Joan Pernes
Sept 11, 2017
All properties are things but not all things are considered property.
Properties are subject to appropriation, if not, cant be considered
property.
Before air cannot be considered property, but now can be
considered. Example: air in scuba.
Body parts can be considered property; can be sold (dead body –
donated to medical schools.)
There are two classifications of prop
Immovable (real prop)
Movables (personal property) can also be considered chattels
Lands and buildings can be mortgaged separately even if land
and building may be owned by the same person
Par (5) can be immobilized by destination – must be done by the
owner of the tenement.
If done by owner of the machineries – still personal property
Par (7) Fertilizer actually used on a piece of land; if the fertilizer is
still in a box – personal property
Par (8) – waters may be the water in a swimming pool or water
tank; there’s no qualification in art 415 that the waters either
running or stagnant needs to be natural waters. The law does not
qualify neither should we.
Par (10) these are incorporeal intangible rights. These rights are
real rights and considered real property – by analogy
4 kinds of immobilization
1. nature
2. incorporation
3. destination
4. analogy
Test of exclusion – if the prop is not in the list of 10 kinds of
immovable, everything else is personal property.
(Par 3 of 416) – electricity can be subject to theft
It is imp to know WON prop is real or personal is because often
times, this is a threshold issue of many legal questions. It should
be determined first WON the property involved is real or personal.
For example:
Civpro – proper venue where the action must be filed
Credit transaction – when the real prop can be a subject of real
estate mortgage or antichresis, on the other hand if the personal
prop can be subject to a pledge
Parties are allowed to state if real prop should be treated as
personal prop however it will not bind the 3rd parties like the
sheriff(he needs to follow the rules on execution and levy); parties
cannot change their minds because they are estopped
Criminal Law – personal property object of robbery or theft but if
what is stolen is real property and the prosecution files for robbery
or theft the case would be dismissed because it should be things
that can be taken with intent to gain is personal property; if what
was stolen were machineries, receptacles and instruments and it
was found out that immobilized by destination then the case would
not prosper
Taxation – real property tax, a tax law problem it may be the same
problem in civil law however the answer is different, ordinarily if in
civil law the property will be personal however in tax the property
is real. The reason is so that the gov’t can collect more taxes –
Meralco (steel towers) and office equipment of the company
US vs Carlos
Other classification of property is based on WON it is owned
privately or public dominion, owned by the State, for public use
(can be use by everybody, flyover, EDSA, bridge, airport, highway
such as TIPLEX) or pubic service (used by authorized government
officials e.g. fire engine of BOF, tanks by the PH Army and the
ambulance of the DOH, for the development of national wealth)
Properties of public dominion of LGUs have a different
classification; Article X of the Constitution; provinces, cities and
municipalites; divided into patrimonial property and public use
however there are different classification found in the Local
Government Code
If the property is not anymore for public use, it must be
reclassified as patrimonial property; patrimonial property are still
public dominion but owned by the LGUs in its private capacity
Shares of stock by a business are considered personal property
even if the business owned real property, the share of stocks of
SMC, PLDT, Globe, PAL, Jollibee are all considered as personal
property
Sept 18, 2017
There are 7 rights of ownership
1. jus possidendi
2. jus utendi
3. jus fruendi
4. jus abutendi
5. jus disponendi
6. jus vindicandi
7. jus accesionis
The 7 rights of ownership can be specifically referred to as 7
rights of private ownership.
Art 3 of Consti Sec 1 – the property there is private property
Limitations of the right to private property
1. Police power – does not require just compensation
2. Eminent domain – requires just compensation; citizen
prefers this power;
• Eminent domain is the power; expropriation is
the procedure
3. Taxation
Right to private property is also known as right to be selfish
because of the & rights of ownership – Mr. Santos can use his
toothbrush as he wants.
Communists – do not want private property;
• Sec 1 Art 3 of the Consti is a confirmation that the RP is
not a communist country because it allows private
property
7 remedies to recover property aka jus vindicandi


Personal property
1. Action for replevin – use to recover personal property (Rule
60)




