TITLE V who is the actor

Important feature
- claimant in
CHAPTER 1 possession
PRESCRIPTION
General Provisions
TWO KINDS OF PRESCRIPTION
1. Acquisitive
2. Extinctive
ARTICLE 1106.

By prescription, one acquires ownership

and other real rights through the lapse of ACQUISITIVE EXTINCTIVE
time in the manner and under the
conditions laid down by law. OTHER Adverse Limitation of
NAMES possession action
In the same way, rights and actions are
lost by prescription. Usucapcion

Definition Acquisition of Rights and

a right by the actions are
PRESCRIPTION lapse of time lost by the
Mode of acquiring (or losing) ownership and lapse of time
other real rights through the lapse of time

- A statute of limitation
- Bars the right of action
PRESCRIPTION IS DIFFERENT FROM
- Mode of acquiring property rights
LACHES

LACHES IS INDEPENDENT OF
System of title by Statute of PRESCRIPTION
possession limitations

Does not look at

Relationship the act of the
between the possessor but at
occupant of the the neglect of the
land and the land in owner
terms of
possession Important feature
- Most - owner out of
fundamental possession
concept to a
system of
title by
possession

It is the possessor
 PRESCRIPTION LACHES
1. Conduct on the part
Statute of limitation Doctrine of stale a. Of the defendant
demands b. Of one under whom he
claims
Concerned with the Concerned with the Giving rise to the situation of
fact of delay effect of the delay which complaint is made and for
which the complaint seeks remedy
Matter of time A question of
iniquity of 2. Delay in asserting the complaint’s
permitting a claim rights
to be enforced a. The complainant having had
knowledge or notice of the
Statutory Not statutory defendant’s conduct
b. Having been afforded an
Applies at law Equity opportunity to institute a suit

Based on fixed time Not based on fixed 3. Lack of knowledge or notice on the
time part of the defendant

That the complainant would assert

the right on which he bases his suit
LACHES
4. Injury or prejudice to the
Failure or neglect for an unreasonable defendant in the event relief is
and unexplained length of time to do that accorded to the complainant, or the
which by exercising due diligence could or suit is not held barred
should have been done earlier

Negligence or omission to assert a right Application of laches

within a reasonable time

Warranting a presumption that the party A. Laches bars the filing or prosecution
entitled to assert it either has abandoned it of a suit
or declined to assert it (Z.E Lotho Inc. v Ice and cold
storage)

Rationale B. A registered owner may lose his

right to recover the possession of his
- Principle of laches is a creation of registered property by reason of
equity laches
- Applied not to penalize neglect (Catholic Bishop of Balanga v Court
- Applied to avoid recognizing a right of Appeals)
when to do so would result in a
clearly inequitable situation
- Public policy- relief will be denied
to a litigant whose claim or demand
has become stale
C. Without any colorable title
Prerequisites recognized by law, the rule of laches
and prescription will never apply to
 registered lands (Jack Arroyo v
Bocago Inland Development
Corporation, et al)

Rationale: Registered owners have

a right to eject any person illegally
occupying his property. This right is
imprescriptible and can never be
barred by laches

D. Assertion of laches is rejected by SC

because it was not shown that the
possessor acquired the property
through any apparent mode of
acquisition.

( Heirs of Anacleto B Nieto v

Municipality of Meycauayan)

Such as donation or expropriation

E. Those who occupy the land of ARTICLE 1107.

another at the latters tolerance or
permission without any contract
between them, are necessarily
bound by a implied promise that the
occupants will vacate the property
upon demand
F. Doctrine of laches cant be invoked
to defeat justice or to perpetuate
fraud and injustice
Tagaytay Realty Co v Arturo
Gacutan
Persons who are capable of acquiring
property or rights by the other legal
modes may acquire the same by means
of prescription.
Minors and other incapacitated persons
may acquire property or rights by
prescription, either personally or through
their parents, guardians or legal
representatives. (1931a)
WHO ARE CAPABLE OF ACQUIRING
PROPERTY OR RIGHTS THROUGH
PRESCRIPTION?

