PRESCRIPTION Essentially, prescription, whether acquisitive or
prescriptive is based on negligence or
Definition: used with reference to the acquisition of
a right by the lapse of time.
Covers:
1. Acquisitive prescription and usucapcion:
acquisition of a right by the lapse of time
2. Extinctive prescription or limitation of
actions: time within which an action must be
brought after the right of action has accrued
All things which are within the commerce of man
are susceptible of prescription, unless otherwise
provided. Property of state not patrimonial in
character shall not be the object of prescription.
Cannot be acquired by prescription:
1. Movables possessed through a crime
2. Lands registered under the Torrens system
Acquisitive Prescription
Based on the assertion by a usurper of an adverse
right for such a long time, uncontested by the true
owner of the right, as to give rise to the
presumption that the latter has give up such right in
favor of the former.
The acquisition is retroactive; once the period is
completed, the new owner is considered as having
acquired the thing or right from the moment the
period began to run.
Requisites:
1. Capacity to acquire by prescription
2. A thing capable of acquisition by
prescription
3. Possession of the thing under certain
conditions
4. Lapse of time provided by law.
Ordinary acquisitive prescription: requires
possession of things in good faith and with just title
for the time fixed by law.
Extinctive Prescription
Based on the probability, born of experience, that
the alleged right which accrued in the distant past
never existed or has already been extinguished.
Purpose of extinctive prescription is to protect the
diligent and vigilant, not the person who sleeps on
his rights.
presumed abandonment by the owner of a right,
whether patrimonial or remedial.
Art. 1108: Prescription, both acquisitive and
inquisitive, runs against:
1) Minors and other incapacitated persons
who have parents, guardians or other
legal representatives;
2) Absentees who have administrators,
either appointed by them before their
disappearance, or appointed by the
courts;
3) Persons living abroad, who have
managers or administrators;
4) Juridical persons, except the State and
its subdivisions.
1109: Prescription doesn’t run between
husband and wife, parents and minor children,
guardian and ward.
1110: Prescription runs in favor of or against a
married woman.
Renunciation of Prescription (1112)
Renunciation of prescription already acquired is a
unilateral act, and does not require the acceptance
of the person to be benefitted by it. No formality is
required for it.
Renunciation of prescription in advance is void.
Possession
Possession has to be in the concept of an owner,
public, peaceful and uninterrupted.
Concept of owner: where property was in the
adverse, continuous, uninterrupted and notorious
possession of the buyer in the concept of owner for
more than half a century, the claim over such
property has already prescribed.
For a claim of acquisitive prescription to prosper,
possession of property must be in the concept of
owner for a certain period of time.
Public: The possession is public when the acts of
enjoyment are executed in such a manner as to be
manifest or visible to all, especially to the person
against whom the possession is being adversely
asserted. For possession to be public, it must be
known to the owner of the thing.
Peaceful: Possession is peaceful when it is
acquired and maintained without any violence.
Uninterrupted: Possession is continuous when the
possessor has never ceased to manifest with
external acts his intention to exercise a right over
the thing, which presupposes that he has never in
fact ceased to exercise the right. Possession is
uninterrupted if there has been no act of deprivation
of enjoyment of the things by a third person, or any
other act which interrupts prescription.
In case the adverse claimant possesses by mistake
an area greater, or less, than that expressed in his
title, prescription shall be based on the possession.
The possession upon which prescription is based,
is not limited to the area actually occupied, but
covers the area over which the possession is
asserted. This is on the principle of constructive
possession. Doctrine of constructive possession
applies when the possession us under title calling
for the whole. The actual possession of part of the
property is deemed to extend to the whole, as
shown by the limits or boundaries described in the
title.
Interruption of Prescription
Possession is interrupted for the purposes of
prescription, naturally or civilly.
When prescription is interrupted, all the benefits
acquired so far from the possession cease; when
prescription runs again, it will be entirely a new one.
Vs. Suspension: In suspension, the past period is
included in the computation, being added to the
period after prescription is resumed. Ex. Child
becomes insane, ward placed under guardianship
(cases contemplated in 1109).
