PRE-READINGS

 Locke
o Provide value beyond what it is.
o Silver and Gold was attributed more than what it is
 Example in the Philippines
o Encomiendas
o CARP – land for the tillers
 Demetz
o Allocating little property –
o Externalities – fulfilling your needs in one hand and being rewarded for such but
what about your neighbors? Balance this.
 Rights – merong hangganan
Constitutional Framework and Basic Property Rights under Civil Law (SEPT. 16 2020)
1987 CONSTITUTION
 II, Sec 5: Protection of…property and promotion of general welfare essential to the
enjoyment of the people of blessings to democracy
 III, Sec 1: No deprivation of…property without DUE PROCESS
 III, Sec 9: Safeguards to the exercise of the power of EMINENT DOMAIN
 V, Sec 1: No property requirement for the exercise of the right of suffrage
 XII, Sec 2: REGALIAN DOCTRINE. All natural resources belong to the State. With
exception to agricultural lands, all natural resources shall not be alienated
 XII Sec 5: PROTECTION OF INDIGENOUS CULTURAL COMMUNITIES TO
THEIR ANCESTRAL LAND
 XII, Sec 6: USE OF PROPERTY BEARS A SOCIAL FUNCTION
 XII, Sec 8: “No private land shall be transferred or conveyed except to individuals,
corporations, or associations qualified to acquire or hold lands of public domain”
 XIII, Sec 1: State shall regulate the acquisition, ownership, use and disposition of
property and its increments.
 XIII, SEC 9:
 XIV, Sec 13: PROTECTION OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY. “The State shall
protect and secure the exclusive rights of scientists, inventors, artists, and other gifted
citizens to their intellectual property and creations, particularly when beneficial to the
people, for such period as may be provided by law.’
o Property doesn’t include just those you can see, but also what you can’t.
Art 414: All things which are or may be the object of appropriation are considered either:
(1) Immovable or real property; or (2) Movable or personal property
 Thing (cosa): any object that exists and capable of satisfying some human needs. Includes
objects already possessed and those susceptible of appropriation
 Property (bienes): anything which is already the object of appropriation or is found in
the possession of man
● Requisites of Property:
 ○ Utility (capacity to satisfy some human need/want)
○ Individuality/Substantivity (quality of having existence)
■ When you can capture it, appropriate it – air. Otherwise, it is common
property.
○ Appropriability (susceptible of being possessed)
■ Res Communes
■ Res Nullius – things that are abandoned but may be appropriated.
○ Pecuniary evaluation (can assign a value to it)
○ It will never include forces of nature
 Property also includes rights
o For example, mortgagee rights.
 Keywords: appropriation – property
o Movable
o Immovable
 It is not limited to tangible things – they can be rights
o Real right – recognized by the whole world
o Personal rights – power to demand from another person (Use in Re) in fulfillment
of an obligation
o
OWNERSHIP Art. 427. Ownership may be exercised over things or rights.
USE AND ENJOYMENT Art. 428. The owner has the right to enjoy and dispose of a thing,
without other limitations than those established by law.
The owner has also a right of action against the holder and possessor of the thing in order to
recover it.

 Keywords: things (tangibles) or rights (intangibles)

 Keywords: attributes of ownership
o Rights of an owner
 Right to enjoy
 Right to dispose
 Right to recover

POSSESSION Art. 523. Possession is the holding of a thing or the enjoyment of a right.

USUFRUCTUARY Art. 562. Usufruct gives a right to enjoy the property of another with
the obligation of preserving its form and substance, unless the title constituting it or the law
otherwise provides.
 Keywords: enjoy
 How does it differ from lease?
o There is no consideration in Usufruct – it is essentially gratuitous
PBMEO V PBM: In the hierarchy of civil liberties, the rights of free expression and of
assembly occupy a preferred position [relative to property rights] as they are essential to
the preservation and vitality of our civil and political institutions; and such priority "gives
these liberties the sanctity and the sanction not permitting dubious intrusions."

