PROPERTY RIGHTS

31 August 2019

Balando, Homol, Madarang, Sollegue

Ownership
 ● Concept

Ownership ● Rights of owners

Civil Code Provision
Art. 427. Ownership may be exercised over things or rights.
Concept and Definition: Ownership
Art. 427. Ownership may be exercised over things or rights.

Independent right of a person to the exclusive enjoyment and control

of a thing including its disposition and recovery subject only to the
restrictions or limitations established by law and the rights of others.

A relation in private law by virtue of which a thing pertaining to one

person is completely subjected to his will in everything not prohibited
by public law or the concurrence with the rights of another.
Kinds of Ownership
Beneficial Ownership (Usufruct)

Ownership recognized by law and capable of being enforced in court, as distinct from legal ownership
and control.

Right to a property’s enjoyment in one person where the legal title is in another.

Used in two senses:

1. to indicate the interest of a beneficiary in trust property (also called “equitable ownership’’); and
2. to refer to power of a shareholder of a corporation to buy or sell, the shares though the shareholder
is not registered in the corporation’s books as the owner.
Kinds of Ownership
Naked Ownership (Nuda Proprietas)

The bare title to a property

Beneficial Ownership + Naked Ownership =

FULL OWNERSHIP
Concept and Definition: Ownership
Art. 427. Ownership may be exercised over things or rights.

Things generally refer to any material object. It is usually

corporeal property. However, its meaning has extended
beyond mere material objects and includes rights though
these are relations and not objects following Roman law
tradition.

Rights, whether real or personal, are classified as incorporeal property. The res of rights may be
corporeal or incorporeal.
Civil Code Provision
Art. 712. Ownership is acquired by occupation and by
intellectual creation.

Ownership and other real rights over property are acquired and
transmitted by law, by donation, by testate and intestate
succession, and in consequence of certain contracts, by
tradition.

They may also be acquired by means of prescription. (609a)

Acquisition of Ownership: Mode and Title
MODE TITLE
Specific cause which gives rise to them, as Juridical act which gives the name to the
the result of the presence of a special acquisition of the real right, but which in
condition of things, of the aptitude and intent itself is insufficient to produce it.
of persons and of compliance with the
conditions established by law.

Ownership is not transferred by contract merely but by tradition or delivery.

Acquisition of Ownership: Mode v Title
MODE TITLE
Directly and immediately produces a real Serves merely to give the occasion for its
right acquisition or existence

Cause Means

Proximate cause Remote cause

Modes (and Titles) of Aquiring Ownership/Real Rights
ORIGINAL MODE DERIVATIVE MODE
Independent of any pre-existing right of Those based on a pre-existing right held by
another person another person

(a) Occupation (condition of being without
known owner)
(b) Work which includes intellectual creation
(creation,
discovery or invention)
(a) Law (existence of required conditions);
(b) Donation (contract of the parties);
(c) Succession (death);
(d) Tradition (contract of the parties); and
(e) Prescription (possession in concept of
owner).
Civil Code Provision
Art. 428. The owner has the right to enjoy and dispose of a thing,
without other limitations than those established by law.

The owner has also a right of action against the holder and
possessor of the thing in order to recover it. (348a)
Extent of Right (Attributes) of Ownership
JUS POSSIDENDI JUS ACCESSIONIS
Right to possess Right to accessories

JUS UTENDI JUS FRUENDI

Right to use and enjoy Right to the fruits

JUS ABUTENDI JUS DISPONENDI

Right to consume the thing by its use Right to dispose or alienate

JUS VINDICANDI
Right to vindicate or recover
Extent of Right (Attributes) of Ownership
JUS POSSIDENDI
Right to possess

● Right to hold a thing or enjoy a right. It may be exercised in one’s name

or in that of another.
● Ownership ≠ Possession
● GEN. RULE: Judgement on ownership: necessarily includes transfer of
possession
○ EXC.: Person may be declared owner but he may not be entitled to
possession which may be in the hands of another. (eg lease)
●
● Vendor: transfer both ownership and possession (Art. 1495)
Extent of Right (Attributes) of Ownership
● Right to transform and “the right
to exclude any person from the
enjoyment and disposal thereof”.
● An owner, however, cannot make
JUS UTENDI
use of his property in such a
Right to use and enjoy manner as to injure the rights of
a third person (Art. 431).
● Use of property: social function
● Owner cannot be deprived of
enjoyment of his property for
emergency reasons, unless
prevented by contract or special
law.
Extent of Right (Attributes) of Ownership
● Right of the owner to consume a thing by its use, the use that
extinguishes, that consumes things which are consumable.
● The owner has even the right to abuse or even destroy the thing
owned.
○ There, are however, limitations on this right of ownership.

