Article 163 - Family Code and Case: Baluyut et.al. Vs. Baluyut, G.R. No. L-33659
Article 163
The filiation of children may be by nature or by
adoption. Natural filiation may be legitimate or illegitimate.
VICTORIA
U. BALUYUT, MA. THERESA U. BALUYUT and MA. FLORDELIZA U. BALUYUT, all minors,
represented by their mother and guardian ad litem, NORMA URBANO vs. FELICEDAD
S. BALUYUT and HON. COURT OF APPEALS
G.R. No. L-33659 June 14, 1990
Facts:
This is a petition for certiorari filed by Victoria,
Ma. Theresa and Ma. Flordeliza, all surnamed Baluyut, then minors, represented
by their mother and guardian ad litem, Norma Urbano, which seeks the reversal
of the decision of the Court of Appeals in CA?G.R. No. 38069-R entitled
"Felicidad S. Baluyut, Administratrix-Appellant v. Victoria U. Baluyut, et
al., Intervenors-Appellees." The decision brought to this court for review
reversed the decision of the Court of First Instance of Pampanga (now Regional
Trial Court) and dismissed the petition for intervention filed by petitioners
in the trial court.
In Special Proceedings No. 1835, entitled "Intestate
Estate of Deceased Enrique Baluyut," filed before the Court of First
Instance of Pampanga, herein petitioners filed on April 29, 1965 a petition for
intervention. The petition... alleged
that petitioners have a legal interest in the estate of the deceased Enrique M.
Baluyut; that petitioners-minors are the illegitimate children of the deceased,
begotten out of wedlock by said deceased and petitioners' mother and guardian
ad litem Norma Urbano; that petitioners were conceived and born at the time
when Norma Urbano cohabited with the deceased while the latter was already
married to Felicidad S. Baluyut; that they... were in continuous possession and
enjoyment of the status of children of the deceased during his lifetime by
direct overt acts of said deceased having supported and maintained them. The petitioners also alleged that they were
deliberately excluded from the... estate of Enrique M. Baluyut (pp. 10-18,
Record on Appeal).
Felicidad S. Baluyut, widow of Enrique and appointed
administratrix of his estate, opposed the petition for intervention (p. 20,
Record on Appeal). On May 8, 1965 (pp.
18-19, Record on Appeal), the trial court issued an order allowing the
petitioners to intervene.
Felicidad S. Baluyut,
widow of Enrique and appointed administratrix of his estate, opposed the
petition for intervention (p. 20, Record on Appeal). On May 8, 1965 (pp. 18-19, Record on Appeal),
the trial court issued an order allowing the petitioners to intervene.
After trial, a decision (pp. 24-31, Record on Appeal) was
rendered declaring the intervenors Victoria, Ma. Theresa and Ma. Flordeliza the
forced heirs of deceased Enrique Baluyut and ordering administratrix Felicidad
Vda. de Baluyut to pay P150.00 monthly support to Norma Urbano, guardian ad
litem for the three minor children. The administratrix filed a Notice of Appeal
from the trial court's decision. On
February 22, 1966, the intervenors filed their Objection to Appeal and Motion
for Execution. The latter motion... was
based on the pronouncement in Salazar v. Salazar, L-5823, April 29, 1953, that
an order granting support pendente lite is final and executory.
On May 4, 1966, the trial court issued an order (p. 37,
Record on Appeal) declaring that it considers intervenors' motion for execution
as a motion for reconsideration and amended the decision to the effect that it
granted the minors Victoria, Theresa and Flordeliza monthly support pendente
lite in the amount of P150.00 payable every first day of the month to their
guardian ad litem Norma Urbano.
On April 22, 1971, the
Court of Appeals rendered judgment (pp. 19-41, Rollo) reversing the decision of
the trial court.
Petitioners' motion for
reconsideration of respondent Court of Appeals' decision was denied
The withdrawal of intervention in consideration of the
financial assistance extended to petitioners by the administratrix of the
estate of the deceased Enrique M. Baluyut (p. 37, Rollo) is in the nature of
a... compromise settlement of the instant petition... the Joint Motion to
Dismiss the instant petition cannot be granted, acknowledgment, affecting as it
does the civil status of persons and of future support cannot be the subject of
a compromise
Issues:
Whether or not
petitioners, Victoria, Ma. Theresa and Ma. Flordeliza, all surnamed Baluyut are
the acknowledged, spurious children of the deceased, Enrique M. Baluyut.