Property rights are prescriptible while humans are not.

WHO MAY EXERCISE PROPERTY RIGHTS (NATURAL AND JURIDICAL

PERSONS)

NATURAL PERSONS
Article 37. Juridical capacity, which is the fitness to be the subject of legal relations, is
inherent in every natural person and is lost only through death. Capacity to act, which is
the power to do acts with legal effect, is acquired and may be lost. (n)
Article 38. Minority, insanity or imbecility, the state of being a deaf-mute,
prodigality and civil interdiction are mere restrictions on capacity to act, and do not
exempt the incapacitated person from certain obligations, as when the latter arise from his
acts or from property relations, such as easements.

Art. 88. The absolute community of property between spouses shall commence at the
precise moment that the marriage is celebrated. Any stipulation, express or implied, for
the commencement of the community regime at any other time shall be void.
Art. 90. The provisions on co-ownership shall apply to the absolute community of
property between the spouses in all matters not provided for in this Chapter.
Art. 91. Unless otherwise provided in this Chapter or in the marriage settlements, the
community property shall consist of all the property owned by the spouses at the time of
the celebration of the marriage or acquired thereafter.
Art. 92. The following shall be excluded from the community property:
(1) Property acquired during the marriage by gratuitous title by either spouse, and the
fruits as well as the income thereof, if any, unless it is expressly provided by the donor,
testator or grantor that they shall form part of the community property;
(2) Property for personal and exclusive use of either spouse. However, jewelry shall form
part of the community property;
(3) Property acquired before the marriage by either spouse who has legitimate
descendants by a former marriage, and the fruits as well as the income, if any, of such
property. (201a)
Art. 93. Property acquired during the marriage is presumed to belong to the community,
unless it is proved that it is one of those excluded therefrom. (160)
 Art. 105. In case the future spouses agree in the marriage settlements that the regime of
conjugal partnership gains shall govern their property relations during marriage, the
provisions in this Chapter shall be of supplementary application.
The provisions of this Chapter shall also apply to conjugal partnerships of gains already
established between spouses before the effectivity of this Code, without prejudice to
vested rights already acquired in accordance with the Civil Code or other laws, as
provided in Article 256. (n)
Art. 106. Under the regime of conjugal partnership of gains, the husband and wife place
in a common fund the proceeds, products, fruits and income from their separate
properties and those acquired by either or both spouses through their efforts or by chance,
and, upon dissolution of the marriage or of the partnership, the net gains or benefits
obtained by either or both spouses shall be divided equally between them, unless
otherwise agreed in the marriage settlements.
Art. 108. The conjugal partnership shall be governed by the rules on the contract of
partnership in all that is not in conflict with what is expressly determined in this Chapter
or by the spouses in their marriage settlements.
Art. 116. All property acquired during the marriage, whether the acquisition appears to
have been made, contracted or registered in the name of one or both spouses, is presumed
to be conjugal unless the contrary is proved.
RA 8371

