Short answer. You succeed the grandparent, not your deceased parent. Article 971 of the Civil Code says the representative is called to the succession by law, not by the person represented, and succeeds not the person represented but the one that person would have succeeded — meaning you step into your parent's place to inherit from the grandparent.
What the law says
The representative is called to the succession by the law and not by the person represented.
Civil Code, Article 971 — The Representative Succeeds the Decedent. Read the full provision →
What the law says
The representative does not succeed the person represented but the one whom the person represented would have succeeded.
Civil Code, Article 971 — The Representative Succeeds the Decedent. Read the full provision →
Your right comes directly from the law
Article 971 starts by settling where your right to inherit actually comes from. The representative is called to the succession by the law and not by the person represented. Because your parent died before the grandparent, your parent never had anything to pass on to you from that estate — your parent inherited nothing to transmit. The law itself calls you to the succession in your parent's stead; it is not a right your parent handed down to you.
Who you are actually succeeding
Article 971 then answers your exact question. The representative does not succeed the person represented but the one whom the person represented would have succeeded. You do not succeed your deceased parent — you succeed the grandparent, the same person your parent would have succeeded had your parent survived. Representation places you in the position your parent would have occupied in the grandparent's succession, not in a succession to your parent.
Why this distinction is not just technical
Whose estate you are legally succeeding to determines which succession's rules govern your share, and against which estate your rights and obligations as an heir are measured. Since Article 971 places you in the grandparent's succession rather than your parent's, it is the grandparent's estate — not any separate estate your parent may have left — that this right of representation concerns. That framing is what representation is built on.
What representation is not
Representation under Article 971 is specifically about stepping into a deceased parent's place within the grandparent's succession. It is not the same question as whether you separately inherit your parent's own personal estate, debts, or property acquired independently of the grandparent — that is ordinary succession to your parent and is governed by different rules. Representation only concerns your entry, in your parent's stead, into the succession your parent would have shared in.
Cases citing this provision
These Supreme Court decisions cite the provision above. We list them so you can read them yourself; the summaries of what each decided are not ours to give.
- Amadea Angela K. Aquino vs. Rodolfo C. Aquino and Abdulah C. Aquino/Rodolfo C. Aquino, G.R. No. 208912 / G.R. No. 209018, December 7, 2021 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Andy Ang vs. Severino Pacunio, et al, G.R. No. 208928, July 8, 2015 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Alejandra Arado, et al. vs. Anacleto Alcoran and Elenette Sunjaco, G.R. No. 163362, July 8, 2015 — read the decision on LawPhil →