MADRIDEJO V.

DE LEON
GR No. 32473, October 6, 1930
Petitioner: Melecio Madridejo assisted by Pedro Madridejo (guardian)
Respondent: Gonzalo de Leon
Facts: Eulogio de Leon and Flaviana Perez were married and had one child:
Domingo de Leon. After Eulogio died in 1915, Flaviana lived with Pedro
Madridejo. In 1917, the registry of births indicated that they begot Melecio
Madridejo. When Flaviana was about to die, the parish priest solemnized her
marriage to Pedro in articulo mortis. However the priest was not able to submit a
copy of the marriage certificate to the municipal secretary. Domingo de Leon, her
son by her first marriage died eight years later.
In settling the properties left by Eulogio de Leon, CFI Laguna ruled that Melecio is
Domingos next of kin; that the marriage of Pedro and Flaviana was valid, and that
such marriage legitimated Melecio Madridejo as their son.

before or after its celebration. There are 2 kinds of acknowledgement: voluntary

and compulsory.
Art. 131 provides for voluntary acknowledgement: the acknowledgement of a
natural child must be made in the record of birth, in a will, or some other public
document.
Art. 135 provides for compulsory: the father may be compelled to acknowledge his
natural child in the following cases: (1) when an indisputable paper written by him
expressly acknowledging his paternity exists, (2) whenthe child has been in the
uninterrupted possession of the status of a natural child of the father justified by the
conduct of the father himself or that of his family.
Art. 136 provides for compulsory ack. by the mother: the mother may be compelled
to acknowledge her natural child (1) when the child is, with respect to the mother,
included in any of the cases mentioned in the next preceding article; (2) when the
fact of the birth and the identity of the child are fully proven.

The defendants, Gonzalo de Leon raised the following issues to the SC:
Issues: W/N Pedros and Flavianas in articulo mortis marriage is valid? W/N such
marriage legitimated Melecio as their natural child?
Held: YES. NO, CFI judgement is reversed.
Ratio:
First Issue. The mere fact that the parish priest failed to send a copy of the marriage
certificate to the municipal secretary does not invalidate the marriage in articulo
mortis because it does not appear that the essential requisites required by law for its
validty were lacking in the ceremony. Forwarding of the marriage certificate is not
one of the essential requisites.
Second Issue. As there have been no contentions that Melecio is not the natural
child of Pedro and Flaviana, the issue here is whether the subsequent marriage of
his parents legitimated him? Art. 121 of the CC provides that children shall be
considered as legitimated by a subsequent marriage only when they have been
acknowledged by the parents before or after the celebration thereof. The natural
child born out of wedlock must have been acknowledged by the parents either

In this case, Pedro did not voluntarily acknowledge Madridejo in a public

document. The registry certificate of birth is not the record of birth provided by law
because it lacks requisite of article 48 of the civil registry law. It may be a public
document but it has neither been executed nor signed by Pedro and it contains no
statement that he acknowledges Melecio. As for Flaviana, it does not appear that
she spullied data in the civil registry of births or in the baptismal register which
only constitutes proof of baptism and not filiation. There was no voluntary
acknowledgement.
In compulsory acknowledgement, Melecio must institute an action for
acknowledgement as a natural child against his putative parents. In this case,
Melecio did not only not demand to be acknowledged as a natural child, which is
the condition precedent to establishing his legitimation by the subsequent marriage
and his right to the estate of his half-brother, Domingo. Melecio avers that the
second paragraph of de Leons answer amounts to an admission that he is indeed
Flavianas son and relieves him of the burden of proving that his mother
acknowledged him before her marriage. Such admission would have been effective
if his action was directed at compelling Flaviana or her heirs to acknowledge
Melecio as her son.