1. ESTATES OF DECEASED PERSONS; EXTENT OF JURISDICTION OF PROBATE COURTS; DETERMINATION OF QUESTIONS OF OWNERSHIP. — Under section 599 of the Code of Civil Procedure, the probate jurisdiction of the Court of First Instance relates only to matters having to do with "the settlement of estates and probate of wills of deceased persons, the appointment and removal of guardians and trustees, and the power, duties, and rights of guardians and wards, trustees, and cestuis que trust." As may be seen, the law does not extend the jurisdiction of a probate court to the determination of questions of ownership that arise during the proceeding.

On December 16, 1936, Pedro Adapon presented for probate the last will and testament of his deceased father, Rudocindo Adapon, in the Court of First Instance of Batangas where the cause was docketed as civil case No. 3313. The will was admitted to probate, and Pedro Adapon, having been appointed administrator by the court, filed an inventory of the properties and assets of the estate. The surviving spouse of the testator by a second marriage, Felisa Maralit, the oppositor-appellee here, through counsel, presented a petition asking the court to order the administrator to pay her a monthly allowance of P50, and to include in the submitted inventory the following properties which, it is alleged, had been omitted:

(a) Un credito hipotecario otorgado a favor

de Rudocindo Adapon por Gregorio Salud P2,000.00

(b) 1,000 cavanes de palay (ademas de 300)

cosechados y embodegados en la fecha

de la muerte del difunto y desde que este

fallecio hasta la fecha en que se

presento el inventario, a razon de P2 por

cada ca van 2,000.00

(c) 100 animales entre carabaos,

caballos, y vacunos 1,400.00

(d) Una casa reconstruida levantada en

la finca No. 2 del inventario 6,000.00

(e) Una maquina descascarilladora de

palay nueva instalada en la finca

No. 2 del inventario 1,000.00

————

Total 12,400.00

To this petition, administrator-appellant filed an answer enumerating his objections as follows:jgc:chanrobles.com.ph

"(a) En cuanto a la obligacion de Gregorio Salud, de P2,000, la misma se ha contraido a favor del finado Rudocindo Adapon y del Administrador Pedro Adapon; de modo que, solamente la mitad de dicho credito, o sea, P1,000 corresponde a la Testamentaria.

"(b) En cuanto a los cavanes de palay, solamente 300 cavanes corresponden a la Testamentaria.

"(c) En cuanto a los carabaos, caballos y vacunos, el Administrador solo tiene en su poder unos 28 cabezas.

"(d) En cuanto a la casa construida dentro del lote o finca No. 2 del inventario, la misma no debe ser incluida en el inventario, puesto que es de la exclusiva propiedad del Administrador.

"(e) En cuanto a la maquina descascarilladora de palay instalada en la finca No. 2 del inventario, la misma no es de la Testamentaria, sino de la propiedad exclusiva del Administrador Pedro Adapon." (Record on Appeal, pp. 35-36.)

When the petition was set for hearing, the oppositor-appellee moved that, in view of the claims of ownership made in the answer, the administrator should be relieved of his duties and another appointed to act in his place. The probate court suspended the hearing for sometime in an effort to have the parties reach an agreement, and failing in this, issued the order of July 7, 1937, quoted below, which is the subject of the instant appeal:jgc:chanrobles.com.ph

"El Juzgado, despues de haber considerado detenidamente la pretension de una y otra parte, ha encontrado lo siguiente: 1.