143120, Lot 290-B including the old house standing therein;
3) Confirming the ownership of one-half (1/2) portion of that piece of agricultural land situated at Balisa, San Felipe, Binalonan,
Pangasinan, consisting of 10,080 square meters and as evidenced by TCT No. 101736, Lot 1123-A to Erlinda Agapay;
4) Adjudicating to Kristopher Palang as his inheritance from his deceased father, Miguel Palang, the one-half (1/2) of the agricultural
land situated at Balisa, San Felipe, Binalonan, Pangasinan, under TCT No. 101736 in the name of Miguel Palang, provided that the
former (Kristopher) executes, within 15 days after this decision becomes final and executory, a quit-claim forever renouncing any
claims to annul/reduce the donation to Herminia Palang de la Cruz of all conjugal properties of her parents, Miguel Palang and Carlina
Vallesterol Palang, dated October 30, 1975, otherwise, the estate of deceased Miguel Palang will have to be settled in another separate
action;
SO ORDERED.[6]
On appeal, respondent court reversed the trial courts decision. The Court of Appeals rendered its decision on July 22,
1994 with the following dispositive portion:
WHEREFORE, PREMISES CONSIDERED, the appealed decision is hereby REVERSED and another one entered:
2. Ordering defendant-appellee to vacate and deliver the properties in question to herein plaintiffs-appellants;
3. Ordering the Register of Deeds of Pangasinan to cancel Transfer Certificate of Title Nos. 143120 and 101736 and to issue in lieu
thereof another certificate of title in the name of plaintiffs-appellants.
No pronouncement as to costs.[7]
[1] From the Decision of the trial court in Civil Case No. U-4265, page 2, citing Exhibit E of the Records; Rollo, p. 29.
[2] At the Methodist Church of Binalonan.
[3] Civil Case No. U-2501, CFI Branch 9, Urdaneta, Pangasinan.
[4] The judicially-confirmed settlement reads in part:
COME NOW the parties in the above-entitled case, assisted by their respective counsel, and to this Honorable Court
respectfully submit this COMPROMISE AGREEMENT.
1. That defendant hereby admits all the material allegations in the complaint;
2. That the parties have mutually agreed that, for their mutual interest and that of their only child, Herminia B. Palang, all
their present conjugal properties, real and personal, be conveyed or transfered (sic) to their said daughter, except
some personal properties such as the car mentioned in the complaint which shall remain in the possession of the
defendant; x x x
[5] Criminal Case No. U-0509. Miguel Palang, then seventy years of age, was sentenced to a minimum indeterminate penalty
of three months and eleven days of Arresto Mayor and a maximum of one year, eight months and twenty-one days
of Prision Correccional.Erlinda Agapay was sentenced to four years and two months of destierro.
[6] Penned by Judge Manuel D. Villanueva, Rollo, pp. 28-36.
[7] Per Justice Eugenio S. Labitoria, with the concurrence of Justices Emeterio C. Cui and Fermin A. Martin, Jr. in CA-G.R.
CV No. 24199, Carlina (Cornelia) V. Palang and Herminia P. Dela Cruz v. Erlinda A. Agapay, Rollo, pp. 78-90.
[8] Petition, p. 8; Rollo, p. 15.
[9] TOLENTINO, I CIVIL CODE OF THE PHILIPPINES COMMENTARIES AND JURISPRUDENCE 500 (1990 editition).
[10] TSN, February 3, 1988, p. 78; per Decision of the Court of Appeals, Rollo, p. 86.
[11] The entire property was bought for P7,500.00. Exhibit C; Decision of the trial court, Rollo, p. 29.
[12] Decision of the trial court, p. 5; Rollo, p. 32.
[13] Article 134 of the Family Code.
[14] TSN, October 1, 1986, pp.13-16.
[15] The law states: Every donation or grant of gratuitous advantage direct or indirect, between the spouses during the
marriage shall be void, except moderate gifts which the spouses may give each other on the occasion of any family
rejoicing. The prohibition shall also apply to persons living together as husband and wife without a valid marriage.
[16] TOLENTINO, supra. page 376 citing Buenaventura v. Bautista, 50 O.G. 3679 and Matabuena v. Cervantes, 38 SCRA
284.
[17] Decision of the Court of Appeals, Rollo, p. 89.
[18] Decision, p. 8; Rollo, p. 35.
[19] Petition, p. 11; Rollo, p. 18.