Tuazon v.

Tuazon
G.R. No. 200115
August 1, 2018

FACTS:

The petitioners alleged in the complaint that they were the prior and
actual lawful possessors and bonafide claimants of a parcel of land.
The RTC, in its two-paged Decision, granted the complaint. It ruled that
petitioners have established their possessory rights over the property.

The CA, however, granted respondents' appeal and dismissed the complaint.
It observed that while the complaint was captioned as an accion
reivindicatoria, the cause of action, based on the facts alleged in the
complaint and the evidence introduced, is actually one for accion publiciana
or for recovery of possession.

The petitioners argue that their cause of action is one for accion
reivindicatoria grounded on a bonafide claim of ownership based on just title
and vested interest acquired over time. They claim, renders the application
of the 10-year prescriptive period under Article 555 of the Civil Code
inapplicable as recovery of ownership of real property, being a real action,
prescribes in 30 years under Article 1141 of the Civil Code. In any case,
petitioners maintain that the period for extinctive prescription was
interrupted by the series of litigations between the parties.

ISSUE:
Whether petitioners' cause of action has prescribed.

RULING:
The Court find that the CA correctly considered the action as one
for accion publiciana, a plenary action to determine and recover, the
better right of possession of realty independently of title. An accion
reivindicatoria on the other hand, is a suit which has for its object the
recovery of possession over the real property as owner. It involves
recovery of ownership and possession based on the said ownership. The
property appears to be disposable land of the public domain whose
ownership belongs to the State.

The petitioners claim that the prescriptive period for the action
should be 30 years is misplaced. Article 1141 of the Civil Code explicitly
states that real actions over immovables prescribe after 30 years, without
prejudice to what is established for the acquisition of ownership and other
real rights by prescription. Since the action before us is one of accion
publiciana, which seeks recovery of the real right of possession, Article
1141 must be read in relation to established rules on prescription
governing the real right of possession. Article 555 (4) of the Civil Code
provides that, "the real right of possession is not lost till after the lapse of
ten years." It is for this reason that we have time and again ruled that
the remedy of accion publiciana is no longer available after the lapse of
10 years from dispossession.