Appeal by  certiorari under Rule 46 of the  Rules from a judgment rendered by the Court of Appeals which modified that of the Court of First Instance of Sorsogon in a partition  suit  (civil No.  120).

On September 1946 in the Court of First  Instance of Sorsogon Gerarda  Gamis  and her  husband  Sebastian  Imperial commenced suit against her father Victoriano Gamis arid brother Macario Gamis for partition  of several parcels of land  (A to C)   claimed to be paraphernal  of  the  late Ciriaca Giro,  mother of the plaintiff  Gerarda Gamis,  and those numbered 1  to 19, in the second amended complaint dated  4  September  1950,  to be  conjugal of  the spouses Victoriano Gamis  and Ciriaca Giro.

After hearing, on  30 September 1954 the Court rendered judgment the dispositive part of which is as follows:

Por tanto, el Juzgado declara las Parcelas A y B la porcion equivalente a 2/3 partes  de la  Parcela C  como bienes  parafernales de la finada  Giriaca Giro que deben ser divididas en partes  iguales entre la demandante Gerarda Gamis y  el demandado Macario Gamis. En cuanto a las Parcelas  1 al 19, se declaran bienes de Ciriaca Giro y Victoriano Gamis las Parcelas 1 y 2,  las porciones cubiertas por las hojas declaratorias Exhibits K-2 y K-3 de la Parcela 5, la Parcela 9, la  porcion cubierta  por la hoja declaratoria  Exhibit 1-4 de la Parcela 10,  y las  Parcelas 11 y 19, y se ordena que las mismas sean adjudicadas y  divididas en la forma  siguiente:  una  mitad a favor  del  demandado Victoriano Gamis  y  la otra mitad en partes iguales entre la demandante Gerarda Gamis y el  demandado Macario Gamis.  Se condena al  demandado Victoriano Gamis a pagar a la demandante la suma  de P2,000.00 en concepto de dafios y perjuicios. SE SOBRESEE la demanda en cuanto a las Parcelas 3, 4,  6, 7,  12, 13, 14, 15, 16,  17 y 18.  SE CONCEDE a las partes una plazo de treinta (30) dias para que presenten al  Juzgado  un proyecto de particidn de conformidad  con esta decision  en la inteligencia de que no hacerlo dentro de  dicho plazo, el Juzgado nombrara, a petici6n de cualquiera de las partes, tres comisionados que verificaran la particion ordenada en la presente decision.

No se hace ningun pronunciamiento especial en cuanto a las costas. (pp. 85, 104-105, Rec. on  App.)

Victoriano  Gamis  appealed to the Court of Appeals and there  assigned as committed  by the trial  court the following errors:

1. The  trial  court  erred in nodding  that parcels A,  B and C, as described in the complaint, are paraphernal  property of Ciriaca Giro,

2. The trial court erred in  finding parcels 1,  2, 9,  11 and 19 as conjugal property of the spouses Victoriano Gamis and  Ciriaca Giro.

3. The trial court erred in condemning appellant  to  pay plaintiff Gerarda Gamis  two thousand pesos as damages.

4. The trial court erred in not declaring appellant forced heir of Ciriaca Giro, assuming that parcels A,  B and C are her paraphernal property,

On 11 April 1956 the Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment of the lower court with a slight modification as to the remaining one-third  undivided share of parcel of land lettered C, described in paragraph 3 of the second amended complaint,  which was declared to belong to Gerarda Gamis and Macario Gamis share and  share alike,  said  one-third undivided  share having been inherited by them from their deceased  uncle Anastacio  Giro.   In  the  judgment of the  Court of Appeals the following  pronouncement is made:

Finally counsel for appellant contends that the lower court failed to declare appellant forced heir of Ciriaca Giro  according to Article 834 of the old Civil Code which  provides that  a widower or widow who, on the death  of his or her spouse is not divorced, or should be so by the fault of  the deceased, shall be entitled to a portion in usufruct equal to that corresponding by way of legitime to each of the legitimate children or descendants who have not received any betterment. This is the  first time this question is raised by appellant. He failed altogether to call the attention of the lower court to this  question and hence it should  be understood to have been waived according to a long line of decisions of our Supreme Court.  Moreover, the lower court must have taken this fact into consideration  when it awarded a nominal damage in the sum of  P2,000 to the plaintiffs. (P. 13,  Annex A.)

A motion for reconsideration of the foregoing pronouncement was  denied.  Hence this appeal by certiorari.

In  his brief  the  petitioner  Victoriano  Gamis  assigns only  one error  as committed by the Court of  Appeals, to wit:

The Honorable Court of Appeals erred in affirming the  decision of the Court of First Instance of  Sorsogon in  Civil Case No. 120, in so far as it held that parcels A, B and C should be divided equally between Gerarda Gamis  and Macario Gamis.

And after  making a short  statement of facts under the heading "Discussion" contends that

* * * the Court of Appeals violated Article 834 of the Old Civil Code when  it decided to partition equally between Gerarda  Gamis and Macario Gamis Parcels A, B and C, ignoring altogether the usufructuary rights of petitioner Victoriano Gamis as surviving spouse of his deceased wife, Ciriaca Giro.

In support of the contention he invoices article  834 of the old  Civil Code,  the law  applicable  because the  deceased spouse  died on 17 January 1909, which provides:

A widower or  widow who,  on the death of his or her spouse, is not divorced, or should be so  by the fault of the deceased, shall be entitled to apportion in usufruct equal to that^corresponding by way of legitime to each of the legitimate children or descendants who have not received any betterment.

Under articles 807 and 834 of the old Civil Code the surviving spouse is a forced heir and entitled to a share in usufruct in the estate of the deceased spouse equal to  that which by way  of legitime corresponds or belongs to each of the  legitimate children or  descendants who  have not been bettered or have not received  any share in the  one-third share destined for betterment.   The right of the surviving spouse to have a share in usufruct in the estate of the deceased spouse is  provided  by law of  which such spouse cannot be deprived and which cannot  be ignored. Of course, the  spouse may waive it but the waiver must be express.

True, in his answer filed in the Court of First Instance of Sorsogon the petitioner  did not claim that  he was a forced heir as surviving spouse and as such entitled to a share in usufruct in the estate of his deceased  wife, but the assertion of his usufructuary right as surviving spouse in the estate of his deceased wife would have  been inconsistent with his  claim  that  the parcels of land sought to be partitioned were not paraphernal, the main controversy being whether the  parcels of land sought to be partitioned were paraphernal of the deceased first spouse, conjugal, exclusive of the surviving spouse, or conjugal of the surviving spouse with his  deceased second wife and third wife.  And after the Court of First Instance of Sorsogon had rendered its judgment that the first (A), second (B) and 2/3 of the third (C)  parcels of land were paraphernal he lost no time in asserting his usufructuary right as surviving spouse in the estate of his deceased first wife and praying that he be  so held and  declared  in his brief submitted to the Court of Appeals,  without waiving his right to claim and contend that the parcels of land just referred to were not paraphernal  of his deceased  first wife but otherwise.   Under these  circumstances  the petitioner cannot be held to have  waived his usufructuary right or share in usufruct as surviving spouse in the estate of his deceased wife Ciriaca Giro.

The judgment of  the Court of Appeals under review is modified in the sense that under articles 807 and 834 of the old Civil Code  the petitioner  is  entitled to  a share  in usufruct in the estate of  the late Ciriaca Giro, without pronouncement as to costs.

Paras, C. J., Bengzon,  Montemayor, Reyes, A., Bautista Angelo, Labrador, Concepcion, and  Endencia, JJ., concur.