EN BANC
[G.R. No. L-24843. July 15, 1968.]
MEMBERS OF THE CULT OF SAN MIGUEL ARCANGEL, Petitioners-Appellees, v. PEDRO NARCISO, trustee-appellant.
Bernabe Aquino, for trustee-appellant.
Eudocio Cacho for Petitioners-Appellees.
SYLLABUS
1. CIVIL LAW; APPLICATION OF LAWS; ACTS OR EVENTS ARE GOVERNED BY LAWS AT THE TIME THEY TOOK PLACE. — Changes made and new provisions and rules laid down by this Code which may prejudice or impair vested or acquired rights in accordance with the old legislation shall have no retroactive effect and the "Civil Code of 1889 and other previous laws shall govern rights originating under said laws, from acts done or events which took place under their regime, even though" the New Code "may regulate them in a different manner or may not recognize them."cralaw virtua1aw library
2. ID.; ID.; ID.; RIGHTS TO THE INHERITANCE OF A PERSON WHO DIED BEFORE THE EFFECTIVITY OF THE CIVIL CODE. — The rights of a person who died, with or without a will, before the effectivity of the Civil Code of the Philippines, "shall be governed by the Civil Code of 1889, by other previous laws and by the Rules of Court."
3. ID.; TRUST; PERPETUITIES ARE VOID IN INSTANT CASE. — Perpetuities are void under the common law and against public policy and accordingly, the provision in the will of Policarpio Narciso seeking to establish a perpetual trust is null and void. The validity of said provision was, however, upheld, by necessary implication, in the Court of First Instance of Pangasinan: in the first, when the Court ordered the executor therein to submit a project of partition, as well as directed him to initiate another judicial proceeding for the administration of the trust; and, in the second, when the Court appointed Tranquilino Jimenez as trustee and, then, for many years, passed upon his accounts as such and those of his successor.
4. ID.; ID.; VALIDITY OF COURT ORDERS UPHOLDING TRUST; PETITIONERS ARE BARRED BY LACHES. — The orders of the Court in said two (2) proceedings recognizing and, hence, upholding, the validity of said trust and actually enforcing as well as implementing the same, were and are valid. The nullity of said trust cannot now be decreed without, in effect, reversing said valid orders, from which no appeal was taken by petitioners herein or their predecessors in interest, and which had become final and executory over forty years ago. The least that can be said is that petitioners are barred, by the principle of laches, from assailing the validity and existence of said trust.
2. ID.; ID.; ID.; RIGHTS TO THE INHERITANCE OF A PERSON WHO DIED BEFORE THE EFFECTIVITY OF THE CIVIL CODE. — The rights of a person who died, with or without a will, before the effectivity of the Civil Code of the Philippines, "shall be governed by the Civil Code of 1889, by other previous laws and by the Rules of Court."
3. ID.; TRUST; PERPETUITIES ARE VOID IN INSTANT CASE. — Perpetuities are void under the common law and against public policy and accordingly, the provision in the will of Policarpio Narciso seeking to establish a perpetual trust is null and void. The validity of said provision was, however, upheld, by necessary implication, in the Court of First Instance of Pangasinan: in the first, when the Court ordered the executor therein to submit a project of partition, as well as directed him to initiate another judicial proceeding for the administration of the trust; and, in the second, when the Court appointed Tranquilino Jimenez as trustee and, then, for many years, passed upon his accounts as such and those of his successor.
4. ID.; ID.; VALIDITY OF COURT ORDERS UPHOLDING TRUST; PETITIONERS ARE BARRED BY LACHES. — The orders of the Court in said two (2) proceedings recognizing and, hence, upholding, the validity of said trust and actually enforcing as well as implementing the same, were and are valid. The nullity of said trust cannot now be decreed without, in effect, reversing said valid orders, from which no appeal was taken by petitioners herein or their predecessors in interest, and which had become final and executory over forty years ago. The least that can be said is that petitioners are barred, by the principle of laches, from assailing the validity and existence of said trust.
D E C I S I O N
CONCEPCION, J.:
Appeal from an order of the Court of First Instance of Pangasinan to the Court of Appeals, which certified the case to Us, upon the ground that only questions of law are involved in the appeal.