JUS ABUTENDI
Right to consume the thing by its use
Extent of Right (Attributes) of Ownership
● Right by ACCESSION: right to
everything produced,
incorporated, or attached in the
property.
● Fruits: natural, industrial, or civil
● Possessor, not owner, is entitled
to fruits when;
○ In good faith
○ Usufructuary
○ Agricultural land lessee
○ Antichretic creditor
JUS ACCESSIONIS
Right to accessories
JUS FRUENDI
Right to the fruits
● GEN. RULE: all accessions and
accessories are included in the
obligation to deliver a determinate
thing although they may not have been
mentioned
Extent of Right (Attributes) of Ownership

● May be done either totally or partially, without transferring ownership.

● Right to dispose includes the right not to dispose.
● Only owner can dispose property, subject to limitations imposed by law.

JUS DISPONENDI
Right to dispose or alienate
Extent of Right (Attributes) of Ownership
● Owner may proceed an action to recover not only against the person in actual
possession but against anyone unlawfully detaining it.
● A possessor, however, has the presumption of title in his favor.
○ Plaintiff must prove his title as owner
■ Applies only to private persons
■ If against State: presumption in favor of State because of Regalian
Doctrine
● Such right may be taken from owner, transferred by him, and his transferee can
maintain the action against the wrongdoer.
● Person in peaceful possession of property must be respected in his possession and
cannot be required to surrender possession until a competent court rules otherwise.

JUS VINDICANDI
Right to vindicate or recover
Limitations on Ownership
1. General Limitations for the benefit of the State: power of eminent domain, police power,
power of taxation;
2. Specific Limitations imposed by law: legal servitudes, legitime
3. Limitations imposed by the party transmitting property: contract, last will
4. Limitations imposed by owner himself: voluntary servitudes, mortgages, pledges, and lease
rights
○ Stipulation on inalienability: perpetual - void, temporary - valid so long as it serves
some serious and lawful interest
■ Sanction if valid:
● Alienation may resolve the grant if the original grant is conditioned on the
prohibition, or
● Alienation may be invalidated, but the original contract preserved.
5. Inherent Limitations: conflicts with similar rights such as those caused by contiguity of
property (accession continua)
Civil Code Provision
Art. 429. The owner or lawful possessor of a thing has the right
to exclude any person from the enjoyment and disposal thereof.
For this purpose, he may use such force as may be reasonably
necessary to repel or prevent an actual or threatened unlawful
physical invasion or usurpation of his property. (n)
Concept and Definition
Art. 429. The owner or lawful possessor of a thing has the right
to exclude any person from the enjoyment and disposal thereof.
For this purpose, he may use such force as may be reasonably
necessary to repel or prevent an actual or threatened unlawful
physical invasion or usurpation of his property. (n)

PRINCIPLE OF SELF-HELP
Principle of Self-Help
● Authorizes the lawful possessor to use force, not only to prevent a threatened
unlawful invasion or usurpation thereof.
● Qualification (exception) to the rule that no person should take the law in his own
hands.
● Use force as may be reasonably necessary
● Self-defense, justifying circumstance
○ Means employed must be reasonable
Principle of Self-Help: Requisites
1. Owner or lawful possessor - possessor need not have real or persona right over
the thing
a. Negotiorum gestor: third person takes steps to repel aggression; possessor
must indemnify him
2. Reasonable force
3. No delay - may be exercised only at a time of actual or threatened dispossession:
● Disturbance: force may be used anytime so long as it continues,
even if beyond the prescriptive period for an action of forcible
entry
● Real Dispossession: force to regain possession can be used only
immediately after the possession
● If delay (even if excusable) occurs, the owner or lawful possessor
must resort to judicial process for the recovery of the property
4. Actual or threatened physical invasion or usurpation
Civil Code Provision
Art. 430. Every owner may enclose or fence his land or
tenements by means of walls, ditches, live or dead hedges, or by
any other means without detriment to servitudes constituted
thereon. (388)
Concept and Definition
Art. 430. Every owner may enclose or fence his land or tenements
by means of walls, ditches, live or dead hedges, or by any other
means without detriment to servitudes constituted thereon.
(388)

Limited by the servitudes existing thereon

Civil Code Provision
Art. 435. No person shall be deprived of his property except by
competent authority and for public use and always upon
payment of just compensation.

