NOTES ON PROPERTY
The
Prince Jan Ronald D. Wacnang
Saint Louis University School of Law
13 June 2017
PROPERTY
Property is anything that can come under the right
of ownership and be the subject of contract. This will
include all things real, personal, tangible, and
intangible that are within the commerce of man.
(Cruz & Cruz, Constitutional Law [2015], pp. 211-
212; also see Art. 414, Civil Code)
THE GENERAL LAW ON PROPERTY RIGHTS
A. Constitutional Framework
Art. II, Sec. 5. The maintenance of peace and order,
the protection of life, liberty, and property, and the
promotion of the general welfare are essential for the
enjoyment by all the people of the blessings of
democracy.
Art. II, Sec. 10. The State shall promote social justice
in all phases of national development.
Art. III, Sec. 1. No person shall be deprived of life,
liberty, or property without due process of law, nor
shall any person be denied the equal protection of the
laws.
Art. III, Sec. 9. Private property shall not be taken for
public use without just compensation.
Art. III, Sec. 10. No law impairing the obligation of
contracts shall be passed.
Art. V, Sec. 1 (last sentence). No literacy, property, or
other substantive requirement shall be imposed on
the exercise of suffrage.
Art. XII, Sec. 2 (Regalian Doctrine). All lands of the
public domain, waters, minerals, coal, petroleum, and
other mineral oils, all forces of potential energy,
fisheries, forests or timber, wildlife, flora and fauna,
and other natural resources are owned by the State.
With the exception of agricultural lands, all other
natural resources shall not be alienated.
exploration, development, and utilization of natural
resources shall be under the full control and
supervision of the State. The State may directly
undertake such activities, or it may enter into
coproduction, joint venture, or production-sharing
agreements with Filipino citizens, or corporations or
associations at least sixty per centum of whose
capital is owned by such citizens. Such agreements
may be for a period not exceeding twenty-five years,
renewable for not more than twenty-five years, and
under such terms and conditions as may be provided
by law. In cases of water rights for irrigation, water
supply, fisheries, or industrial uses other than the
development of water power, beneficial use may be
the measure and limit of the grant.
The State shall protect the nations marine wealth in
its archipelagic waters, territorial sea, and exclusive
economic zone, and reserve its use and enjoyment
exclusively to Filipino citizens.
The Congress may, by law, allow small-scale
utilization of natural resources by Filipino citizens, as
well as cooperative fish farming, with priority to
subsistence fishermen and fishworkers in rivers,
lakes, bays, and lagoons.
The President may enter into agreements with
foreign-owned corporations involving either
technical or technical assistance for large-scale
exploration, development, and utilization of minerals,
petroleum, and other mineral oils according to the
general terms and conditions provided by law, based
on real contributions to the economic growth and
general welfare of the country. In such agreements,
the State shall promote the development and use of
local scientific and technical resources.
The President shall notify the Congress of every
contract entered into in accordance with this
provision, within thirty days from its execution.
Art. XII, Sec. 3. Lands of the public domain are
classified into agricultural, forest or timber, mineral
lands, and national parks. Agricultural lands of the
public domain may be further classified by law
according to the uses which they may be devoted.
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2
Alienable lands of the public domain shall be
limited to agricultural lands. Private corporations
or associations may not hold such alienable lands
of the public domain except by lease, for a period
not exceeding twenty-five years, renewable for
not more than twenty-five years, and not to
exceed one thousand hectares in area. Citizens of
the Philippines may lease not more than five
hundred hectares, or acquire not more than
twelve hectares thereof by purchase, homestead,
or grant.
Taking into account the requirements of
conservation, ecology, and development, and
subject to the requirements of agrarian reform,
the Congress shall determine, by law, the size of
lands of the public domain which may be
acquired, developed, held, or leased and the
conditions therefor.
Art. XII, Sec. 4. The Congress shall, as soon as
possible, determine by law the specific limits of
forest lands and national parks, marking clearly
their boundaries on the ground. Thereafter, such
forest lands and national parks shall be
conserved and may not be increased nor
diminished, except by law. The Congress shall
provide, for such period as it may determine,
measures to prohibit logging in endangered
forests and watershed areas.
Art. XII, Sec. 5. The State, subject to the
provisions of this Constitution and national
development policies and programs, shall protect
the rights of indigenous cultural communities to
their ancestral lands to ensure their economic,
social, and cultural well-being.
The Congress may provide for the applicability of
customary laws governing property rights or
relations in determining the ownership and
extent of ancestral domain.
Art. XII, Sec. 6. The use of property bears a
social function, and all economic agents shall
contribute to the common good. Individuals and
private groups, including corporations,
cooperatives, and similar collective
organizations, shall have the right to own,
establish, and operate economic enterprises,
subject to the duty of the State to promote
distributive justice and to intervene when the
common good so demands.
Art. XII, Sec. 7. Save in cases of hereditary
succession, no private lands shall be transferred
or conveyed except to individuals, corporations,
or associations qualified to acquire or hold lands
of the public domain.
Art. XII, Sec. 8. Notwithstanding the provisions
of Section 7 of this Article, a natural-born citizen
of the Philippines who has lost his Philippine
citizenship may be a transferee of private lands,
subject to limitations provided by law.
Art. XIII, Sec. 1. The Congress shall give highest