Upon the death of Policarpio Narciso, a bachelor, without forced heirs, residing in the barrio of San Miguel Abu, Municipality of Bani, Province of Pangasinan, sometime before August 9, 1920, special proceeding No. 546 of the Court of First Instance of Pangasinan, for the settlement of his estate, was commenced. A document executed by the deceased on January 3, 1910, as his last will and testament, and allowed to probate in said proceeding, provided, inter alia:jgc:chanrobles.com.ph
". . . que in caso me llamara la Divina Justicia tendran derecho mis sobrinos de primer grado y mis parientes que debieran heredar de mis bienes expresados en este testamento repartiran en tres; que en la primera parte es el deber que repartiran los mismos herederos; en la segunda parte es mi donacion que sirve en la Ermita de este barrio con las imagenes de los Santos precisamente el Patron Sr. San Miguel Arcangel par sostene lost necesarios ocasionados, y la tercera parte me compremeto dar voluntariamente al Albacea que to nombre para que cuidase arreglar todos mis bienes, lo cual es el Sr. Tranquilino Jimenez.
"Todos los bienes espresados en los documento que entregue a dicho Albacea, desde hoy en adelante, digo en realidad traspase el poder para que tendra derecho de distribuir en la espresada primera parte, a los herederos en las segunda parte es mi donacion que cuidase de mi Albacea que no podran reclamar de mis herederos en la espresada segunda parte, por que donde previene los gastos que sirve en la Ermita, los bultos y vestuarios de los santos con la casa como convento de la citada Ermita; en las tercera parte es mi promesa que le doy a mi albacea libre de toda gravamen como corresponde de sus trabajos que no podran renovar de mis herederos y parrientes de ambas partes, y todos los bienes que ya entregue el citado Albacea son los siguientes:chanrob1es virtual 1aw library
x x x"
Purporting to act in conformity with these provisions of the will, on August 9, 1920, the court ordered the executor therein named, Tranquilino Jimenez, (1) to segregate from the mass of the estate of the deceased a building used as chapel (Ermita), a house of wood intended for convent, a bell, and the religious images and ornaments specified in said instrument; (2) to divide the rest of the estate into three (3) equal parts; (3) to distribute one part among the nearest relatives 1 of the deceased and; (4) to keep another part for himself, as compensation for his (executor’s) services. The order, likewise, provided that the remaining third part:jgc:chanrobles.com.ph
". . . para se destina par las atenciones y sostenimiento del culto en la Ermita y tambien de la casa-convento y los ornamentos y estara bajo el cuidado y administracion del albacea Tranquilino Jimenez, quien como tal fideicomisario prestara una fianza igual al valor de los bienes y de la Ermita, convento y demas cosas, presentando ademas un inventario de todos los bienes puestos a su cuidado como fideicomisario; . . ."cralaw virtua1aw library
By an order, dated April 21, 1921, the court directed that said third part be administered by the executor, as trustee thereof, for the application of its products to the support of the Cult (to St. Michael Archangel) as ordained by the testator, without authority to alienate the chapel and other religious objects mentioned in the order of August 9, 1920, but with the duty to conserve them, according to the testator’s will. Another order, dated September 13, 1921, commanded the executor to institute a trusteeship proceeding for the administration of the property bequeathed for the support of the Cult in the Chapel (Ermita) in the barrio of San Miguel. In compliance with this order, Tranquilino Jimenez commenced special proceeding No. 979 of the court above mentioned, which on December 18, 1922, appointed his trustee, for the administration of said property.
Since then, said proceeding No. 979 was included in the monthly report, to the Department of Justice, of cases pending in the Court of First Instance of Pangasinan, up to October 31, 1956, when its presiding judge ordered that it be no longer included in said report, because for all "practical purposes", it should be "considered as terminated without prejudice, however, that the annual report of accounts of the trustee and/or any incident that may hereinafter arise . . . be presented to the court for its resolution."cralaw virtua1aw library
Meanwhile, Tranquilino Jimenez had died 2 and was succeeded, as trustee, by Pedro Narciso. Thereafter, two (2) petitions were filed for a change of trustee: one, 3 by several members of the "Cult of San Miguel Arcangel", alleging mismanagement by Pedro Narciso and praying that Bonifacio Orias, another member of the "Cult", be appointed in his stead; and another, 4 by Bartolome Aquino, likewise, a regular member of said "Cult", who prayed that he be the one appointed as trustee. In view of the seeming division among the members of the "Cult" the court issued an order, dated November 8, 1962, postponing the hearing of the petitions for change of trustee and urging the different factions to get another and settle their internal conflicts.