CAPABLE OF NOT CAPABLE OF

ACQUIRING ACQUIRING

Person who is of Acquisition of

majority of age and minors who
who is qualified to personally acquires
do all acts of civil property or rights
life without assistance
of his parents or
guardian

(ANNULLABLE
OR VOIDABLE)
Acquisition of a * minor’s may ratify
minor through his the acquisition
parents or guardian when they come of
age
ARTICLE 1108.
Prescription, both acquisitive and
extinctive, runs against:
(1) Minors and other incapacitated
persons who have parents, guardians or
other legal representatives;
(2) Absentees who have administrators,
either appointed by them before their
disappearance, or appointed by the
courts;
(3) Persons living abroad, who have
managers or administrators;
(4) Juridical persons, except the State
and its subdivisions.
Persons who are disqualified from
administering their property have a right
to claim damages from their legal
representatives whose negligence has
been the cause of prescription. (1932a)
A. Prescription on minors and
incapacitated persons
Minors & Incapacitated persons
Prescription does NOT apply:
If the minor/incapacitated person
does not have parents, legal
guardian or other legal
representatives
Prescription does apply:
If the minor/incapacitated persons
has parents, legal guardian or other
legal representatives
B. Prescription on absentees
Absentees
Prescription does NOT apply:
If the absentee does not have an
administrator
Prescription does apply:
If the absentee has an administrator
or the court appoints an
administrator for him
If the absentee can go back to his
domicile but he INTENTIONALLY
DOES NOT WANT TO RETURN
Article 381 of the Civil code
- A person disappears from his
domicile
- His whereabouts unknown
- Did not leave an agent to
administer his property
The judge, at the instance of an
a. interested party
b. Relative
c. Friend
May appoint a person to represent
him in all that may be necessary
C. Prescription on persons living
abroad
Persons living abroad
Prescription does NOT apply:
If the person living abroad does not
have any manager or administrator
HOWEVER, it must be shown that
they cannot return to their domicile
within the period when prescription
should have run
 Prescription does apply:
marriage settlements or by judicial
If the person living abroad has any
decree.
manager or administrator
Neither does prescription run between
parents and children, during the minority
or insanity of the latter, and between
guardian and ward during the continuance
of the guardianship. (n)

A. Prescription on husband and wife

GENERAL RULE:

D. Prescription on juridical persons
Juridical persons
- Endowed by law attributes of
a natural person and hence
can acquire or lose
properties and rights
Prescription does NOT apply:
A. state and its subdivisions
ACTING IN THEIR SOVEREIGN
CAPACITY
Prescription does apply:
A. state and its subdivisions
ACTING IN THEIR PROPREITARY
CAPACITY
B. Government-owned and
controlled corporation
- Even though they are an
instrumentality of the gov,
they are not considered to be
acting in sovereign capacity
Prescription by adverse
possession does not apply To
husband and wife, even if there is a
separation of property agreed upon
in marriage settlements
EXCEPTION:
Family Code
A. Legal separation must be
filed within 5 years from
occurrence of the cause
B. Annullment (generally 5
years)
B. Prescription on between parent
and child
GENERAL RULE:
Prescription does not apply
between parent and child during the
latter’s insanity or minority
RATIONALE
- Natural bond of filiation
- While the child is a minor, the
parents are his guardians
without court appointment

ARTICLE 1109. EXCEPTION:

A. Family Code
Prescription does not run between - Husband impugn the
husband and wife, even though there be a legitimacy of the child of his
separation of property agreed upon in the wife on grounds provided by
 law within 1 year
C. Prescription on between guardian
and ward
GENERAL RULE:
Prescription does not lie
During the period of guardianship
RATIONALE
- To give adequate remedy to
the ward for the abuses of
the guardian
ARTICLE 1110.
Prescription, acquisitive and extinctive,
runs in favor of, or against a married
woman.
Whether married or unmarried, prescription
runs in favor of or against a married woman
ARTICLE 1111.
Prescription obtained by a co-proprietor or
a co-owner shall benefit the others.
Co-ownership
- There is co-ownership whenever the
ownership of an undivided thing
or right belongs to different
persons
- Prescription obtained by a
co-proprietor or a co-owner shall
benefit the others
ARTICLE 1112.
Persons with capacity to alienate property
may renounce prescription already
obtained, but not the right to prescribe in
the future.
Prescription is deemed to have been
tacitly renounced when the renunciation
results from acts which imply the
abandonment of the right acquired.
- RENUNCIATION OF
PRESCRIPTION
- Bars the remedy, but does not bar
the debt.
- Usually happens when there is a
pending debt and the prescriptive
time has elapsed, but the debtor
acknowledges the debt and
promises to pay it outside of the
prescriptive period.
- The debtor effectively waives the
right to the benefits of prescription,
one of which is the inability of the
creditor to collect the debt that
has prescribed. Renunciation
enables to creditor to recover the
original contract.
ARTICLE 1113.
All things which are within the commerce
of men are susceptible of prescription,
unless otherwise provided. Property of the
State or any of its subdivisions not
patrimonial in character shall not be the
object of prescription.
Patrimonial property
Property owed by the state in its private
capacity
not devoted to public use , public service, or
the development of the national wealth.
APPLICATION
- Property of the state and any of its
subdivisions shall not be object of
prescription
Property of state application
- Forest lands of public domain
Can’t be acquired by prescription
A tax declaration secured over a
land that is forested DOES NOT
vest ownership to the declarant
- Navigable stream or of its bed is
NOT acquired by prescription
Properties of public dominion
Artcile 420
- Those intended for public use
- Those which belong to the state
without being for public use
Artcile 502
- Rivers and their natural beds;
- Continuos or intermittent waters of
springs and brooks running in their
natural beds and the beds
themselves
- Water rising continuously or
intermittently on the lands of public
dominion;
- Lakes and lagoons formed by
Nature on public lands and their
beds
* Art 74 of Law of waters 1866
- The natural bed or basin of lakes,
ponds, or pooks is the ground
covered by their waters when at their
highest original depth
ARTICLE 1114.
Creditors and all other persons interested
in making the prescription effective may
avail themselves thereof notwithstanding
the express or tacit renunciation by the
debtor or proprietor.
Reason for the law
While rights may be waived, third persons
with a right recognized by law should not be
prejudiced
ARTICLE 1115.
The provisions of the present Title are
understood to be without prejudice to
what in this Code or in special laws is
established with respect to specific cases
of prescription
Specific provisions over general
provisions
Special Law over general law
ARTICLE 1116.
Prescription already running before the
effectivity of this Code shall be governed
by laws previously in force; but if since the
time this Code took effect the entire
period herein required for prescription
should elapse, the present Code shall be
applicable, even though by the former
laws a longer period might be required.
Transitional Rules for Prescription
1. OLD LAWS GOVERN
a. BEGAN and ENDED under
OLD laws
b. OLD law and continues
under the NEW CIVIL CODE
and provides a DIFFERENT
PERIOD FOR THE SAME
SITUATION
Xpn:
A. NCC requires a shorter
period
NCC WILL PREVAIL
 Example:
time in the manner and under the
Prescription starts = 1932
conditions laid down by law.
New Civil Code enacted =
In the same way, rights and actions are
1950
lost by prescription.
Prescription still runs since
prescription should elapsed
in the old law by = 1962
Ordinary Extraordinary
Remaining balance = 12 Prescription Prescription
years
Uninterrupted possession for the required
New Civil Code’s provision statutory period of years
for the same situation
provides only = 10 years In good faith No need of good
faith
OLD LAW WILL PREVAIL
With a just title No need of just title
Example:
Prescription starts = 1932
10 years 30 years
New Civil Code enacted =
1950

Prescription still runs since

prescription should elapsed
in the old law by = 1962

Remaining balance = years

8

New Civil Code’s provision

for the same situation
provides only = 10 years

CHAPTER 2
PRESCRIPTION OF
OWNERSHIP AND
OTHER REAL RIGHTS
General Provisions

ARTICLE 1116.

By prescription, one acquires ownership

and other real rights through the lapse of
 Exclusive dominion
ARTICLE 1118.
Adverse possessor can show exclusive
dominion over the land and an appropriation
Possession has to be in the concept of an
of it to his own use and benefit
owner, public, peaceful and uninterrupted.