priority to the enactment of measures that
protect and enhance the right of all the people to
human dignity, reduce social, economic, and
political inequalities, and remove cultural
inequities by equitably diffusing wealth and
political power for the common good.
To this end, the State shall regulate the
acquisition, ownership, use, and disposition of
property and its increments.
Art. XIII, Sec. 2. The promotion of social justice
shall include the commitment to create economic
opportunities based on freedom of initiative and
self-reliance.
Art. XIII, Sec. 3, par. 4. The State shall regulate
the relations between workers and employers,
recognizing the right of labor to its just share in
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3
the fruits of production and the right of
enterprises to reasonable returns on
investments, and to expansion and growth.
Art. XIII, Sec. 4. The State shall, by law,
undertake an agrarian reform program founded
on the right of farmers and regular farmworkers,
who are landless, to own directly or collectively
the lands they till or, in the case of other
farmworkers, to receive a just share of the fruits
thereof. To this end, the State shall encourage
and undertake the just distribution of all
agricultural lands, subject to such priorities and
reasonable retention limits as the Congress may
prescribe, taking into account ecological,
developmental, or equity considerations, and
subject to the payment of just compensation. In
determining retention limits, the State shall
respect the right of small landowners. The State
shall further provide incentives for voluntary
land-sharing.
Art. XIII, Sec. 7 (last sentence). Fishworkers
shall receive a just share from their labor in the
utilization of marine and fishing resources.
Art. XIII, Sec. 8. The State shall provide
incentives to landowners to invest the proceeds
of the agrarian reform program to promote
industrialization, employment creation, and
privatization of public sector enterprises.
Financial instruments used as payment for their
lands shall be honored as equity in enterprises of
their choice.
Art. XIII, Sec. 9. The State shall, by law, and for
the common good, undertake, in cooperation
with the public sector, a continuing program of
urban land reform and housing which will make
available at affordable cost decent housing and
basic services to underprivileged and homeless
citizens in urban centers and resettlements
areas. It shall also promote adequate
employment opportunities to such citizens. In
the implementation of such program the State
shall respect the rights of small property owners.
Art. XIII, Sec. 10. Urban or rural poor dwellers
shall not be evicted nor their dwellings
demolished, except in accordance with law and
in a just and humane manner.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
(UHDR):
Art. 2. Everyone is entitled to all the rights and
freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without
distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex,
language, religion, political or other opinion,
national or social origin, property, birth or other
status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made
on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or
international status of the country or territory to
which a person belongs, whether it be
independent, trust, non-self-governing or under
any other limitation of sovereignty.
Art. 17. (1) Everyone has the right to own
property alone as well as in association with
others.
(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his
property.
Case:
Philippine Blooming Mills Employees
Organization v. Philippine Blooming Mills Co.,
Inc., 90 SCRA 189 (1973).
xxx
B. Property Rights in Philippine Civil Law
Art. 414. All things which are or may be the
object of appropriation are considered either:
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4
(1) Immovable or real property; or
(2) Movable or personal property. (333)
Ownership
Art. 427. Ownership may be exercised over
things or rights. (n)
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)
Possession
Art. 523. Possession is the holding of a thing or
the enjoyment of a right. (430a)
Usufruct
Art. 562. 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. (467)
C. Right-holders: Who may have/exercise
property rights?
1. Natural Persons
Individuals
Art. 37, Civil Code. Juridical capacity, which is
fitness to be the subject of legal relations, is
inherent in every natural person and is lost only
through death. Capacity to act, which is the
power to do acts with legal effect, is acquired and
may be lost. (n)
Art. 38, Civil Code. Minority, insanity or
imbecility, the state of being a deaf-mute,
prodigality and civil interdiction are mere
restrictions on capacity to act, and do not exempt
the incapacitated person from certain
obligations, as when the latter arise from his acts
or from property relations, such as easements.
(32a)
Art. II, Sec. 5, Constitution.
Art. 2, UHDR.
Art. 17, UHDR.
xxx
Marital Partners
Family Code:
Chapter 3. System of Absolute Community
Section 1. General Provisions
Art. 88. The absolute community of property
between spouses shall commence at the precise
moment that the marriage is celebrated. Any
stipulation, express or implied, for the
commencement of the community regime at any
other time shall be void. (145a)
Art. 90. The provisions on co-ownership shall
apply to the absolute community of property
between the spouses in all matters not provided
for in this Chapter. (n)
Section 2. What Constitutes Community
Property
Art. 91. Unless otherwise provided in this
Chapter or in the marriage settlements, the
community property shall consist of all the
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5
property owned by the spouses at the time of the
celebration of marriage or acquired thereafter.
(197a)
Art. 92. The following shall be excluded from the
community property:
(1) Property acquired during the marriage by
gratuitous title by either spouse, and the fruits as
well as the income thereof, if any, unless it is
expressly provided by the donor, testator or
grantor that they shall form part of the
community property;
(2) Property for personal and exclusive use of
either spouse. However, jewelry shall form part