On January 3, 1963, the trustee, namely, Pedro Narciso and Carmen Narciso, Rafael Narciso and Felix Aquino, — hereinafter referred to as petitioners — as alleged heirs of the founder of the trust, objected to the appointment of a new trustee and moved for the reversion, to the heirs of Policarpio Narciso, of the properties held in trust, upon the ground that the trust had been terminated by the aforementioned order of October 31, 1956, and that a trust cannot exist for more than twenty (20) years, pursuant to Art. 870 of the Civil Code of the Philippines. In due course, the lower court denied this petition for reversion and set a date for the hearing of the petitions for change of trustee. Forthwith, the petitioners interposed the present appeal, in which they insist on the reasons adduced by them in the trial court.
We find no merit in the appeal. It is not true that the trust was terminated by the aforementioned order of October 31, 1956. The same declared Special Proceeding No. 979 terminated insofar only as the monthly report of pending cases were concerned "without prejudice to the annual report of accounts of the trustee and/or any incident that may arise" thereafter, which "should be presented to the court for its resolution." This qualification clearly refutes petitioners’ pretense.
Moreover, the Civil Code of the Philippines became effective in 1950, or thirty (30) years after the establishment of the trust in 1920. Art. 870 of said Code, on which petitioners rely, is not applicable, therefore, to the case at bar, for 5 "changes made and new provisions and rules laid down by this Code which may prejudice or impair vested or acquired rights in accordance with the old legislation shall have no retroactive effect," and 6 "the Civil Code of 1889 and other previous laws shall govern rights originating under said laws, from acts done or events which took place under their regime, even though" the New Code "may regulate them in a different manner or may not recognize them," 7 apart from the fact that 8 "rights to the inheritance of a person who died, with or without a will, before the effectivity" of the Civil Code of the Philippines, "shall be governed by the Civil Code of 1889, by other previous laws and by the Rules of Court." 9
It is next urged that, at any rate, perpetuities are void under the common law and against public policy and that, accordingly, the provision in the will of Policarpio Narciso seeking to establish a perpetual trust is null and void. The validity of said provision was, however, upheld by necessary implication, in Special Proceedings Nos. 546 and 979 of the Court of First Instance of Pangasinan: in the first, when the Court ordered the executor therein to submit a project of partition, giving effect to said provision of the will, and later approved 10 said project of partition, as well as directed him to initiate another judicial proceeding for the administration of the trust; and, in the second, when the Court appointed Tranquilino Jimenez as trustee and, then, for many years, passed upon 11 his accounts as such and those of his successor. 12
Even if erroneous, the orders of the Court in said two (2) proceedings recognizing and, hence, upholding the validity of said trust and actually enforcing as well as implementing the same, were and are valid. The nullity of said trust cannot now be decreed without, in effect, reversing said valid orders, from which no appeal was taken by petitioners herein or their predecessors in interest, and which had become final and executory over 40 years ago. The least that can be said is that petitioners are barred, by the principle of laches, from assailing the validity and existence of said trust. 13
WHEREFORE, the order appealed from is hereby affirmed and the records of this case remanded to the lower court for further proceedings, in accordance with law, with costs against petitioners herein.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Reyes, J.B.L., Dizon, Makalintal, Zaldivar, Sanchez, Angeles and Fernando, JJ., concur.
Castro, J., concurs in the result.
