FUNDAMENTALS OF PROPERTY

OWNERSHIP
 PROPERTY
• All things which are, or may be
the object of appropriation
Requisites:
• utility
• substantivity or individuality
• appropriability
 IMMOVABLE PROPERTIES
(REAL PROPERTIES)
• Real by nature – it cannot be carried from place
to place
• Real by incorporation – attached to an
immovable in a fixed manner to be an integral
part thereof
• Real by destination – placed in a n immovable for
the utility it gives to the activity carried thereon
• By analogy it is so classified by express provision
of law
 PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
OF REAL ESTATE
• Land is immovable – the geographical location of any
given parcel of land can never be changed it is fixed.
• Land is indestructible – the permanence of land
coupled with the long term nature of the improvement
constructed on it, has tended to stabilize investments
in land.
• Land is unique – no two parcels of land are ever exactly
the same, all parcels differ geographically as each
parcel has its own location. The uniqueness of land is
also known as Heterogeneity or Nonhomogeneity.
 ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS
OF REAL ESTATE
• Scarcity – the total supply of land is fixed, the
supply in a given location or of a particular
quality can be limited.

• Improvements – the building or improvement

on one parcel of land has an effect on the
value and utilization of neighboring tracts and
have a direct bearing on whole communities.
• Permanence of Investment – once the land has
been improved, the capital and labor used to
build the improvement represent a large fixed
investment.

• Area of Preference – also known as Situs, does

not refer to geographic location but rather to
people’s choices and preference for a given area
It is the unique quality of peoples preference that
results in different valuation being attributed to
similar units. Area preference is the most
important economic characteristic of land.
 PRINCIPLES OF REALTY OWNERSHIP
• REGALIAN DOCTRINE (jura regalia)– provides
that all lands not otherwise clearly appearing
to be privately owned are presumed to belong
to the State.

• CONCESSION REGIME –The concessionaire

makes a direct equity investment for the
purpose of exploiting a particular natural
resource within a given area.
CYCLE OF OWNERSHIP
STATE

to private persons.

POSITIVE ACT OF POSITIVE ACT OF

THE THE
GOVERNMENT GOVERNMENT

PRIVATE
REGISTRATION
OWNERSHIP
• LAND OF PUBLIC DOMAIN - it means it is
destined for public use or which belongs
exclusively to the State without being devoted
for common use or which is destined to some
public service or to the development of
natural resources and of mines until
transferred to private persons.
Lands of Public Domain under Section
4 Article XII of the 1987 Constitution

• Agricultural (alienable)
• Forest or timber
• Mineral lands
• National parks
 PROPERTY OF PUBLIC DOMINION

• Concept: It is not owned by the state but pertains

to the state, which, as territorial sovereign
exercises certain juridical prerogatives over such
property. The ownership of such properties is in
the social group, whether national, provincial or
municipal.

• Purpose: To serve the citizens and not the state

as a juridical person.
 CHARACTERISTICS OF PUBLIC
DOMINION:
• Outside the commerce of man
• Inalienable. But when no longer needed for
public use or service, may be declared
patrimonial property.
• Cannot be acquired by prescription
• Not subject to attachment or execution
• Cannot be burdened with easements
 KINDS OF PUBLIC DOMINION
• Those intended for public use
• Those which are not for public use
but intended for public service
• Those intended for the development
of the national wealth
 DIFFERENCE
PUBLIC DOMAIN PUBLIC
DOMINION
Owned by the owned by a social
group, whether
State regardless if
national, provincial or
used or not municipal
Emphasis is on use and
sovereignity
 CHARACTERISTICS OF PROPERTY OF
PUBLIC DOMINION

• Outside the commerce of man

• Inalienable. But when no longer needed for
public use or service, may be declared
patrimonial property.
• Cannot be acquired by prescription
• Not subject to attachment or execution
• Cannot be burdened with easements
PATRIMONIAL PROPERTY OF THE STATE

