SAMPLE QUESTIONS IN CIVIL LAW

 Is an action for partition prescriptible? Can it be barred by laches? Is there an exception to this?

An action for  partition by its very nature is imprescriptible and cannot be barred by laches x x x.  The only exception to the rule on the imprescriptibility of an action for partition is provided in a case where the co-ownership of the properties sought to be partitioned had been properly repudiated by a co-owner at which instance the remedy available to the aggrieved heirs lies not in action for partition but for reconveyance which is subject to the rules on extinctive prescription

PROBLEM: What is the prescriptive period for reconveyance of registered property based on constructive trust?

ANSWER: Ten years.

 ‘An action for reconveyance based on an implied or constructive trust must perforce prescribe in ten years and not otherwise.  A long line of decisions of this Court, and of very recent vintage at that, illustrates this rule.  Undoubtedly, it is now well-settled that an action for reconveyance based on an implied or constructive trust prescribes in ten years from the issuance of the Torrens title over the property.  The only discordant note, it seems, is Balbin v. Medalla, which states that the prescriptive period for a reconveyance action is four years.  However, this variance can be explained by the erroneous reliance on Gerona v. de Guzman.  But in Gerona, the fraud was discovered on June 25, 1948, hence Section 43(3) of Act No. 190 was applied, the New Civil Code not coming into effect until August 30, 1950 as mentioned earlier.  It must be stressed, at this juncture, that Article 1144 and Article 1456, are new provisions.  They have ‘no counterparts in the old Civil Code or in the old Code of Civil Procedure, the latter being then resorted to as legal basis of the four-year prescriptive period for an action for reconveyance of title of real property acquired under false pretenses.

“An action for reconveyance has its basis in Section 53, paragraph 3 of Presidential Decree No. 1529, which provides:

‘In all cases of registration procured by fraud, the owner may pursue all his legal and equitable remedies against the parties to such fraud without prejudice, however, to the rights of any innocent holder of the decree of registration on the original petition or application, x x x.’

“This provision should be read in conjunction with Article 1456 of the Civil Code, which provides:

‘Article 1456. If property is acquired through mistake or fraud, the person obtaining it is, by force of law, considered a trustee of an implied trust for the benefit of the person from whom the property comes.’

“The law thereby creates the obligation of the trustee to reconvey the property and the title thereto in favor of the true owner.  Correlating Section 53, paragraph 3 of Presidential Decree No. 1529 and Article 1456 of the Civil Code with Article 1144 (2) of the Civil Code, supra, the prescriptive period for the reconveyance of fraudulently registered real property is ten (10) years reckoned from the date of the issuance of the certificate of title.  In the present case, therefore, inasmuch as Civil Case No. 10235 was filed on June 4, 1975, it was well-within the prescriptive period of ten (10) years from the date of the issuance of “Original Certificate of Title No. 0-6836 on September 17, 1970.”

 

 WHAT ACTIONS PRESCRIBE WITHIN TEN YEARS?

 Article 1144.      The following actions must be brought within ten years from the time the right of action accrues:

1) Upon a written contract;

2) Upon an obligation created by law;

3) Upon a judgment;

PURITA SALVATIERRA, ELENITA SALVATIERRA NUNEZ, ANSELMO SALVATIERRA, JR., EMELITA SALVATIERRA, and ROMEL SALVATIERRA, petitioners, vs. THE HONORABLE COURT OF APPEALS and SPS. LINO LONGALONG and PACIENCIA MARIANO, respondents. FIRST DIVISION[G.R. No. 107797.  August 26, 1996]