" • 
.~k'ni1h' 
SIXTEENTH CONGRESS or THE REPUBLIC 
OF THE PHILIPPINES 
) 
) 
) 
i~Hlff ;If I~(' ~"1'n"br\! 
Second Regular Session 
'14 
OEC 15 P2:43 
SEN~Ifj12 
S.No. ___ _ 
Introduced by Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago 
AN ACT 
REPEALING ARTICLE 891 OF THE CIVIL CODE OF THE PHILIPPINES 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
The Civil Code, Article 891 provides: 
The ascendant who inherits from his descendant any property which 
the latter may have acquired by gratuitous title from another ascendant, or a 
brother or sister, is obliged to reserve such property as he may have 
acquired by operation of law for the benefit of relatives who are within the 
third degree and who belong to the line from which said property came. 
This provision describes the concept of reserva troncal. In the case of Padura v. 
Baldovino l , the Court stated that the purpose of reserva troncal is "to assure the return of 
the reservable property to the third degree relatives belonging to the line from which the 
property originally came, and avoid its being dissipated into and by the relatives of the 
inheriting ascendant (reservista)." 
Professor Ruben F. Balane during the Fifth J.B.L. Reyes Lecture listed down 
points to consider in deciding whether to retain or discard the provision on reserva 
troncal. 2 Two of which are the following: 
1. The reserva has its origins in the feudal system of the Middle Ages .... 
There is hardly any crying need in this last quarter of the century to 
keep property intact within one family; on the contrary, the need is for 
diffusion rather than concentration. Surely, treating family patrimony as 
if they were feudal estates to be jealously guarded lest they fall into the 
1 104 Phil 1065 (1958). 
2 The Reserva Troneal: Prospect and Retrospect, 58 Phil. LJ 387. 
1 


" 
soiled hands of the great unwashed is an anachronism that should be left 
in history books, where they properly belong, and not in Civil Codes, 
2, [RJeserva entails and encumbers property. An encumbrance ... .is never 
conducive to the development of property. What normally happens is 
that the reservista - faced with the prospect of losing the property to the 
other line, and therefore unable to transmit the property to his own heirs 
- will allow the property to stagnate, will not introduce permanent 
improvements thereon, will refuse to invest on it - all in all a thoroughly 
bad and economically unsalutary situation. 
Another consequence of entailment is that it prevents the free 
circulation of property - for how many people will be eager to buy 
property under a resolutory condition? - and thus is not conducive to 
commercial growth ... , 
There being no compelling reason to retain this archaic provision of the Civil 
Code, it is high time to repeal it. Reserva troncal is no longer desirable in this day and 
age. As Castan points out, "The institution of the reservas is hardly consistent with the 
principles of strict law, let alone with the spirit of modern law, The reservas are based on 
a spirit of distrust and suspicion from which modern law is veering away, aware that the 
regime (ofreservas) is unjust in principle and sterile in practice," 3 
4 '.-uA., ~...-)~ 
MIRlAM DEF~SOR SANTI/GO 
1P 
34 Castan, Derecho Civil Espanol, Comun y Floral 185 (6'h ed. 1944), quoted in and translated by Balane. 
2 


SIXTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC 
OF THE PHILIPPINES 
Second Regular Session 
SENATE 
S.No. 
2512 
) 
) 
) 
Introduced by Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago 
£t'l'nah-
H)tl1rr Ilf 1\11' ~f'('rd.!1f\l 
'14 
GEC 15 P2 :43 
Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippines in 
Congress assembled: 
1 
AN ACT 
2 
REPEALING ARTICLE 891 OF THE CIVIL CODE OF THE PHILIPPINES 
3 
SECTION 1. Civil Code, Article 891 is hereby repealed. 
4 
SECTION 2. Effectivity Clause. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after 
5 
its publication in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation. 
Approved, 
Itmdp5Dec20 14 
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