JURIDICAL PERSONS
Article 44. The following are juridical persons:
(1) The State and its political subdivisions;
(2) Other corporations, institutions and entities for public interest or purpose, created by
law; their personality begins as soon as they have been constituted according to law;
(3) Corporations, partnerships and associations for private interest or purpose to which
the law grants a juridical personality, separate and distinct from that of each shareholder,
partner or member. (35a)
Article 45. Juridical persons mentioned in Nos. 1 and 2 of the preceding article are
governed by the laws creating or recognizing them.
Private corporations are regulated by laws of general application on the subject.
Partnerships and associations for private interest or purpose are governed by the
provisions of this Code concerning partnerships.
Article 46. Juridical persons may acquire and possess property of all kinds, as well as
incur obligations and bring civil or criminal actions, in conformity with the laws and
regulations of their organization. (38a)
 Article 47. Upon the dissolution of corporations, institutions and other entities for public
interest or purpose mentioned in No. 2 of article 44, their property and other assets shall
be disposed of in pursuance of law or the charter creating them. If nothing has been
specified on this point, the property and other assets shall be applied to similar purposes
for the benefit of the region, province, city or municipality which during the existence of
the institution derived the principal benefits from the same. (39a)
BP 68
Real and Personal Classification
 The classification is based on the nature itself – mobility or immobility.
 There is no absolute criterion however, generally real properties are things that are
permanently or intended to be permanently attached or fixed to another. They cannot be
transferred or if they can, they cannot be done without injury/damage to the immovable
otherwise they are personal properties.
o Once parties established the purpose and intent to be real/personal, they are
estopped from questioning the same but it will be estop third parties from
questioning.
Why is it important to classify?
 Taxation
o Real property – realty tax
 Real estate – because of owner of piece of real property “Amilyar”
o Personal property – generally no
 Documentary stamp tax (an excise tax – being taxed on a privilege)
 Stock transaction tax
 Private international law
o Immovables are governed by the law of the country where they are located (Lex
Situs, Art 16)
o Movables are governed by the personal law of the owner or law of his
nationality.
o Aircraft in Germany, Munic. Seller – airbus; Buyer – kayman islands. The
aircraft is financed so the bank is a UK bank. The bank wanted a mortgage over
the aircraft but it was being leased by PAL.
o
 Procedure
o actions concerning real property are brought in the RTC where the property is
located
 o whereas actions involving personal property are brought in the court where the
defendant resides or may be found, or where the plaintiff or any of the plaintiffs
reside.
 Contracts
o Only real property can be subject matter of real mortgage and antichresis
o Personal property can be subject of a simple loan or mutuum, voluntary deposit,
pledge and chattel mortgage
o Formalities for Donations
o Notarization and other
o Before Chattel Mortgage – with the registry of deeds (before)
 This was go away under the PPSA (RA11057)
 Prescription
o Ownership over immovables is acquired by prescription in 30 years
o In movables, it is 8 years
 Criminal law
o Movable – theft or robbey
o Immovable – usurpation; trespassing
 CrimPro
o Forcible entry and unlawful detainer for real property
o Replevin or manual delivery for personal property
 Preference of credits
o Art 2241-2242 – also amended by the PPSA (RA 11057)