• Property of the State owned by it in its

private or proprietary capacity. The state
has the same rights over this kind of
property as a private individual in
relation to his own private property
PROPERTY OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS

• Property for public use – consist of roads,

streets, squares, fountains, public waters,
promenades and public works for public
service paid for by the LGUs
• Patrimonial Property – all other property
possessed by LGUs without prejudice to
provisions of special laws
 RECLASSIFICATION VS. CONVERSION
Reclassification
The act of specifying how
agricultural lands shall be utilized
for non-agricultural uses, as
embodied in the land use plan
Conversion
The act of changing the current use
of a piece of agricultural land into
some other use as approved by the
DAR
 PROPERTY OF PRIVATE OWNERSHIP

• - refers to all property belonging to

private persons either individually or
collectively and those belonging to the
State and any of its political subdivisions
which are patrimonial in nature
 Lands of Public Domain Open for
Private Ownership; Public Land Act
(Commonwealth Act No. 141
• Agricultural
• Residential, commercial, industrial or similar
productive purposes
• Educational, charitable, or other similar
purposes
• Reservations for townsites and for public and
quasi-public purposes
 OWNERSHIP
• The right to enjoy, dispose, and
recover a thing without further
limitations than those established by
law or the will of the owner.
 Characteristics of Ownership:
• Ownership is Elastic – power/s may be reduced and
thereafter automatically recovered upon the cessation
of the limiting rights.
• General – the right to make use of all the possibilities
or utility of the thing owned, except those attached to
other real rights existing thereon.
• Exclusive – there can only be one ownership over a
thing at a time. There may be two or more owners but
ONLY ONE ownership.
• Independence – It exists without necessity of any other
right
• Perpetuity – ownership lasts as long as the thing exists.
It cannot be extinguished by non user but only by
adverse possession.
 BUNDLE OF RIGHTS ARISING FROM
THE RIGHT TO OWN (FEE SIMPLE)
Right to enjoy:

• to possess (jus possidendi)

• to use (jus utendi)
• to the fruits (jus fruendi) and accessions
• to abuse (jus abutendi)
Right to dispose (jus dispodendi):
• to destroy
• to alienate
• to transform
• to encumber
Right to vindicate (jus vindicandi):
• pursuit
• Recovery

Right to exclude:
• to enclose, fence and delimit
• to repel intrusions even with force
 OTHER RIGHTS
• Air rights - the right to control, occupy, or use the vertical space (air
space) above a property, subject to necessary and reasonable use
by neighbor(s) and others (such as aircraft)

• Surface Rights - the owner of parcel of land is the owner of its

surface and everything under it. The economic utility which such
space or subsoil offers to the owner of the surface sets the limit of
the owner’s right to the same.

• Sub-surface rights - rights of the landowner to water and

substances below the surface of their land

• * Lateral rights -
 Limitations on Ownership

• General limitations imposed by the State for

its benefit:
- police power
- eminent domain (process: expropriation)
- taxation
- escheat
 Specific limitations imposed by law

• Limitations imposed by the party

transmitting the property either by
contract or by will
• Limitations imposed by the owner
himself
• Inherent limitations arising from
conflict with other rights
 De Facto case of Eminent Domain
(De facto expropriation)

• expropriation resulting from the

actions of nature as in one case
where land becomes part of one
sea. The owner loses his
property in favor of the state
without any compensation.
 Principle of Self-Help
• right of the owner or lawful
possessor to exclude any person
from the enjoyment and disposal of
the property by the use of such force
as may be necessary to repel or
prevent actual or threatened
unlawful physical invasion or
usurpation of his property.
Doctrine of Incomplete Privilege or
State of Necessity (Article 432)

