Abangan v.

Abangan, 40 Phil 476, AVANCENA

On September 19, 1917, CFI of Cebu admitted to probate Ana Abangans will
executed July, 1916. From this decision the opponents appealed.
The will consists of 2 sheets. The first contains all the disposition of the
testatrix, duly signed at the bottom by Martin Montalban (in the name and
under the direction of the testatrix) and by three witnesses. The following
sheet contains only the attestation clause duly signed at the bottom by the
three instrumental witnesses. Neither of these sheets is signed on the left
margin by the testatrix and the three witnesses, nor numbered by letters.
These omissions, according to appellants contention, are defects whereby
the probate of the will should have been denied.
Whether or not the will was duly admitted to probate.
YES. In requiring that each and every sheet of the will be signed on the left
margin by the testator and three witnesses in the presence of each other,
Act No. 2645 evidently has for its object the avoidance of substitution of any
of said sheets which may change the disposition of the testatrix. But when
these dispositions are wholly written on only one sheet (as in the instant
case) signed at the bottom by the testator and three witnesses, their
signatures on the left margin of said sheet are not anymore necessary as
such will be purposeless.
In requiring that each and every page of a will must be numbered
correlatively in letters placed on the upper part of the sheet, it is likewise
clear that the object of Act No. 2645 is to know whether any sheet of the will
has been removed. But, when all the dispositive parts of a will are written on
one sheet only, the object of the statute disappears because the removal of
this single sheet, although unnumbered, cannot be hidden.
In a will consisting of two sheets the first of which contains all the
testamentary dispositions and is signed at the bottom by the testator and
three witnesses and the second contains only the attestation clause and is
signed also at the bottom by the three witnesses, it is not necessary that
both sheets be further signed on their margins by the testator and the
witnesses, or be paged.
The object of the solemnities surrounding the execution of wills is to close
the door against bad faith and fraud, to avoid substitution of wills and

testaments and to guaranty their truth and authenticity. Therefore the laws
on this subject should be interpreted in such a way as to attain these
primordal ends. But, on the other hand, also one must not lose sight of the
fact that it is not the object of the law to restrain and curtail the exercise of
the right to make a will. So when an interpretation already given assures
such ends, any other interpretation whatsoever, that adds nothing but
demands more requisites entirely unnecessary, useless and frustative of the
testators last will, must be disregarded.