Real property
2. Accion interdictal – ejectment (both seek to recover
possession de facto/physical or material possession; both fall
under the original and exclusive jurisdiction of MTC; both
have the same prescriptive period of 1 year; both covered by
the rule summary proceedings)
a. Forcible entry – possession is illegal from the very
beginning; plaintiff must have prior physical possession
and then it was lost because the defendant employed
FISTS; If FIT – 1 year pres will begin from the
employment of FIT; if SS – 1 year will start from the
discovery of SS
b. Unlawful detainer – the possession was in the beginning
lawful and then later on unlawful example: lessee-lessor;
1yr period starts from the last demand letter
3. Accion publiciana – remedy to recover real property when
what is sought to be recovered is the real right of possession
or the better right of possession also knows an possession
de jure or legal/juridical possession
a. Different from accion interdictal - merely possession de
facto
b. Prescriptive period is 10 years and the court that has
jurisdiction is the RTC
4. Accion reindivicatoria – Action for reconveyance – seeks to
recover both ownership and possession
a. Prescriptive of period depends on the adverse possession of
the defendant
5. Writ of Preliminary Mandatory Injunction
6. Writ of Possession – remedy available to recover, land
registration case after unregistered land originally registered,
successful registrant can file for this
a. Available after a foreclosure of a REM
b. (7)Writ of Demolition – if there is a structure on top of the
property; compliment to the writ of possession
Before a person can go to court there is the doctrine of self-help
w/c is only available immediately or simultaneously when the prop
is being taken from a person; similar to self-defense in the RPC;
unlawful aggression, there is reasonable necessity of the means
use to repel or prevent the unlawful aggression and lack of
sufficient provocation; won’t be available if there is a lapse of time
In all actions, the property must be properly identified; in case
there is a conflict between the area and the boundary – the
boundary will prevail and the area will only be use to help in
identifying the property;
- in case the evidence of the plaintiff and defendant is weak,
the defendant will win; plantiff must rely on the strength of his
evidence
- plantiff:weak evidence – defendant:no evidence = the
defendant still wins
- equi-ponderance/equi-poise of evidence – parties evidence
are both weak, the defendant will win
Tax declaration are not conclusive evidence; only when it is
coupled with actual possession
Hidden treasure –
- treasure must be hidden
- must be money, jewelry, or other precious object
- lawful ownership of which does not appear – refers to the
object itself, no indication on who the owner is, must not
contain initials the name of Mr. Nepumeceno
- A438 – rules
1. Finder gets ½, the land owner gets ½
2. If the finder is a trespasser he gets nothing, the land
owner gets everything
3. By chance – there cannot be a deliberate search (it is not
by chance) or by chance is considered to have a broader
Joan Pernes
scope, practically impossible to find something or even if
there is there is uncertainty
4. Do not include things in their natural state, if what is found
is mineral in there raw state the rule will not apply; the raw
material will be owned by the state as prescribe by the
Regalian doctrine
Sept 21, 2017
Rules on accession to apply, there has to be an owner of land and
a bps who are two different people. If the prop is a subject of co-
ownership – rules of accession will not apply because both parties
co-owned the land so both parties are entitled to be BPS over
their own property
Rules of accession presupposes that there are 2 different people
of conflicting rights and interest; also presupposes that there is no
contract between them – if there is such a contract to sell/lease,
then it will be the contract that will govern the relationship between
them.
Art 448 and the rules on accession are applicable only
1. in the absence of contract and when there are two different
parties; will only also apply if
2. There is really accession – when the two things cannot be
separated without any kind of damage – if the things can be
separated without damage then there is no true accession
with quotation marks – then just give the two things to the
owners
In accession there is a fusion or combination of the properties of 2
different people such that the properties cannot be separated
without some kind of injury or damage
Accession continua with respect to real property
1. accession industrial – LO, BPS (charts)
2. accession natural – accretion, avulsion, change of course of
rivers, formation of islands
The fruits (natural, industrial, or civil) - Accession discreta
Natural fruits – do not involves the intervention of man or
unprocessed by man
Industrial fruits – subject to human effort or intervention
Civil fruits – result of investment such as rental income or interest
First step to accession industrial w/ respect to real property
1. determine WON the parties are in good faith or in bad faith –
this is where the controversy is centered – it is not necessary
anymore to determine which is the principal or the accessory
(we know that the land is principal and whatever was built,
planted or sown is the accessory)
2. determine the status of the parties WON they are in GF or in
BF, if the characterization is wrong then everything else
would be wrong this is because once the status of the parties
as to WON they are in GF or BF everything else becomes
automatic or mechanical
a. once the status of tha parties is determined, more
particularly WON they are GF or BF, their rights and
obligations are already automatic (CHARTS)
Problem in the court is when both parties are in good faith/
innocent – both good people; if one of them are in BF he or she is
not given any right – all the rights are given to the party in
goodfaith
A448 both the LO and BPS are in goodfaith, LO not aware that
there there is something built, planted or swon and the BPS