Possession must be:

1. In the concept of an owner
2. Public
3. Peaceful
4. uninterrupted
A. in the concept of an owner.
- Possessor asserts dominion on the
property to the exclusion of all others
NOT A CONCEPT OF AN OWNER:
a. A mere lessee or a mere
mortgagee does not hold the
property in the concept of an owner
b. Possession of cash dividends by an
agent on behalf of the owner
cannot be the subject of prescription,
as there is no holding of property in
concepto de dueño (concept of an
owner)
c. Antichretic creditor cannot
ordinarily acquire by prescription the
land surrendered to him by the
debtor
d. Occupancy of the US Navy was not
a concept of an owner
This partakes of the character of
commodatum
ACQUSITIVE PRESCRIPTION HAS SET
IN
a. Claimant has undertaken acts
clearly showing his claim of
ownership
i. Tax declaration and tax
receipts while not necessarily
evidence of tile they are
considered as a strong
evidence of possession
B. must be an ADVERSE POSSESSION
- What is an adverse possession?
A legal principle that allows
someone to gain ownership of land
owned by someone else if certain
requirements are met
C. must be Public
- There must be a notorious holding
of the property known to the
community
- Not surreptitious in character
- Must be visible, apparent,
notorious and not clandestine
C. must be Peaceful
- Peaceful for the period of years
required by law for acquisitive
prescription to apply
- No valid interference from others
claiming or asserting their rights to
the property
D. must be Uninterrupted
- Unbroken, and not intermittent or
occasional
 ARTICLE 1119.
Acts of possessory character executed in
virtue of license or by mere tolerance of
the owner shall not be available for the
purposes of possession.
Rationale:
- The fact that the possessor holds
the property by virtue of the consent
of the owner shows that such
possessor acknowledges that
somebody else owns the property
Possession by tolerance therefore does
not imply an assertion of ownership
INTERRUPTION
ARTICLE 1120.
Possession is interrupted for the purposes
of prescription, naturally or civilly.
. a. Notice of adverse claim does
ARTICLE 1121.
Possession is naturally interrupted when
through any cause it should cease for
more than one year
The old possession is not revived if a new
possession should be exercised by the
same adverse claimant.
.
ARTICLE 1122.
If the natural interruption is for only one
year or less, the time elapsed shall be
counted in favor of the prescription.
ARTICLE 1123.
Civil interruption is produced by judicial
summons to the possessor.
Possession may be interrupted for the
purposes of prescription
Naturally
a. Possession cease for more than 1
year
Reason for the law (Par 2)
Possession is NOT revived if a new
possession should be exercised by the
same adverse claimant since possession
must be continuous and uninterrupted
Civilly
A. Produced by judicial summons to the
possessor
B. For civil interruption to take place,
the possessor must have received
judicial summons
Application:
not result to civil interruption.
b. Those issued by
quasi-judicial bodies are not
judicial summons

ARTICLE 1124.
judicial summons shall be deemed not to
have been issued and shall not give rise
to interruption:
(1) If it should be void for lack of legal
solemnities;
(2) If the plaintiff should desist from the
complaint or should allow the proceedings
to lapse;
(3) If the possessor should be absolved
from the complaint.
In all these cases, the period of the
interruption shall be counted for the
prescription.
It is NOT the filing of the complaint in court
that interrupts the possession
IT IS THE RECEIPT OF THE POSSESSOR
OF THE JUDICIAL SUMMONS THAT
INTERRUPTS THE POSSESSION
The possessor must receive:
- The judicial summon
- Copy of the complaint
= jurisdiction is acquired by the court
= possession is interrupted
(1) If it should be void for lack of legal
solemnities;
- Deemed not issued if the judicial
summons and the copy of complaint
have been served by a person not
authorized by the court
(2) If the plaintiff should desist from the
complaint or should allow the proceedings
to lapse;
- Desistance from complaint
- Plaintiff voluntarily had the
case dismissed
- Plaintiff allowed the case to
lapse
(3) If the possessor should be absolved
from the complaint.
- Absolution = complaint have not
been fully substantiated to support
any adverse claim by the
complainant
ARTICLE 1125.
Any express or tacit recognition which the
possessor may make of the owner's right
also interrupts possession.
Possession must always be in the concept
of an owner to the exclusion of others
**** One cannot consider himself
possessing a property adversely in the
concept of an owner if he recognizes
somebody else having superior right as
an owner
ARTICLE 1126.
Against a title recorded in the Registry of
Property, ordinary prescription of
ownership or real rights shall not take
place to the prejudice of a third person,
except in virtue of another title also
recorded; and the time shall begin to run
from the recording of the latter.
As to lands registered under the Land
Registration Act, the provisions of that
special law shall govern.
Prescription will NOT apply to
REGISTERED PROPERTY (Torrens
system)
Doctrine of Laches is applicable in cases
where the possessor or transferee
apparently obtained the property from some
apparent mode of conveyance such as
donation or sale
Laches WILL NOT APPLY IF the registered
land was not obtained through any apparent
mode of acquisition by the possessor

