Actions to Recover:

1. Recovery of Personal Property – replevin (governed by Rule 60, ROC);

Replevin – an action or provisional remedy where the complainant prays for the recovery of the possession of
personal property.

2. Recovery of Real Property

a. Forcible entry or unlawful detainer;

Forcible entry – a summary action to recover material or physical possession of real property when a person
originally in possession was deprived thereof by force, intimidation, strategy, threat, or stealth (FISTS)

Prescriptive period:
General Rule: the action must be brought within one year from the dispossession.
Exception: in case of strategy or stealth, count the period of one year from the time of DISCOVERY of such
strategy or stealth.

Issue involved is mere physical possession (possession de facto) and not juridical possession (possession de
jure) nor ownership.

Unlawful detainer – action taken when possession by a landlord, vendor, vendee or other person of any land
or building is being unlawfully withheld after the expiration or termination of the right to hold possession, by
virtue of any contract, express or implied.

Prior physical possession is not required

Prescriptive period: within one year from the withholding of the property, thus:
i. If there is a fixed period for the termination of the lease, the lease ends automatically without need
of any demand; hence, the one-year period begins from the expiration of the lease.
ii. If the reason for ejectment is non-payment of rent or non-fulfillment of the conditions of the lease,
then the one-year period must be counted from the date of demand to vacate
iii. If the demand to vacate comes only 3 years from the time tenant had begun not to pay the rents, the
landlord still has a period of one year to be counted from the date of such demand
Note: the demand to vacate must be absolute not conditional.

Note:
 Complaint must show that the withholding of the possession, or the refusal to vacate, is unlawful.
 Unlawful detainer, however, is not the proper remedy if the purpose is not to recover possession
but to exact specific performance of a contract.

Issue: The issue is possession de facto (material possession), not possession de jure nor ownership

Forcible entry vs. Unlawful detainer

In forcible entry, the possession was unlawful from the very beginning;
In unlawful detainer, the possession was lawful in the beginning, but became unlawful afterwards; In both
actions, ownership is not involved, but only the right to the material possession of the premises;
Both actions are proceedings in personam (binding only to the parties)
Both involve real property, which is also termed “actions quasi-in rem” which are really actions in personam,
involving real property.

b. Accion publiciana – the plenary action to recover the better right of possession;

This remedy is intended for the recovery of the better right to possess and is a plenary action in an ordinary
civil proceeding before the RTC.

Prescriptive period: The action must be brought within ten (10) years. Otherwise, the real right of possession
is lost.

Issue: The issue is not possession de facto but possession de jure

 Kinds of Accion Publiciana
1. Entry was not obtained through FISTS (fraud, intimidation, stealth, threat or strategy)

Note: This action can be brought as soon as the dispossession takes place, without waiting for the lapse
of one year.

Failure to state that “deprivation” was caused by FISTS would make the action not one of forcible entry
but accion publiciana.

Example: Where a complaint not only shows prior possession by the defendant but also fails to allege
that the plaintiff was deprived by FISTS, no case of forcible entry is made out, and the justice of the peace
court has NO jurisdiction over the case.

2. The one-year period for bringing forcible entry or unlawful detainer has already expired

Note: An action may still be brought after the lapse of the one-year period for forcible entry as accion
publiciana in the RTC.

If brought before the RTC before the expiration of the one-year period, the action would still be either
forcible entry or unlawful detainer, and the RTC would not have jurisdiction.

Note: An accion publiciana is naturally res judicata only insofar as one of the parties is held to have the better
right of possession, does NOT bar a subsequent action between the same parties where one seeks to compel
the other to execute a formal deed of sale over the same property to enable him to obtain a TCT in his name,
and to quiet title over the same.

c. Accion reivindicatoria – reivindicatory action

It is an action to recover ownership over real property.

Where to file: The action must be brought before the RTC where the real estate is located.

The fact that the value of the improvements on the land is less than the jurisdictional amount does NOT
deprive the RTC of its authority to take cognizance of and accion reivindicatoria.

Prescriptive period:
 If ordinary prescription (good faith and just title) – 10 years
 If extraordinary prescription (does not require good faith or just title) – 30 years

Issue: In reivindicatory action, the issue involved is ownership, and for this purpose, evidence of title or mode
may be introduced.

d. Writ of Possession

A writ of possession used in connection with the Land Registration Law is an order directing the sheriff to
place a successful registrant under the Torrens system in possession of the property covered by a decree of
the Court.

Thus, it is not essential for the successful litigant to institute another action for the precise purpose of
obtaining possession of the land, otherwise there would be multiplicity of suits.

Note: The action cannot be used either against the party in whose favor the land has been decreed to be
registered, or against his representatives or successors-in-interest.

The action may be issued ONLY against the person defeated in the registration case, and against anyone
unlawfully or adversely occupying the land or any portion thereof, during the proceedings, up to the issuance
of the final decree.

Reason: The issuance of the decree of registration is part of the registration proceedings. Consequently, any
person unlawfully and adversely occupying said lot at any time up to the issuance of the final decree, may be
subject to judicial ejectment by means of a writ of possession, and it is the duty of the registration court to
issue said writ when asked for by the successful claimant.

Prescription: The right to demand the writ of possession never prescribes.

Forcible Entry Unlawful Accion Accion

Detainer Publiciana Reivindicatoria
- Landlord
- Vendor
Person who
Who - Vendee
has better
has Prior possessor - Other person Rightful Owner
right to
right whom real
possess
property is
withheld
When
After he is When
does
deprived of possession
the
property becomes
right
through FISTS unlawful
exist
When
After Good faith – 10
does After lapse of
expiration of After lapse of years
the 1 year from
the one-year 10 years Bad faith – 30
right withholding
period years
end
After the lapse
of 1 year, Accion
Remedy
accion publiciana
publiciana