The subject property was left in the care of petitioners through Concepcion, thus, they have

acquired real rights over the subject lot by virtue of acquisitive prescription through the lapse of
time.

Acquisitive prescription is a mode of acquiring ownership by a possessor

through the requisite lapse of time. In order to ripen into ownership, possession must
be in the concept of an owner, public, peaceful and uninterrupted.[39] Possession is
open when it is patent, visible, apparent, notorious and not clandestine. [40] It is
continuous when uninterrupted, unbroken and not intermittent or occasional;
exclusive when the adverse possessor can show exclusive dominion over the land
and an appropriation of it to his own use and benefit; and notorious when it is so
conspicuous that it is generally known and talked of by the public or the people in
the neighborhood. The party who asserts ownership by adverse possession must
prove the presence of the essential elements of acquisitive prescription.[41]

Prescription, as a mode of acquiring ownership and other real rights over

immovable property, is concerned with lapse of time in the manner and under
conditions laid down by law, namely, that the possession should be in the concept
of an owner, public, peaceful, uninterrupted, and adverse. Acquisitive prescription
of real rights may be ordinary or extraordinary. Ordinary acquisitive prescription
requires possession in good faith and with just title for 10 years. In extraordinary
prescription, ownership and other real rights over immovable property are acquired
through uninterrupted adverse possession for 30 years without need of title or of
good faith.[20]

In the present case, Concepcion’s cultivation of the whole of the subject lot and her
declaration of the same for tax purposes in 1965. It is settled that tax receipts and
declarations are prima facie proofs of ownership or possession of the property for
which such taxes have been paid. Coupled with proof of actual possession of the
property, they may become the basis of a claim for ownership.[43] These acts of
Concepcion are considered as adverse to the interest of Leopoldo. Furthermore, it
cannot be denied that the possession of the respondents and Concepcion are in the
concept of an owner, public, peaceful and uninterrupted. In addition, the
possession is patent, visible, apparent, notorious and not clandestine since 1965.
Thus, the adverse possession is reckoned from 1965 and it was only in the year
2002, when Orlando executed an affidavit of adjudication adjudicating to himself a
portion of the subject lot, that petitioners’ peaceful and adverse possession of the
subject lot was interrupted. However, extraordinary acquisitive prescription has
alreadty set in favor of the respondents, taking into account that more or less 37 years
has passed before Orlando asserted his right over the subject lot.