Civil Law Doctrines
Reduction of Area, or Conformity with City Mapping
1. MIRROR DOCTRINE Locsin v. Hizon 2014
Correctness of Certificate of Title/Innocent
Purchaser for Value/Exceptions/
Complementing the (rule on innocent purchaser for
value) is the mirror doctrine which echoes the
doctrinal rule that every person dealing with
registered land may safely rely on the correctness of
the certificate of title issued therefor and is in no
way obliged to go beyond the certificate to
determine the condition of the property.
Exceptions:
i. Party has actual knowledge of facts and
circumstances that would impel a
reasonably cautious man to make such
inquiry or
ii. Purchaser has knowledge of a defect or the
lack of title in his vendor or of sufficient
facts to induce a reasonably prudent man to
inquire into the status of the title of the
property in litigation.
2. NUISANCE PER SE VS. NUISANCE PER
ACCIDENS Aquino vs. Mun. of Malay, Aklan
2014
Nuisance per se is recognized as a nuisance under
any and all circumstances, because it constitutes a
direct menace to public health or safety, and, for that
reason, may be abated summarily under the
undefined law of necessity.
Nuisance per accidens. depends upon certain
conditions and circumstances, and its existence
being a question of fact, it cannot be abated without
due hearing thereon in a tribunal authorized to
decide whether such a thing does in law constitute a
nuisance.
Held: Boracay West Coves location - and not its
inherent qualities - rendered it a nuisance. Had it not
been constructed in the no-build zone, it could have
secured the necessary permits without issue. As
such, the hotel is is still a nuisance per accidens.
3. 24% p.a. penalty unconscionable
4. REPUBLICATION WHEN NECESSARY IN
AMENDED PETITION FOR REGISTRATION
Republic vs. San Mateo 2014
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Not Necessary/Addition of Land Necessary
The amendment of the technical description of the
property, or the reduction of the area does not
require a republication of the technical description,
because the amended area was already included
during the first publication.
Conversely, the addition of land not previously
included in the original survet plan require
republication in order to confer jurisdiction on the
court.
Held: The amendment of the area was not a result of
any substantial amendment in the property to be
covered by the petition for registration, but was done
merely to conform to the cadastral mapping of
Taguig. Republication is not required.
5. EQUITABLE MORTGAGE VS PACTUM
COMMISSORIUM
Art. 1602. The contract shall be presumed to be an
equitable mortgage, in any of the following cases:
(1) When the price of a sale with right to
repurchase is unusually inadequate;
(2) When the vendor remains in possession as
lessee or otherwise;
(3) When upon or after the expiration of the right
to repurchase another instrument extending
the period of redemption or granting a new
period is executed;
(4) When the purchaser retains for himself a part
of the purchase price;
(5) When the vendor binds himself to pay the
taxes on the thing sold;
(6) In any other case where it may be fairly
inferred that the real intention of the parties is
that the transaction shall secure the payment
of a debt or the performance of any other
obligation.
In any of the foregoing cases, any money, fruits, or
other benefit to be received by the vendee as rent or
otherwise shall be considered as interest which shall
be subject to the usury laws.
For the presumption of an equitable mortgage to
arise under Article 1602, two (2) requisites must
concur: (a) that the parties entered into a contract
 denominated as a contract of sale; and, (b) that their
intention was to secure an existing debt by way of a
mortgage.
The essence of pactum commissorium is that
ownership of the security will pass to the creditor by
the mere default of the debtor. This Court has
repeatedly declared such arrangements as contrary to
morals and public policy.
Note: the only right of a mortgagee in case of non-
payment of debt secured by mortgage would be to
foreclose the mortgage and have the encumbered
property sold to satisfy the outstanding indebtedness.
Note: in an equitable mortgage, perfect title over the
mortgaged property may not be secured in a pactum
commissorium fashion, but only by causing the
foreclosure of the mortgage and buying the same in
an auction sale Solitarios vs. Jaque 2014)
6. ISSUED OCT AS CONDITION PRECEDENT
IN RECONSTITUTION CASES Republic vs.
Spouses Sanchez 2014
It is well to emphasize that a petition for
reconstitution of lost or destroyed OCT requires, as a
condition precedent, that an Original Certificate of
Title (OCT) has indeed been issued.
It is also necessary that the Register of Deeds issue a
certification that such was in force at the time of its
alleged loss or destruction, and the claimants thereof
also proved such fact.
