FELIX MARTIREZ & FAUSTINO MARTIREZ (FAUSTINO MARTIREZ SUBSTITUTED BY HIS WIDOW MARIA MARTIREZ, & CHILDREN, NAPOLEON, INDEPENDENCIA, AUGUSTO, PROVIDAD, GRACIA, AURORA, GLORIA & E…

On July 18, 1958,
Cristina Martirez, wife of Moises
Iturralde, died intestate in the Province of Iloilo,
Philippines, leaving properties acquired during the marriage, and survived by
her spouse, her brothers and several nephews, children of her pre-deceased
brother Anastacio.

No legal proceedings for the administration and settlement of her
estate were instituted until about five years later.

On November 16, 1960, the herein appellants filed an action in
the Court of First Instance of Iloilo against the widower, Moises
Iturralde, for the liquidation of the conjugal
partnership and for the partition of the estate left by his deceased wife.  The defendant filed his answer to the
complaint in due time with admissions and avoidance of the material averments
thereof.

On September 6, 1961,
the defendant filed a motion to dismiss the complaint upon the ground that the
estate of the deceased Cristina Martirez was not
ready for partition because it still had at that time an outstanding obligation
in his favor in the amount of P22,000.00, with
interests thereon.  After due hearing on
said motion, the trial court, in its order of October 31, 1961, dismissed the
case without pronouncement as to costs, at the same time suggesting “to the
parties to institute intestate proceedings.” (Record on
Appeal, p. 85).  Hence, the
present appeal interposed by plaintiffs who submitted a brief with these three
assignments of error:

“I

THE COURT A QUO ERRED IN NOT ORDERING THE DEFENDANT WIDOWER
ITURRALDE TO RENDER AN ACCOUNTING ON THE FRUITS OF THE ESTATE HE HOLDS IN TRUST
FOR THE BENEFIT OF ALL THE HEIRS SINCE THE DEATH OF HIS WIFE.

II

THE COURT A QUO ERRED IN NOT ORDERING THE DEFENDANT WIDOWER
ITURRALDE TO REDRESS THE BREACHES OF TRUST WHICH HE HAS COMMITTED SINCE THE
DEATH OF HIS WIFE.

III

THE COURT A QUO ERRED IN DISMISSING THIS CASE ON THE GROUND THAT
THERE IS AN INDEBTEDNESS OF P22,000.00 AGAINST THE
ESTATE.”

This case was originally appealed to the Court of Appeals by
whose resolution of May 24, 1963 it was forwarded to this court, the questions
involved being purely of law.

On December 11, 1963,
counsel for Moises Iturralde
informed this Court that the latter had died on the 13th of said month, giving
the further information that the heirs of the deceased were “preparing to
present an intestate proceeding for the spouses Moises
Iturralde and Cristina Martirez,
deceased.” In a subsequent communication addressed to the clerk of this
Court dated February 14, 1964, the same counsel for appellee
informed this Court that intestate proceedings for the settlement of the estate
of the deceased spouses Moises Iturralde
and Cristina Martirez had already been commenced in
the Court of First Instance of Iloilo and were docketed as Special Proceeding
No. 1746, and that Ciceron Martirez
had been appointed by said court as special administrator.  A certificate issued by the Clerk of the
Court of First Instance of Iloilo was attached to counsel’s communication to
support the statement that letters of administration had been issued to Ciceron.

In the light of the foregoing, it is the opinion of this Court
that the present appeal has become moot and academic because the partition of
the estate of the deceased spouses Moises Iturralde and Cristina Martirez
should be made in the intestate proceedings already referred to, in the same
manner that the other issues raised in appellants’ brief may be determined
therein as mere incidents of the settlement of the estate of said spouses.

PREMISES CONSIDERED, the present
appeal is dismissed without costs.

Concepcion, C.J., Reyes, J.B.L., Makalintal, Zaldivar, Castro,
Fernando, Teehankee, Barredo,
Villamor, and Makasiar, JJ., concur.