doesn’t know that the property is owned by somebody else such
as the case with the mother-in-law told the son-in-law to just build
- if the LO is in GF, the BPS in GF – the LO has 2 options
5. appropriate(to buy) whatever has been built, planted or
sown
6. to sell the land, however the LO cannot exercise this if the
value of the land is considerably more than that of what
was built; reason: quite possible that what was built cost
200php, and the land is 2Mphp so its not fair to compel
the BPS to buy the land = they can agree on voluntary
lease, if they can’t agree Courts will intervene and there
will be a forced sale; the only time the LO can eject the
BPS is when they don’t pay rent.
- If the LO is in GF, and the LO in BF – the LO has 3 options
7. “To buy” but really he gets it for free as a penalty for the
BPS
8. to sell his land – it doesn’t matter whether the value of the
land is considerably more than that of the buildings or
trees
9. “I don’t want the building and I don’t want to sell my land”
– demolish or remove what was built, planted or sown
If there is an OM involve, the LO can be subsidiary liable for the
value of the materials used, 3 requisties
1. OM has to be in GF, if he is in BF he can’t go after the LO for
subsidiary liability (cause a party in BF has no rights as a
general rule)
2. BPS has to be insolvent, if not then the OM cannot be
subsidiary liable
3. the LO must exercise Option 1, w/c is to buy the building; if
option 2 the LO can’t be subsidiary liable because if the LO
sells his land he doesn’t enjoy or benefit from the materials of
the OM since he sold his lot hence he can’t be subsidiary
liable
Question: when the LO chooses Option 2, and the BPS refuses to
buy the land, sir, can you elaborate on that? And when can the LO
eject the BPS
BPS has no choice, because the right of choice is granted by law
to the LO. The rules on accession doesn’t require the consent of
the BPS, if the BPS consent then if will be a contract and
whatever they agree to will govern them.
Accession rules presuppose that they disagree, they are both
good people but they don’t agree on what to do and the law says
that the one who will be followed is the LO. Why is the LO given
the right of choice? Because of the principle that the principal
follows the accessory, the accessory being whatever was built,
planted or sown and the principal being the land, and that is the
right of the LO is older (whatever that means lol).
What happens if the LO refuses to make a choice? The Court
would give the LO a deadline to make a choice, if he doesn’t
make a choice it will constitute as contempt because he
disobeyed a lawful order of the Court. The property dispute cannot
remain unresolved.
The BPS, the TC or the SC cannot make the choice.
Partur sicatur ventre(DI KO ALAM SPELLING)
- applies to accession discreta, fruits of an animal –
offspring,
- the ownership of the offspring will belong to the owner
of the mother
Oct 5, 2017
Joan Pernes
There are 7 rights of ownership
Right of accession gives the owner the right to everything
produced thereby (sir started to write on the white board)
SEE CHART!!!
Accession Discreta - Everything that is incorporated or attached
Accession Continua – movable and immovable
- attached or incorporated either artificially or naturally
- accession industrial – (points to the blackboard)
The owner gets all of these things by operation of law (??? Sir
points something at the blackboard)
7 modes of acquiring ownership (A712) LODTIPS
1. loyalty
2. occupation
3. donation
4. tradition
5. intellectual creation
6. prescription
7. succession
Acquisitive prescription is based on possession.
Based on adverse possession (not friendly) – when the possessor
claims ownership over the property. If the possession of the
adverse possessor is open public not secret not clandestine,
notorious (everybody knows it), peaceful, continuous
uninterrupted in the concept of an owner
- required # of years 4/8 if personal property; 10GF/30BF
for real property.
If the possessor fulfills the requirements of acquisitive prescription
and is patient enough to hold on to the property, the law will
punish the real owner and take ownership away from the real
owner and give it to the adverse possessor as a reward for his
patience. The law takes away ownership from the real owner
because he did nothing for 4/8 years or 10/30 years.
When 2 or more persons are owners of an undivided thing or
right, there is co ownership. The law does not encourage co-
ownership, there may be conflict of rights and will lead to dispute.
(codal and pizza example; nag-mumultiply yung rights to how
many owners there are and since iba-iba ang gusto ~ mag-aaway)
Action for partition to terminate the co-ownership does not
prescribe. But when the law state that there is it refers to
extinctive prescription.
2 kinds of partition (Rule 69 of RoC)
1. extra judicial – out of court; preferred; based on
consent/agreement between or among co-owners
2. judicial – in court; two stages –
a. Determining WON a co-ownership exists
b. Actual partition
Acts of preservation – consent is no longer needed
Acts of administration – he needs the consent of the financial
majority – not necessarily the numerical majority
6 owners: (book Php 100) = 2- 25 and 4- 12.50
The two co-owners can out vote the others. Their decision will
prevail.
Acts of alteration – unanimous consent of all is necessary, this is
because an act of alteration is an act of ownership. (swimming

