Actions for forcible entry
SECTION 1. Who may institute proceedings, and when. – Subject to the provisions of the next succeeding section, a person deprived of the possession of any land or building by force, intimidation, threat, strategy, or stealth, or a lessor, vendor, vendee, or other person against whom the possession of any land or building is unlawfully withheld after the expiration or termination of the right to hold possession by virtue of any contract, express or implied, or the legal representatives or assigns of any such lessor, vendor, vendee, or other person, may, at any time within one (1) year after such unlawful deprivation or withholding of possession, bring an action in the proper Municipal Trial Court against the person or persons unlawfully withholding or depriving of possession, or any person or persons claiming under them, for the restitution of such possession, together with damages and costs.
This requirement implies that in such cases, the possession of the land by the
defendant is
unlawful from the beginning as he acquires possession thereof by unlawful
means. The plaintiff must allege and prove that he was
in prior physical possession of the property in litigation until he was
deprived thereof
by the defendant. If the alleged dispossession did not occur by any of the
means stated in section 1, Rule 70 either by force, intimidation, threat,
strategy or stealth, the proper recourse is to file a plenary action to
recover possession with the RTC. (Ong v. Parel, 407 Phil. 1045, 1053 (2001)
citing Sarmiento v. Court of Appeals, 320 Phil. 146, 154 (1995); Moran, Rules
of Court, Vol. III, 1997 ed., pp. 385-386; Sarmienta, et al. v. Manalite
Homeowners Assn., Inc., 647 Phil. 53, 61 (2010) citing Quizon v. Juan, 577
Phil. 470, 477-478 [2008]).