IMMOVABLE PROPERTY
Article 415. The following are immovable property:
 (1) Land, buildings, roads and constructions of all kinds adhered to the soil;
 (2) Trees, plants, and growing fruits, while they are attached to the land or form an
integral part of an immovable;
 (3) Everything attached to an immovable in a fixed manner, in such a way that it cannot
be separated therefrom without breaking the material or deterioration of the object;
  (4) Statues, reliefs, paintings or other objects for use or ornamentation, placed in
buildings or on lands by the owner of the immovable in such a manner that it reveals the
intention to attach them permanently to the tenements;
 (5) Machinery, receptacles, instruments or implements intended by the owner of the
tenement for an industry or works which may be carried on in a building or on a piece of
land, and which tend directly to meet the needs of the said industry or works;
 (6) Animal houses, pigeon-houses, beehives, fish ponds or breeding places of similar
nature, in case their owner has placed them or preserves them with the intention to have
them permanently attached to the land, and forming a permanent part of it; the animals in
these places are included;
 (7) Fertilizer actually used on a piece of land;
 (8) Mines, quarries, and slag dumps, while the matter thereof forms part of the bed, and
waters either running or stagnant;
 (9) Docks and structures which, though floating, are intended by their nature and object
to remain at a fixed place on a river, lake, or coast;
 (10) Contracts for public works, and servitudes and other real rights over immovable
property. (334a)
Classification of Immovable/Real Property
 Nature: cannot be carried from place to place
 Incorporation: Attached to an immovable in a fixed manner; attached in a manner to be
an integral part thereof
 Destination: essentially movables, but by the purpose for which they have been placed in
an immovable, partake of the nature of the immovable, because of the added utility
 Analogy/convenience: not really tangible; but rights and interests over existing
immovables
MERALCO v. City Assessor: Under the LGC, it may be deemed real property as they need not
be attached permanently or temporarily to the real property. In fact, it may even be mobile.
However it is required that:
 Must be actually, directly and exclusively used to meet the needs of the particular industry,
business or activity
 By their very nature and purpose, designed for, or necessary for manufacturing, mining
logging, commercial, industrial, or agricultural.
Requisites for immovables under Art 415(5):
 Placed in the tenement by the owner
 Destined for the use in the industry or work in the tenement
 Tend to directly meet the needs of said industry or works.
As between the LGC, and the NCC granting the power to LGU’s to impose real property tax, the
latter shall prevail.
MIDWAY MARITIME v CASTRO:
A building is by itself a real or immovable property distinct from the land on which it is
constructed and therefore can be a separate subject of contracts
(1) Lands, buildings and road adhered to the soil
 BUILDINGS
o Buildings by themselves are immovables. But they can be agreed on to be
movable
 Remember that the ownership of the building is totally irrelevant to the
characterization of a building as an immovable under this provision. What
matters is the permanence of the structure
o A building in itself is an immovable on which a valid real estate mortgage may be
based (Prudential Bank v Panis)
o However the parties may stipulate them to be personal but not binding to third
parties
o Chattel mortgage on immobilized machinery and equipment. The fact that the
machineries were heavy, bolted, or cemented on the real property mortgaged does
not make them ipso facto immovable under Art 415. Where said properties appear
to be immovable, they may be considered as personal property as when they are
used as security for the payment of an obligation. (Tsai v CA 2001)
 Road
o The material – No
(8) Mines, quarries, slag dumps, while the matter thereof forms part of the bed, and waters
either running or stagnant
 Forms part of the land
 Once severed, they become movable
INCORPORATION
(2) Trees, plants, and growing fruits, while they are attached to the land or form an integral
part of an immovable;
 Once harvested, they may be movables
(3) Everything attached to an immovable in a fixed manner, in such a way that it cannot be
separated therefrom without breaking the material or deterioration of the object
 Note: it does not distinguish who attached it
  Intent to attach permanently essential. Physical attachment without the intent of
permanent annexation is not sufficient
 MERALCO v Central Board of Assessment Appeals (1982): Meralco installed two oil
storage tanks on a lot it leased from Caltex which are within the Caltex refinery
compound and are used in storing fuel oil for Meralco’s power plants. The Central Board
of Assessment Appeals ruled that the tanks, together with the foundation, walls, dikes,
steps, pipelines and other appurtenances constitute taxable improvements. The Court
upheld the ruling. For purposes of taxation, the term ‘real property’ may include things
which should generally be regarded as personal property. We hold that while the two
storage tanks are not embedded in the land, they may, nevertheless, be considered as
improvements on the land, enhancing its utility and rendering it useful to the oil industry.
It is undeniable that the two tanks have been installed with some degree of permanence
as receptacles for the considerable quantities of oil needed by Meralco for its operations.
