Chapter 3. Prescription of Actions (Title V, Book III, Civil Code)
Chapter 3: Prescription of Actions
Article 1139. Actions prescribe by the mere lapse of time fixed by law. (1961)
Article 1141. Real actions over immovables prescribe after thirty years.
This provision is without prejudice to what is established for the acquisition of ownership and other real rights by prescription. (1963)
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. (n)
Article 1142. A mortgage action prescribes after ten years. (1964a)
Article 1140. Actions to recover movables shall prescribe eight years from the time the possession thereof is lost, unless the possessor has acquired the ownership by prescription for a less period, according to articles 1132, and without prejudice to the provisions of articles 559, 1505, and 1133. (1962a)
Article 1145. The following actions must be commenced within six years:
(1) Upon an oral contract;
(2) Upon a quasi-contract. (n)
Article 1146. The following actions must be instituted within four years:
(1) Upon an injury to the rights of the plaintiff;
(2) Upon a quasi-delict;
However, when the action arises from or out of any act, activity, or conduct of any public officer involving the exercise of powers or authority arising from Martial Law including the arrest, detention and/or trial of the plaintiff, the same must be brought within one (1) year. (As amended by PD No. 1755, Dec. 24, 1980.)
Article 1147. The following actions must be filed within one year:
(1) For forcible entry and detainer;
(2) For defamation. (n)
Article 1149. All other actions whose periods are not fixed in this Code or in other laws must be brought within five years from the time the right of action accrues. (n)
Notes:
1) Definition.
a. Prescription of action – refers to the expiration of cause of action resulting in a bar to a legal action.
2) Rules on prescription of action.
a. 30-year prescriptive period. The causes of action prescribe in 10 years for:
(1) Real actions over immovables prescribe after thirty years.
NB: This provision is without prejudice to what is established for the acquisition of ownership and other real rights by prescription.
b. 10-year prescriptive period. The following causes of action prescribe in 10 years:
(1) Upon a written contract (Article 1144);
(2) Upon an obligation created by law (Article 1144);
(3) Upon a judgment (Article 1144);
(4) Mortgage action (Article 1142).
c. 8-year prescriptive period. The causes of action prescribe in 8 years for:
(1) Actions to recover movables;
NB:
1) General Rule: For prescription to apply, the counting is from the loss of possession.
2) Exception: …unless the possessor has acquired the ownership by prescription for a less period, according to articles 1132, and without prejudice to the provisions of articles 559, 1505, and 1133.
Article 1132, Civil Code: “[Par. 1] The ownership of movables prescribes through uninterrupted possession for four years in good faith… [Par. 2] The ownership of personal property also prescribes through uninterrupted possession for eight years, without need of any other condition… [Par. 3] With regard to the right of the owner to recover personal property lost or of which he has been illegally deprived, as well as with respect to movables acquired in a public sale, fair, or market, or from a merchant’s store the provisions of articles 559 and 1505 of this Code shall be observed.”
Articles 559, Civil Code: “[Par. 1] The possession of movable property acquired in good faith is equivalent to a title. Nevertheless, one who has lost any movable or has been unlawfully deprived thereof, may recover it from the person in possession of the same… [Par. 2] If the possessor of a movable lost or which the owner has been unlawfully deprived, has acquired it in good faith at a public sale, the owner cannot obtain its return without reimbursing the price paid therefor.”
Article 1505, Civil Code: “[Par. 1] Subject to the provisions of this Title, where goods are sold by a person who is not the owner thereof, and who does not sell them under authority or with the consent of the owner, the buyer acquires no better title to the goods than the seller had, unless the owner of the goods is by his conduct precluded from denying the seller’s authority to sell… [Par. 2] Nothing in this Title, however, shall affect:… (1) The provisions of any factors’ act, recording laws, or any other provision of law enabling the apparent owner of goods to dispose of them as if he were the true owner thereof;… (2) The validity of any contract of sale under statutory power of sale or under the order of a court of competent jurisdiction;… (3) Purchases made in a merchant’s store, or in fairs, or markets, in accordance with the Code of Commerce and special laws.”
Article 1133, Civil Code: “Movables possessed through a crime can never be acquired through prescription by the offender.”
d. 6-year prescriptive period. The following causes of action prescribe in 6 years:
(1) Upon an oral contract;
(2) Upon a quasi-contract.
e. 4-year prescriptive period. The following causes of action prescribe in 4 years:
(1) Upon an injury to the rights of the plaintiff;
(2) Upon a quasi-delict;
NB: “However, when the action arises from or out of any act, activity, or conduct of any public officer involving the exercise of powers or authority arising from Martial Law including the arrest, detention and/or trial of the plaintiff, the same must be brought within one (1) year.” (Civil Code, Paragraph 2, Article 1146, as amended by PD No. 1755, Dec. 24, 1980.)
f. 1-year prescriptive period. The following causes of action prescribe in 1 year:
(1) For forcible entry and detainer;
(2) For defamation.
g. 5-year prescriptive period: Catch-all provision. If an action has no prescriptive period specified in the Civil Code or in any other law, the action must be brought within 5 years from when the cause of action accrues.
Article 1143. The following rights, among others specified elsewhere in this Code, are not extinguished by prescription:
(1) To demand a right of way, regulated in article 649;
(2) To bring an action to abate a public or private nuisance. (n)
Notes:
1) Definitions.
a. Right of way regulated in article 649 – refers to legal/compulsory easement of right of way.
b. Public nuisance – one that “affects a community or neighborhood or any considerable number of persons, although the extent of the annoyance, danger or damage upon individuals may be unequal.” (Civil Code, Article 695)
c. Private nuisance – is “one that is not included in the foregoing definition.” (Ibid.)