• Interference necessary
• Damage to another much greater than
damage to property
 LEGAL REMEDIES TO RECOVER
POSSESSION OF ONE’S PROPERTY
a. ACCION INTERDICTAL
• Nature: summary action to recover physical or
material possession only. It consists of the
summary actions of:
1. Forcible entry - Action for recovery of
material possession of real property when a
person originally in possession was deprived
thereof by force, intimidation, strategy, threat
or stealth
• 2. Unlawful Detainer - Action for recovery of
possession of any land or building by 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, by
virtue of any contract.
• b. ACCION PUBLICIANA - Ordinary civil proceeding to
recover the better right of possession, except in cases
of forcible entry and unlawful detainer. The involved is
not possession de facto but possession de jure (1 year
possession and more).
•
• c. ACCION REIVINDICATORIA - action to recover real
property based on ownership. Here, the object is the
recovery of the dominion over the property as owner.
•
 QUIETING OF TITLE
• - It is an equitable action in rem to determine the
condition of the ownership or the rights to
immovable property, and remove doubts
thereon.

Prescriptive Period:
• plaintiff in possession – imprescriptible
• plaintiff not in possession – 10 (ordinary) or 30
years (extraordinary)
 ACCESSION
• - The
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 artificially.
 Classifications:

Accession Discreta – the right pertaining to the owner of

a thing over everything produced thereby

Kinds of Fruits
• natural fruits – spontaneous products of the soil and
the young and other products of animals
• industrial fruits – those produced by lands of any kind
through cultivation or labor
• civil fruits – rents of buildings, price of leases or lands
and the amount of perpetual or life annuities or other
similar income
 Accession Continua – the right pertaining to the
owner of a thing over everything that is
incorporated or attached thereto either naturally
or artificially; by external forces.
With respect to real property
i. accession industrial
• building, planting or sowing
ii. accession natural
• alluvium, avulsion, change of river course, and
formation of islands
 ACCESSION NATURAL
Alluvion or alluvium – increment which lands
abutting rivers gradually receive as a result
of the current of the waters.
• Concept: it is the gradual deposit of sediment
by the natural action of a current of fresh
water (not sea water, the original identity of
the deposit being lost)
Requisites:
• the deposit be gradual and imperceptible
• that it be made through the effects of the current
of the water
• that the land where accretion takes place is
adjacent to the banks of the river.

• The owners of the lands adjoining the banks of

the river (riparian lands) shall own the accretion
which they gradually receive.
• Accretion operates ipso jure. However, the
additional area is not covered by a Torrens title
and the riparian owner must register the
additional area.
• Avulsion – the transfer of a known portion of land from
one tenement to another by the force of the current.
The portion of land must be such that it can be
identified as coming from a definite tenement.
•
• Requisites:
– The segregation and transfer must be caused by the
current of a river, creek or torrent.
– The segregation and transfer must be sudden or abrupt
– The portion of land transported must be known or
identified
•
 HIDDEN TREASURE

• - any hidden or unknown

deposit of money, jewelry or
other precious objects, the
lawful ownership of which
does not appear.
• CO-OWNERSHIP - the right of common dominion
which two or more persons have in a spiritual
part of a thing which is not physically divided. Co-
ownership exists where the ownership of a thing
physically undivided pertains to more than one
person.

