ROSALIO BONILLA (a minor) SALVACION BONILLA (a minor) and PONCIANO BONILLA (their father) who represents the minors, petitioners,
vs.
LEON BARCENA, MAXIMA ARIAS BALLENA, ESPERANZA BARCENA, MANUEL BARCENA, AGUSTINA NERI, widow of JULIAN TAMAYO and HON. LEOPOLDO GIRONELLA of the Court of First Instance of Abra,respondents.
Fortunata Barcena, mother of minors
Rosalio Bonilla and Salvacion Bonilla and wife of Ponciano Bonilla, instituted
a civil action in the Court of First Instance of Abra, to quiet title over
certain parcels of land located in Abra.
Defendants filed a written motion to
dismiss the complaint, but before the hearing of the motion to dismiss, the
counsel for the plaintiff moved to amend the complaint in order to include
certain allegations therein
Fortunata Barcena died and counsel for
the plaintiff asked for substitution by her minor children and her husband, the
petitioners herein; but the court after the hearing immediately dismissed the
case on the ground that a dead person cannot be a real party in interest and
has no legal personality to sue.
Counsel for deceased plaintiff filed a
written manifestation praying that the minors Rosalio Bonilla and Salvacion
Bonilla be allowed to substitute their deceased mother, but the court denied
the counsel's prayer for lack of merit.
Issue: Whether substitution is allowed?
Held:
While it is true that a person who is dead cannot sue in court, yet he
can be substituted by his heirs in pursuing the case up to its completion. The
records of this case show that the death of Fortunata Barcena took place on
July 9, 1975 while the complaint was filed on March 31, 1975. This means that
when the complaint was filed on March 31, 1975, Fortunata Barcena was still
alive, and therefore, the court had acquired jurisdiction over her person. If
thereafter she died, the Rules of Court prescribes the procedure whereby a
party who died during the pendency of the proceeding can be substituted. Under Section 16, Rule 3 of the Rules of Court "whenever a party to a pending case dies ... it shall be the duty of his attorney to inform the court promptly of such death ... and to give the name and residence of his executor, administrator, guardian or other legal representatives." This duty was complied with by the counsel for the deceased plaintiff when he manifested before the respondent Court that Fortunata Barcena died on July 9, 1975 and asked for the proper substitution of parties in the case. The respondent Court, however, instead of allowing the substitution, dismissed the complaint on the ground that a dead person has no legal personality to sue. This is a grave error. Article 777 of the Civil Code provides "that the rights to the succession are transmitted from the moment of the death of the decedent." From the moment of the death of the decedent, the heirs become the absolute owners of his property, subject to the rights and obligations of the decedent, and they cannot be deprived of their rights thereto except by the methods provided for by law. The moment of death is the determining factor when the heirs acquire a definite right to the inheritance whether such right be pure or contingent. The right of the heirs to the property of the deceased vests in them even before judicial declaration of their being heirs in the testate or intestate proceedings. When Fortunata Barcena, therefore, died her claim or right to the parcels of land in litigation in Civil Case No. 856, was not extinguished by her death but was transmitted to her heirs upon her death. Her heirs have thus acquired interest in the properties in litigation and became parties in interest in the case. There is, therefore, no reason for the respondent Court not to allow their substitution as parties in interest for the deceased plaintiff.
Under Section 17, Rule 3 of the Rules of Court "after a party dies and the claim is not thereby extinguished, the court shall order, upon proper notice, the legal representative of the deceased to appear and be substituted for the deceased, within such time as may be granted
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