LAGUNDINO, Ellaine Y.

III-8 BSSE

Philippine Normal University

The National Center for Teacher Education

Taft Ave., Manila

Is possession synonymous with ownership?

Ownership is the state of myself as or someone being the owner. For

example, I own a pen, a bag, a piece of paper, a notebook, or I own a small room. Or
somebody owns a wristwatch, a cellular phone, or they own a laptop. In other words, the
owner has the possession of their properties. They have control over their belongings.

There are instances or cases when there is only an act of possession without
the title of ownership but ownership will always have an act of possession, whether actual
or constructive. The act of possession cannot be the same as ownership. Why? Simply
because the possessor is only a holder of a property. The possessor may hold a property
and have the right to enjoy and keep the property. An owner has the additional rights to
dispose and abuse his property, rights that do not belong to a mere possessor.

How do these two things exists in one scenario? For example, I own a pen
(that is ownership) and someone borrows my pen, I hand it over to them (now, it is in
their possession) anytime, I can take my pen back because I own it; I can exercise the
right of action against the holder of my pen to retrieve it.

Another example is, my relatives use a parcel of my land to build their

house with my knowledge; they possess the land because they hold or control my
property in the meantime but that does not mean they own that land. I can use my right
of action to retrieve my land. The same thing can be applied to a landlord and a

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LAGUNDINO, Ellaine Y. III-8 BSSE

bedspacer. The landlord owns the dormitory and through renting, the bedspacer may
possess the room. The landlord is the owner but in a moment, the bedspacer possesses the
property of the landlord.

So, is ownership and possession synonymous? Not exactly but they have
relation to each other. Possession has two concepts - the owner that exercises the act of
ownership and the holder that exercises the act of possessing where the possessor have
the right to keep it. Possession may be put in this way, you possess a property through
ownership and/or you possess a property through mere possession per se.

Possession is part of ownership, when you own a property, you are

definitely the owner and the possessor. If you possess a property, it does not follow that
you are already the owner of it because according to the Civil Code of the Philippines,
possession may be exercised in one’s own name or in that of another.

Therefore, possession is not synonymous to ownership although they are

related to each other.

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