ACQUISITIVE PRESCRIPTION

Definition:
Art. 1117. Acquisitive prescription of dominion and
other real rights may be ordinary or extraordinary.
Ordinary acquisitive prescription requires possession
of things in good faith and with just title for the time fixed
by law.1
Art. 1134. Ownership and other real rights over
immovable property are acquired by ordinary presciption
through possesion of ten years.2
Ordinary acquisitive prescription of immovables and
other real rights through adverse possession of ten years
requires possession in good faith and with just title for the
time fixed by law.3(Underscored Ours)

Acquisitive prescription is a mode of acquiring ownership by a

possessor through the requisite lapse of time.
In order to ripen into ownership, possession must be in the concept of
an owner, public, peaceful and uninterrupted. Thus, mere possession with a
juridical title, such as by a usufructuary, a trustee, a lessee, an agent or a
pledgee, not being in the concept of an owner, cannot ripen into ownership
by acquisitive prescription, unless the juridical relation is first expressly
repudiated and such repudiation has been communicated to the other party.
(Marcelo vs. Court of Appeals, G.R. No. 131803, April 14, 1999)

Article 1117 of the New Civil Code of the Philippines.

Article 1134 of the New Civil Code of the Philippines.
3
Negrete vs. Court of First Instance of Marindoque, 48 SCRA 71.
1
2

Acquisitive prescription is a mode of acquiring ownership by a possessor

through the requisite lapse of time. In order to ripen into ownership,
possession must be in the concept of an owner, public, peaceful and
uninterrupted. (Marcelo vs. Court of Appeals, 305 SCRA 800)
Acquisitive prescription of dominion and other real rights may be ordinary
or extraordinary. (IBID)
Ordinary acquisitive prescription demands that the possession be in good
faith and with just title. (IBID)
-Ownership of immovable property is acquired by ordinary prescription
through possession for ten years. (Cequena vs. Bolante, 330 SCRA 216)
-Tax receipts and declarations of ownership for taxation, when coupled with
proof of actual possession of the property, can be the basis of a claim for
ownership through prescription. (IBID)
-An uninterrupted adverse possession of the land for more than 30 years
could only ripen into ownership of the land for acquisitive prescription
which is a mode of acquiring ownership and other real rights over
immovable property. (Development Bank of the Philippines vs. Court of
Appeals, 331 SCRA 267)
-The contention of a party of having acquired ownership of a piece of land
by ordinary prescription through adverse possession for 10 years is
untenable where he has neither just title nor good faith. (Heirs of Quirico
Seraspi and Purificacion R. Seraspi vs. Court of Appeals, 331 SCRA
293)
A prescriptive title to real estate is not acquired by mere possession thereof
under claim of ownership for a period of ten years unless such possession
was acquired con justo titulo y buena fe. (Alba vs. Court of Appeals, G.R.
No. 120066, Sept. 9, 1999)