CIVIL PROCEDURE

(from the lecture of Dean Reynaldo Agranzamendez)

Civil Procedure tells us the procedure on the filing, processing, and

adjudication of a civil case.

JURISDICTION
Jurisdiction is taken from two Latin words: juris and dico. When joined together, it
means “I speak by the law.”
Whenever we say jurisdiction, that refers to the power and authority of the
court to try and decide a case.
If a court has no jurisdiction, the only power that it has is to dismiss the case.
In our judicial system, we have the following structure:
SUPREME COURT

COURT OF APPEALS

REGIONAL TRIAL COURT

FIRST LEVEL COURTS – MTC: Metropolitan Trial Court (MeTC), Municipal Trial
Court in Cities (MTCC), Municipal Trial Court (MTC), Municipal Circuit Trial Court
(MCTC)

The MTC is a trial court.

 The RTC is also a trial court, but it has also appellate jurisdiction because
judgments or decisions of the MTC are appealable to the RTC.
The CA is essentially an appellate court although it also has original jurisdiction
over some cases.
The SC is an appellate court.
THE ELEMENTS OF JURISDICTION
For a court to try and decide a case validly, it must have jurisdiction over the
case.
The requisites of jurisdiction are the following:
Jurisdiction over the parties
Q: Who are the parties to a civil case?
A: The parties in a civil case are called the plaintiff and the defendant.
Q: How may the court acquire jurisdiction over the person of the plaintiff?
A: When the plaintiff files his complaint in court, then he submits himself to
the jurisdiction of the court.
Q: How may the court acquire jurisdiction over the defendant?
A:
1. By a valid service of summons upon him
2. By his voluntary appearance
Jurisdiction over the subject matter of the action
Q: How will we know if we should file the complaint with the MTC or with the
RTC?
A: You will follow the following tests in determining what court can try the case:
 NATURE OF THE ACTION TEST

You must be able to know if your civil action is a personal action or real
action.

What is a real action?

It is a real action if the action involves title to or right of possession

over the real property.

Any other action is a personal action.

If it is a real action, where will you file the complaint?

If the assessed value of the real property does not exceed P20,000 or
P50,000 in Metropolitan Manila, then you will file the complaint with the MTC.

Otherwise, if it exceeds that amount, you file it with the RTC.

The assessed value is indicated in the tax declaration. You have to state
the assessed value in your complaint. If you are the plaintiff, you have to allege.

Suppose you did not allege the assessed value. What will happen to your
complaint?

The court will dismiss your complaint because it fails to allege the
assessed value of the property involved.

What if you filed a complaint involving so many parcels of land?

You get the combined assessed value and the combined assessed value
will now determine the jurisdiction of the court.

If it is a personal action, then jurisdiction of the court is determined by the

total amount of plaintiff’s claim, exclusive of damages of whatever kind,
interest, attorney’s fees, litigation expenses, and cost. (DIAL-C)

If the total amount of plaintiff’s claims exclusive of DIAL-C does not

exceed P300,000 or P400,000 in Metropolitan Manila, the court that has
jurisdiction is the MTC.

If it exceeds that amount, it is the RTC that has jurisdiction.

X owes money, so he issued a promissory note, promising to pay his debt

in the amount of P250,000 to Y. When the due date came, X failed to pay,
whereupon Y now prepares a complaint, claiming for the payment of the
following:

1. P250,000;
2. Interest in the amount of P1,000,000;
3. Attorney’s fees of P500,000; and
4. Litigation expenses of P250,000
What court has jurisdiction?
 MTC, exclude DIAL-C (#2, 3, 4)

 The only instance when you do not exclude DIAL-C is when the main
cause of action is really damages.

If the action is incapable of pecuniary estimation, then it is the RTC that has
jurisdiction regardless of the money involved because the payment of a sum
of money is merely incidental to the main action.

I file an action for specific performance. Suppose in the same complaint of

specific performance, I also ask for the payment of money.
The claim for the payment of money is merely incidental to the claim of
specific performance.
Q: What are the actions that are incapable of pecuniary estimation?
A:
1. Action for specific performance
2. Action for annulment of a document
3. Action for support
4. Action for expropriation
My complaint is for specific performance and payment of P150,000. Where
will I file my complaint?
RTC
I file an action for specific performance or the payment of P150,000. Where
will I file my complaint?
MTC, because when the plaintiff says “or payment of P150,000”, then the
plaintiff himself has assigned a money equivalent to his claim of specific
performance. His claim of specific performance became capable of pecuniary
estimation. Because it is now capable of pecuniary estimation, you now go to the
amount of plaintiff’s claim exclusive of DIAL-C

In one case, the plaintiff claims that his signature on a deed of sale
involving his land was falsified. The land is registered in his name. One day, he
just learned that his certificate of title was cancelled and it is now in the name of
Y. When X made an inquiry, he found out that there was a deed of sale
 purportedly signed by him, selling the land to Y, but his claim is that he did not
sell the land to Y, and so he now says that the deed of sale was falsified. So, X
files a complaint against Y for the annulment of the deed of sale and of the
certificate of title in the name of Y.
Q: Assuming that the assessed value of the land is only P19,000, where
must the complaint be filed?
A: At first glance, it would seem like the action should be filed with the RTC
because it is a case for annulment which is incapable of pecuniary estimation, but if you
look at the totality of the complaint, you will notice that the objective of the plaintiff is to
be able to recover the ownership of his land, and so the nature of the action test should
yield to another test which is primary objective test.
Even if the complaint is denominated as one for specific performance or one for
annulment of a document, if the primary or ultimate objective of the plaintiff is to recover
ownership or possession over a real property, then the action should be classified as a
real action, and therefore jurisdiction of the court will be determined by the assessed
value of the real property as alleged in the complaint. If the assessed value, like in the
example given, is below P20,000 then it must be filed with the MTC.