Gono-Javier vs. CA- - Marianne Aquino G.R. No. 111994

 Gono-Javier vs. CA- Marianne Aquino G.R. No. 111994 December 29, 1994

Art. 172. The filiation of legitimate children is established by any of the following: 

(1) The record of birth appearing in the civil register or a final judgment; or 

(2) An admission of legitimate filiation in a public document or a private handwritten instrument and signed by the parent concerned.

In the absence of the foregoing evidence, the legitimate filiation shall be 

proved by: 

(1) The open and continuous possession of the status of a legitimate child; or 

(2) Any other means allowed by the Rules of Court and special laws. (265a, 266a, 267a)

FACTS: 

The petitioners are Gono's deceased children. Five land plots right granted by their paternal grandfather Casocot following his passing in 1964 are allegedly theirs. The nephews and nieces of the late Casocot are against them. Gono was the natural child of Casocot and his common-lawspouse, but the petitioners claimed that Casocot recognized Catalino as their biological child on the basis of a statement in a deed of donation of one of the disputed lands in favor of Gonzales, Gono's widow, to the effect that one of the reasons for the donation was that the donee is the surviving spouse of my son with my common-law wife. The donation was given in 1954, which was roughly 11 years after Gono's passing.

ISSUE: 

Whether petitioners are entitled by intestate succession to the lands left by their natural grandfather in lieu of the alleged "acknowledgment" through the donation?

RULING:

No. Since this case came about in 1954, the New Civil Code was applicable.

Under Art. 278 of the NCC: " Recognition shall be made in the record of birth, a will, a statement before a court of record, or in any authentic writing."

In the case at bar, the statement made in the deed of donation, a public document, is considered as a valid recognition by virtue of the doctrine of incidental recognition. Unfortunately, the recognition was too late as this was made after the death of Catalino.