• POSSESSION -the material holding or control of a

thing or the enjoyment of a right.
• occupancy, apprehension, or taking
• deliberate intention to possess
• by virtue of ones own right
 USUFRUCT
• - gives a right to enjoy the property of another
with the obligation of preserving its form and
substance, unless the title constituting it or
the law otherwise provides.
 EASEMENT OR SERVITUDE
• - Encumbrance imposed upon an immovable for
the benefit of a community or one or more
persons or for the benefit of another immovable
belonging to a different owner. It is a real right,
constituted on the corporeal immovable property
of another, by virtue of which the owner of the
latter has to refrain from doing or must allow
something to be done on his property (servient
estate or easement appurtenant), for the benefit
of another person or tenement (dominant
estate).
 EASEMENT IN GROSS
• An easement that attaches a particular right to an
individual rather than to the property itself. The
easement in gross is often considered irrevocable for
the life of the individual, but can be revoked if the
individual sells the property that grants him or her that
easement. For example, a homeowner may have an
easement in gross with a neighbor allowing the
homeowner to use a path through the neighbor's
woods to reach the property. If the homeowner then
sells the property, he or she cannot pass the easement
in gross to the next property owner.
(www.investopedia.com)
 RIGHT OF WAY
• - The right granted to the owner of an estate
which is surrounded by other estates
belonging to other persons and without an
adequate outlet to a public highway to
demand that he be allowed a passageway
throughout such neighboring estates after
payment of proper indemnity .
 REQUISITES ROW
• Claimant must be an owner of enclosed
immovable or one with real right
• There must be no adequate outlet to a public
highway
• Right of way must be absolutely necessary
• Isolation must not be due to the claimant’s own
act
• Easement must be established at the point least
prejudicial to the servient estate
• Payment of proper indemnity
 PARTY WALL
• - a common wall which separates 2
estates built by common agreement
at the dividing line such that it
occupies a portion of both estates on
equal parts.
 LIGHT AND VIEW

1. Easement of Light (jus luminum) - right to admit

light from the neighboring estate by virtue of the
opening of a window or the making of certain
openings.
2. Easement of view (jus prospectus) – the right to
make openings or windows, to enjoy the view
through the estate of another and the power to
prevent all constructions or work which would
obstruct such view or make the same difficult. It
necessarily includes easement of light
 MODES OF ACQUIRING OWNERSHIP
ORIGINAL MODE
• OCCUPATION - a mode of acquiring ownership
by the seizure of things corporeal which have
no owner, with the intention of acquiring
them, and according the rules laid down by
law.
 Res nullius

• or nobody's property are

properties considered ownerless
property and are usually free to
be owned.
 TRADITION/DELIVERY
• - a mode of acquiring ownership as a
consequence of certain contracts, by virtue of
which, the object is placed in the control and
possession of the transferee, actually or
constructively.
 Kinds of Tradition
1. Real Tradition - actual delivery
2. Constructive Tradition
– traditio symbolica – parties make use of a token or
symbol to represent the thing delivered
– traditio longa manu – by mere consent of the
parties if the thing sold cannot be transferred to
the possession of the vendee at the time of the
sale
–traditio brevi manu – when the vendee
already has possession of the thing
sold by virtue of another title
–traditio constitutum possessorium –
when the vendor continues in
possession of the thing sold not as
owner but in some other capacity
5. Quasi-tradition – exercise of the right of the
grantee with the consent of the grantor
6. Tradicion por ministerio de la ley – delivery
by operation of law
7. Tradition by public instrument
 DONATION
• - an act of liberality whereby a
person disposes gratuitously of a
thing or right in favor of another who
accepts it
 Donation of immovable property:

• must be in a public instrument specifying the

property donated and the burdens assumed
by donee, regardless of value
• acceptance must be either:
– in the same instrument; or
– in another public instrument, notified to the
donor in authentic form, and noted in both deeds
 PRESCIRPTION
• -Adverse possession – actual possession of
land in opposition to all other claimants.
• -Prescription – possession of land for required
number of years and assertion of ownership
through an interrupted actual possession of
property within the period of time prescribed
by law
 KINDS
1. Acquisitive prescription - one acquires ownership
and other real rights through the lapse of time in the
manner and under the conditions laid down by law.

