Case Digest: Diaz vs. Intermediate Appellate Court

Case Digest: Diaz vs. Intermediate Appellate Court, G.R. No. 66574, February 21, 1990

Doctrine: Generalia verba sunt generaliter intelligenda (what is generally spoken shall be
generally understood)

Facts:

It is undisputed:

1) that Felisa Pamuti Jardin is a niece of Simona Pamuti Vda. de Santero who together with Felisa's mother Juliana were the only legitimate child of the spouses Felipe Pamuti and Petronila Asuncion;

2) that Simona Pamuti Vda. de Santero is the widow of Pascual Santero and the mother of Pablo Santero;

3) that Pablo Santero was the only legitimate son of his parents;

4) that Pascual Santero died in 1970; Pablo Santero in 1973 and Simona Santero in 1976;

5) that Pablo Santero, at the time of his death was survived by his mother Simona Santero and his six minor natural children to wit: four minor children with Anselma Diaz and two minor children with Felixberta Pacursa.

Issue:

Who are the legal heirs of Simona Pamuti Vda. de Santero — her niece Felisa Pamuti-Jardin or her grandchildren (the natural children of Pablo Santero)?

Held:

Since petitioners herein are barred by the provisions of Article 992, the respondent Intermediate Appellate Court did not commit any error in holding Felisa Pamuti Jardin to be the sole legitimate heir to the intestate estate of the late Simona Pamuti Vda. de Santero.

The term relatives, although used many times in the Code, is not defined by it. In accordance therefore with the canons of statutory interpretation, it should be understood to have a general and inclusive scope, inasmuch as the term is a general one. Generalia verba sunt generaliter intelligenda. That the law does not make a distinction prevents us from making one: Ubi lex non distinguit, nec nos distinguera debemus.

The term relatives in “Article 992 of New Civil Code” in more restrictive sense than it is used and intended; is not warranted by any rule of interpretation. Besides, when the law intends to use the term in a more restrictive sense, it qualifies the term with the word collateral, as in Articles 1003 and 1009 of the New Civil Code.