Upon the death of Policarpio Narciso, a bachelor, without forced heirs, residing in the barrio of San Miguel Abu, Municipality of Bani, Province of Pangasinan, sometime before August 9, 1920, special proceeding No. 546 of the Court of First Instance of Pangasinan, for the settlement of his estate, was commenced. A document executed by the deceased on January 3, 1910, as his last will and testament, and allowed to probate in said proceeding, provided, inter alia:jgc:chanrobles.com.ph
". . . que in caso me llamara la Divina Justicia tendran derecho mis sobrinos de primer grado y mis parientes que debieran heredar de mis bienes expresados en este testamento repartiran en tres; que en la primera parte es el deber que repartiran los mismos herederos; en la segunda parte es mi donacion que sirve en la Ermita de este barrio con las imagenes de los Santos precisamente el Patron Sr. San Miguel Arcangel par sostene lost necesarios ocasionados, y la tercera parte me compremeto dar voluntariamente al Albacea que to nombre para que cuidase arreglar todos mis bienes, lo cual es el Sr. Tranquilino Jimenez.
"Todos los bienes espresados en los documento que entregue a dicho Albacea, desde hoy en adelante, digo en realidad traspase el poder para que tendra derecho de distribuir en la espresada primera parte, a los herederos en las segunda parte es mi donacion que cuidase de mi Albacea que no podran reclamar de mis herederos en la espresada segunda parte, por que donde previene los gastos que sirve en la Ermita, los bultos y vestuarios de los santos con la casa como convento de la citada Ermita; en las tercera parte es mi promesa que le doy a mi albacea libre de toda gravamen como corresponde de sus trabajos que no podran renovar de mis herederos y parrientes de ambas partes, y todos los bienes que ya entregue el citado Albacea son los siguientes:chanrob1es virtual 1aw library
x x x"
Purporting to act in conformity with these provisions of the will, on August 9, 1920, the court ordered the executor therein named, Tranquilino Jimenez, (1) to segregate from the mass of the estate of the deceased a building used as chapel (Ermita), a house of wood intended for convent, a bell, and the religious images and ornaments specified in said instrument; (2) to divide the rest of the estate into three (3) equal parts; (3) to distribute one part among the nearest relatives 1 of the deceased and; (4) to keep another part for himself, as compensation for his (executor’s) services. The order, likewise, provided that the remaining third part:jgc:chanrobles.com.ph
". . . para se destina par las atenciones y sostenimiento del culto en la Ermita y tambien de la casa-convento y los ornamentos y estara bajo el cuidado y administracion del albacea Tranquilino Jimenez, quien como tal fideicomisario prestara una fianza igual al valor de los bienes y de la Ermita, convento y demas cosas, presentando ademas un inventario de todos los bienes puestos a su cuidado como fideicomisario; . . ."cralaw virtua1aw library
By an order, dated April 21, 1921, the court directed that said third part be administered by the executor, as trustee thereof, for the application of its products to the support of the Cult (to St. Michael Archangel) as ordained by the testator, without authority to alienate the chapel and other religious objects mentioned in the order of August 9, 1920, but with the duty to conserve them, according to the testator’s will. Another order, dated September 13, 1921, commanded the executor to institute a trusteeship proceeding for the administration of the property bequeathed for the support of the Cult in the Chapel (Ermita) in the barrio of San Miguel. In compliance with this order, Tranquilino Jimenez commenced special proceeding No. 979 of the court above mentioned, which on December 18, 1922, appointed his trustee, for the administration of said property.
Since then, said proceeding No. 979 was included in the monthly report, to the Department of Justice, of cases pending in the Court of First Instance of Pangasinan, up to October 31, 1956, when its presiding judge ordered that it be no longer included in said report, because for all "practical purposes", it should be "considered as terminated without prejudice, however, that the annual report of accounts of the trustee and/or any incident that may hereinafter arise . . . be presented to the court for its resolution."cralaw virtua1aw library
Meanwhile, Tranquilino Jimenez had died 2 and was succeeded, as trustee, by Pedro Narciso. Thereafter, two (2) petitions were filed for a change of trustee: one, 3 by several members of the "Cult of San Miguel Arcangel", alleging mismanagement by Pedro Narciso and praying that Bonifacio Orias, another member of the "Cult", be appointed in his stead; and another, 4 by Bartolome Aquino, likewise, a regular member of said "Cult", who prayed that he be the one appointed as trustee. In view of the seeming division among the members of the "Cult" the court issued an order, dated November 8, 1962, postponing the hearing of the petitions for change of trustee and urging the different factions to get another and settle their internal conflicts.