Section 15 of R.A. 26:
Section 15. If the court, after hearing, finds that:
- the documents presented, as supported by parole
evidence or otherwise, are sufficient and proper
to warrant the reconstitution of the lost or
destroyed certificate of title, and
- the petitioner is the registered owner of the
property or has an interest therein,
- the said certificate of title was in force at the
time it was lost or destroyed, and
- the description, area and boundaries of the
property are substantially the same as those
contained in the lost or destroyed certificate of
title,
an order of reconstitution shall be issued.
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7. SURNAME - CHOICE OF THE
ILLEGITIMATE CHILD Grande vs. Antonio
2014
Art. 176. Illegitimate children shall use the
surname and shall be under the parental authority of
their mother, and shall be entitled to support in
conformity with this Code. However, illegitimate
children may use the surname of their father if their
filiation has been expressly recognized by their
father through the record of birth appearing in the
civil register, or when an admission in a public
document or private handwritten instrument is made
by the father.
Use of may indicates that illegitimate children are
given the choice on the surnames by which they will
be known.
8. RIGHT OF REPURCHASE UNDER C.A. 141
OR THE PUBLIC LAND ACT
Sec. 119. Every conveyance of land acquired under
the free patent or homestead provisions, when
proper, shall be subject to repurchase by the
applicant, his widow, or legal heirs, within a period
of five years from the date of conveyance.
9. CHILD CUSTODY - NO RES JUDICATA
Beckett vs. Sarmiento 2013
A custody agreement can never be regarded as
permanent and unbending, the simple reason being
that the situation of the parents and even of the child
can change, such that sticking to the agreed
arrangement would no longer be to the latters best
interest. In a very real sense, then, a judgment
involving the custody of a minor child cannot be
accorded the force and effect of res judicata.
10. REQUIREMENT FOR VALID COMPROMISE
Gaisano vs. Akol 2011
A compromise agreement is a contract whereby the
parties make reciprocal concessions, avoid litigation,
or put an end to one already commenced.
Its validity depends on its fulfillment of the
requisites and principles of contracts dictated by
law; its terms and conditions being not contrary to
law, morals, good customs, public policy and public
order.
11. SALES OF SHARES OF STOCK WITHOUT
AUTHORITY - NULL AND VOID Pacific
Rehouse Corp. vs. EIB Securities, Inc. 2011
Indubitably, the sale of the Principals shares made
by Agent is null and void for lack of authority to do
so, for the Principals never gave their consent or
permission to the sale.
Moreover, Article 1881 of the Civil Code provides
that the agent must act within the scope of his
authority. Pursuant to the authority given by the
principal, the agent is granted the right to affect the
legal relations of his principal by the performance of
acts effectuated in accordance with the principals
manifestation of consent.
12. CADASTRAL CASE AND QUIETING OF
TITLE MAY PROCEED INDEPENDENTLY
Luzurriaga vs. Republic 2009
A cadastral case is different from an action for
quieting of title. As the cadastral case assails the
grant of ownership to the defendant while the action
for quieting of title seeks to nullify the issuance of
title to another.
13. PROCESS FOR JUDICIAL CONFIRMATION
OF IMPERFECT TITLE Republic vs. Iglesia
Ni Cristo 2009
Sec. 14(1) of PD 1529 pertinently provides:
SEC. 14. Who may apply. The following persons may
file in the proper Court of First Instance [now Regional
Trial Court] an application for registration of title to
land, whether personally or through their duly authorized
representatives:
(1) Those who by themselves or through their
predecessors-in-interest have been in open, continuous,
exclusive and notorious possession and occupation of
alienable and disposable lands of the public domain
under a bona fide claim of ownership since June 12,
1945, or earlier.
The correct application of Sec. 14(1) of PD 1529 is
that the reckoning for the period of possession is the
actual possession of the property and it is sufficient
for the property sought to be registered to be already
alienable and disposable at the time of the
application for registration of title is filed.
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14. POSSESSION + OWNERSHIP =
IMPRESCRIPTIBLE
15. DIVORCE ART. 26 Bayot vs. CA 2008
The twin elements for the application of Paragraph 2
of Article 26 as follows:
i. There is a valid marriage that has been celebrated
between a Filipino citizen and a foreigner; and
ii. A valid divorce is obtained abroad by the alien
spouse capacitating him or her to remarry.
The reckoning point is not the citizenship of the
parties at the time of the celebration of the marriage,
but their citizenship at the time a valid divorce is
obtained abroad by the alien spouse capacitating the
latter to remarry.
16. CONTINUING GUARANTY/ CONTINUING
SURETYSHIP Gateway Electronics Corp. vs.
Asian Bank Corporation 2008
A continuing guaranty is one which is not limited to
a single loan transaction, but which contemplates a
future course of dealing, covering a series of
transactions, generally for an indefinite time or until
revoked.
