Intertwined issues

This is an ejectment case where the issue is the prior physical possession of the property or possession de facto, and not the ownership thereof. The question that arose in this case is whether the court can still pass upon the issue of ownership in an ejectment suit. This is answered and explained in our case for today.

The property involved here is a 109-square meter parcel of land covered by a Transfer Certificate of Title (TCT) located at a first-class subdivision in a suburban town along the seacoast. It is registered in the name Ramon and Betty, whose marriage was already declared void because of Ramon’s previous marriage to another woman.

Betty was then working in the USA, and just came home to the Philippines. She was surprised to find out that said property was occupied by persons unknown to her. Upon inquiry, the occupants informed her that they were lessees paying rentals to Carding, her nephew. She then told the occupants that she is the owner of the property and that she did not authorize Carding to lease the property.

Betty confronted Carding, who confirmed that he is managing the property and collecting rentals for his aunt Tina, the sister of Betty. After informing Carding that she is the owner of the property, Carding and Tina voluntarily left the premises and turned it over to Betty. So, Betty took possession of the land and designated her other sister Nita to administer it. She also made arrangements with the lessees to pay the rentals to Nita. Then, she changed the locks of the gate of the property.

Three weeks later when Betty was back in the US, Nita informed her that Carding and Tina re-entered the premises by destroying the locks using a bolt cutter and prohibited the tenants from entering the premises. Thus, Nita reported the matter to the barangay and hired a lawyer to demand that Carding, Tina and their tenants turn over possession of the property to her sister Betty. But despite demands, Carding and Tina refused, thereby forcing Betty to file a forcible entry complaint against them.

In answer to the complaint, Tina and Carding averred that the complaint is without legal basis because Betty was not the owner of the property. They insisted that although Betty was described in the property’s title as the wife of Ramon, their marriage was already nullified for being bigamous. Moreover, Ramon already declared that Tina is the new owner of the property.

After trial, the Metropolitan Court (MeTC) rendered a decision in favor of Betty, ordering Tina and Carding to vacate the premises and to pay the reasonable amount of P5,000 as actual damages until they vacate the premises, plus attorney’s fees. This was affirmed by the Regional Trial Court (RTC). The RTC ruled on the issue of ownership and found that Betty is a co-owner of the property as it was acquired during the subsistence of her marriage to Ramon and that Ramon can only sell his share of the property, but the document he executed in favor of Tina regarding his share in the property is not proof that he transferred ownership thereof to Tina.

The Court of Appeals (CA), however, declared that the forcible entry case is not proper due to the contrasting claim of ownership. So, it reversed and set aside the RTC decision without prejudice to the institution of the proper action before a court of competent jurisdiction to ventilate and resolve with conclusiveness the contrasting claims of ownership over the subject property. Was the CA correct?

The Supreme Court ruled that the CA is not correct. Even if the issue of ownership is raised in the pleadings, like in this case, the courts may pass upon such issue in an ejectment case which relates only to physical or material possessions so as to determine the issue of possession, especially because these two issues are inseparably linked. The Rules of Court in fact expressly allow in Section 16, Rule 70 that the issue of ownership shall be resolved in deciding the issue of possession if the question of possession is intertwined with the issue of ownership. This provision is only an exception and allowed if the question of possession cannot be resolved without deciding the issue of ownership.

For forcible entry suit to prosper, the plaintiff must allege and prove: (a) that they have prior physical possession of the property; (b) that they were deprived of the possession either by force, intimidation, threat, strategy or stealth and (c) that the action was filed within one year from the time the owners or legal possessors learned of their deprivation of the physical possession of the property.

In this case Betty was already in possession of the property when Carding and Tina forcibly entered it again, and evicted the tenants therein, and placed a rent signage in front of the property, thus prompting Betty to file a forcible entry case (Esperral vs Esperal and Biaoco, G.R 229076).