The Phase Change

That gas giant deviates from its orbit,
Once or twice in an hour or a minute
On Earth, relatively, only the gas giants,
Or perhaps the failed stars knew.

Once, it has its secret orbit, that none in the universe saw,
It hopes, ponders, “Are we all the Roman Gods?”
“No, am I Jupiter? And that distant star from my sky, who is she?”
“Terra? Is it her name?” (I closed my eyes, no, I avoided any sight of light)

Though nothing is present, it’s true.
Just energies—fusion, fission, the emitted temperature.
Nothing in it where the electromagnetic waves can touch, and radiate,
To brandish its beauty and fright of fate.

It kept on deviating. The revolution to rectilinear motion.
Once, passed through the asteroids, the feeling of attraction intensified.
If it retreats, it expands. Scared it rips, it persisted.
Compression, condensation, suddenly it found itself beneath ambitions.

Liquid. Vast. Cold.
Flowing from the polar to the equator.
Sometimes, it crashes against the roughness of rocks.
Sometimes, it dives and glides through the sand

Once, it saw a different one; he jumped into god. (I closed my eyes and tried to catch him)
Suddenly, a whirlpool of emotions left it dazzled.
He cannot let him die, it thought. (Or I felt)
Suddenly, there was empathy and connection.

Another man jumped and there came pitch black.
“Who are you?”, the man asked.
“Are you God?”. It was stunned.
“Are you Terra?”, as clarity is a question to a question.

“You are dead. But I think I died too,” deepening the silence, deafening the two.
Dissociating further, epiphany broke the confusion.
“I died and became the sea,” it murmured
As if it’s been alive for years, it knew how it felt–to be.

“That answers it.” The man, satisfied, then left.
The two brushed troughs before suspending their crests in the air,
not long enough, before the waters meet later
while the man traverses through the icebergs in pairs.

Enlightenment was a literal light when the sun appeared.
A filtered kind of radiation touching it to disappear.
Infrared, visible, ultraviolet, and evaporation.
Water vapor mixed with the Atlantic Ocean’s.

It was a paradox as to what must be told.
It has made clear the path to reasons then lost what the hearts bestowed.
But never mind, because the man came back and said,
“We have yet to live all the lives beyond the world.”

Agtarap v. Agtarap

G.R. Nos. 177099 and 177192 | June 8, 2011

Facts

Eduardo, petitioner herein, filed with RTC Pasay for the judicial settlement of the estate of his deceased father (Joaquin) who died intestate. Joaquin had two marriages in his lifetime. He married Lucia, with children Jesus, Milagros, and Jose who is survived by his three children Gloria, Joseph, and Teresa. Two years after Lucia’s death, Joaquin married the mother of petitioners Eduardo and Sebastian and Mercedes, Caridad.

Joaquin left two parcels of land with improvements. The said had been leased and improved by Joseph, respondent.

The respondent also alleged that the two subject lots belong to the conjugal partnership of Joaquin and Lucia, and upon Lucia’s death, they became the pro indiviso owners.

The RTC ordered that considering the bulk of the estate property was acquired during the existence of the second marriage as shown by the TCTs which showed on its face that the decedent was married to Caridad Garcia, the greater part of the estate is perforce accounted for by the second marriage and the compulsory heirs thereunder.

However, its subsequent resolution declared that the real properties belonged to the conjugal partnership of Joaquin and Lucia, which the CA affirmed.

Issue

Does the probate court have the power to determine the ownership of the property in question?

Ruling

Yes. As a general rule, the trial court, as a probate or an intestate court, has jurisdiction only to the probate of the will and/or settlement of the estate of deceased persons but does not extend to the determination of questions of ownership that arise during the proceedings.

But is subject to exceptions, first, when the question of inclusion in, or exclusion from, the inventory of a piece of property is without prejudice to the final determination of ownership in a separate action, second, when the interested parties are all heirs, and lastly, determination of the status of each heir, and whether the property in the said inventory is conjugal or exclusive property of the deceased spouse.

Section 2, Rule 73 of the Rules of Court provides that when the marriage is dissolved by the death of the husband or the wife, the community property shall be inventoried, administered, and liquidated, and the debts thereof paid; in the testate or intestate proceedings of the deceased spouse, and if both spouses have died, the conjugal partnership shall be liquidated in the testate or intestate proceedings of either.