pool to a fish pond, nature of prop being change so everyone’s
consent is needed).
If not agreement is reach regarding the alteration then the courts
will settle; in the acts of preservation – the co-owners must notify
the others.
The co-owner can have an agreement to keep a thing undivided
for a period not exceeding 10 years. If agreement is more than 10
years – 10 year period will be valid, the extra will be null and void.
(E.g. 15 years to keep it undivided, only the 5 year excess will be
null and void).
- They can keep on renewing the agreement, so along as each
renewal does not extend 10 years.
If donor who gives the instruction not to partition the thing donated
– the instruction of the donor must not exceed 20 years.
- Testator – same rule as a donor
The law says no prescription(acquisitive) will run in favor or
against a co-owner (refers to acquisitive prescription)
- Why: possession of a co-owner is not adverse, possession is
friendly, each are called trustee and the law presumes that
they are not enemies
Acquisitive prescription will start to run the moment there is
repudiation (rejection) by a co-owner.
- When a co owner repudiates the co ownership, he is
rejecting the co-ownership and basically saying the entire
property is mine and mine alone. He is rejecting the claim of
the other co-owners; he claims TOTAL ownership
Once a co owner repudiates the co ownership and has
possession of the property, his possession is already adverse to
his fellow co owners
Four requisites in order for acquisitive prescription to be available
to a co owner
1. there must be a clear and unequivocal act of repudiation
amounting to an ouster of the fellow co-owners of a co owner
of the trust entrust to him.
2. Repudiation must be made known to the other co-owner.
3. The evidence must be clear and conclusive
4. All the other requirements for acquisitive prescription must be
present- particularly the lapse of time.
Four degrees of possession
1. possession without any title whatsoever; such as title of a
thief
2. possession with juridical title; lessee/pledgee
3. possession with just title; possession required in acquisitive
prescription
4. possession with true and valid title; possession in the concept
of an owner
A person can be an owner without having possession
A person can be a possessor without being the owner
Concept of ownership is different from the concept of possession
Possession de jure – is the legal or juridical possession (sought to
be recovered in accion publiciana – remedy to recover the better
or real right of possession)
Possession de facto – is physical or material possession (sought
to be recovered in accion interdictal – ejectment cases)
In estafa – juridical possession
In theft – physical or material possession
Joan Pernes
When an agent converts or misappropriates the property of his
principal its not theft, its estafa. Bank teller on the other hand
should be charged with theft, possession is not juridical
possession.
OLDTIPS
T – tradition – seen in the law of sales, sale - not a mode of
acquiring ownership
- delivery – constructive
10. traditio brevi manu – lessee buys the property and
becomes the owner
11. traditio longa manu – delivery by pointing, like Magellan
12. constitutum possessirum – owner becomes a mere
possessor, opposite of brevi manu
13. traditio symbolica – delivery of the symbol like the keys of
a car or signing a contract or public document
- what transfer ownership is the delivery of the objects, can be
actual or the 4 above
In co-ownership there must be a distinction between the property
w/c is the subject of the co-ownership and the abstract idea or the
spiritual, metaphysical, fractional, pro rata share of a person
- Mr. Santos gets 10php from 10 students of this class to buy
PIZZA, 10 slices
- No one in the class can point to any particular slice as his or
her own because the pizza hasn’t been partitioned but
everybody has a 10% interest or share in the pizza
- A co-owner has absolute total ownership and has 7 rights of
ownership over the ideal share or the 10%, that’s why one
can sell his 10% share to someone from the other section w/
o asking permission from anybody. However, no co-owner
can sell the entire pizza to the other class.
- If a co-owner sells to another person in the other section, the
co-owners can buy back or redeem the 10%, because the
classmate here might not want somebody or a 3rd party
stranger to be part of the co-ownership. 30 day period of
redemption and whoever sells must inform the others, if the
other co-owners doesn’t know the 30day period doesn’t start
to run, it only starts from the time he gives written notification
to all the other co-owners.
- Redeeming is getting back –D. Annie Tan case, once the
bank foreclosed the property there was a 1yr redemption
period however since the co-owners failed to redeem the
ownership was transferred to the bank, so the bank became
the owner, so there was no co-ownership anymore
- If one co-owner was able to redeem a prop for everyone’s
benefit, it is considered an act of preservation and the one
who redeems is entitled for reimbursement from his or her
fellow co-owners; benefit of all and said person advanced
the money
Acquisitive prescription – involving real property, when will the 10
yr period or 30 year period will start to run?
GR: registration by the co-owner of the property solely on his
name (this is a repudiation), even if the other co-owners doesn’t
know about it. Basis for this rule is registration is constructive
notice to the entire world, everybody is notified
XPN: if there is actual fraud employed against the co-owners,
case of Adille, Mariategui and Delima; prescriptive period runs
after the discovery of the fraud
Repudiation vs Redemption (different from each other)
Repudiation – is rejection
Redemption – taking back the interest; preserve the co-onwership
and prevents 3rd party to enter
 Joan Pernes
- Only available when a co-owner sells to a third party
- When a co-owner sells to a fellow co-owner, there is no
right of redemption, case of the in-laws