Should this requirement be not first complied with, the courts

shall protect and, in a proper case, restore the owner in his
possession. (349a)
Power of Eminent Domain
● Right or power of the State or of those to whom the power has been lawfully
delegated to take (or expropriate) private property for public use upon paying to
the owner a just compensation to be ascertained according to law.
● Expropriation governed by special laws, procedure for eminent domain by ROC
● Owner cannot recover property in cases of estoppel.
● Abandonment of expropriation: to continue the action would be prejudicial to the
interest of the public. Petitioner becomes liable to pay for damages. Former owner
reacquires property.
● UNIVERSAL TEST OF ITS EXERCISE: public benefit, public utility, public
advantage
Power of Eminent Domain: Requisites
1. The taking must be done by competent authority;
2. It must be for public use;
3. The owner must be paid just compensation; and
4. The requirement of due process of law must be observed.
Power of Eminent Domain: Requisites
1. The taking must be done by competent authority.
a. State - executive branch by tradition, but stems from legislative power
b. Municipal corporations, other government entities, public service
corporations
c. Until expropriation proceedings are instituted in court, the landowner
cannot be deprived of its right over the land subject of the case.
Power of Eminent Domain: Requisites
2. It must be for public use.
a. Particular public use: courts have no jurisdiction, ℅ legislature
b. General public use: courts can decide what public use is
Power of Eminent Domain: Requisites
3. The owner must be paid just compensation.
a. Condition precedent to taking of private property for public use
b. Compensation: equivalent value of the land.
c. Just compensation: fair and full equivalent for the loss sustained
i. Just compensation = Market value of condemned property +
consequential damages - consequential benefits
d. Market value: price which will bring it where it is offered for sale by one who
desires, but is not obliged to sell it, and is bought by one who is under no
necessity of having it
i. Made in ordinary course of legal business and competition, prices are
real and not affected by usual conditions, ordinary free market,
substantial similarity between situation of the properties and the
parties
Power of Eminent Domain: Requisites
3. The owner must be paid just compensation.
e. Value of the property taken by the eminent domain should be fixed as of the
date of the proceedings + loss the owner sustains
f. Improvements shall also be paid
i. Land is intended for a planting a particular crop/tree: improvement
integral part thereof, valued together
ii. If otherwise: improvement valued separately
g. Injury to adjoining premises may also be recovered
h. Incidental benefits: may be set off against incidental damages, not against
basic value of property
i. Neither can the value of the land expropriated be reduced by amount
sufficient to improve the land so taken
Power of Eminent Domain: Requisites
4. The requirement of due process of law must be observed.
a. Art III, Sec 1, Const.: no person may be deprived of life, liberty, and property
without due process of law.
b. Constitution contemplates large-scale purchases with a view to agrarian
reforms. It does not contemplate the expropriation of private lands in
makeshift or piecemeal fashion by random taking of small lot here and small
lot there to accommodate few tenants.
i. The first sacrifices the rights and interest of one or a few for the good of
all, the second is a deprivation of property of a citizen for a few other
citizens without perceptible benefit to the State.
Power of Eminent Domain: Requisites
4. The requirement of due process of law must be observed.
c. Procedural due process: It requires that the owner of propertyshall have due
notice and hearing in expropriation proceedings. He should be given full
opportunity to present his side on such questions as the existence of public
use, the necessity for the taking, and the justness of the compensation. It has
been held that there is due process of law when there has been substantial
compliance with the procedure laid down in the Rules of Court for the
exercise of eminent domain. (Visayan Refining Co. v. Camus, 40 Phil. 550
[1919].)
Civil Code Provision
Art. 437. The owner of a parcel of land is the owner of its surface
and of everything under it, and he can construct thereon any
works or make any plantations and excavations which he may
deem proper, without detriment to servitudes and subject to
special laws and ordinances.

He cannot complain of the reasonable requirements of aerial

navigation. (350a)
Concept and Definition
The right of the landowners to the space and subsoil as far as necessary for his
practical interests, or to the point where it is possible to assert his dominion; beyond
these limits he would have no legal interest.