Possession is naturally interrupted when through
any cause it should cease for more than 1 year. If
the natural interruption is for only 1 year or less, the
time elapsed shall be counted in favor of the
prescription. In case of natural interruption, the old
possession loses all its juridical effects, and even if
the possession is reacquired, the old possession
cannot be tacked to the new possession for
purposes of prescription.
In case of civil interruption, if the possession is
recovered, it can be connected to the time that has
elapsed as if it were in fact continuous; the period
of interruption is to be counted for the prescription.
Any express or tacit recognition which the
possessor may make of the owner’s right also
interrupts possession. To interrupt prescription, the
recognition of the owner’s right must be made by
the possessor.
Prescription of Ownership and Other Real
Rights
The ownership of movables prescribes through
uninterrupted possession for four years, in good
faith.
The ownership of personal property also prescribed
though uninterrupted possession for eight years,
without need of any other condition.
Ownership and other real rights over immovable
property are acquired by ordinary prescription
through possession of ten years.
Ownership and other real rights over immovable
also prescribe through uninterrupted adverse
possession thereof for thirty years, without need
of title or of good faith.
PRESCRIPTION OF ACTIONS
In its ordinary legal and popular sense, the term
“prescription of actions” or “limitations of actions”
refers to the time within which an action may be
brought, or some act done, to preserve a right.
Prescription is a legal, and not a natural cause of
the extinguishment of obligations.
Periods of prescription for all actions can also be
regarded as a general statute of limitations.
Statutes of limitation are acts limiting the time
within which actions shall be brought. These
statutes do not confer any right of action, but are
enacted to restrict the period within which the right,
otherwise unlimited, might be asserted. These do
not confer any right of action, but are available only
as defenses to restrict the period within which the
right may be asserted. Prescription is a defense
which the debtor alone can plead. It should be
specially pleaded in the answer.
Right to prescription may be waived or renounced.
It is deemed waived if not timely raised or pleaded
before or during the hearing of the case.
The defense of laches applies independently of
prescription. Laches is different from the statute of
limitations because laches is only concerned with
the effect of delay, not the fact of delay
(prescription). Laches is principally a question of
inequity of permitting a claim to be enforced.
Actions prescribe by the mere lapse of time fixed by
law. The lapse of the period has the effect of
extinguishing the action. Mere delay in the
enforcement of a claim does not result in any
reduction or loss of right, unless the full period
required by law for prescription has expired.
Action to recover Prescribes 8 years from the
movables (1140) time the possession is lost,
unless the possessor has
acquired the ownership by
prescription for a less period.
Real actions over Prescribe after 30 years.
immovables (1141) This provision is without
prejudice to what is
established for the acquisition
of ownership and other real
rights by prescription.
Article also applied to actions
that seeks to reassert one’s
title of ownership over the real
property.
Mortgage action Prescribes after 10 years.
(1142) The fact that a mortgage is
registered does not make the
action to foreclose it
imprescriptible.
Demand a right of These rights are not
way, bring an extinguished by prescription =
action to abate a imprescriptible.
public or private
nuisance, action No prescription shall also run
by government, in favor of a co-owner or co-
action for heir against his co-
mandamus, action owners/heirs so long as he
or defense to expressly or impliedly
declare a contract recognize the co-ownership.
or judgment void The rule of imprescriptibility,
ab initio, action of however, applies only so long
registered owner as it is admitted or presumed
to recover his land that the co-ownership exists.
(1143)
Upon a written These actions must be
contract, upon an brought within 10 years from
obligation created the time the right of action
by law, upon a accrues.
judgment (1144)
Period for prescription of
actions to demand the
fulfillment of obligations
declared by a judgment
commences from the time the
judgment became final. It
becomes final when the
judgment is entered by the
clerk.
When property is registered in
another’s name, an implied or
constructive trust is created
by law in favor of the true
owner. The action for
reconveyance of the title to
the rightful owner prescribes
in 10 years from the issuance
of the title. Time begins to run
from the date of issuance of
the original certificate of title.
But if fraud has been
committed, and this fraud is
the basis of action, not
implied trust, the action will be
barred after 4 years.