of the community property;
(3) Property acquired before the marriage by
either spouse who has legitimate descendants by
a former marriage, and the fruits as well as the
income, if any, of such property. (201a)
Art. 93. Property acquired during the marriage
is presumed to belong to the community, unless
it is proved that it is one of those excluded
therefrom. (160)
Chapter 4. Conjugal Partnership of Gains
Section 1. General Provisions
Art. 105. In case the future spouses agree in the
marriage settlements that the regime of conjugal
partnership gains shall govern their property
relations during marriage, the provisions in this
Chapter shall be of supplementary application.
The provisions of this Chapter shall also apply to
conjugal partnerships of gains already
established between spouses before the
effectivity of this Code, without prejudice to
vested rights already acquired in accordance
with the Civil Code or other laws, as provided in
Article 256. (n)
Art. 106. Under the regime of conjugal
partnership of gains, the husband and wife place
in a common fund the proceeds, products, fruits
and income from their separate properties and
those acquired by either or both spouses through
their efforts or by chance, and, upon dissolution
of the marriage or of the partnership, the net
gains or benefits obtained by either or both
spouses shall be divided equally between them,
unless otherwise agreed in the marriage
settlements. (142a)
Art. 108. The conjugal partnership shall be
governed by the rules on the contract of
partnership in all that is not in conflict with what
is expressly determined in this Chapter or by the
spouses in their marriage settlements. (147a)
Section 3. Conjugal Partnership Property
Art. 116. All property acquired during the
marriage, whether the acquisition appears to
have been made, contracted or registered in the
name of one or both spouses, is presumed to be
conjugal unless the contrary is proved. (160a)
xxx
Indigenous peoples communities
Republic Act No. 8371
The Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997
29 October 1997
Chapter II
Definition of Terms
Section 3. Definition of Terms. - For purposes
of this Act, the following terms shall mean:
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6
a) Ancestral Domains - Subject to Section 56
hereof, refer to all areas generally belonging to
ICCs/IPs comprising lands, inland waters, coastal
areas, and natural resources therein, held under
a claim of ownership, occupied or possessed by
ICCs/IPs, themselves or through their ancestors,
communally or individually since time
immemorial, continuously to the present except
when interrupted by war, force majeure or
displacement by force, deceit, stealth or as a
consequence of government projects or any
other voluntary dealings entered into by
government and private individuals,
corporations, and which are necessary to ensure
their economic, social and cultural welfare. It
shall include ancestral land, forests, pasture,
residential, agricultural, and other lands
individually owned whether alienable and
disposable or otherwise, hunting grounds, burial
grounds, worship areas, bodies of water, mineral
and other natural resources, and lands which
may no longer be exclusively occupied by
ICCs/IPs but from which their traditionally had
access to for their subsistence and traditional
activities, particularly the home ranges of
ICCs/IPs who are still nomadic and/or shifting
cultivators;
b) Ancestral Lands - Subject to Section 56
hereof, refers to land occupied, possessed and
utilized by individuals, families and clans who
are members of the ICCs/IPs since time
immemorial, by themselves or through their
predecessors-in-interest, under claims of
individual or traditional group ownership,
continuously, to the present except when
interrupted by war, force majeure or
displacement by force, deceit, stealth, or as a
consequence of government projects and other
voluntary dealings entered into by government
and private individuals/corporations, including,
but not limited to, residential lots, rice terraces
or paddies, private forests, swidden farms and
tree lots;
c) Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title -
refers to a title formally recognizing the rights of
possession and ownership of ICCs/IPs over their
ancestral domains identified and delineated in
accordance with this law;
d) Certificate of Ancestral Lands Title - refers
to a title formally recognizing the rights of
ICCs/IPs over their ancestral lands;
e) Communal Claims - refer to claims on land,
resources and rights thereon, belonging to the
whole community within a defined territory
f) Customary Laws - refer to a body of written
and/or unwritten rules, usages, customs and
practices traditionally and continually
recognized, accepted and observed by respective
ICCs/IPs;
g) Free and Prior Informed Consent - as used
in this Act shall mean the consensus of all
members of the ICCs/IPs to; be determined in
accordance with their respective customary laws
and practices, free from any external
manipulation, interference and coercion, and
obtained after fully disclosing the intent and
scope of the activity, in a language an process
understandable to the community;
h) Indigenous Cultural
Communities/Indigenous Peoples - refer to a
group of people or homogenous societies
identified by self-ascription and ascription by
other, who have continuously lived as organized
community on communally bounded and defined
territory, and who have, under claims of
ownership since time immemorial, occupied,
possessed customs, tradition and other
distinctive cultural traits, or who have, through
The General Law on Property Rights
7
resistance to political, social and cultural inroads
of colonization, non-indigenous religions and
culture, became historically differentiated from
the majority of Filipinos. ICCs/IPs shall likewise
include peoples who are regarded as indigenous
on account of their descent from the populations
which inhabited the country, at the time of
conquest or colonization, or at the time of
inroads of non-indigenous religions and cultures,
or the establishment of present state boundaries,
who retain some or all of their own social,
economic, cultural and political institutions, but
who may have been displaced from their
