ROMUALDO MONTESINO, JUSTINIANA MONTESINO, ODON MONTESINO, NARCISA MONTESINO AND BERNARDO MONTESINO, PLAINTIFFS-APPELLANTS, VS. EUSEBIO RULLAN AND ESPEDITO PISON, DEFENDANTS-APPE…

Appeal, by writ of error, from a decision of
the Court of First Instance of Negros Occidental
dismissing the complaint herein.

Plaintiffs, Romualdo, Justiniana, Odon, Narcisa and
Bernardo, all surnamed Montesino, seek the annulment
and cancellation of Transfer Certificates of Title Nos. T-16421
and T-31734, of the province of Negros Occidental,
in the names of defendants Eusebio Rullan and Espedito Pison, respectively, and to compel these defendants to
convey the property covered by said certificates of title to the plaintiffs, as
well as to pay dam­ages and costs.

Said property is lot No. 894 of the Cadastral Survey of Himamaylan, province
of Negros Occidental,
which was covered by an application, filed by Petra Limsiaco,
for a homestead patent, on or about May
13, 1939.  She did not,
however, get the patent before her death in October, 1942, or September,
1943.  It (Original
Certificate of Title No. P-807) was not issued until July 8, 1954.  Hence, it was placed in the name of the
“Heirs of Petra Limsiaco.” Soon thereafter, or on September 2, 1954, Transfer Certificate of Title No. T-16421 was issued in
favor of Eusebio Rullan –
with whom she had apparently been living as husband and wife – upon the filing
by him of a deed – entitled, “Declaration of Heirship,”
executed by him on August 31, 1954
– adjudicating the lot to himself as her surviving spouse and only heir.  On December
20, 1961, Eusebio Rullan
sold the property to Espedito Pison.  This sale was approved by the Secretary of
Agriculture on March 12, 1962,
upon the recommendation of the Director of Lands.  Accordingly, Transfer
Certificate of Title No. T-31734 was issued, in the name of Pison, on March
23, 1962, upon cancellation of Transfer Certificate of Title No. T-16421.

Plaintiffs commenced the present action on April 11, 1962,
alleging that they are the children of a first degree cousin of Petra Limsiaco and, as such, her heirs; that Eusebio
Rullan is neither her surviving spouse nor her heir;
that he had acted fraudulently in claiming to be so related to the deceased and
thus causing the title to said Lot No. 894 to be transferred to him; and that
defendant Pison is not a purchaser in good faith of
said lot.  In an amended complaint filed
on September 4, 1962, plain­tiffs
alleged further that they had acquired the rights over said lot of Eugenio de la Cruz, who, they maintain, is the true
surviving spouse of Petra Limsiaco.

After appropriate proceedings, the lower court rendered the
decision appealed from, dismissing the case, upon the ground that Eugenio de la Cruz had lost by prescription whatever rights
he may have had in and to the lot in question, and that, accordingly he had
transmitted none to plaintiffs herein.

In this connection, it should be noted that, upon the extra­judicial
adjudication of said lot to Eusebio Rullan, as Petra Limsiaco‘ s
alleged surviving spouse, Eusebio de la Cruz –
assuming that he was the legal spouse of Petra Limsiaco,
which, according to the lower court, he was not – or “an heir”
or “other person” who “has been unduly deprived of his lawful
participation in the estate” of the deceased, had two (2) years – pursuant
to Section 4 of Rule 74 of the Rules of Court – or four (4) years – as held in
several decisions of this Court^[1]
–from the summary “settlement and distribution” of said estate,
which, in the case at bar, took place upon the issuance of said Transfer
Certifi­cate of Title No. T-16421, on September 2, 1954, or not later than
September 2, 1958, within which to enforce judicially such rights, if any, as
he may have in and to the lot in dis­pute. 
The complaint herein was not filed, however, until April 11, 1962, or several years after expiration
of the longest of said statutory periods of limitation of action.

WHEREFORE, the decision appealed from should be, as it is
hereby, affirmed, with costs against plaintiffs­-appellants.

Reyes, JBL, Makalintal, Bengzon, Zaldivar, Sanchez, Ruiz Castro,
Angeles, and Fernando, JJ., concur

Dizon,
J., took no part.

^[1]
Diaz vs. Gorricho, L-11229, March 29, 1958; Avecilla vs. Yatco,
L-11578, May 14, 1958; J. M. Tuason & Co. vs.
Magdaugal, L-15539, Jan. 31, 1964; Lopez vs. Gonzaga, L-18788, Jan. 31, 1964; Gerona vs. De
Guzman, L-19060, May 29, 1964.