Upon an oral These actions must be
contract, upon a commenced within 6 years.
quasi-contract
(1145)
Upon an inquiry to These actions must be
the rights of the instituted within 4 years.
plaintiff, upon a In case of quasi-delict, the
quasi-delict (1146) prescriptive period starts from
the day the quasi-delict
occurred/committed.
Action based on Prescribed in 4 years from
fraud/deceit (1146) discovery of the fraud
Period of prescription will
begin to run on the date of the
discovery of the fraud.
Petition for quo Within 1 year counted from
warranto (1146) the date of the ouster.
Unjustified Action may be brought within
separation from 4 years.
employment
(1146)
For forcible entry These actions must be filed
and detainer, for within 1 year.
defamation (1147)
All other actions Must be brought within 5
whose periods are years from the time the right
not fixed in this of action accrues.
Code or in other
laws (1149)
The time for prescription for all kinds of actions,
when there is no special provision which ordains
otherwise, shall be counted from the day they may
be brought.

Period must be counted from the day on which the
corresponding action could have been instituted—it
is the legal possibility of bringing the action which
determines the starting point for computation of the
period.
A cause for action arises when that which should
have been done is not done, or that which should
not have been done is done.
The period during which the obligee was prevented
by a fortuitous event from enforcing his right is not
reckoned against him. Statute of limitations is
suspended by war, rebellion or insurrection only
when the regular course of justice is interrupted to
such an extent that courts cannot be kept open and
are not within the reach of the people. (1154)
The prescription of action is interrupted when they
are filed before the court, when there is written
extra-judicial demand by the creditors, and when
there is any written acknowledgment of the debt by
the debtor. (1155) The interruption lasts during the
pendency of the action. The prescriptive period
runs anew after the dismissal of the first action to
revive judgment. Filing of MR continues the
suspension of the running of the period of
prescription, which runs right after the court
proceedings have been final terminated.
Although an action is started within the prescriptive
period, if the plaintiff desists in its prosecution or
judgment is unconditionally stayed for one reason
or another, the running of the period of limitations is
not suspended. And an amendment to the
complaint, which introduces a new or different
cause of action, making a new or different demand,
is equivalent to a fresh suit upon a new cause of
action, and the statute of limitations continues to
run until the amendment is filed.
Since extinctive prescription is based on presumed
abandonment of a right, it is obvious that the
running of the period should be interrupted when a
demand is made by the creditor upon the debtor
before the lapse of the period fixed by law. Burden
of proof to show such demand is upon the creditor.
Demand should be in writing—verbal demand is not
sufficient to interrupt or renew the prescriptive
period.
While in acquisitive prescription, the possession
may be interrupted by any express or tacit
recognition of the owner’s right (1125), in extinctive
prescription, the interruption through
acknowledgment of the creditor’s right can take
place only when such acknowledgment is in writing.
This doesn’t have to be express and in writing, it
can be implied. Thus, a promise to pay a debt can
be considered as an acknowledgment of its
existence, and interrupts prescription. However, the
acknowledgment must apply to a particular and
specific debt. Acknowledgment pertains to the
admission that the debt is due and correct.
By acknowledging a debt, the debtor may renew
the obligation and interrupt the prescription, so as
to make it run only from the date of the
acknowledgment.
Part payment of a debt cannot interrupt the period
of prescription. Death of a debtor doesn’t interrupt
the running of the statute of limitations, because the
creditor has at his disposal appropriate means for
the prosecution of an action to enforce the
collection of his claim. Transfer of the right to
another person doesn’t suspend the running of the
period of prescription, because once it begins to
run, it never stops until legally interrupted.
Institution of a criminal action cannot have the
effect of interrupting the institution of a civil action
based on a quasi-delict. An order to stay execution
of a judgment doesn’t suspend the running of
prescription against it. Confinement in jail is not one
of the grounds by which prescription of an action
may be interrupted. Extinction of the debt of one of
various joint debtors doesn’t necessarily affect the
debt of the others, and the acknowledgment of the
debt by him will not stop the running of the statute
of limitations as to them.