● Economic utility: criterion for the limit of the right to space and subsoil
● The benefit need not be connected with the use of surface; it may be an
independent utility, but it must be actual and concrete, not remote and imaginary.
Concept and Definition
JBL Reyes on the deficiency of the present Code:

“The rights to the subsurface should equally be limited to the depth reasonably
required to the exploitation and utilization of the soil. Just as the Code denies to the
surface owner the right to limit aerial navigation over his land, it should also refuse
him any right to impede subterranean travel or mining, or the digging of underground
shelters and depots (remember the atom bomb) with proper authority, so long as the
enjoyment of the surface or the structures thereon is not substantially disturbed. If the
ownership does not extend ad column, neither should it go down usque ad inferos.
(Observations on the new Civil Code, 15 Lawyer’s Journal 499, Oct. 31, 1950.)”
Civil Code Provision
Art. 438. Hidden treasure belongs to the owner of the land,
building, or other property on which it is found.

Nevertheless, when the discovery is made on the property of

another, or of the State or any of its subdivisions, and by chance,
one-half thereof shall be allowed to the finder. If the finder is a
trespasser, he shall not be entitled to any share of the treasure.

If the things found be of interest to science or the arts, the State

may acquire them at their just price, which shall be divided in
conformity with the rule stated. (351a)
Concept of Hidden Treasure
1. Hidden treasure may be found on land, building, or other property.
2. Strangers: anyone who has absolutely no right over the immovable or the thing in
which the treasure is found. Eg.: lessee, usufructuary, paid laborer
3. Finder entitled to share:
a. Belongs to him if property where it is found is owned by him
b. ½ if found by finder in a property of the State + subdivisions
c. No share if trespasser: presumption that he entered the property precisely to
look for treasure, thus not by change
d. Just price to be paid if thing found is of interest to science or the arts
4. Effect of concealment: does not lose share but becomes civilly and criminally
liable for taking something belonging to another (share of landowner)
Concept of Hidden Treasure
1. Discovery by chance:
a. ½ share to finder if finder was given express permission by owner to make an
investigation on his property
i. Entitled to the share because if the owner had not given permission the
finder would not have been entitled to anything.
b. No share to finder if owner of the land who knows or suspects that there is
hidden treasure and consequently orders a search
i. Exception: if stipulated otherwise
Civil Code Provision
Art. 439. By treasure is understood, for legal purposes, any
hidden and unknown deposit of money, jewelry, or other
precious objects, the lawful ownership of which does not appear.
(352)
Concept of Hidden Treasure
1. Consists of money, jewels, and other precious objects
a. Under the ejusdem generis rule, the term “other precious objects’’ would
seem to refer only to movables which are similar to money or jewelry. They
include things of interest to science or the arts.
2. Hidden and unknown, such that their finding is a real discovery.
a. If the treasure is purposely hidden, it is neither hidden nor unknown insofar
as the owner is concerned. Therefore, he can recover it from the finder
unless he has abandoned the property or considered it lost without hope of
ever finding it.
3. Its lawful ownership does not appear

Where the things discovered do not qualify as a hidden treasure under Article 439, the
rules on occupation (infra.), as a mode of acquiring ownership, would be applicable.
Civil Code Provision
Art. 440. The ownership of property gives the right by accession
to everything which is produced thereby, or which is
incorporated or attached thereto, either naturally or artificially.
(353)
Concept and Definition: Accession
Right by virtue of which the owner of a thing becomes the owner of everything that it
may produce or which may be inseparably united or incorporated thereto, either
naturally or juridically.

It is not a mode of acquiring ownership,

● Merely a consequence or incident of ownership.

Basic Principles: Accession
1. That to the owner of a thing belongs the extension or increase of such thing
2. That this extension of the right of ownership is realized, as a general rule, under
the juridical principle that the accessory follows the principal, accesio cedit
principali, or that the owner of the latter acquires or extends his ownership over
the former,
3. The this incorporation of the accessory with the principal, saving the exceptions
provided by law, is effected only when two things are so united that they cannot be
separated without injuring or destroying the juridical nature of one of them.
Accession v Accessory
Accession
Definition Accession are the fruits of, or additions to, or
improvements upon, a thing (the principal).
The concept includes accession in its three
forms of building, planting, and sowing, and
accession natural, such as alluvion, avulsion,,
change of course of rivers, and formation of
islands.
Vis-a-vis Not necessary to the principal thing
principal
Similarity Both can exist only in relation to the principal.
Accessory
Accessories are things joined to, or
included with, the principal thing for
the latter’s embellishment, better use,
or completion (e.g., key of a house;
frame of a picture; bracelet of a watch;
machinery in a factory; bow of a
violin).
Accessory and the principal thing
must go together.
Kinds of Accession
1. Accession discreta: the extension of the right of ownership of a person to the
products of a thing which belongs to such person. It is based on the principle of
justice for it is just that the owner of a thing should also own its fruits (discreta).

