Under Philippine law, the remedies for the recovery of property depend on whether the property is real (immovable) or personal (movable), and the nature of the right being asserted.
Recovery of Real Property
Here are the specific legal actions and principles for the recovery of real property (land and buildings):
Accion Reivindicatoria (Reivindicatory Action)
If the issue is land ownership rather than mere possession, the remedy is to file an Acción Reivindicatoria. This is a plenary action that primarily settles the issue of ownership but at the same time includes the recovery of possession.
To succeed, the plaintiff must rely on the strength of their own title (not the weakness of the defendant’s claim) and prove two things: (1) the identity of the land claimed, and (2) their title to it.
The property owner extinguishes his right over the property (extinctive prescription) after 10 years (if ordinary prescription) or 30 years ( if extraordinary prescription).
Accion Publiciana
This is an ordinary civil proceeding to determine the better right of possession (possession de jure) of realty independently of title. It is the proper remedy when the dispossession has lasted for more than one year, meaning the summary action for ejectment is no longer available. It prescribes in 10 years.
Accion Interdictal (Ejectment)
This is a summary action exclusively filed in inferior courts (MTC) to recover physical or material possession (possession de facto). It must be brought within one year from the cause of action. It comprises two distinct causes of action:
- Forcible Entry: When a person is deprived of physical possession by force, intimidation, strategy, threat, or stealth. The 1-year period is counted from the date of actual entry, or from discovery if entry was through stealth.
- Unlawful Detainer: When possession is originally lawful but becomes illegal because the right to possess has expired or terminated (e.g., expiration of a lease), and the occupant unlawfully withholds the property. The 1-year period is counted from the date of last demand to vacate.
Action for Reconveyance
This is a legal and equitable remedy granted to the rightful owner of land that was wrongfully or erroneously registered in another person’s name, compelling the latter to transfer the land back. It generally prescribes in 10 years if based on an implied trust. However, the action is imprescriptible if the plaintiff remains in actual possession of the property.
Recovery of Personal Property
Here are the remedies and principles for the recovery of personal property (movables):
- Replevin: This is the primary provisional remedy and action used for the recovery of personal property.
- Doctrine of Irrevindicability: As a general rule, the possession of a movable property acquired in good faith is equivalent to a title. However, the true owner may recover it from the possessor without reimbursement if the owner either (a) lost the thing, or (b) was unlawfully deprived of it.
- Public Sale Exception: If the good-faith possessor acquired the lost or unlawfully deprived movable at a public sale, the true owner can only obtain its return by reimbursing the price paid by the possessor.
Important Restrictions on the Recovery of Property:
- No Dispossession by Force (Limits of Self-Help): The law allows an owner to use reasonable force to repel or prevent an actual or threatened unlawful physical invasion of property (Doctrine of Self-Help). However, this doctrine cannot be invoked to recover property after possession has already been lost; the true owner must resort to the judicial processes mentioned above rather than taking the law into their own hands.
- Protection of Innocent Purchasers for Value: If registered real property has already passed to an innocent purchaser for value in good faith, the original owner can no longer recover the property itself. Instead, their remedy is an action for damages against the person who committed the fraud, or a claim against the State’s Assurance Fund.
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