traditional domains or who may have resettled
outside their ancestral domains;
i) Indigenous Political Structure - refer to
organizational and cultural leadership systems,
institutions, relationships, patterns and
processed for decision-making and participation,
identified by ICCs/IPs such as, but not limited to,
Council of Elders, Council of Timuays, Bodong
Holder, or any other tribunal or body of similar
nature;
j) Individual Claims - refer to claims on land
and rights thereon which have been devolved to
individuals, families and clans including, but not
limited to, residential lots, rice terraces or
paddies and tree lots;
k) National Commission on Indigenous
Peoples (NCIP) - refers to the office created
under this Act, which shall be under the Office of
the President, and which shall be the primary
government agency responsible for the
formulation and implementation of policies,
plans and programs to recognize, protect and
promote the rights of ICCs/IPs;
l) Native Title - refers to pre-conquest rights to
lands and domains which, as far back as memory
reaches, have been held under a claim of private
ownership by ICCs/IPs, have never been public
lands and are thus indisputably presumed to
have been held that way since before the Spanish
Conquest;
m) Nongovernment Organization - refers to a
private, nonprofit voluntary organization that
has been organized primarily for the delivery of
various services to the ICCs/IPs and has an
established track record for effectiveness and
acceptability in the community where it serves;
n) People's Organization - refers to a private,
nonprofit voluntary organization of members of
an ICC/IP which is accepted as representative of
such ICCs/IPs;
o) Sustainable Traditional Resource Rights -
refer to the rights of ICCs/IPs to sustainably use,
manage, protect and conserve a) land, air, water,
and minerals; b) plants, animals and other
organisms; c) collecting, fishing and hunting
grounds; d) sacred sites; and e) other areas of
economic, ceremonial and aesthetic value in
accordance with their indigenous knowledge,
beliefs, systems and practices; and
p) Time Immemorial - refers to a period of time
when as far back as memory can go, certain
ICCs/IPs are known to have occupied, possessed
in the concept of owner, and utilized a defined
territory devolved to them, by operation of
customary law or inherited from their ancestors,
in accordance with their customs and traditions.
Chapter III
Rights to Ancestral Domains
Section 5. Indigenous Concept of Ownership. -
Indigenous concept of ownership sustains the
view that ancestral domains and all resources
found therein shall serve as the material bases of
their cultural integrity. The indigenous concept
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8
of ownership generally holds that ancestral
domains are the ICC's/IP's private but
community property which belongs to all
generations and therefore cannot be sold,
disposed or destroyed. It likewise covers
sustainable traditional resource rights.
Section 7. Rights to Ancestral Domains. - The
rights of ownership and possession of ICCs/IPs t
their ancestral domains shall be recognized and
protected. Such rights shall include:
a. Rights of Ownership. - The right to claim
ownership over lands, bodies of water
traditionally and actually occupied by ICCs/IPs,
sacred places, traditional hunting and fishing
grounds, and all improvements made by them at
any time within the domains;
b. Right to Develop Lands and Natural
Resources. - Subject to Section 56 hereof, right
to develop, control and use lands and territories
traditionally occupied, owned, or used; to
manage and conserve natural resources within
the territories and uphold the responsibilities for
future generations; to benefit and share the
profits from allocation and utilization of the
natural resources found therein; the right to
negotiate the terms and conditions for the
exploration of natural resources in the areas for
the purpose of ensuring ecological,
environmental protection and the conservation
measures, pursuant to national and customary
laws; the right to an informed and intelligent
participation in the formulation and
implementation of any project, government or
private, that will affect or impact upon the
ancestral domains and to receive just and fair
compensation for any damages which they
sustain as a result of the project; and the right to
effective measures by the government to prevent
any interfere with, alienation and encroachment
upon these rights;
c. Right to Stay in the Territories. - The right to
stay in the territory and not be removed
therefrom. No ICCs/IPs will be relocated without
their free and prior informed consent, nor
through any means other than eminent domain.
Where relocation is considered necessary as an
exceptional measure, such relocation shall take
place only with the free and prior informed
consent of the ICCs/IPs concerned and whenever
possible, they shall be guaranteed the right to
return to their ancestral domains, as soon as the
grounds for relocation cease to exist. When such
return is not possible, as determined by
agreement or through appropriate procedures,
ICCs/IPs shall be provided in all possible cases
with lands of quality and legal status at least
equal to that of the land previously occupied by
them, suitable to provide for their present needs
and future development. Persons thus relocated
shall likewise be fully compensated for any
resulting loss or injury;
d. Right in Case of Displacement. - In case
displacement occurs as a result of natural
catastrophes, the State shall endeavor to resettle
the displaced ICCs/IPs in suitable areas where
they can have temporary life support system:
Provided, That the displaced ICCs/IPs shall have
the right to return to their abandoned lands until
such time that the normalcy and safety of such
lands shall be determined: Provided, further,
That should their ancestral domain cease to exist
and normalcy and safety of the previous
settlements are not possible, displaced ICCs/IPs
shall enjoy security of tenure over lands to which
they have been resettled: Provided, furthermore,
That basic services and livelihood shall be
provided to them to ensure that their needs are
adequately addressed:
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9

