Limjuco v. Estate of Pedro Fragante
jurist
G.R. No. L-770, 27 April 1948
FACTS:
Pedro Fragante, a Filipino citizen at the time of his death, applied for a
certificate of public convenience to install and maintain an ice plant in San
Juan Rizal. His intestate estate is financially capable of maintaining the
proposed service. The Public Service Commission issued a certificate of
public convenience to Intestate Estate of the deceased, authorizing said
Intestate Estate through its special or Judicial Administrator, appointed by
the proper court of competent jurisdiction, to maintain and operate the said
plant. Petitioner claims that the granting of certificate applied to the estate
is a contravention of law.
ISSUE:
Whether or not the estate of Fragante may be extended an artificial judicial
personality.
RULING:
Yes, both the personality and citizenship of Pedro O. Fragrante must be
deemed extended.
The term “person” include artificial or juridical persons, for otherwise these
latter would be without the constitutional guarantee against being deprived
of property without due process of law, or the immunity from unreasonable
searches and seizures. Among these artificial or juridical persons figure
estates of deceased persons.
The estate of Pedro O. Fragrante should be considered an artificial or
juridical person for the purposes of the settlement and distribution of his
estate which, of course, include the exercise during the judicial
administration thereof of those rights and the fulfillment of those obligations
of his which survived after his death. One of those rights was the one
involved in his pending application before the Public Service Commission in
the instant case, consisting in the prosecution of said application to its final
conclusion.
* Case digest by Kristine Camille B. Gahuman, LLB-1, Andres Bonifacio Law
School, SY 2017-2018