On January 3, 1963, the trustee, namely, Pedro Narciso and Carmen Narciso, Rafael Narciso and Felix Aquino, — hereinafter referred to as petitioners — as alleged heirs of the founder of the trust, objected to the appointment of a new trustee and moved for the reversion, to the heirs of Policarpio Narciso, of the properties held in trust, upon the ground that the trust had been terminated by the aforementioned order of October 31, 1956, and that a trust cannot exist for more than twenty (20) years, pursuant to Art. 870 of the Civil Code of the Philippines. In due course, the lower court denied this petition for reversion and set a date for the hearing of the petitions for change of trustee. Forthwith, the petitioners interposed the present appeal, in which they insist on the reasons adduced by them in the trial court.
We find no merit in the appeal. It is not true that the trust was terminated by the aforementioned order of October 31, 1956. The same declared Special Proceeding No. 979 terminated insofar only as the monthly report of pending cases were concerned "without prejudice to the annual report of accounts of the trustee and/or any incident that may arise" thereafter, which "should be presented to the court for its resolution." This qualification clearly refutes petitioners’ pretense.
Moreover, the Civil Code of the Philippines became effective in 1950, or thirty (30) years after the establishment of the trust in 1920. Art. 870 of said Code, on which petitioners rely, is not applicable, therefore, to the case at bar, for 5 "changes made and new provisions and rules laid down by this Code which may prejudice or impair vested or acquired rights in accordance with the old legislation shall have no retroactive effect," and 6 "the Civil Code of 1889 and other previous laws shall govern rights originating under said laws, from acts done or events which took place under their regime, even though" the New Code "may regulate them in a different manner or may not recognize them," 7 apart from the fact that 8 "rights to the inheritance of a person who died, with or without a will, before the effectivity" of the Civil Code of the Philippines, "shall be governed by the Civil Code of 1889, by other previous laws and by the Rules of Court." 9
It is next urged that, at any rate, perpetuities are void under the common law and against public policy and that, accordingly, the provision in the will of Policarpio Narciso seeking to establish a perpetual trust is null and void. The validity of said provision was, however, upheld by necessary implication, in Special Proceedings Nos. 546 and 979 of the Court of First Instance of Pangasinan: in the first, when the Court ordered the executor therein to submit a project of partition, giving effect to said provision of the will, and later approved 10 said project of partition, as well as directed him to initiate another judicial proceeding for the administration of the trust; and, in the second, when the Court appointed Tranquilino Jimenez as trustee and, then, for many years, passed upon 11 his accounts as such and those of his successor. 12
Even if erroneous, the orders of the Court in said two (2) proceedings recognizing and, hence, upholding the validity of said trust and actually enforcing as well as implementing the same, were and are valid. The nullity of said trust cannot now be decreed without, in effect, reversing said valid orders, from which no appeal was taken by petitioners herein or their predecessors in interest, and which had become final and executory over 40 years ago. The least that can be said is that petitioners are barred, by the principle of laches, from assailing the validity and existence of said trust. 13
WHEREFORE, the order appealed from is hereby affirmed and the records of this case remanded to the lower court for further proceedings, in accordance with law, with costs against petitioners herein.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Reyes, J.B.L., Dizon, Makalintal, Zaldivar, Sanchez, Angeles and Fernando, JJ., concur.
Castro, J., concurs in the result.
Endnotes:
1. Nephews and nieces.
2. In August 1955.
3. On June 22, 1962.
4. On November 8, 1962.
5. Pursuant to Art. 2252 of the Civil Code of the Philippines.
6. Art 2252 of the Civil Code of the Philippines provides.
7. Manalansang v. Manalang, L-13646, July 26, 1960; Uson v. Del Rosario, 97 Phil 531.
8. According to Article 2263 of the Civil Code of the Philippines.
9. Morales v. Yanez, 98 Phil. 677; Vidaurrazaga v. Court of Appeals, 91 Phil. 492.
10. Presumably.
11. Presumably.
12. Petitioner Pedro Narciso.
13. Vismanos v. Municipality of Tagum, Et Al., L-20685, August 31, 1965; Felix Vda. de Rodriguez v. Rodriguez, Et Al., L-23002, July 31, 1967; People’s Homesite v. Mencias, etc., Et Al., L-24114, Aug. 16, 1967.