2) The two (2) non-prescribing actions in the Civil Code. The following are actions without prescriptive periods in the Civil Code:
(a) To demand a right of way for legal/compulsory easements (regulated in article 649);
(b) To bring an action to abate a public or private nuisance.
a. Same; Demand right of way for legal/compulsory easements under Article 649. In a legal/compulsory easement of right of way, a landlocked property called the dominant estate requires passage to the highway via the property of another called the servient estate. Per Article 1143, regardless of how many years have passed, the owner of the dominant estate may still demand a legal/compulsory easement of right of way.
Article 649, Civil Code: “[Par. 1] The owner, or any person who by virtue of a real right may cultivate or use any immovable, which is surrounded by other immovables pertaining to other persons and without adequate outlet to a public highway, is entitled to demand a right of way through the neighboring estates, after payment of the proper indemnity… [Par. 2] Should this easement be established in such a manner that its use may be continuous for all the needs of the dominant estate, establishing a permanent passage, the indemnity shall consist of the value of the land occupied and the amount of the damage caused to the servient estate… [Par. 3] In case the right of way is limited to the necessary passage for the cultivation of the estate surrounded by others and for the gathering of its crops through the servient estate without a permanent way, the indemnity shall consist in the payment of the damage caused by such encumbrance… [Par. 4] This easement is not compulsory if the isolation of the immovable is due to the proprietor’s own acts.”
b. Same; Action to abate public/private nuisance. Whether public or private, a nuisance affects the community, neighborhood, or individuals, particularly if such nuisance may or is likely to cause danger or damage to another. Thus, it cannot be the subject of a prescriptive period as a matter of public policy, particularly in terms of public safety.
Article 1148. The limitations of action mentioned in articles 1140 to 1142, and 1144 to 1147 are without prejudice to those specified in other parts of this Code, in the Code of Commerce, and in special laws. (n)
Notes:
1) Prescriptive periods not affecting other parts of Civil Code and other special laws. The following prescriptive periods do not affect other parts of the Civil Code, Code of Commerce and other special laws:
(a) 30-year prescriptive period for immovables (Article 1141);
(b) 10-year prescriptive period for mortgage, a written contract, obligation created by law, a judgment (Article 1142, 1144);
(c) 8-year prescriptive period for movables (Article 1140);
(d) 6-year prescriptive period upon an oral contract, or a quasi-contract (Article 1145);
(e) 4-year prescriptive period upon an injury to the rights of the plaintiff or upon a quasi-delict (Article 1146);
(f) 1-year prescriptive period for (a) forcible entry and detainer, (b) defamation, (c) any act, activity, or conduct of any public officer involving the exercise of powers or authority arising from Martial Law including the arrest, detention and/or trial of the plaintiff, the same must be brought within one (1) year (Article 1147, Paragraph 2, Article 1146).
Article 1150. 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. (1969)
Article 1151. The time for the prescription of actions which have for their object the enforcement of obligations to pay principal with interest or annuity runs from the last payment of the annuity or of the interest. (1970a)
Article 1152. The period for prescription of actions to demand the fulfillment of obligation declared by a judgment commences from the time the judgment became final. (1971)
Article 1153. The period for prescription of actions to demand accounting runs from the day the persons who should render the same cease in their functions.
The period for the action arising from the result of the accounting runs from the date when said result was recognized by agreement of the interested parties. (1972)
Notes:
1) Definitions.
a. When prescription may be brought – refers to accrual of a cause of action or when all requisites are present to constitute a cause of action.
b. Cause of action accrues – refers to the happening of a cause of action or when all the elements of a cause of action are met.
2) Rules on counting time for prescription.
a. All kinds of actions without special provision ordaining otherwise. For all kinds of actions without special provision ordaining otherwise, prescription shall be reckoned/counted from the day the cause of action accrues, i.e., when the prescription may be brought.
b. Enforcement of obligations to pay principal with interest or annuity. For actions which have for their object the enforcement of obligations to pay principal with interest or annuity, prescription shall be reckoned/counted from the last payment of the annuity or interest.
c. Obligation declared by a judgment. For actions to demand the fulfillment of obligation declared by a judgment, prescription shall be reckoned/counted from the time the judgment became final.
d. Demand accounting. For actions to demand accounting, prescription shall be reckoned/counted from the day the persons who should render the same cease in their functions.
e. Action arising from the result of the accounting. For actions arising from the result of the accounting, prescription shall be reckoned/counted from the date when said result was recognized by agreement of the interested parties.
Article 1154. The period during which the obligee was prevented by a fortuitous event from enforcing his right is not reckoned against him. (n)
1. Rule on fortuitous event in relation to prescriptive period.
a. Obligees unable to enforce rights due to fortuitous event. If obligees are unable to enforce their rights due to a fortuitous event, the period during the occurrence of the force majeure shall not be reckoned/counted against the obligees.
Article 1155. The prescription of actions is interrupted when they are filed before the court, when there is a written extrajudicial demand by the creditors, and when there is any written acknowledgment of the debt by the debtor. (1973a)
Notes:
1) Definition.
a. Tolling – refers to the suspension of the running of the prescriptive period.
1) Rules on tolling in relation to the prescriptive period.
a. The 3 Grounds for Tolling Prescriptive Periods. The running of the prescriptive periods may be tolled or suspended in these cases:
(1) Filing of action in court;
(2) Written extrajudicial demand by the creditors; and
(3) Written acknowledgment of the debt by the debtor.
