Belcodero vs CA
GR No. 89667
October 20, 1993
5 FACTS:
The husband, Alayo D. Bosing, married Juliana Oday on 27 July 1927, with whom he had three
children, namely, Flora, Teresita, and Gaido. In 1946, he left the conjugal home, and he started to
live with Josefa Rivera with whom he later begot one child, named Josephine Bosing, now
10 Josephine Balcobero. On 23 August 1949, Alayo purchased a parcel of land on installment basis
from the Magdalena Estate, Inc. In the deed, he indicated his civil status as, "married to Josefa R.
Bosing," the common-law wife. In a letter, dated 06 October 1959, which he addressed to
Magdalena Estate, Inc., he authorized the latter to transfer the lot in the name of his "wife
Josefina R. Bosing." The final deed of sale was executed by Magdalena Estate, Inc., on 24
15 October 1959. On 09 November 1959, Transfer Certificate of Title No. 48790 was issued in the
name of "Josefa R. Bosing, married to Alayo Bosing." On 6 June 1958, Alayo married Josefa even
while his prior marriage with Juliana was still subsisting. Alayo died on 11 March 1967.
On 17 September 1970, Josefa and Josephine executed a document of extrajudicial partition and
20 sale of the lot in question, which was there described as "conjugal property" of Josefa and
deceased Alayo. In this deed, Josefa's supposed one-half (1/2) interest as surviving spouse of
Alayo, as well as her one-fourth (1/4) interest as heir, was conveyed to Josephine for a
P10,000.00 consideration, thereby completing for herself, along with her own-fourth (1/4)
interest as the surviving child of Alayo, a full "ownership" of the property.
25
On 30 October 1980, Juliana (deceased Alayo's real widow) and her three legitimate children
filed with the court a quo an action for reconveyance of the property. On the basis of the above
facts, the trial court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, and it ordered that Josephine Bosing execute
a deed of reconveyance of the property in question to the legal heirs of the deceased Alayo D.
30 Bosing, and that both defendants pay, jointly and severally, actual damages by way of attorney's
fees and expenses in litigation, moral damages, and exemplary damages to prevent future
frauds. The defendants went to the Court of Appeals which affirmed the trial court's order for
reconveyance but reversed the decision on the award for damages.
35 ISSUE:
Whether the property in question belongsexclusively to Juliana Oday and her threelegitimate
children?
40 RULING:
The property remained as belonging to the conjugal partnership of Alayo and his legitimate wife
Juliana. Under both the new Civil Code (Article 160) and the old Civil Code (Article 1407), "all
property of the marriage is presumed to belong to the conjugal partnership, unless it be proved
45 that it pertains exclusively to the husband or to the wife." This presumption has not been
convincingly rebutted.
It cannot be seriously contended that, simply because the property was titled in the name of
Josefa at Alayo's request, she should thereby be deemed to be its owner. The property
unquestionably was acquired by Alayo. Alayo's letter, dated 06 October 1959, to Magdalena
Estate, Inc., merely authorized the latter to have the title to the property transferred to her
5 name. More importantly, she implicitly recognized Alayo's ownership when, three years after the
death of Alayo, she and Josephine executed the deed of extrajudicial partition and sale.
As regards the property relations between common-law spouses. Article 144 of the Civil
Code merely codified the law established through judicial precedents under the old code
10 (Margaret Maxey vs. Court of Appeals, G. R. No. L-45870, 11 May 1984). In both regimes,
the co-ownership rule had more than once been repudiated when either or both spouses
suffered from an impediment to marry (Jeroniza vs. Jose, 89 SCRA 306). The present
provisions under Article 147 and Article 148 of the Family Code did not much deviate from
the old rules; in any case, its provisions cannot apply to this case without interdicting prior
15 vested rights (Article 256, Family Code).
