1. Plutarco owned land that borders on a river.

After several years the action of the water of the

river caused the deposit of soil, and increased

the area of Plutarco’s property by 200 square

meters.

(a) If Plutarco wants to own the increase in

area, what will be his legal basis for doing so?

Explain your answer. (2%)

(b) On the other hand, if the river dries up,

may Plutarco validly claim a right of ownership of

the dried-up river bed? Explain your answer. (2%)

2. Ana Rivera had a husband, a Filipino citizen

like her, who was among the passengers on

board a commercial jet plane which crashed in

the Atlantic Ocean ten (10) years earlier and had

never been heard of ever since. Believing that

her husband had died, Ana married Adolf Cruz

Staedler, a divorced German national born of a

German father and a Filipino mother residing in

Stuttgart. To avoid being required to submit the

required certificate of capacity to marry from the

German Embassy in Manila, Adolf stated in the

application for marriage license that he was a

Filipino citizen. With the marriage license stating

that Adolf was a Filipino, the couple got married

in a ceremony officiated by the Parish Priest of

Calamba, Laguna in a beach in Nasugbu,

Batangas, as the local parish priest refused to

solemnize marriages except in his church. Is the

marriage valid? Explain fully. (5%)

3. Rafael, a wealthy bachelor, filed a petition for

the adoption of Dolly, a one-year old foundling

who had a severe heart ailment. During the pen-

dency of the adoption proceedings, Rafael died

of natural causes. The Office of the Solicitor Gene-

ral files a motion to dismiss the petition on the

ground that the case can no longer proceed be-

cause of the petitioner’s death.

Should the case be dismissed? Explain. (2%)

Will your answer be the same if it was Dolly

who died during the pendency of the adoption

proceedings? Explain. (2%)

4. Rica petitioned for the annulment of her ten-

year old marriage to Richard. Richard hired Atty.

Cruz to represent him in the proceedings. In pay-

ment for Atty. Cruz’s acceptance and legal fees,

Richard conveyed to Atty. Cruz a parcel of land

in Taguig that he recently purchased with his lotto

winnings. The transfer documents were duly

signed and Atty. Cruz immediately took posses-

sion by fencing off the property’s entire perimeter.

Desperately needing money to pay for his

mounting legal fees and his other needs and

despite the transfer to Atty. Cruz, Richard offered

the same parcel of land for sale to the spouses

Garcia. After inspection of the land, the spouses

considered it a good investment and purchased

it from Richard. Immediately after the sale, the

spouses Garia commenced the construction of a

three-storey building over the land, but they were

prevented from doing this by Atty. Cruz who

claimed he has a better right in light of the prior

conveyance in his favour.

Is Atty. Cruz’s claim correct?

5. The Roman Catholic Church accepted a

donation of a real property located in Lipa City. A

deed of donation was executed, signed by the

donor, Don Mariano, and the donee, the Church,

as represented by Fr. Damian. Before the deed

could be notarized, Don Mariano died.

is the donation valid? (4%)

6. X, a dressmaker, accepted clothing materials

from Karla to make two dresses for her. On the

day X was supposed to deliver Karla’s dresses, X

called up Karla to that she had an urgent matter

to attend to and will deliver them the next day.

That night, however, a robber broke into her shop

and took everything including Karla’s two dresses.

X claims she is not liable to deliver Karla’s dresses

or to pay for the clothing materials considering

she herself was a victim of the robbery which was

a fortuitous event and over which she had no

control. Do you agree? Why? (3%)

7. Benjamin is the owner of a titled lot which is

bounded on the north by the Maragondon River.

An alluvial deposit of two (2) hectares was added

to the registered area. Daniel took possession of

the portion formed by accretion and claims that

he has been in open continuous and undisturbed

possession of said portion since 1923 as shown by

a tax declaration. In 1958, Benjamin filed a Com-

plaint for Quieting of Title and contends that the

alluvium belongs to him as the riparian owner

and that since the alluvium is, by law, part and

parcel of the registered property, the same may

be considered as registered property. Decide the

case and explain. (5%)

8. Jackie, 16, inherited a townhouse. Because

she wanted to study in an exclusive school, she

sold her townhouse by signing a Deed of Sale

and turning over possession of the same to the

buyer. When the buyer discovered that she was

still a minor, she promised to execute another

Deed of Sale when she turns 18. When Jackie

turned 25 and was already working, she wanted

to annul the sale and return the buyer’s money to recover her townhouse.

Was the sale contract

void, voidable or valid? Can Jackie still recover

the property? Explain. (4%)

9. Dr. Jack, a surgeon, holds clinic at the St.

Vincent's Hospital and pays rent to the hospital.

The fees of Dr. Jack are paid directly to him by

the patient or through the cashier of the hospital.

The hospital publicly displays in the lobby the

names and specializations of the doctors asso-

ciated or accredited by it, including that of Dr.

Jack. Marta engaged the services of Dr. Jack

because of recurring stomach pain. It was diag-

nosed that she is suffering from cancer and had

to be operated on. Before the operation, she was

asked to sign a "consent for hospital care,”

which reads:

"Permission is hereby given to the medical,

nursing and laboratory staff of the St. Vincent's

Hospital to perform such procedures and to ad-

minister such medications and treatments as

may be deemed necessary or advisable by the

physicians of this hospital for and during the

confinement.”

After the surgery, the attending nurses repor-

ted that two (2) sponges were missing. Later,

Marta died due to complications brought about

by the sponges that were left in her stomach. The

husband of Marfa sued the hospital and Dr. Jack

for damages arising from negligence in the me-

dical procedure. The hospital raised the defense

that Dr. Jack is not its employee as it did not hire

Dr. Jack nor pay him any salary or compensa-

tion. It has absolutely no control over the medical

services and treatment being provided by Dr.

Jack even signed an agreement that he holds

the hospital free and harmless from any liability

arising from his medical practice in the hospital.

Is St. Vincent’s Hospital liable for the negli-

gence of Dr. Jack? Explain your answer. (5%)

10. Brad and Angelina had a secret marriage

before a pastor whose office is located in Arro-

ceros Street City of Manila. They paid money to

the pastor who took care of all the documenta-

tion. When Angelina wanted to go to the U.S., she

found out that there was no marriage license is-

sued to them before their marriage. Since their

marriage was solemnized in 1995 after the effec-

tivity of the Family Code, Angelina filed a petition

for judicial declaration of nullity on the strength of

a certification by the Civil Registrar of Manila that,

after a diligent and exhaustive search, the al-

leged marriage license indicated in the marriage

certificate does not appear in the records and

cannot be found.

(A) Decide the case and explain. (2.5%)