WHAT IS A "RIGHT OF ACCESSION"?

The ownership of property gives the right by accession to everything which is produced thereby, or which is incorporated or attached thereto, either naturally or artificially (Article 440, Civil Code). Accession is the right of an owner of a thing to the products of said thing as well as to whatever is inseparably attached thereto as an accessory (Sanchez Roman, Vol. II, p. 89).

In the case at bar, it is undisputed that the area of 562 square meters is outside the titled property of the respondents and is within the salvage zone adjacent to respondents' property. However, while it is true that the salvage zone cannot be the subject of commerce, the adjoining owner thereof, the respondents in this case, has the priority to use it. Otherwise stated, herein respondents [do] not own the salvage zone but as an adjacent owner, he has the right to use it more than the petitioners applying the basic rule as stated above.

Moreover, the law provides the different modes of acquiring ownership, namely: (a) occupation; (b) intellectual creation; (c) law; (d) donation; (e) succession; (f) tradition, as a consequence of certain contracts; and (g) prescription. It will be noted that accession is not one of those listed therein. It is therefore safe to conclude that accession is not a mode of acquiring ownership. The reason is simple: accession presupposes a previously existing ownership by the owner over the principal. This is not necessarily so in the other modes of acquiring ownership. Therefore, fundamentally and in the last analysis, accession is a right implicitly included in ownership, without which it will have no basis or existence. (p. 179, Paras, Vol. II, Thirteenth Edition (1994), Civil Code). In general, the right to accession is automatic (ipso jure), requiring no prior act on the part of the owner of the principal (Villanueva v. Claustro, 23 Phil. 54).

In the light of the foregoing, the lower court therefore is correct in ejecting the petitioners even if the portion occupied by them is in the salvage zone.¹³

G.R. No. 149418^* July 27, 2006

SPOUSES PELAGIO GULLA and PERLITA GULLA, petitioners,
vs.
HEIRS OF ALEJANDRO LABRADOR, represented by ALEX LABRADOR, respondents.