IN RE WILL OF VICTORIA QUINTANA, DECEASED. EMILIANO S. SAÑO, PETITIONER AND APPELLEE, VS. MAMERTO QUINTANA ET AL., OPPONENTS AND APPELLANTS.

The
judgment appealed from allowed the probate of the will of the deceased
Victoria Quintana executed on March 22, 1924. Without going into a
discussion of the points raised by the parties as to the formalities of
this will we find a sufficient reason for reversing the judgment
appealed from and denying the probate thereof.

In the
attestation clause there is no statement that the witnesses to the will
have signed on the left margin of each page of the will in the presence
of the testatrix. Section 618 of Act No. 190, as amended by Act No.
2645, provides that the attestation clause shall state the fact that
the testator signed the will and all the pages thereof, or caused
another person to place his name thereon at his expressed direction in
the presence of the three witnesses to the will, and that the latter
signed the will and all its pages in the presence of the testator and
of each other. In the case of Vy Coque vs. Navas L. Sioca (43
Phil., 405), this court has held that the requirement that the
attestation clause must contain the statement that the witnesses signed
in the presence of each other is imperative and non-compliance with it
annuls the will. The same argument set forth in said case in support of
this doctrine may be adduced for holding that the will is also null and
void when in the attestation clause it does not appear that the
witnesses to the will signed it and every page thereof on the left
margin and in the presence of the testatrix. In order to insure the
authenticity of a will, which is the object of the law, it is just as
important, if not the most important, that the witnesses should sign in
the presence of the testator and of each other.

The judgment
appealed from is reversed, and the probate of the will of Victoria
Quintana is denied, without special pronouncement as to costs. So
ordered.

Johnson, Street, Malcolm, Ostrand, Romualdez, and Villa-Real, JJ., concur.

Johns, J., dissents.