Usufruct Cases (2013 – 2014)

EVANGELINE RIVERA-CALINGASAN and E. RICAL ENTERPRISES vs. WILFREDO RIVERA (G.R. No.171555
April 17, 2013)

Generally, recovery of possession of real property is a real action that is not extinguished by the death of
a party. The judgment in an ejectment case is conclusive between the parties and their successors-in-
interest by title subsequent to the commencement of the action.

However, holding the property as usufructuary is an exception to this rule. The right to the usufruct is
rendered moot by the death of the usufractuary since death extinguishes a usufruct under Article 603(1)
of the Civil Code. This development deprives the heirs of the usufructuary the right to retain or to
reacquire possession of the property even if the ejectment judgment directs its restitution. Thus, what
actually survives under the circumstances is the award of damages.

SIME DARBY PILIPINAS, INC. vs. JESUS B. MENDOZA (G.R. No. 202247, June 19, 2013)

When the owner of the share assigns and gives legal title of the said share to another, the assignee’s
title is only limited to the usufruct, or the use and enjoyment of the facilities and privileges while
employed with the company. The assignee does not become the owner of the share and holds the share
in trust. The assignee can therefore be prevented from using the facilities and privileges of the club
share by the owner.

SPOUSES NICASIO C. MARQUEZ AND ANITA J. MARQUEZ vs. SPOUSES CARLITO ALINDOG AND
CARMEN ALINDOG (G.R. No. 184045, January 22, 2014)

It is an established rule that a writ of possession duly applied for by said purchaser should issue as a
matter of course, and thus, merely constitutes a ministerial duty on the part of the court.

The ministerial issuance of a writ of possession in favor of the purchaser in an extra-judicial foreclosure
sale, however, admits of an exception. Section 33, Rule 39 of the Rules of Court (Rules) pertinently
provides that the possession of the mortgaged property may be awarded to a purchaser in an extra-
judicial foreclosure unless a third party is actually holding the property by adverse title or right. The
phrase ‘a third party who is actually holding the property adversely to the judgment obligor’
contemplates a situation in which a third party holds the property by adverse title or right, such as that
of a co-owner, tenant or usufructuary. The co-owner, agricultural tenant, and usufructuary possess the
property in their own right, and they are not merely the successor or transferee of the right of
possession of another co-owner or the owner of the property.