Under the Civil Code, it takes place with respect to: (a) natural fruits; (b) industrial
fruits; and (c) civil fruits. (Art. 441.)
Kinds of Accession
2. Accession continua: the extension of the right of ownership of a person to that
which is incorporated or attached to a thing which belongs to such person. It is
based on convenience and necessity for it is more practical that the owner of the
principal should also own the accessory (continua) instead of establishing a
co-ownership.

Under the Civil Code, this kind of accession may take place:

(a) With respect to real property. — It may be either:

1) accession industrial (building, planting or sowing; or
2) accession natural (alluvion, avulsion, change of river course, and formation of
islands);
Kinds of Accession
2. Accession continua: the extension of the right of ownership of a person to that
which is incorporated or attached to a thing which belongs to such person. It is
based on convenience and necessity for it is more practical that the owner of the
principal should also own the accessory (continua) instead of establishing a
co-ownership.

Under the Civil Code, this kind of accession may take place:

(b) With respect to personal property. — It may be:

1) conjunction or adjunction (which may take place by inclusion or engraftment,
soldadura or attachment, tejido or weaving, pintura or painting, and escritura or
writing);
2) commixtion or confusion; or
3) specification. (infra.)
Pardell vs. Bartolome

Miguel Ortiz Calixta Felin

(1875) (1882)

Vicenta Ortiz Matilde Ortiz

Manuel Ortiz Francisca Ortiz Married to Ricardo
Pardell
Married to Gaspar De
Bartolome
(plaintiffs) (defendants)

Sps. Pardell took it upon themselves to administer the properties of the late Miguel Ortiz and
Calixta Felin without judicial authorization nor an extrajudicial agreement.
Pardell vs. Bartolome
Sps. Pardell’s Complaint Sps. Bartolome’s
Counterclaim

1. Restoration and 1. Reimbursement on

delivery of ½ of the incurred expenses
total value in case OR 2. Remuneration for
2. Recognition of full and Gaspar’s administration
absolute right of
ownership to ½ of the
undivided properties

Trial court absolved both the complaint and counterclaim.

Pardell vs. Bartolome
1. Sps. Pardell can not claim indemnity as to the upper story of the Escolta
property because their interest was not injured by Sps. Bartolome. However,
Sps. Pardell can claim indemnity as to the lower story of the same property
used by Gaspar by virtue of strict justice.
2. The counterclaim as to the reimbursement on incurred expenses should be
granted. However, Gaspar is not entitled to remuneration.
3. No partition shall be made of certain jewelry in the possession of Vicenta.
4. The claim on the right to the collection of the difference between the
assessed value and that fixed by the judicial expert appraiser should not
prosper.
Pardell vs. Bartolome

How much did the Supreme Court

sentence Sps. Pardell to pay Sps.
Bartolome?
Pardell vs. Bartolome

Reconstruction Expenses Advanced by Sps. Bartolome P6,242.32

Rental Income (3,654.15)

TOTAL 2,598.17

Share of Sps. Pardell (½) 1,299.08

Gaspar’s rental (384.00)

NET AMOUNT PAYABLE BY SPS. PARDELL 915.08

Rights of Owners
 ● Right to Exclude; Self- help

Rights of Owners ● Right to Legal Action

 ● Actions to Recover Immovable
Property
Right to Legal ● Actions to Recover Personal

Action Property

● Quieting of Title
 Accion Reivindicatoria
Available Actions to
●

Recover Possession/
● Accion Publiciana

Ownership of Immovable ● Forcible Entry

Property ● Unlawful Detainer

Accion Reivindicatoria
An action to recover possession based on ownership
Accion Publiciana
An ordinary civil proceeding to recover possession of real property when the
dispossession was committed
Forcible Entry
An action for recovery of material possession (possession de facto) of a real
property when a person originally in possession was deprived thereof by force,
intimidation, strategy, threat, or stealth
Unlawful detainer
An action for recovery of possession of any real property by a landlord, vendor,
vendee, or other person, against whom the possession of the same was unlawfully
withheld, after the expiration or termination of the right to hold possession
Available Actions to ● Replevin

