G.R. No.
L-75377 February 17, 1988
CHUA KENG GIAP, petitioner,
vs.
HON. INTERMEDIATE APPELLATE COURT and CHUA LIAN KING respondents.
Article 166. Legitimacy of a child may be
impugned
only on the following grounds:
1) That it was physically impossible for the
husband to have sexual intercourse with his wife
within the fi rst 120 days of the 300 days which
immediately
preceded the birth of the child because
of:
a) the physical incapacity of the husband
to have sexual intercourse with his wife;
b) the fact that the husband and wife
were living separately in such a way that sexual
intercourse was not possible;
c) serious illness of the husband, which
FACTS:
- This case arose when Chua Keng Giap filed
on May 19, 1983, a petition for the
settlement of the estate of the late Sy Kao
in the regional trial court of Quezon City.
- The private respondent moved to dismiss for
lack of a cause of action and of the
petitioner's capacity to file the petition.
- Chua Keng Giap had been declared as not
the son of the spouses Chua Bing Guan and
Sy Kao in S.P. No. Q-12592, for the
settlement of the estate of the late Chua
Bing Guan. The decision in that case had long
become final and executory.2
- Petitioner Sy Kao denies that respondent
Chua Keng Giap is her son by the deceased
Chua Bing Guan. Thus, petitioner's
opposition filed on December 19, 1968, is
based principally on the ground that the
respondent was not the son of Sy Kao and
the deceased but of a certain Chua Eng Kun
and his wife Tan Kuy.
ISSUE:
- WON the Contrary to declaration by
mother be a basis for a childs
filiation?
absolutely prevented sexual intercourse;
2) That it is proved that for biological or other
scientifi c reasons, the child could not have been
that of the husband, except in the instance provided
in the second paragraph of Article 164; or
3) That in case of children conceived through
artifi cial insemination, the written authorization
or ratifi cation of either parent was obtained
through mistake, fraud, violence, intimidation, or
undue infl uence. (255a)
Article 167. The child shall be considered legitimate
although the mother may have declared
against its legitimacy or may have been sentenced
as an adulteress. (256a)
RULING:
- YES. Thus, in an inheritance case
where a person claims to be the son
of an alleged woman and of the
decedent whose properties are being
liquidated, and such person-claimant
was not in fact delivered by the
alleged mother, she can validly
declare that the said person is not in
any way related to her as her child
and, as the Supreme Court said,
“who better than Sy Kao herself
would know if Chua Keng Giap was
really her son? More than any one
else, it was Sy Kao who could say— as
indeed she has said these for many
years — that Chua Keng
Giap was not begotten of her womb”