TESTATE ESTATE OF THE DECEASED PETRA ANGELES, ROSARIO MASCARIÑA, PETITIONER AND APPELLEE, VS. ANASTACIO ANGELES ET AL., OPPOSITORS AND APPELLANTS.

This is an appeal from a judgment of the Court of First Instance of Quezon
allowing the last will of the deceased Petra Angeles as evidenced by the
document identified in the record as Exhibit “C”.

It appears that the attestation clause does not state that the contents of
the will were read to the testatrix, who admittedly did not know how to read and
write, before she affixed her thumbmark thereto; and it is thus contended by the
oppositors-appellants that such omission is fatal to its allowance. It is
noteworthy, however, that section 618 of the code of Civil Procedure only
requires that “the attestation shall state the number of sheets or pages used,
upon which the will is written, and the fact that the testator signed the will
and every page thereof, or caused .some other person to write his name, under
his express direction, in the presence of three witnesses, and the latter
witnessed and signed the will and all pages thereof in the presence of the
testator and of each other.” The requisite invoked by the appellants is clearly
not one of those imposed by this provision, the scope of which should of course
not be stretched by judicial construction. As there is undisputed evidence that
the will had been read to Petra Angeles before the latter thumbmarked it, its
allowance by the lower court is absolutely proper.

The appealed judgment is hereby affirmed with costs against the appellants.
So ordered.

Feria, Pablo, Perfecto, Bengzon, Briones, Padilla,
and Tuason, JJ., concur.