It is prospective in its operation and is generally
intended to provide security with respect to future
transactions within certain limits, and contemplates a
succession of liabilities, for which, as they accrue,
the guarantor becomes liable.
A guaranty shall be construed as continuing when by
the terms thereof it is evident that the object is to
give a standing credit to the principal debtor to be
used from time to time either indefinitely or until a
certain period x x x.
In other jurisdictions, it has been held that the use of
particular words and expressions such as payment of
any debt, any indebtedness, any deficiency, or any
sum, or the guaranty of any transaction or money to
be furnished the principal debtor at any time, or on
such time that the principal debtor may require,
have been construed to indicate a continuing
guaranty.
17. ELEMENTS OF ESTOPPEL
(1) conduct amounting to false representation or
concealment of material facts or at least
 calculated to convey the impression that the
facts are otherwise than, and inconsistent
with, those which the party subsequently
attempts to assert;
(2) intent, or at least expectation, that this
conduct shall be acted upon by, or at least
influence, the other party; and,
(3) knowledge, actual or constructive, of the real
facts.
18. EFFECT OF NON-INCLUSION OF PARTY IN
A COMPROMISE AGREEMENT Domingo
Realty, Inc. vs. CA, 2006
The only legal effect of the non-inclusion of a party
in a compromise agreement is that said party cannot
be bound by the terms of the agreement.
19. ADVERSE POSSESSION IN REGISTERED
PROPERTY
Under Article 1126 of the Civil Code, prescription of
ownership of lands registered under the Land
Registration Act shall be governed by special laws.
Correlatively, Section 47 of P.D. 1529 provides that
no title to registered land in derogation of that of
the registered owner shall be acquired by adverse
possession.
20. TENDER AGE PRESUMPTION Gualberto vs.
Gualberto2005
As a general rule, a mother is to be preferred in
awarding custody of children under the age of seven.
The caveat in Article 213 of the Family Code cannot
be ignored, except when the court finds cause to
order otherwise.
The so-called tender-age presumption under Article
213 of the Family Code may be overcome only by
compelling evidence of the mothers unfitness.
The mother has been declared unsuitable to have
custody of her children in one or more of the
following instances: neglect, abandonment,
unemployment, immorality, habitual drunkenness,
drug addiction, maltreatment of the child, insanity or
affliction with a communicable disease.
21. RECLAIMED LAND TRANSFERRED TO
GOVERNMENT ENTITY WHEN
CONVERTED TO PATRIMONIAL LAND
Chavez vs. NHA 2007
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The reclaimed lands were transferred to National
Housing Authority, a government entity NOT tasked
to dispose of public land and therefore said alienable
lands were converted to patrimonial lands upon their
transfer to NHA.
22. LAND TRANSFER IN VIOLATION OF PD 27
VOID Gu-an and Gu-an Mamon vs. Quirino
2014
It bears to stress that upon the promulgation of P.D.
27, farmer-tenants were deemed owners of the land
they were tilling and given the rights to possess,
cultivate and enjoy the landholding for themselves.
Thus, P.D. 27 specifically prohibited any transfer of
such landholding except to the government or by
hereditary succession. Section 279 of R.A. 6657
(CARL) further allowed transfers to the Land Bank
of the Philippines (LBP) and to other qualified
beneficiaries, through the DAR.
Consequently, any other transfer constitutes a
violation of the above proscription and is null and
void for being contrary to law.
23. BIOLOGICAL PARENTS MAY BE
BENEFICIARIES OF AN ADOPTED CHILD
Bartolome vs. SSS 2014
Even though parental authority is severed by virtue
of adoption, the ties between the adoptee and the
biological parents are not entirely eliminated.
To demonstrate, the biological parents, insome
instances, are able to inherit from the adopted, as
can be gleaned from Art. 190 of the Family Code:
Art. 190. Legal or intestate succession to the estate of the
adopted shall be governed by the following rules:
xxx
(2) When the parents, legitimate or illegitimate, or the
legitimate ascendants of the adopted concur with the
adopter, they shall divide the entire estate, one-half to be
inherited by the parents or ascendants and the other half,
by the adopters;
From the foregoing, it is apparent that the biological
parents retain their rights of succession to the estate
of their child who was the subject of adoption.
Held: While the benefits arising from the death of an
SSS covered employee do not form part of the estate
of the adopted child, the pertinent provision on legal
or intestate succession at least reveals the policy on
the rights of the biological parents and those by
adoption vis--vis the right to receive benefits from
the adopted.xxx