Co-ownership basis for partnership and corporation

Corporation – undivided thing or right with a pool of assets, has a
separate juridical personality, every co-owner can sell his share
(share of stocks) however no shareholder can pinpoint an asset
as his own until partition or dissolution
Partnership – element of trust and confidence, one cannot enter
or exit w/o the consent of everyone in the partnership

Estate of a decedent also base on co-ownership

- When a person dies his entire estate is an undivided
thing or right until the estate is divided, all the heirs are
called co-heirs because they are co-owners of the
entire estate of the decedent; until it is partitioned no
heir can point a part of the estate as his or her own

Document lawyers use deed of extrajudicial partition/settlement

- CC uses partition, ROC uses settlement of estate but
its the same

Tacking – concept where the previous possessor can add his

possession to the possessor now, so if a person needs 4/8 yr or
10/30yr, he doesn’t need to wait till all the years have been
covered this is because he can use the period use by the previous
possessor. However it is only available if there is privity of
relationship, cannot be used if current possessor is a thief. Privity
- seller: buyer, donor: done, decedent: heir.

Look at the possession of the current possessor Convert the 3yrs

in good faith into bad faith years: MULTIPLY
There must be privity if not tacking is not available

REAL PROPERTY

A(old) GF 3 GF 9 BF 1 BF 3

B(new) GF 7 BF 21 GF 9 BF 27

10 30 10 30

PERSONAL PROPERTY

A(old) GF 3 GF 6 BF 1.5 BF 3

B(new) GF 1 BF 2 GF 2.5 BF 5

4 8 4 8

*All via acquisitive prescription (extinctive prescription – Statue of

Limitiations, set of deadlines for a person to ask the Court for
help)

Question re: financial majority = assuming all are joining forces

e.g. 1 = 50, but all the rest joined forces then the same
1 = 75, the rest cannot beat the 1