2 VIEWPOINTS OF POSSESSION

- Right to possession
- Right of possession

4 DEGREES OF POSSESSION

- Mere holding or having, without any right whatsoever

- Possession with a juridical title, but not that of an owner
- Possession with a just title, but not from the true owner
- Possession with a title of dominium, that is, with a just title from the owner.

REQUISITES OR ELEMENTS OF POSSESSION

- There must be a holding or control of a thing or a right.

- There must be a deliberate intention to possess
- The possession must be by virtue of one’s own right

CLASSES OF POSSESSION

- In one’s own name or in that of another

- In the concept of owner and in the concept of holder
- In good faith or in bad faith

2 NAMES UNDER WHICH POSSESSION MAY BE EXERCISED

- One’s own name

- Name of another

3 POSSESSION IN ANOTHER’S NAME

- Voluntary
- Necessary
- Unauthorized

EXAMPLES OF POSSESSION IN THE CONCEPT OF HOLDER

- That of the tenant

- That of the usufructuary
- That of the depositary
- That of the bailee in commodatum

WHEN IS POSSESSION IN GOOD FAITH IS CONVERTED TO POSSESSION IN BAD

FAITH
 - From that time should he be considered a possessor in bad faith
- It does not matter whether the facts were caused by him or by some other person

SOME PRESUMPTIONS REGARDING POSSESSION

- Good faith
- Continuity of Character of Possession
- Non-Interruption of Possession
- Presumption of Just Title
- Non-Interruption of Possession of Property Unjustly Lost but Legally Recovered
- Possession during Intervening Period
- Possession of Movables with Real Property
- Exclusive Possession of Common Property

THE FOLLOWING CANNOT BE APPROPRIATED

- Property of public dominion

- Res communes
- Easements
- Things specifically prohibited by law

HOW IS POSSESSION ACQUIRED

- By material occupation or the exercise of a right

- By subjection to our will
- By constructive possession

ESSENTIAL REQUIREMENTS FOR POSSESSION

- The corpus
- The animus

ACQUISITION OF POSSESSION FROM THE VIEWPOINT OF WHO POSSESSES

- Personal
- Thru authorized person (agent or legal representative)
- Thru unauthorized person (but only if subsequently ratified)

ESSENTIAL REQUISITES OF THE THREE

(a) For personal acquisition

o Intent to possess
o Capacity to possess
 o Object must be capable of being possessed
(b) Thru an authorized person
o Intent to possess for principal (not for agent)
o Authority or capacity to possess (for another)
o Principal has intent and capacity to possess

( c) Thru an unauthorized person (as in negotiorum gestio)

o Intent to possess for another (the principal)

o Capacity of “principal” to possess
o Ratification by “principal”

WHEN JURIDICAL RELATION DOES NOT ARISE IN EITHER OF THESE INSTANCES

- When the property or business is not neglected or abandoned

- If in fact the manager has been tacitly authorized by the owner

PERSONS REFERRED TO IN ARTICLE 535

o Unemancipated minors
o Minors emancipated by parental concession or by marriage
o Other incapacitated persons like
o The insane
o The prodigal or spendthrift
o Those under civil interdiction
o Deaf-mutes

POSSESSION CANNOT BE ACQUIRED

- Thru force or intimidation

- Thru mere tolerance
- Thru clandestine, secret possession

FORCE MAY BE

- Actual or merely threatened

- Done by possessor himself or by his agent
- Done against the owner or against any other possessor or against the owner’s
representative, such as a capataz
- Done to oust possessor

EXCEPTIONS TO GENERAL RULE REGARDING POSSESSION AS A FACT

 - Co-possessors
- Possession in different concepts or different degrees

RULE OR CRITERIA TO BE USED IN CASE OF CONFLICT OR DISPUTE REGARDING

POSSESSION

- Present possessor shall be preferred

- If both are present, the one longer in possession
- If both began to possess at the same time, the one who presents a title
- If both present a title, the Court will determine

REASONS FOR PROTECTION OF POSSESSION

- Possession is very similar to ownership and it modifies ownership

- Possession almost invariably gives rise to the presumption that the possessor is the owner

LEGAL MEANS FOR RESTORATION TO POSSESSION

- The owner should go to court, and not eject the unlawful possessor by force
- A tenant illegally forced out by the owner-landlord may institute an action for forcible
entry even if he had not been paying rent regularly
- The proper actions are forcible entry or unlawful detainer, accion publiciana, accion
reivindicatoria, replevin, injunction