Held:
The trial court found that petitioners are the illegitimate
children of the deceased Enrique M. Baluyut.
This finding was shared by respondent Court of Appeals:
However, proof of filiation of the petitioners to the late
Enrique M. Baluyut is not sufficient to confer upon them any hereditary right
in the estate of the deceased. What is
necessary to be established by an illegitimate not... natural child in order
that he may be entitled to successional rights under Article 887 of the New
Civil Code, is not the fact of his bare filiation but a filiation acknowledged
by the putative parent.
Paulino v. Paulino, 113
Phil. 697, 700, 701,702. In the Paulino
case, it was held:
"An illegitimate (spurious) child to be entitled to
support and successional rights from his putative or presumed parents must
prove his filiation to them. Filiation
may be established by the voluntary or... compulsory recognition of the
illegitimate (spurious) child.
Recognition is voluntary when "made in the record of birth, a will,
a statement before a court of record, or in any authentic writing." It is
compulsory when by court action the child brings about... his recognition.
There are two modes of acknowledgment provided in the New
Civil Code: one, by the voluntary
recognition by the putative parent made in the record of birth, a statement
before the court of record, or in any authentic writing (Art. 278, New Civil
Code) and... two, by compulsory recognition under Article 283 of the same law.
There is no evidence as required by Article 278 which
proves that the petitioners were recognized by the deceased during his lifetime
as his spurious children. The
petitioners' records of birth, although in the name of Enrique Baluyut, were
not... signed by the latter. There was
no authentic writing presented nor any statement in a court of record which
would prove that the petitioners were recognized by the deceased.
With regard to
compulsory recognition, Article 283 enumerates the cases where the father is
obliged to recognize the child as his, namely:
a) in cases of rape, abduction of seduction, when the period of the
offense coincides more... or less with that of the conception; b) when the
child is in continuous possession of the status of a child of the alleged
father by the direct acts of the latter or his family; c) when the child was
conceived during the time when the mother cohabited with the supposed
father;... d) when the child has in his favor any evidence or proof that the
defendant is his father.
The grounds relied upon by petitioners for compelling the
heirs of Baluyut to recognize them as the heirs of the deceased were the
alleged possession by the petitioners of the status of recognized illegitimate
spurious children and that they were conceived at the... time when their mother
cohabited with the deceased.
We agree with respondent appellate court that the evidence
presented by petitioners failed to satisfy the high standard of proof required
for the success of their action for compulsory recognition.
'In order to prove the continuous possession of the status
of a natural child, the acts must be of such a nature that they reveal, not
only the conviction of paternity, but also the apparent desire to have and
treat the child as such in all relations in society and in life, not
accidentally, but continuously’.
"The birth certificates Exhibits 'A,' 'B' and 'C' of
the intervenors do not help their case for these are not evidence of recognized
filiation by the deceased Enrique Baluyut because, firstly, they were admitted
in evidence by... the lower court merely as part of the testimony of the
witnesses who referred to them in the course of said witnesses' testimony and
hence, they are not evidence of the facts stated in them. Secondly, they
are merely evidence of the fact that gave... rise to their execution, that is,
the fact of birth and nothing else, much less of recognition as they are not
signed by Enrique Baluyut.
'In an action for compulsory acknowledgment under paragraph
4, Article 283 of the Civil Code, a birth certificate which, on its face, was
not signed by the supposed natural father is incompetent evidence on paternity,
being in violation of section 5... of Act 3753 and Article 280 of the Civil
Code’
"Upon the second point, whether a voluntary
acknowledgment may be done incidentally in a public document, a distinction
must be made between the two kinds of acknowledgment: (1) voluntary, and
(2) compulsory. In the... former, recognition may be incidental, but in
the latter, it must be direct and express.
"In actions to compel the alleged father to
acknowledge his natural child, based upon recognition in an indubitable
writing, article 135, par. 1, of the Civil Code, requires that the father must
'expressly recognize his paternity.' This provision has... been strictly
construed by Spanish and Philippine jurisprudence against the alleged natural
child.
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