The case of Board of Assessment Appeals v. Manila Electric Company (119 Phil. 328.),
wherein Meralco’s steel towers were held not subject to realty tax, is not in point because
in that case, the steel towers were regarded as poles and under its franchise, Meralco’s
poles are exempt from taxation. Moreover, the steel towers were not attached to any land
or building. They were removable from their metal frames.
 Benguet v Central Board of Assessment Appeals (1993): From the definitions and the
cases cited above, it would appear that whether a structure constitutes an improvement so
as to partake of the status of realty would depend upon the degree of permanence
intended in its construction and use, The expression "permanent" as applied to an
improvement does not imply that the improvement must be used perpetually but
only until the purpose to which the principal realty is devoted has been
accomplished. It is sufficient that the improvement is intended to remain as long as
the land to which it is annexed is still used for the said purpose.
(7) Fertilizer actually used on a piece of land;
 Once it is used, it cannot be distinguished.
DESTINATION
(4) Statues, reliefs, paintings or other objects for use or ornamentation, placed in buildings
or on lands by the owner of the immovable in such a manner that it reveals the intention to
attach them permanently to the tenements;
 Requisites:
o Owner
o Intention to attach permanently
o Purpose of use or ornamentation
 Objects must be placed by the owner. If the person who places is not the owner, it will
not become immovable unless the person acts as the agent of the owner (Davao Sawmill
v Castillo 1935).
(5) Machinery, receptacles, instruments or implements intended by the owner of the tenement for
an industry or works which may be carried on in a building or on a piece of land, and which tend
directly to meet the needs of the said industry or works;
 Elements
o Tends to meet the needs of the industry
o Intended by the owner for an industry
 Requisites (De Leon)
o Machinery, etc. must be placed by the owner of the tenement or his agent.
 It is express in the contract that machinery form part of the plant without
compensation, the tenant acts as an agent of the owner
o The industry or works must be carried on in a building or on a piece of land
 (see Mindanao Bus v City Assessor)
o The machinery etc must tend directly to meet the needs of said industry or works
 Berkenkotter v CA: The machinery etc must tend directly to meet the needs of said
industry or works. The movable equipment must be “essential and principal elements
of an industry or works, without which such industry or works would be unable to
function or carry on the industry purpose for which it was established
 Ago v CA: Citing Berkenkotten, the Court ruled they were real properties because the
installation of the machineries for use in the sawing of the logs carried on in the building
became necessary and permanent part of the building or real estate.
 Mindanao Bus Co. v. City Assessor: A transportation business is not carried on in a
building or specified land hence equipment destined only for repair or service a
transportation business is not deemed real property (Mindanao Bus Co. v City Assessor
and Treasurer (1962)
Cash registers, typewriters, etc. usually found and used in hotels, restaurants, theaters,
etc., are merely incidentals, and are not and should not be considered immobilized by
destination, for these businesses can continue or carry on their functions without these
equipments. Airline companies use forklifts, jeep wagons, pressure pumps, IBM
machines, etc. which are incidentals, not essentials, and thus retain their movable nature.
On the other hand, machineries of breweries used in the manufacture of liquor and soft
drinks, though movable by nature, are immobilized because they are essential to said
industries; but the delivery trucks and adding machines which they usually own and use
and are found within their industrial compounds are merely incidentals and retain their
movable nature. (Mindanao Bus Co. v. City Assessor and Treasurer, supra.)
 Serg’s Products v PCI Leasing: Parties may stipulate that real property is considered
personal. Machines leased by petitioners were placed in a factory built on their own land.
 They were principal elements of their chocolate-making industry. Therefore, while each
of them were movable/personal property, all of them have become immobilized by
destination, making them real property under Art 415 (5). However, under the lease
agreement the machines were to be considered personal property, then they are proper
subjects of the writ of execution
(6) Animal houses, pigeon-houses, beehives, fish ponds or breeding places of similar nature, in
case their owner has placed them or preserves them with the intention to have them permanently
attached to the land, and forming a permanent part of it; the animals in these places are included;
 Owned + permanently attach
(9) Docks and structures which, though floating, are intended by their nature and object to
remain at a fixed place on a river, lake, or coast;
 Intended by nature or object
 Fels Energy v Province of Batangas: Art 415(9) provides that "[d]ocks and structures
which, though floating, are intended by their nature and object to remain at a fixed place
on a river, lake, or coast" are considered immovable property. Thus, power barges are
categorized as immovable property by destination, being in the nature of machinery and
other implements intended by the owner for an industry or work which may be carried on
in a building or on a piece of land and which tend directly to meet the needs of said
industry or work.

