July 21, 2019

MR. JOHN DINOPOL

General Santos City

Mr. Dinopol,

Good day! This legal opinion is written as response to your query dated July 8, 2019
concerning your house and lot situated in Ma-a, Davao City.

From the letter you have given, noteworthy is the fact that you have only permitted your
friend to stay in your property out of compassion and mere tolerance since his house was
razed by fire. Such circumstance gives him physical occupation of the property but in the
eyes of the law possession remained with you. Your friend, as the occupier, no matter
how long he may remain in your property, can never acquire its ownership, because he
never had its legal possession. Also, his occupation does not start the running of the
period of prescription.

Our law, as expressed in Article 428 of the Civil Code of the Philippines, says that the
owner of things or rights has a right of action against the holder or the possessor of the
thing in order to recover it. Applying the said law in this case, your buyer’s legal standing
to institute an unlawful detainer case against your friend depends on the status of the sale
of your property.

Upon consummation of the sale, your buyer will now be the owner of the property blessed
with the right granted by the law to recover possession of his property. He may only have
the legal standing if he is deemed to be the owner of the property.

In your case, being the owner of your property in Ma-a, you completely have the legal
standing to institute an ejectment case for unlawful detainer against your friend and thus,
what you did by talking to him and informing him about your plan to sell the property is a
very good start which must make your friend must be mindful about the present
circumstances.
The fact that it is you, Mr. Dinopol, who have tolerated the possession of your frined and
not the buyer is immaterial in filing of the action for recovery as an exercise of the right
th=p recover property

Since you have already informed your friend about the sale of the property, that would be
accepted as verbal notice against him. Now, you may serve your friend a formal written
demand letter to vacate your property also informing him that if he refuses to do so, you
may invoke the aid of the proper and competent court by filing an ejectment case against
him. At your option you may make such demand with damages as his stubbornness
creates anguish in the mind of possible buyers making it unusually troublesome as
compared to ordinary way of selling the property.

Since as you have stated in your letter that you are in dire need of funds, I would
recommend for you to secure the consummation of the sale of your property. Thereafter,
advise the new owner to file action for recovery of property.

Thank you very much for the opportunity to help you. In case you have additional query
or matters you may want to clarify, you may simply reply to this email.

Sincerely,

ATTY. JULIE ANN A. SALCEDO

RMC Legal Aid Clinic
Rizal Memorial Colleges