e. Right to Regulate Entry of Migrants. - Right

to regulate the entry of migrant settlers and Case:
organizations into the domains;
Cruz v. Secretary of Environment and Natural
f. Right to Safe and Clean Air and Water. - For Resources, 347 SCRA 128 (2000).
this purpose, the ICCs/IPs shall have access to
integrated systems for the management of their Re: Constitutionality of provisions of R.A. 8371
inland waters and air space;
--- end of notes for 13 June 2017 ---
g. Right to Claim Parts of Reservations. - The
right to claim parts of the ancestral domains
which have been reserved for various purposes,
except those reserved and intended for common
and public welfare and service; and

h. Right to Resolve Conflict. - Right to resolve

land conflicts in accordance with customary laws
of the area where the land is located, and only in
default thereof shall the complaints be submitted
to amicable settlement and to the Courts of
Justice whenever necessary.

Section 8. Rights to Ancestral Lands. - The

right of ownership and possession of the
ICCs/IPs, to their ancestral lands shall be
recognized and protected.

a. Right to transfer land/property. - Such right

shall include the right to transfer land or
property rights to/among members of the same
ICCs/IPs, subject to customary laws and
traditions of the community concerned.

b. Right to Redemption. - In cases where it is

shown that the transfer of land/property rights
by virtue of any agreement or devise, to a non-
member of the concerned ICCs/IPs is tainted by
the vitiated consent of the ICCs/IPs, or is
transferred for an unconscionable consideration
or price, the transferor ICC/IP shall have the
right to redeem the same within a period not
exceeding fifteen (15) years from the date of
transfer.