What includes Owner? Attached?

(1) Land, buildings, Lands, buildings, -- Adhered to the soil
roads and constructions roads and
of all kinds adhered to constructions
the soil;
(8) Mines, quarries, and Mines, quarries, -- Forms part of the bed
slag dumps, while the and slag dumps
matter thereof forms
part of the bed, and
waters either running or
stagnant;
(2) Trees, plants, and Trees, plants, and Attached to the land
growing fruits, while growing fruits OR form an integral
they are attached to the part of an immovable
land or form an
integral part of an
immovable
(3) Everything attached EVERYTHING Attached to an
to an immovable in a immovable in a fixed
fixed manner, in such a manner, in such a way
way that it cannot that it cannot be
be separated therefrom separated therefrom
without breaking the without breaking the
material or deterioration material or
of the object; deterioration of the
object
(7) Fertilizer actually Fertilizer Actually used on the
used on a piece of land; land
(4) Statues, reliefs, Statues, reliefs, By the owner of the placed in buildings or
paintings or other paintings or other immovable in such a on lands
objects for use or objects for use or manner that it reveals
ornamentation, placed in ornamentation, the intention to attach
buildings or on lands by them permanently
the owner of the
immovable in such a
manner that it reveals
the intention to attach
them permanently to the
tenements;
(5) Machinery, Machinery, intended by the
receptacles, instruments receptacles, owner of the
or implements intended instruments or tenement for an
by the owner of the implements industry or works
tenement for an industry which may be carried
or works which may be on in a building or on
carried on in a building a piece of land, AND
or on a piece of land, which tend directly
and which tend directly to meet the needs of
to meet the needs of the the said industry or
said industry or works; works;
(6) Animal houses, Animal houses, owner has placed
pigeon-houses, pigeon-houses, them OR preserves
beehives, fish ponds or beehives, fish them with the
breeding places of ponds or breeding intention to have
similar nature, in case places of similar them permanently
their owner has placed nature attached to the land,
them or preserves them
with the intention to
have them permanently
attached to the land, and
forming a permanent
part of it; the animals in
these places are
included;
(9) Docks and structures Docks and intended by their
which, though floating, structures which, nature and object to
are intended by their though floating, remain at a fixed place
nature and object to on a river, lake, or
 remain at a fixed place coast;
on a river, lake, or coast;
(10) Contracts for public Contracts for
works, and servitudes public works, and
and other real rights servitudes and
over immovable other real rights
property. (334a) over immovable
property.

Article 416. The following things are deemed to be personal property:

(1) Those movables susceptible of appropriation which are not included in the preceding
article;
(2) Real property which by any special provision of law is considered as personalty;
(3) Forces of nature which are brought under control by science; and
(4) In general, all things which can be transported from place to place without impairment of
the real property to which they are fixed.
Article 417. The following are also considered as personal property:
(1) Obligations and actions which have for their object movables or demandable sums; and
(2) Shares of stock of agricultural, commercial and industrial entities, although they may
have real estate.
Article 418. Movable property is either consumable or nonconsumable. To the first class
belong those movables which cannot be used in a manner appropriate to their nature
without their being consumed; to the second class belong all the others