2. Extinctive Prescription – rights and actions are lost

through the lapse of time in the manner and under
the conditions laid down by law.
 ACQUISITIVE PRESCRIPTION
• Ordinary acquisitive prescription: requires
possession of things in good faith and with
just title for the time fixed by law (10 YEARS)
• Extraordinary acquisitive prescription:
acquisition of ownership and other real rights
without need of title or of good faith or any
other condition (30 YEARS)
LAND REGISTRATION
 Purposes:

• To quiet title to land and to

stop forever any question as to
the legality of said title.
• To provide a means of
publication
 Lands are registered through the
provisions of the following laws:
•
• Under the Public land Act:
–Homestead Patent
–Free Patent
–Sales Patent
• The Property Registration Decree
• Cadastral Registration
• Condominium Act
• Indigenous People’s Rights Act
• Republic Act No. 10023 (Residential Free Patent)
 PHILARIS
• With the advent of technology, it has now
been made possible to register lands
electronically through the Philippine Land
Registration and Information System
(PHILARIS).
 TORRENS SYSTEM
• - a system for registration of land under
which, upon the landowner’s application,
the court may, after appropriate
proceedings, direct the issuance of a
certificate of title.
• Sir Robert Torrens
 TORRENS TITLE
• - Certificate of ownership issued by the Register
of Deeds, naming and declaring the owner of the
real property described therein, free from all
liens and encumbrances except such as may be
expressly noted thereon or otherwise reserved by
law. Conclusive against the whole world,
including the government and to a holder thereof
in good faith, it is guaranteed to be indefeasible,
unassailable, and imprescriptible. Title once
registered cannot be impugned, altered, changed,
modified, enlarged, or diminished except in some
direct proceeding permitted by law.
 MIRROR DOCTRINE

• A person or buyer is not obligated

go beyond what appears on the
face of the certificate of title
1. Public grant
• - based on the Public Land Acts
• - an early example is those obtained through
issuance of Spanish Gov’t. of Royal Grants and
concessions to discoverers and settlers.
2. Reclamation (Broker Exam)
• - filling up of parts of the sea for conversion to
land.
• - The SC has ruled that only the National
Government may engage in reclamation
projects. (Republic vs. CA, 299 SCRA 199; P.D.
3-A.)
3. Emancipation patent or grant
• - based on P.D. No. 27 (CARP of 1972) as an
early example and the recent Agrarian Reform
laws
• - for the purpose of ameliorating the sad
plight of farmers and of releasing them from
the bondage of the soil.

4. Private grant or voluntary transfer

5. Adverse possession or prescription
• -Adverse possession – actual possession of
land in opposition to all other claimants.
(Broker Exam)
• -Prescription – possession of land for required
number of years and assertion of ownership
through an interrupted actual possession of
property within the period of time prescribed
by law.
6. Accretion

7. Involuntary alienation (Broker Exam)

• E.g. expropriation
•
8. Descent or devise
• - By descent, title is acquired when an heir succeeds
the deceased owner in testate or intestate.
• - By devise, person acquires land from one who may
not be a relative, if he is named in the deceased’s will.
 Administration of the Torrens System

• 1. Land Registration Authority (LRA)

• - Agency of the government charged with the
execution of laws relative to the registration of
lands and under executive supervision of DOJ.
(Sec. 4 P.D. 1529)
• 2. Register of Deeds (RD)
• - The public repository of records of instruments
affecting registered or unregistered lands and
chattel mortgages in the province or city wherein
such office is located. (Sec. 10, P.D. 1529)
 Ways of Registering Title

Judicial
• - filing of petition with the regular courts
• - issuance of a decree by LRA
• - issuance of Original Certificate of Title (OCT) by
Register of Deeds

Administrative
• - filing of application at CENRO/ PENRO
• - forwarded to the Reg. Director and/or DENR for the
issuance of patent and Register of Deeds for issuance
of OCT
 Registrable Lands

• Alienable public agricultural

lands
• Private lands
 Non-registrable lands:

• Those found in Civil Code provisions dealing with non-

registrable properties (e.g. property of public
dominion)

