Dear PAO,

My siblings and I had lived with our father and his wife since our mother died. Just a month ago, my father also passed away, and his wife immediately threw us out and claimed ownership of the house. My father left no will, and as far as we know, the house — albeit acquired during their marriage, was registered solely in his name. As my father’s illegitimate children, we know that we still have some rights over the property. We want to settle my father’s estate, but his wife wouldn’t speak to us, let alone cooperate with us. We heard that she has been making major renovations in the house and had completely demolished the rooms that we were previously occupying. We just want to know if we can file an ejectment case against her until the issue of ownership over the house is settled?

Loi 

Dear Loi,

The New Civil Code of the Philippines ensures that the estate of a deceased person is divided according to specific rules. Our laws are designed in order to protect the rights of all legal heirs and ensure that they receive their rightful shares on the estate of the deceased person. When a person dies intestate or without leaving a will, the distribution of his/her estate shall be based on the provisions of legal or intestate succession.

Upon the death of your father, his title and rights to the subject property immediately passed on to his wife and illegitimate children, such as yourself, as his legal heirs. If there are no other compulsory heirs, one-half of the property passed to your father’s widow, while the remaining half passed on to you and your siblings (Article 998, New Civil Code). Before partition, you and your siblings, as well as your father’s wife, have become co-owners of the property (Article 1078, New Civil Code).

Thus, being co-owners, you, your siblings, and your father’s wife share the same rights and obligations over the property left by your father. Among these rights is that of possession which allows any one of you to bring all kinds of actions for the recovery of possession, including, but not limited to ejectment cases — either for forcible entry or unlawful detainer. (Article 487, New Civil Code)

Our laws even allow an ejectment suit against a co-heir who forcefully ejected another co-heir from occupying the co-owned property. In Perlita Mabalo vs. Heirs of Roman Babuyo, represented by Virgilio Babuyo (GR 238468, July 6, 2022), the Supreme Court, speaking through Associate Justice Jhosep Lopez, defined the rules which govern ejectment suits between co-owners as embodied in Article 487 of the New Civil Code. Under this, “[i]f a co-owner takes exclusive possession of a specific portion of the common property, which results in the exclusion or deprivation of another co-owner in prior possession, any co-owner may file an action for ejectment to evict the co-owner who wrested its possession by force.”

Here, the basis of the eviction of the co-owner “is not the mere existence of their right of possession as a co-owner, but whether they exercised such right in a manner that ousted or deprived the rights of the other co-owners who were in prior possession.” (Ibid)

In your case, your father’s wife’s right of possession, as a co-owner, certainly does not entitle her to immediately wrest possession of the house and lot belonging to your late father, or even a portion thereof, from you and your siblings. In order to make a case for forcible entry against her, you must establish the presence of all the requisites therefor, as borne by the following circumstances: a) that you had prior physical possession of the common property; b) that you and your siblings were deprived of possession when your father’s wife took exclusive possession of a specific portion of the common property, which resulted in your exclusion or deprivation therefrom, and that she had the rooms demolished or removed, from which the employment of force can be deduced; and c) that your action was filed within one year from the time of the dispossession.

We hope that we were able to answer your queries. This advice is solely based on the facts you have narrated and our appreciation of the same. Our opinion may vary when other facts are changed or elaborated.

Thank you for your trust and support.

Editor’s note: Dear PAO is a daily column of the Public Attorney’s Office. Questions for Chief Acosta may be sent to [email protected].