(1) Those movables susceptible of appropriation which are not included in the preceding
article;
(2) Real property which by any special provision of law is considered as personalty;
o Growing crops are immovable under Art 415(2) but recognized as personal property
under the Chattel Mortgage Law (Art 1508, Sec 7)
o A machinery placed on a tenement by a lessee or usufructuary who did not act as the
agent of the tenement owner was held as personal property. (Davao Sawmill v.
Castillo, 1935.)
(3) Forces of nature which are brought under control by science; and
o Examples are: electricity, gas, rays, heat, light, oxygen, atomic energy, water power,
etc.
(4) In general, all things which can be transported from place to place without impairment
of the real property to which they are fixed.
o Tests applied to determine whether movable or not:
 whether the property can be transported or carried from place to place;
 whether such change of location can be made without injuring the immovable
to which the object may be attached;
 whether the object does not fall within any of the ten cases enumerated in
Article 415
(1) Obligations and actions which have for their object movables or demandable sums; and
a. Really are personal rights.
i. Corporeal – material
ii. Incorporeal – rights/not material
b. Promissory note: gives a creditor a right to collect his credit. However a loan over
real estate mortgage does not fall under here. It is real property by analogy, as a real
right over an immovable.
(2) Shares of stock of agricultural, commercial and industrial entities, although they may
have real estate.
a. Other incorporeal personal property. Examples are intellectual property such as
copyrights, patents, trademarks, rights to invention, etc. Intellectual creation is
recognized in the Civil Code as a mode of acquiring ownership. (Art. 721.)
Article 418. Movable property is either consumable or nonconsumable. To the first class
belong those movables which cannot be used in a manner appropriate to their nature
without their being consumed; to the second class belong all the others
 Consumable/Non-consumable
o Consumable goods (e.g., food, money) cannot be the subject matter of a contract
of commodatum unless the purpose of the contract is not the consumption of the
object (exhibition (1933;1936).
o In simple loan or mutuum, the subject matter is money or other consumable thing.
(Art. 1933.)
o Generally, usufruct should not include things which are consumed when used.
(see Arts. 562, 573.)
 Fungible and non-fungibles
o Fungible thing: things which have no distinct individuality, and may be
substituted with another item of equal quantity and quality, either by nature or by
the will of the parties
 o Non-fungible: things which have distinct individuality and may by therefore not
be substituted with another item of equal quantity and quantity
o The obligation to deliver ten copies of a particular book involves fungible, but
non-consumable things.
o Rice is naturally consumable. But if the parties intend a loan of rice, for display or
exhibition, it is then a non-fungible then because the identical rice need be
returned. If it is loan for consumption, it is not only consumable but also fungible
US v Tambuting: “There is nothing in the nature of gas used for illuminating purposes which
renders it incapable of being feloniously taken and carried away. It is a valuable article of
merchandise, bought and sold like other personal property, susceptible of being severed from a
mass or larger quantity and of being transported from place to place…”
Laurel v Hon. Abrogar: It is the use of these communications facilities without consent of
PLDT that constitute the crime of theft, which is the unlawful taking of the telephone services
and business. This is because the business of PLDT is the medium by which electrical signals
and codes are converted to be used and understood.
Davao City Sawmill v Castillo: A machinery placed on a tenement by a lessee or usufructuary
who did not act as the agent of the tenement owner was held as personal property.
Lopez v Orosa: Lopez argued that under the Spanish Civil Code, on the provision on preference
of credits, it stated that the use of the word “real estate” covers the building and the land. The
Court did not agree. The enumeration of real properties include building, distinct from land. This
could only mean that the building is immovable itself. Moreover, The provision only gives
preference of credits only with respect to the real estate upon which the work was made. Hence a
lien in favor of Lopez for the unpaid value of the lumber only attaches to the building.
Tumalad v Vicencio: The question of jurisdiction is predicated on a claim that the chattel
mortgage was void. Vicencio argues that the mortgage is on a house, an immovable. NO. The
contract between them expressly designated it as Chattel mortgage. They are estopped from
claiming otherwise.
Makati Leasing v. Wearever: REAL OR PERSONAL? Citing Tumalad, if a house could be
subject of a chattel, why not this machinery which is movable in nature and only immobilized by
destination or purpose. It rejected the CA’s theory that Tumalad does not apply because it was
built on a land not owned by the petitioner ruling that the law does not distinguish. The
characterization of the land as chattel indicated the intention to treat it as movable.
Tsai v. CA: The parties executed “Real Estate Mortgage and Chattel Mortgage” instead of just a
“Real Estate Mortgage”; the included a list of machineries and equipment. This shows the real
intention of the parties to treat the machinery as chattels.