ARTICLE 1127.
The good faith of the possessor consists
in the reasonable belief that the person
from whom he received the thing was the
owner thereof, and could transmit his
ownership
ARTICLE 1128.
The conditions of good faith required for
possession in articles 526, 527, 528, and
529 of this Code are likewise necessary
for the determination of good faith in the
prescription of ownership and other real
rights
GOOD FAITH
Art 526: Possessor is not aware that there
exists in his title or mode of acquisition any
flaw that invalidates it
Mistake upon doubtful or difficult question of
law
Art 527: Good faith is ALWAYS
PRESUMED
Burden of proof = on the one who alleges
bad faith
Art 528: Possession acquired in good faith
DOES NOT LOSE ITS CHARACTER
EXCEPT possessor is not unaware that he
possesses the thing wrongfully
Art 529: Possession continues to be
enjoyed in the same character in which it is
acquired
Until contrary is proved
GOOD FAITH LIES ON
A. Honest belief on the validity of one’s
right
B. Ignorance of a superior claim
C. Absence of intention to overreach
another
GOOD FAITH CAN’T BE INVOKED
1) Knowledge of using a forged
document as a basis of just title
2) Claimant has actual or constructive
notice of the legal and valid rights of
possession of another during the
prescriptive period
ARTICLE 1129.
For the purposes of prescription, there is
just title when the adverse claimant came
into possession of the property through
one of the modes recognized by law for
the acquisition of ownership or other real
rights, but the grantor was not the owner
or could not transmit any right. (n)
ARTICLE 1130.
The title for the prescription must be true
and valid. (1953)
ARTICLE 1131.
For the purposes of prescription, just title
must be proved; it is never presumed.
Just Title
- Titulo colorado
- There was a mode of acquisition but
the grantor was not the owner
- Had been there an owner there
would be no need for prescription
Titulo colorado
- Which a person has when he buys a
thing in good faith from one whom
he believes to be the owner
Titulo Putativo
- where although the person believes
himself to be the owner, he is
nonetheless is not, because there
was no mode of acquiring ownership
The Just title required for acquisitive
prescription to set in is not “Titulo
verdadero y valido”
What is required is Titulo colorado
ARTICLE 1132.
The ownership of movables prescribes
through uninterrupted possession for four
years in good faith.
The ownership of personal property also
prescribes through uninterrupted
possession for eight years, without need
of any other condition.
With regard to the right of the owner to
recover personal property lost or of which
he has been illegally deprived, as well as
with respect to movables acquired in a
public sale, fair, or market, or from a
merchant's store the provisions of articles
559 and 1505 of this Code shall be
observed.
MOVABLES
Ordinary acquisitive prescription:
4 years with good faith
Extraordinary acquisitive prescription:
8 years without need of any other
condition
Article 559
Possession of movable property acquired in
good faith is equivalent to a title
If one has lost any movable or has been
unlawfully deprived thereof,
→ may recover it from the person in
possession of the same
IF the possessor of a movable lost or which
the owner has been unlawfully deprived of,
has acquired it in GOOD FAITH, at a public
sale the owner cannot obtain its return
without reimbursing the price paid
thereof
Article 1505
Subject to the provisions of this Title, where
goods are sold by a person who is not
the owner thereof, and who does not sell
them under authority or with the consent of
the owner, the buyer acquires no better
title to the goods than the seller had,
unless the owner of the goods is by his
conduct precluded from denying the seller's
authority to sell.
Nothing in this Title, however, shall affect:
(1) The provisions of any factors' act,
recording laws, or any other provision of law
enabling the apparent owner of goods to
dispose of them as if he were the true
owner thereof;
(2) The validity of any contract of sale under
statutory power of sale or under the order of
a court of competent jurisdiction;
(3) Purchases made in a merchant's store,
or in fairs, or markets, in accordance with
the Code of Commerce and special laws
ARTICLE 1134.
Ownership and other real rights over
immovable property are acquired by
ordinary prescription through possession
of ten years.
Prescriptive Periods for Acquiring Real
Property
a. ordinary prescription – 10 YEARS
b. extraordinary prescription – 30
YEARS
No one must benefit from an evil act