• Specific kinds of non-registrable properties or lands:

a. Forest or timberland, public forest, & forest reserve
b. Mangrove swamps
c. Mineral lands
d. Foreshore land & seashore
• NOTE: Foreshore land is the strip of land that lies between the high
and low water marks and is alternatively wet and dry according to
the flow of the tide. It is part of the public domain and not
susceptible of disposition except by lease (Roble vs. Arbase)
e. Navigable rivers, streams & creeks
f. Lakes
g. Military Reservations
h. Watershed
i. Grazing lands
j. Previously titled land
k. Alluvial deposit along river when man-made
 SYSTEMS OF REGISTRATION
• 1. ORIGINAL REGISTRATION UNDER PD NO.
1529
• NATURE: proceeding brought before the
Regional Trial Court ( as a land registration
court) to determine title or ownership of land
on the basis of an application for registration
or answer by a claimant in a cadastral
registration.
• 2. SUBSEQUENT REGISTRATION

• Where incidental matters after original

registration may be brought before the land
registration court by way of motion or petition
filed by the registered owner or a party in
interest.
 Kinds of Original Registration

1. Voluntary – by filing with the proper court

a. Under P.D. No. 1529 (Property Registration
Decree)
b. Under Sec. 48 of CA No. 141,Public Land Act
2. Involuntary – cadastral proceedings
- compulsory registration initiated by the
government, to adjudicate ownership of land
- involuntary on the part of the claimants but they
are compelled to substantiate their claim or
interest through an answer
 CERTIFICATE OF TITLE
• This is the true copy of the decree of registration or the
transcription thereof and like the decree shall also be
signed by LRA Administrator (Sec. 39, PD No. 1529)

• It takes effect upon the date of entry thereof, and the

land covered thereby becomes registered land on that
date

• Registration does not vest title. It is merely evidence of

such title over a particular property (Broker Exam).
And a Torrens certificate is the best evidence of
ownership over registered land. Attributes and
Limitations on certificates of title and registered lands:
 RECONSTITUTION OF
CERTIFICATE OF TITLE

• Meaning: The restoration of the instrument

which is supposed to have been lost or destroyed
in its original form and condition, under the
custody of Register of Deeds.
•
• Purpose: to have the same reproduced, after
proper proceedings, in the same form they were
when the loss or destruction occurred. (Heirs of
Pedro Pinote vs. Dulay, 187 SCRA 12)
 LAWS
• REPUBLIC ACT NO. 26 of 1946 AN ACT PROVIDING A
SPECIAL PROCEDURE FOR THE RECONSTITUTION OF
TORRENS CERTIFICATES OF TITLE LOST OR DESTROYED
• REPUBLIC ACT 1529 as amended by RA 6732
-AN ACT ALLOWING ADMINISTRATIVE RECONSTITUTION
OF ORIGINAL COPIES OF CERTIFICATES OF TITLES LOST OR
DESTROYED DUE TO FIRE, FLOOD AND OTHER FORCE
MAJEURE, AMENDING FOR THE PURPOSE SECTION ONE
HUNDRED TEN OR PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NUMBERED
FIFTEEN TWENTY-NINE AND SECTION FIVE OF REPUBLIC
ACT NUMBERED TWENTY-SIX
 Kinds:

• Judicial - partakes the nature of a land

registration proceeding in rem.
• Administrative - may be availed of only in case
of:
• Substantial loss or destruction of the original
land titles due to fire, flood, or other force
majeure as determined by the Administrator
of the Land Registration Authority;
• The number of certificates of title lost or
damaged should be at least 10% of the total
number in the possession of the Office of the
Register of Deeds; (Broker Exam)
• in no case shall the number of certificates of
title lost or damaged be less than 500 (Broker
Exam); and
• Petitioner must have the duplicate copy of the
certificate of title. (RA 6732)
• NOTE: The law provides for retroactive
application thereof to cases 15 years
immediately preceding 1989.

• NOTE: When the duplicate title of the

landowner is lost, the proper petition is not
reconstitution of title, but one filed with the
court for issuance of new title in lieu of the
lost copy.