POTENCIANA DUQUE, AMADEO DUQUE and ARSENIO DUQUE, petitioners,

vs.

PAZ DOMINGO, represented by her guardian ad litem, MARCOSA DUQUE- VALENZUELA, Intestate
Estate of JULIA DUQUE, in substitution of Julia Duque, and the COURT OF APPEALS, respondents.

(G.R. No. L-33762 December 29, 1977)

Facts: On September 5. 1966, Julia Duque, for herself and as, natural guardian of her daughter of
unsound mind, Paz Domingo, instituted against Potenciana Duque, Amadeo Duque and Arsenio Duque
Civil Case No. 266-V in the Court of First Instance of Bulacan for reconveyance of Lot 1083 of Malinta
Estate located in Polo, Bulacan and in the alternative, to declare Transfer Certificate of Title No. 25195 in
the name of the defendants void and to declare the plaintiffs as the absolute owners of said Lot
1083Plaintiff Julia Duque is the natural sister of the late Mariano Duque, who died on June 20, 1947.
Defendants Potenciana, Arsenio and Amadeo, all surnamed, Duque, are the legitimate children of said
Mariano Duque. The property in question, which was formerly a part of the Friar Land Estate of the
Government (Lot 1083 of the Malinta Estate), was disposed of by the Government of the Philippine
Islands on January 1, 1909 by virtue of Sales Certificate No. 1138 for a consideration of P 503.00 payable
in 20 annual installments of P 25.00 per year, effective January 1, 1909. As per Sales Certificate No.
1138, the grantee thereof was one Faustino Duque. On September 15, 1931. Transfer Certificate of Title
No. 7501, covering said parcel of land, was issued in favor of the late Mariano Duque. As of this date, the
property in question is covered by Transfer Certificate of Title No. 25195 of the Registry of Deeds for the
Province of Bulacan issued in the names of defendants Potenciana Arsenio and Amadeo, all surnamed,
Duque. The present value of said property is more than P 300,000.00. WHEREFORE, it is respectfully
prayed that the foregoing partial Stipulation of Facts be approved and made a part of the records of this
case.

The trial court rendered the decision dated February 1969 dismissing the complaint without cost. The
Court of Appeals declared Julia Duque the absolute owner of Lot 1083 because "Although the plaintiff's
theory is that the property in question was acquired by Julia Duque through an oral donation made by
her aunt Juana Duque in her favor, the case should be considered from the point of view of a verbal
partition among heirs made by the decedent and consented to by them." The Court of Appeals said that
"In 1927 one year before her death Juana Duque gathered her nephews and nieces in her house and
made a verbal partition of her properties: to each of them she gave something and to Julia she gave the
property in question, all of the heirs including Mariano Duque, consented to each other's largesse."
Issue: 1. WON THE COURT A QUO ERRED IN NOT HOLDING THAT THE CLAIM OF PRIVATE
RESPONDENTS TO ENFORCE AN IMPLIED TRUST OVER REAL PROPERTY HAD PRESCRIBED OR HAD BEEN
BARRED BY LACHES.

2. THE COURT A QUO ERRED IN NOT HOLDING THAT THE ORAL DONATION MADE IN 19927 OF
LOT 1083, ASSUMING THE TRUTH THEREOF, WAS NULL AND VOID.

3. THE COURT A QUO ERRED IN PRESUMING, EVEN WITHOUT ANY SHRED OF EVIDENCE
PRESENTED IN SUPPORT THEREOF, AND IN UTTER DISREGARD OF THE SALES CERTIFICATE ISSUED BY THE
GOVERNMENT AND ITS CORRESPONDING ASSIGNMENT, THAT FAUSTINO DUQUE AND MARIANO
DUQUE ACTED AS AGENTS OF JUANA DUQUE.

4. THE COURT A QUO ERRED IN NOT HOLDING THAT AN IMPLIED TRUST OVER A REAL PROPERTY
COVERED BY TORRENS TITLE CANNOT BE ESTABLISHED BY A MERE TAX DECLARATION.

5. THE COURT A QUO ERRED IN PROMULGATING THE DECISION, WHICH IS PREMISED ON FACTS
AND INVOLVING ISSUES NOT COVERED BY THE EVIDENCE AND RAISED IN THE PLEADINGS. 7

Held: The partial stipulation of facts and the evidence established that the land in question, Lot 1083 of
the Malinta Estate was formerly a part of the Friar Land Estate of the Government that on January 1,
1909 the Government of the Philippine Islands sold to Faustino Duque Lot 1083 by virtue of Sale
Certificate No. 1138 for a consideration of P 503.00 payable in 20 annual installments of P 25.00 per
year, effective on January 1, 1909; that in 1915 Faustino Duque assigned his right on Lot 1083 in favor of
Mariano Duque, the legitimate father of the petitioners Potenciana Duque, Amadeo Duque and Arsenio
Duque; that on September 15, 1931, Transfer Certificate of Title No. 7501 was issued in the name of
Mariano Duque; that upon the death of Mariano Duque, his widow, Dorotea Vda. de Duque and
children, Potenciana, Amadeo, Arsenio and Emilio, all surnamed Duque, as heirs, instituted in the Court
of First Instance of Manila a proceeding for the settlement of the estate of said Mariano Duque; that in
the estate proceeding Lot 1083 was adjudicated pro-indiviso to the widow and children of Mariano
Duque; that Transfer Certificate of Title No. 19924 was issued to the said heirs; that when Dorotea Vda.
de Duque and Emilio Duque died in 1954 and 1956, respectively, their shares in Lot 1083 were inherited
by the petitioners to whom Transfer Certificate of Title No. 25195 was issued; that in 1933 the land in
question was declared for taxation in the name of the respondent, Paz Domingo; that beginning with the
year 1949 the tax declaration embracing the land in question was in the name of Mariano Duque and
that Tax Declaration No. 15214 is in the names of the petitioners.

The private respondents adduced oral evidence that sometime in 1908 Juana Duque, through her
nephew whom she had employed as her agent, purchased from the Government Lot 1083 of the
Malinta Estate in Polo, now Valenzuela, Bulacan; that Faustino Duque, the agent, caused the document
of purchase, Sale Certificate No. 1138, to be issued by the government in his name with the consent of
his principal, Juana Duque; and that in or about 1927 Juana Duque verbally donated and delivered Lot
1083 to her niece, Julia Duque.
The alleged oral donation by Juana Duque in favor of Julia Duque did not transfer any right over Lot
1083 to the donee. Both under the Spanish Civil Code and the Civil Code of the Philippines, a donation of
an immovable, to be valid must be made in a public document, specifying therein the property donated
and the value of the charges which the donee must satisfy. There is no adequate showing that Mariano
Duque consented in 1927 to a verbal partition made by Juana Duque wherein she gave the property in
question, Lot 1083, to Julia Duque. On the contrary, in 1931, after full payment of the purchase price,
Mariano Duque obtained in his name Transfer Certificate of Title No. 7501 for Lot 1083 from the
government. No implied trust between Juana Duque and either Faustino Duque or Mariano Duque has
been established by sufficient evidence.