II C. Actions to Recover Ownership and Possession of Property

Question 1

ACCION INTERDICTAL
*Definition
*Jurisdiction
*Prescription

Answer 1

1. ACCION INTERDICTAL – Summary action to recover physical possession, and not juridical possession nor ownership (Rabuya, Civil Law Reviewer Vol. I, 2017, p. 354).

Accion interdictal comprises two distinct causes of action, namely, forcible entry (detentacion) and unlawful detainer. (Rule 70, Rules of Court)

a. Forcible Entry – Action for recovery of material/physical possession was deprived thereof by force, intimidation, strategy, threat or stealth. (Sec. 1, Rule 70, Rules of Court)

b. Unlawful Detainer – 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. (Ibid)

*Jurisdiction - MTC

*Prescription - Both actions must be brought within one year from the date of actual entry on the land, in case of forcible entry, and from the date of last demand, in case of unlawful detainer. The issue in said cases is the right to physical possession. (Paras, Civil Code of the Philippines Annotated, Vol. 2, Property, 2008, p. 96)

Question 2

ACCION PUBLICIANA

Answer 2

ACCION PUBLICIANA – an ordinary proceeding to determine the better right of possession of realty independently of title (Urieta Vda. De Aguilar vs. Alfaro, G.R. No. 164402, July 5, 2010).

Jurisdiction - RTC when dispossession has lasted for more than one year.

It is an ordinary civil proceeding to determine the better right of possession of realty independently of title. In other words, if at the time of the filing of the complaint, more than one year has lapsed since defendant unlawfully withheld possession from plaintiff, the action will not be for illegal detainer, but an accion publiciana. (Rabuya)

Prescription - 10 years (Art. 555 [4], NCC)

Question 3

ACCION REIVINDICATORIA

Answer 3

ACCION REINVINDICATORIA – an action for recovery of possession of the real poperty as element of ownership (Ocampo vs. Heirs of Dionision, G.R. No. 191101, October 4, 2014).

Jurisdiction - RTC

Prescriptive period: 10 years (ordinary prescription) – requires good faith and just title; or 30 years (extraordinary prescription) – does not require good faith and just title (see Arts. 1134 and 1137, NCC).

To successfully maintain an action to recover the ownership of a real property, the person who claims a better right to it must prove two (2) things:

a. Identity of the land claimed; and
b. His title thereto (Art. 434, NCC).

Personal Property Replevin - recovery of personal property. (Rule 60, Rules of Court)

Requisites for Recovery of Property:

1. Proof of Right
2. Identity
3. Reliance on strength of own evidence, not weakness of defendant’s claim. (Ibid)

Question 4

QUIETING OF TITLE

Definition
Nature of Action
Procedure

Answer 4

DEFINITION: An action to obtain an adjudication that a claim of title to, or an interest in, property adverse to that of plaintiff, is invalid, so that the plaintiff (and those claiming under him) may forever afterward be free from any danger of the hostile claim.

• NATURE OF THE ACTION:

Quasi in rem – action concerning real property that is enforceable only against the defeated party or his privies.

• PROCEDURE: Rule 63 of the Rules of Court (Declaratory Relief and Similar Remedies)

Question 5

QOT; Requisites

Answer 5

• REQUISITES:

1. Action involves a real property – i.e., immovable by nature, e.g. land
2. Plaintiff has title to the real property, which may either be legal title (e.g. registered ownership) or equitable title (e.g. based on acquisitive prescription). He need not be in possession of the property. (Art. 477)
3. There is a cloud on the title – i.e., there is an outstanding instrument, record, claim, encumbrance or proceeding, which has a prima facie appearance of validity or legal efficacy, but is actually invalid or inoperative and may impair or affect injuriously the valid title to the property (e.g. a forged instrument)

Question 6

QPT; Prescriptive period; OB of plaintiff if action prospered

Answer 6

• PRESCRIPTIVE PERIOD: depends on whether the plaintiff is in possession or not. If in possession, the action is imprescriptible. If not, it may prescribe (e.g., if the action to recover is based on implied trust, it prescribes 10 years from the registration of the deed of conveyance or issuance of the certificate of title).
• OBLIGATION OF PLAINTIFF, IF ACTION PROSPERED: He must reimburse the defendant for repairs and improvements made by the latter. (Art. 479).