Co-ownership
Ong Tan v. Rodriguez governed by the rule on co-ownership
GR 230404; January 31, 2018
1st Division: Tijam, J:
 The RODRIGUEZ SIBLINGS were the
surviving children of the deceased
Reynaldo and Ester Rodriguez.
 TAN was the co-depositor of Reynaldo
in a Joint Account in the Bank of the
Philippine Islands (BPI).
 TAN wanted to withdraw the funds
from the joint account.
 However, BPI required her to submit
additional requirements, one of which
is the extrajudicial settlement of the
heirs of Reynaldo. 
 TAN asked the RODRIGUEZ SIBLINGS
to sign a waiver of rights to the said
joint account.
 The RODRIGUEZ SIBLINGS refused to
sign the waiver, alleging that the funds
in the said joint account belonged to
their father, Reynaldo.   The following rules are to be
 TAN alleged that the funds used to
open the BPI joint account were her
exclusive funds from her East West
Bank (East West) account.
 TAN presented the following:
 A Debit Memo from East West
Bank, which was used to issue a
Manager's Check in the amount of
₱1,021,868.30, which exact
amount was deposited to the BPI
joint account.  contrary, which shows their
 The testimony of the Branch
Manager of East West to
corroborate her testimony that
the subject amount came from her
East West account.   However, TAN’s evidence sufficiently
Issue:
What governs the nature of joint
accounts?
Held:
 The nature of joint accounts is
embodied in Article 485 of the Civil
Code.
 A joint account is one that is held
jointly by two or more natural persons
or by two or more juridical persons or
entities. Under such setup, the
depositors are joint owners or co-
owners of the said account, and their
share in the deposits shall be
presumed equal unless the contrary is
proved. 
Issue:
Who owns the funds in the joint account?
Held:
 TAN owns the funds exclusively in the
joint account.
 TAN overturned the presumption of
equal shares by presenting evidence
to the contrary.
considered in treating the shares of
joint account holders.
 General rule: the shares of the
owners of the joint account
holders are presumed equal.
 Exceptions:
1. The existence of survivorship
agreement between the co-
depositors.
2. By presenting evidence to the
respective shares.
 Here, there was no survivorship
agreement between TAN and
Reynaldo.
proved that she exclusively owns the
funds in the BPI joint account.
 The Supreme Court also took note that
the RODRIGUEZ SIBLINGS admitted
that they knew about the existence of
the joint account yet, they still failed to
include the same in the listed
properties in the inventory when they
executed an extrajudicial settlement.
Their failure refutes their claim that
Reynaldo was the sole owner of the
funds in the said joint account.