FELIX TING HO, JR., MERLA TING HO BRADEN, JUANA TING HO & LYDIA TING HO BELENZO vs. VICENTE TENG
GUI, G.R. No. 130115, July 16, 2008
“x x x.
Nonetheless, petitioners invoke equity considerations and
claim that the ruling of the RTC that an implied trust was created
between respondent and their father with respect to the subject lot should be
upheld.
This contention must fail because the prohibition against an alien from owning lands of the public domain
is absolute and not even an implied trust can be permitted to arise on equity
considerations.
In the case of Muller v. Muller,[18] wherein
the respondent, a German national, was seeking reimbursement of funds claimed
by him to be given in trust to his petitioner wife, a Philippine citizen, for
the purchase of a property in Antipolo, the Court, in rejecting the claim,
ruled that:
Respondent was aware of the
constitutional prohibition and expressly admitted his knowledge thereof to this
Court. He declared that he had the Antipolo property titled in the name of
the petitioner because of the said prohibition. His attempt at
subsequently asserting or claiming a right on the said property cannot be
sustained.
The Court of Appeals erred in
holding that an implied trust was created and resulted by operation of law in
view of petitioner's marriage to respondent. Save for the exception provided in
cases of hereditary succession, respondent's disqualification from owning lands
in the Philippines is absolute. Not even an ownership in trust is
allowed. Besides, where the purchase is made in violation of an
existing statute and in evasion of its express provision, no trust can result
in favor of the party who is guilty of the fraud. To hold otherwise would allow
circumvention of the constitutional prohibition.
Invoking the principle that a
court is not only a court of law but also a court of equity, is likewise
misplaced. It has been held that equity as a rule will follow the law and will
not permit that to be done indirectly which, because of public policy, cannot
be done directly...[19]
X x x.”
