Title: Polly Cayetano vs Hon. Tomas T.

Leonidas and Nenita Campos Paguia

Court: Supreme Court of the Philippines, First Division
Case No.: .!. No. L"#$%&%
'udge: (T)*!!*+, '.!., J.:
Date: ,ay -., &%/$
Sour0e: http:11222.la2phil.net13ud3uris13uri&%/$1may&%/$1gr4l#$%&%4&%/$.html
5F6CTS7

8n 'anuary -&, &%99, 6dora0ion Campos, an 6meri0an Citi:en, died, leaving her
father, petitioner Hermogenes Campos and her sisters, private respondent Nenita Paguia,
!emedios Lope: and ,arieta ,edina as the surviving heirs.
6s Hermogenes Campos 2as the only 0ompulsory heir, he e;e0uted an 6ffidavit
of 6d3udi0ation 2here<y he ad3udi0ated unto himself the o2nership of the entire estate of
the de0eased 6dora0ion Campos.
*leven months after, Nenita Paguia filed a petition for the repro<ate of a 2ill of
the de0eased 2hi0h 2as allegedly e;e0uted in the (nited States and for her appointment
as administratri; of the estate of the de0eased testatri;.
The trial 0ourt allo2ed the repro<ate of the 2ill in the Philippines. Ho2ever,
Hermogenes raised an issue that the allo2an0e of the 2ill to pro<ate 2ill strip off his
legitime. )t is 0laimed <y Heromogenes that the 2ill should not <e pro<ated as the
testamentary dispositions, made <y 6dora0ion, preterited him under 6rti0le /#$ of the
Ne2 Civil Code.
5)SS(*7 =hether or not the 2ill e;e0uted <y 6dora0ion Campos, an 6meri0an Citi:en,
should <e repro<ated in the Philippines despite the fa0t that Hermogenes 2ill <e stripped
off of his legitime.
5!(L)N7 >es. The la2 that governs 6dora0ion Campo?s 2ill is the la2 of
Pennsylvania, (.S.6., 2hi0h is the national la2 of the de0edent. )t is a settled rule that
2ith regard to the intrinsi0 validity of the provisions of the 2ill, as provided for <y
6rti0le &@ABC and &.-% of the Civil Code, the national la2 of the de0edent must apply.
Sin0e Pennsylvania la2 does not have a system of legitimes, HermogenesD 0annot
0laim that he 2as preterited as there is no prin0iple of preterition and legitimes under the
national la2 of the de0edent. 6lthough the Philippines had adopted a system of legitimes
as a matter of pu<li0 poli0y, it 0annot e;tend to the su00essional rights of the foreigners.
The national la2 of the foreigners governs their su00essional rights.