Recover Possession/ ● Writ of Injunction

Ownership of Personal ● Writ of Possession
Property
Replevin
An action for manual delivery of property, under Rule 60 of the Rules of Court
Writ of Injunction
A writ of preliminary injunction is an order requiring a party or a court, agency
or a person to refrain from a particular act or acts. It may also require the
performance of a particular act or acts, in which case it shall be known as a
preliminary mandatory injunction.
Writ of Injunction

Where to file Requisites Prescription

Court where the case 1. existence of a clear 10 days from filing in

of unlawful detainer and unmistakable case of forcible entry
or forcible entry is right that must be
pending protected 10 days from the time
2. an urgent and the appeal is perfected
paramount necessity in case of unlawful
for the writ to prevent detainer
serious damage
Writ of Injunction
● A writ of preliminary injunction is an equitable relief which has for its sole
object the preservation of the status quo between the parties until the issues
of the case can be heard
Writ of Possession
An order whereby a sheriff is commanded to place a person in possession of a
real or personal property

The writ is improper to eject another from possession unless sought in

connection with:

● a land registration proceeding;

● a foreclosure, judicial or extra-judicial, of mortgage of real property
provided that the mortgagor has possession and no third party has
intervened; and
● execution sales.
Writ of Possession

Where to file Prescription

Court where the case is pending Imprescriptible

Quieting of Title...
Quieting of Title
Art. 476. Whenever there is a cloud on title to real property or any interest
therein, by reason of any instrument, record, claim, encumbrance or proceeding
which is apparently valid or effective but is in truth and in fact invalid,
ineffective, voidable, or unenforceable, and may be prejudicial to said title, an
action may be brought to remove such cloud or to quiet the title.
An action may also be brought to prevent a cloud from being cast upon title to
real property or any interest therein.

An action to quiet title is an equitable remedy that has for its purpose an
adjudication that an adverse claim of title to, or an interest in, property to that of
the complainant is invalid.
Cloud on Title
Art. 476. Whenever there is a cloud on title to real property or any interest
therein, by reason of any instrument, record, claim, encumbrance or proceeding
which is apparently valid or effective but is in truth and in fact invalid,
ineffective, voidable, or unenforceable, and may be prejudicial to said title, an
action may be brought to remove such cloud or to quiet the title.
An action may also be brought to prevent a cloud from being cast upon title to
real property or any interest therein.

A cloud on title is a semblance of title, either legal or equitable, or a claim or a

right in real property, appearing in some legal form but which is in fact invalid or
which would be inequitable to enforce
Cloud on Title
Requisites for the Existence of Cloud on Title

1. There is an instrument, record, claim encumbrance, or proceeding which

appears to be valid or effective;
2. The instrument, etc. is in truth and in fact invalid, ineffective, voidable or
unenforceable, or has been extinguished or barred by extinctive
prescription; and
3. Such instrument, etc. may be prejudicial to said title
Cloud on Title
Some Examples
1. A title or lien which appears to be procured by fraud, deceit, or
misrepresentation
2. Forged instrument
3. Unauthorized or prohibited conveyance or encumbrance by incapacitated
persons
4. A contract of sale or donation which has become inoperative because of
non-performance by the vendee or donee of a condition precedent (Art.
1181.); and
5. A voidable contract
Action to Quiet Title vs Action to Remove a Cloud
An action to quiet title is primarily An action to remove cloud is
an action aimed at putting an end to designed to obtain the cancellation,
vexatious litigation of a subject delivery of, release of an instrument,
property encumbrance, or claim constituting
a claim on plaintiff’s title and which
may be used to injure or vex him in
his enjoyment of his title
Quieting of Title
● Who may file
○ Person with legal or
equitable title or
interest in the subject
real property
● Where to file
○ Regional Trial Court
● When to file
RULE 63 Declaratory Relief and Similar Remedies
Section 1. Who may file petition. — Any person interested
under a deed, will, contract or other written instrument, or
whose rights are affected by a statute, executive order or
regulation, ordinance, or any other governmental regulation
may, before breach or violation thereof bring an action in
the appropriate Regional Trial Court to determine any
question of construction or validity arising, and for a
declaration of his rights or duties, thereunder. (Bar Matter
No. 803, 17 February 1998)
An action for the reformation of an instrument, to quiet title
to real property or remove clouds therefrom, or to
consolidate ownership under Article 1607 of the Civil Code,
may be brought under this Rule. (1a, R64)
Does an action
for quieting of
title prescribe?
Quieting of Title
● Who may file
○ Person with legal or equitable title or interest in the subject real property
● Where to file
○ Regional Trial Court
● When to file (Prescription)
○ Plaintiff in possession of property: imprescriptible
○ Plaintiff not in possession of property: 10 years or 30 years or estoppel by laches
Quieting of Title
Requisites for an Action to Quiet Title to Prosper

