519 Phil. 673
YNARES-SANTIAGO, J.:
WHETHER OR NOT THE COURT OF APPEALS AND THE RESPONDENT REGIONAL TRIAL COURT HAVE ACTED WITHOUT JURISDICTION OR IN GRAVE ABUSE OF THEIR DISCRETION TANTAMOUNT TO LACK OF JURISDICTION (sic), IN VIOLATION [OF] THE ESTABLISHED AND ACCEPTED RULE OF LAW AND IN COMPLETE DISREGARD OF SUBSTANTIAL JUSTICE AND EQUITY IN APPOINTING A CO-ADMINISTRATOR OF AN ESTATE (IN THE PROCESS OF SETTLEMENT) WHERE THERE IS AN INCUMBENT ADMINISTRATOR WHOSE APPOINTMENT IS FIRM, FINAL, IMPLEMENTED AND INAPPEALABLE, AND WHICH (sic) APPOINTMENT HAS NOT BEEN CANCELLED, RECALLED, REVOKED OR RESCINDED BY APPOINTING, AT THAT, A PERSONThe main issues for resolution are: (1) whether the trial court acted with grave abuse of discretion in appointing private respondent as co-administrator to the estate of the deceased; and (2) whether the Court of Appeals deprived petitioner of his constitutional right to due process and his right to petition the government for redress of grievances by not addressing the issues raised before it.WHETHER OR NOT THE RESPONDENT COURT OF APPEALS DENIED PETITIONER HIS CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS TO DUE PROCESS OF LAW AND HIS RIGHT TO PETITION THE GOVERNMENT FOR REDRESS OF GRIEVANCES BY NOT ADDRESSING AND RESOLVING THE ISSUES BROUGHT TO IT BY THE PETITIONER, MORE ESPECIFICALLY THE ISSUES OFALIEN TO THE ESTATE OF THE DECEASED, WITH VARIOUS SERIOUS INTERESTS (ACTUAL JUDICIAL CONTROVERSIES) IN CONFLICT WITH THOSE OF THE ESTATE, AND(A)(B)
WITH NO PROPER INTEREST IN THE ESTATE AND WHO IS PERSONALLY UNFIT, UNSUITABLE, UNWORTHY, UNDESERVING OF THE TRUST INHERENT IN THE POSITION OF CO-ADMINISTRATOR OF THE ESTATE, AND UNACCEPTABLE AND REPULSIVE TO THE FAMILY OF THE LEGAL HEIRS OF THE DECEASED; AND THEN REFUSING TO REMOVE HIM AS CO-ADMINISTRATOR AFTER IT WAS SHOWN THAT HIS REPRESENTATIONS ON WHICH HE WAS APPOINTED CO-ADMINISTRATOR WERE EMPTY AND FALSE; AND(1)
RES JUDICATA AND STABILITY OF THE JUDGMENT APPOINTING THE PETITIONER HEREIN AS JUDICIAL ADMINISTRATOR OF THE ESTATE IN QUESTION, AND(2)
DECIDING THE ISSUES INVOLVED IN A MANNER CONTRARY TO THE RULES SET DOWN BY THE SUPREME COURT ON THE MATTER.[8]
SEC. 6. When and to whom letters of administration granted. — If no executor is named in the will, or the executor or executors are incompetent, refuse the trust, or fail to give bond, or a person dies intestate, administration shall be granted:The order of preference in the appointment of an administrator depends on the attendant facts and circumstances.[10] In Sioca v. Garcia,[11] this Court set aside the order of preference, to wit:
(a) To the surviving husband or wife, as the case may be, or next of kin, or both, in the discretion of the court, or to such person as such surviving husband or wife, or next of kin, requests to have appointed, if competent and willing to serve;
(b) If such surviving husband or wife, as the case may be, or next of kin, or the person selected by them, be incompetent or unwilling, or if the husband or widow, or next of kin, neglects for thirty (30) days after the death of the person to apply for administration or to request that administration be granted to some other person, it may be granted to one or more of the principal creditors, if competent and willing to serve;
(c) If there is no such creditor competent and willing to serve, it may be granted to such other person as the court may select.
It is well settled that a probate court cannot arbitrarily and without sufficient reason disregard the preferential rights of the surviving spouse to the administration of the estate of the deceased spouse. But, if the person enjoying such preferential rights is unsuitable, the court may appoint another person. The determination of a person's suitability for the office of administrator rests, to a great extent, in the sound judgment of the court exercising the power of appointment and such judgment will not be interfered with on appeal unless it appears affirmatively that the court below was in error.In the instant case, the order of preference was not disregarded by the trial court. Instead of removing petitioner, it appointed private respondent, a creditor, as co-administrator since the estate was sizeable and petitioner was having a difficult time attending to it alone. In fact, petitioner did not submit any report regarding the estate under his administration. In its March 16, 2000 Order,[13] the trial court found thus:
x x x Unsuitableness may consist in adverse interest of some kind or hostility to those immediately interested in the estate. x x x.[12] (Emphasis supplied, citations omitted)
Going over all the arguments of the parties, after hearing has been set relative thereto, this Court has observed that indeed the judicial administrator had not submitted to the Court any report about the Estate under his administration except those involving the cases he filed and/or intervened in other branches. This may be due to his being inexperienced, but this fact will not be reason enough to remove him from the administration of the Estate as Judicial Administrator thereof. However, considering that the Intervenor is claiming to be the patriarch of the Uy family and who claims to have enormous knowledge of the businesses and properties of the decedent Jose K.C. Uy, it is the feeling of this Court that it will be very beneficial to the Estate if he be appointed co-administrator (without removing the already appointed Judicial Administrator) of the Estate of Jose K.C. Uy, if only to shed more light to the alleged enormous properties/businesses and to bring them all to the decedent's Estate pending before this Court.[14]A co-administrator performs all the functions and duties and exercises all the powers of a regular administrator, only that he is not alone in the administration.[15] The practice of appointing co-administrators in estate proceedings is not prohibited. In Gabriel v. Court of Appeals,[16] this Court reaffirmed that jurisprudence allows the appointment of co-administrators under certain circumstances, to wit:
Under both Philippine and American jurisprudence, the appointment of co-administrators has been upheld for various reasons, viz: (1) to have the benefit of their judgment and perhaps at all times to have different interests represented; (2) where justice and equity demand that opposing parties or factions be represented in the management of the estate of the deceased; (3) where the estate is large or, from any cause, an intricate and perplexing one to settle; (4) to have all interested persons satisfied and the representatives to work in harmony for the best interests of the estate; and (5) when a person entitled to the administration of an estate desires to have another competent person associated with him in the office.[17] (Emphasis supplied)Thus, petitioner's argument that the trial court cannot re-open the issue of the appointment of an administrator without removing the incumbent administrator is erroneous. In probate proceedings, considerable latitude is allowed a probate court in modifying or revoking its own orders as long as the proceedings are pending in the same court and timely applications or motions for such modifications or revocations are made by the interested parties.[18] In the instant case, the estate of the deceased has not yet been settled and the case is still within the jurisdiction of the court.