Petitioners vs. vs. Respondents Anthony Santos & Teddy S. Rodriguez Irene D. Jurado

SECOND DIVISION
[G.R. No. L-32281. June 19, 1975.]
PEDRO ERMAC, and his children, ELENA, CARLOS, ANTONIO,

LUCIANO, HILARIO, INDALECIO and FRANCISCA, all surnamed
ERMAC petitioners, vs. CENON MEDELO and JUDGE HERNANDO
ERMAC,
PINEDA as presiding judge of Branch II of the LANAO DEL NORTE
Instance respondents.
Court of First Instance,
Anthony Santos & Teddy S. Rodriguez for petitioners.

Irene D. Jurado for respondents.
SYNOPSIS
In proceedings for the summary settlement of the intestate estate of the

deceased spouses Potenciano Ermac and Anastacia Mariquit, respondent court
approved the project of partition, submitted by herein private respondent, covering a lot
being claimed by petitioners in a separate civil action to be their property, and not of
the estate. This approval by the court, as well as the orders denying its reconsideration
and for summary settlement of the estate are questioned in this petition for certiorari.
The Court held that the respondent court, in issuing the aforesaid orders, did not
exceed its jurisdiction nor gravely abused its discretion. Partition and distribution were
proper and any adverse claim of petitioners must be ventilated in an independent
action.
Petition dismissed.
SYLLABUS
1. SPECIAL PROCEEDINGS; SETTLEMENT OF ESTATES; SUMMARY

PROCEDURE FOR SETTLEMENT OF SMALL ESTATES. — The policy of the law is to
terminate proceedings for the settlement of the estate of the deceased persons with
the least loss of time. This is especially true with small estates for which the rules
provide precisely a summary procedure dispensing with the appointment of an
administrator together with the other involved and cumbersome steps ordinarily
required in the determination of the assets of the deceased and the persons entitled to
inherit therefrom and the payment of his obligations.
2. ID.; ID.; PROBATE COURT NOT THE FORUM FOR RESOLUTION OF
ADVERSE CLAIMS OF OWNERSHIP. — The probate court is not the best forum for the
resolution of adverse claims of ownership of any property ostensibly belonging to the
decedent's estate. While there are settled exceptions to this rule as applied to regular
administration proceedings, it is not proper to delay the summary of a deceased
person's estate just because an heir or a third person claims that certain properties do
not belong to the estate but to him.
3. ID.; ID.; ID.; INDEPENDENT ACTION WITH SAFEGUARD FOR THE
PROTECTION OF ADVERSE CLAIMANT, PROPER REMEDY. — Adverse claims of
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ownership over property belonging to the decedent's estate must be ventilated in an
independent action, and the probate court should proceed to the distribution of the
estate, if there are no other legal obstacles to it, for after all, such distribution must
always be subject to the results of the suit. For the protection of the claimant, the
appropriate step is to have the proper annotation of lis pendens entered.
DECISION
BARREDO , J : p
Petition for certiorari to set aside the order of respondent court of June 25,
1970, in its Special Proceedings No. 1517, approving the project of partition led by
private respondent, pursuant to the order of the same court providing for summary
settlement of the intestate estate of the deceased spouses Potenciano Ermac and
Anastacia Mariquit as well as of the order of July 15, 1970 denying reconsideration of
the first order.
The above-named spouses both died leaving as the only property to be inherited
by their heirs a parcel of land, Lot 1327, Cad. 292, covered by OCT No. RP-355 (262) of
the Register of Deeds of Iligan City, with an assessed value of P590.00. Accordingly,
herein respondent Cenon Medelo, one of the grandchildren of the said spouses, (being
one of the children of their predeceased daughter Digna Ermac) led a petition for
summary settlement of said estate. All requirements having been complied with, and
there being no opposition thereto, on January 21, 1970, respondent court issued an
order granting the same, enumerating all the heirs entitled to participate in the
inheritance and ordering petitioner to present the proper project of partition of the lot
aforementioned. On February 2, 1970, however, petitioner Pedro Ermac, one of the
children of the deceased spouses, moved for reconsideration of the order of
settlement, praying for the elimination of Lot 1327 from the estate on the ground that it
belongs to him and his wife. This motion was denied, the court ruling that the proper
remedy is a separate suit. Accordingly, petitioner, together with his children, led the
corresponding action, Civil Case No. 1564 of the Court of First Instance of Lanao del
Norte. And when upon submission of the project of partition, the respondent court
approved the same over his objection predicated on the pendency of Civil Case No.
1564, petitioner moved for reconsideration, but the motion was denied. Hence, the
present petition.
The sole question to be resolved here is whether or not respondent court
exceeded its jurisdiction or gravely abused its discretion in approving the project of
partition covering Lot No. 1327 notwithstanding that it is being claimed by petitioners
in a separate civil action to be their property and not of the estate. Such being the case,
the petition cannot prosper.
The policy of the law is to terminate proceedings for the settlement of the estate
of deceased persons with the least loss of time. This is specially true with small
estates for which the rules provide precisely a summary procedure dispensing with the
appointment of an administrator together with the other involved and cumbersome
steps ordinarily required in the determination of the assets of the deceased and the
persons entitled to inherit therefrom and the payment of his obligations. De nitely, the
probate court is not the best forum for the resolution of adverse claims of ownership
of any property ostensibly belonging to the decedent's estate. 1 While there are settled
exceptions to this rule as applied to regular administration proceedings, 2 it is not
proper to delay the summary settlement of a deceased person just because an heir or a
third person claims that certain properties do not belong to the estate but to him. 3
Such claim must be ventilated in an independent action, and the probate court should
proceed to the distribution of the estate, if there are no other legal obstacles to it, for
after all, such distribution must always be subject to the results of the suit. For the
protection of the claimant, the appropriate step is to have the proper annotation of lis
pendens entered.
Accordingly, the instant petition is dismissed, without prejudice to petitioner
having the proper annotation of lis pendens regarding Civil Case No. 1564 made on the
title covering Lot 1327.
Costs against petitioners.
Fernando (Chairman), Antonio, Aquino and Concepcion, Jr., JJ., concur.
Footnotes
1. Bernardo vs. Court of Appeals, 7 SCRA 367.
2. Guzman vs. Anog, 37 Phil. 61.
3. The case of Gutierrez vs. Cruz, 24 SCRA 69, relied upon by petitioner did not involve a
summary settlement.

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SECOND DIVISION

[G.R. No. L-32281. June 19, 1975.]

PEDRO ERMAC, and his children, ELENA, CARLOS, ANTONIO,

Anthony Santos & Teddy S. Rodriguez for petitioners.

In proceedings for the summary settlement of the intestate estate of the

1. SPECIAL PROCEEDINGS; SETTLEMENT OF ESTATES; SUMMARY

1. Bernardo vs. Court of Appeals, 7 SCRA 367.

2. Guzman vs. Anog, 37 Phil. 61.

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