1. Plaintiff must have legal or equitable title or interest in the subject property
(Art 477)
2. There is cloud on such title or interest (Art. 476)
3. Such cloud must be due to some instrument, record, claim, encumbrance or
proceedings which appears to be valid but is in truth invalid, ineffective,
voidable or unenforceable (Art. 476)
4. Plaintiff must return benefits received from defendant (Art. 479)

May also be brought when contract, instrument or other obligation has been
extinguished/terminated/barred by extinctive prescription (Art. 478)
Action to Prevent a Cloud
Requisites for an Action to Prevent a Cloud on Title

1. Plaintiff has a title or interest in the subject real property

2. Defendant is bent on creating a cloud on the title or interest therein (danger
imminent not imaginary or speculative)
3. Unless defendant is restrained or stopped, the title or interest of plaintiff will
be adversely affected
Action to Quiet Title vs Action to Remove/Prevent a Cloud
Quieting of Title Removing of Cloud Preventing a Cloud

As to Purpose

To put an end to To procure the cancellation, To remove a possible

vexatious litigation delivery, release of an foundation of a future
with respect to the instrument, encumbrance hostile claim
property involved or claim which constitutes a
claim in plaintiff’s title
which, and which may be
used to injure or vex him in
his enjoyment of his title
Action to Quiet Title vs Action to Remove/Prevent a Cloud
Quieting of Title Removing of Cloud Preventing a Cloud

As to Nature of Action

Remedial; involves a Preventive, in order to Preventive, in order to

present adverse claim remove cloud which remove future cloud
may be used for future
actions
Action to Quiet Title vs Action to Remove/Prevent a Cloud
Quieting of Title Removing of Cloud Preventing a Cloud

As to Nature of Claims

Plaintiff asserts own Plaintiff declares his own No claim yet

claim and declares that claim and title, and at the
the claim of defendant same time indicates the
unfounded source and nature of
Calls on the defendant defendant’s claim,
to justify his claim on pointing it’s defect and
the property for the praying for the
court to determine the declaration of its
same invalidity
Action to Quiet Title vs Action to Remove/Prevent a Cloud
Quieting of Title Removing of Cloud Preventing a Cloud

Filed Against Whom

Against people who Against defendants who No claim yet

have claims which are assert claims based on
more general in nature an invalid instrument
(but not apparent)
Heirs of Olviga vs. Court of Appeals
Olviga obtained a registered title for Lot 13 Pls-84 in a cadastral proceeding, in
fraud of the rights of Pureza and his transferee, Glor and his family who were the
real and actual occupants of the land.

The Court ruled that the heirs of Glor and their predecessors-in-interest were in
actual possession of the property since 1950. Their undisturbed possession gave
them the continuing right to seek the aid of a court of equity to determine the
nature of the adverse claim of the heirs of Olviga.
Titong vs. Court of Appeals

Other issues raised in the petition are

_______.
Titong vs. Court of Appeals
Titong filed and action for quieting of title alleging:

1. He is the owner of an unregistered parcel of land surveyed as Lot No. 3918.

2. On 3 separate occasions in September 1983, Laurios, with their hired
laborers, forcibly entered a portion of the and begal plowing the same.

The Court held that the petition must be denied as the complaint failed to allege
that an “instrument, record, claim, encumbrance or proceeding” beclouded
Titong’s title over the property involved.
Titong vs. Court of Appeals

[T]he acts allegedly may be considered

grounds for an ______ ___ ________
_____ but definitely not one for
quieting of title.
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END.