G.R. No.

L-40098 August 29, 1975

ANTONIO LIM TANHU, DY OCHAY, ALFONSO LEONARDO NG SUA and CO

OYO, Petitioners, vs.

HON. JOSE R. RAMOLETE as Presiding Judge, Branch III, CFI, Cebu and TAN
PUT, Respondents

FACTS:

Herein respondent Tan Put filed a complaint originally against the spouses-petitioners Antonio Lim Tanhu
and Dy Ochay. Subsequently, in an amended complaint dated September 26, 1972, their son Lim Teck
Chuan and the other spouses-petitioners Alfonso Leonardo Ng Sua and Co Oyo and their son Eng Chong
Leonardo were included as defendants. In said amended complaint, respondent Tan alleged that she "is
the widow of Tee Hoon Lim Po Chuan, who was a partner in the commercial partnership, Glory
Commercial Company ... with Antonio Lim Tanhu and Alfonso Ng Sua that "defendant Antonio Lim
Tanhu, Alfonso Leonardo Ng Sua, Lim Teck Chuan, and Eng Chong Leonardo, through fraud and
machination, took actual and active management of the partnership and although Tee Hoon Lim Po
Chuan was the manager of Glory Commercial Company, defendants managed to use the funds of the
partnership to purchase lands and building's in the cities of Cebu, Lapulapu, Mandaue, and the
municipalities of Talisay and Minglanilla, some of which were hidden, but the description of those
already discovered.

ISSUE:

Whether or not Tan has a right over the liquidated properties of partnership.

RULING:

No, Tan Hu has no right over the liquidated properties of partnership.

The court finds no alternative but to hold that plaintiff Tan Put's allegation that she is the widow of Tee
Hoon Lim Po Chuan has not been satisfactorily established and that, on the contrary, the evidence on
record convincingly shows that her relation with said deceased was that of a common-law wife and
furthermore, that all her claims against the company and its surviving partners as well as those against
the estate of the deceased have already been settled and paid. We take judicial notice of the fact that
the respective counsel who assisted the parties in the quitclaim, Attys. H. Hermosisima and Natalio
Castillo, are members in good standing of the Philippine Bar, with the particularity that the latter has
been a member of the Cabinet and of the House of Representatives of the Philippines, hence, absent any
credible proof that they had allowed themselves to be parties to a fraudulent document His Honor did
right in recognizing its existence, albeit erring in not giving due legal significance to its contents. No
specific amounts or properties may be adjudicated to the heir or legal representative of the deceased
partner without the liquidation being first terminated.