REQUISITES FOR THE ISSUANCE OF THE WRIT

1 For Forcible Entry cases – file within 10 days from the time the complaint for forcible
entry is filed

2 For Ejectment/Unlawful Detainer cases in RTC or CA – file within 10 days from the
time the appeal is perfected, only if:

o The lessee’s appeal is frivolous or dilatory

o The lessor’s appeal is prima facie meritorious

POSSESSION IN THE CONCEPT OF HOLDER

- Lessees
- Trustees
- Antichreti creditors
- Agents
- Attorneys
- Depositaries
- Co-owners
2 REQUIREMENTS TO RAISE THE DISPUTABLE PRESUMPTION OF OWNERSHIP

- One must be in possession

- The possession must be in concept of owner

REASONS FOR THE PRESUMPTION

- Presumption that one is in good faith

- Inconvenience of carrying proofs of ownership around

3 KINDS OF TITLES

- True and Valid Title (Titulo Verdadero y Valido)

- Colorable Title (Titulo Colorado)
- Putative Title (Titulo Putativo)

JUDICIAL SUMMONS SHALL BE DEEMED NOT TO HAVE BEEN ISSUED AND SHALL
NOT GIVE RISE TO INTERRUPTION

- If it should be void for lack of legal solemnities

- If the plaintiff should desist from the complaint or should allow the proceedings to lapse
- If the possessor should be absolved from the complaint

NECESSARY EXPENSES SUCH AS

- Those incurred for cultivation, production, and upkeep

- Those made for necessary repairs of a house

NOT NECESSARY EXPENSES SUCH AS

- Those incurred for the filling up with soil of a vacant or deep lot
- A house constructed on land possessed by a stranger
- Land taxes not for its continued possession
- Unnecessary improvements on a parcel of land purchased at a sheriff’s auction sale, made
just to prevent redemption from taking place

USEFUL EXPENSES SUCH AS

- Those incurred for an irrigation system

- Those incurred for the erection of a chapel
- Those incurred for the making of artificial fishponds
- Those incurred for the construction of additional rooms in a house, for use as kitchen,
bathroom, stable, etc.
- Those incurred for clearing up land formerly thickly covered with trees and shrubbery
ORNAMENTAL EXPENSES SUCH AS

- Hand paintings on the wall of a house

- A garage made of platinum
- Water fountains in gardens

A POSSESSOR MAY LOSE HIS POSSESSION

- By the abandonment of the thing

- By an assignment made to another either by onerous or gratuitous title
- By the destruction or total loss of the thing, or because it goes out of commerce
- By the possession of another

WAYS OF LOSING POSSESSION

(a) Thru the Possessor’s Voluntary Will and Intent

- Abandonment
- Assignment
(b) Against the Possessor’s Will
- Possession of another for more than one year
- Final judgment in favor of another (with a better right)
- Expropriation
- Prescription in favor of another
- Recovery or Reivindication by the legitimate owner or possessor
(c) Because of the Object
- Destruction or total loss of the thing
- Going out of commerce
- Escaping from possessor’s control of wild animals

REQUISITES OF ABANDONMENT

- The abandoner must have been a possessor in the concept of owner

- The abandoner must have the capacity to renounce or to alienate
- There must be a physical relinquishment of the thing or object
- There must be no more expectation to recover (specs recuperandi) and no more intent to
return or get back (animus revertendi)

OWNER MAY RECOVER WITHOUT REIMBURSEMENT

1 from possessor in bad faith

2 from possessor in good faith (from a private person if owner had lost the property or been
unlawfully deprived of it)

OWNER MAY RECOVER BUT SHOULD REIMBURSE

- if possessor acquires the object in good faith at a public sale or auction

OWNER CANNOT RECOVER EVEN IF HE OFFERS TO REIMBURSE

1 if possessor had acquired it in good faith by purchase from a merchant’s store, or in fairs, or
markets in accordance with the Code of Commerce and special laws

2 if owner “is by his conduct precluded from denying the seller’s authority to sell”

3 if possessor had obtained the goods because he was an innocent purchaser for value and holder
of a negotiable document of title to the goods

RULES AS TO POSSESSION OF WILD ANIMALS

1 The possessor does not lose his possession of them as long as they habitually return to the
possessor ‘s premises

2 Impliedly, possession of them is lost if the aforementioned habit has ceased