TEOFISTA BABIERA VS PRESENTACION CATOTAL

GR NO. 138493, JUNE 15, 2000

ISSUE: Does the action involve impugning Teofista’s legitimacy?

FACTS:

Presentacion questioned the authenticity of the entry of birth of Teofista. She asserted
that the birth certificate is void ab initio, as it was totally a simulated birth, the signature
of informant forged, and contained false entries.

Teofista countered that she and Presentacion are full-blooded sisters, as showed
therein her certificate of birth, Certificate of Baptism, and her School Report Card.

The petition states no cause of action, being an attack on her legitimacy as the child of
Hermogena and Eugenio; that Presentacion has no legal capacity to file the petition
pursuant to Art. 171 of the Family Code; and that the petition was barred from
prescription in accordance with Art. 170 of the Family Code.

RULING:

The action does not involve impugning Teofista’s legitimacy. Articles 170 of the Family
Code which states that only the father could impugn the child’s legitimacy. In this case,
the action involved cancellation of Teofista’s Birth Certificate for being ab initio on the
ground that the child did not belong to the spouses Babiera. The prayer was not to
declare Teofista as an illegitimate child of Hermogena, but to establish that the former
was not the latter’s child at all. Hence, the action did not impugn Teofista’s filiation to
Spouses Eugenio and Hermogena Babiera, because there was no blood relation to
impugn in the first place.