Letters Testamentary and Letters of administration: Meaning of antagonistic interest

SERAFIN MEDINA et al vs. THE HONORABLE COURT OF APPEALS et al

G.R. No. L-34760, September 28, 1973,
EN BANC
TEEHANKEE, J.:

DOCTRINE:

An administrator is deemed unsuitable and should be removed where his personal interests
conflict with his official duties, by virtue of the equally established principle that an
administrator is a quasi-trustee, disqualified from acquiring properties of the estate, and who
should be indifferent between the estate and claimants of the property except to preserve it for
due administration, and who should be removed when his interest conflicts with such right and
duly.

FACTS:

The Court of First Instance of Zambales(CFI) approved and confirmed the deed of sale executed
by the then special administrator Demetrio Encarnacion of the intestate estate of the decedent
Agustin Medina covering the sale of its property known as Bitukang Manok to petitioner
Rosalia del Carmen a daughter of the decent. This sale was opposed by private respondent Beda
Gonzales who at the time was not yet appointed as special administrator. The said court
overruled Beda's opposition thus he elevated the case to the Court of Appeals which is still
pending before it. Almost a year later, Beda was appointed as special administrator of Agustin’s
estate. The petitioners thereafter moved that the appointment be revoked on the ground that by
said order, Beda Gonzales is now assuming the inconsistent positions of administering the estate
especially the Bitukang Manok property and at the same time appealing from the order
approving the sale of that property only for the purpose of enabling himself to buy and acquire
that property to the loss and prejudice of the estate contrary to law. The CFI denied the motion of
petitioners. The Court of Appeals affirmed the decision of the court a quo.

ISSUE:

Is Beda Gonzales’ appointment as special administrator valid?

RULING:

In this jurisdiction, one is considered to be unsuitable for appointment as administrator when he

has adverse interest or some kind of hostility to those immediately interested in the estate. Here,
Beda’s interests conflict with that of not only petitioner’s but also that of the estate. This can be
gleaned from the fact that the estate’s position as to the sale of subject property is that it is valid
while Beda’s is that it is not valid.

Now, because of the specific and limited powers of special administrators and that since their
appointment is merely temporary and subsists only until a regular administrator is duly
appointed, the Court resolved to allow the appointment of respondent Gonzales as special
administrator to stand, insofar as taking care of the other properties of the estate are concerned,
to the exclusion of the Bitukang Manok.