Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

FIFTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

1152
HOUSE BILL NO.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

Squatting on private lands belonging to others has been a national
problem. It violates the basic concept of private ownership preserved and
protected by our Constitution. It usually leads to social unrest, disorder,
and even to violence.

A root cause of this problem is the fact that Filipinos by nature are
tolerant and magnanimous. By reason of this tolerance and magnanimity,
they allow relatives, friends, and even strangers who have no place to
stay to enter and occupy their lands with the belief that they can get back
possession of their property anytime they need them for their own use,
development or disposition. However, when the owners begin to initiate
moves to reclaim possession of said land, they sometimes find to their
dismay and disappointment that the recipients of their tolerance and
magnanimity begin to resist by finding all kinds of excuses thereby
showing an intention to continue their occupancy or possession against
the will of the owners.

There are also those who take advantage of the absence of the
landowner by occupying lands not their own or with the use of stealth,
strategy and other schemes to enter upon the possession of lands. In
some cases, others have been known to use threats, force and
intimidation to acquire possession of lands and thereafter use all kinds of
fabricated evidence to show some legitimacy in their possession no
matter how tenuous. In all these cases, the landowners, either because
of oversight, or because of inability to finance proper proceedings, or
because they are awed by the complexity of their legal problems, or
because of fear or inability to bear the cost of litigation or to resort to less
complicated legal remedies to recover possession of their lands, such
owners end up being unduly deprived of exercising ownership rights and
the enjoyment of their own lands.

Moreover, even those who are clearly squatters, holding possession
against the will of the owners, sometimes acquire by quirk of existing


laws some recognizable right to prolong possession under the provisions
of the New Civil Code, specifically on the “Effects of Possession” found in
Chapter 3, Title V thereof, in relation to those of Rule 70 of the Revised
Rules of Court on “Forcible Entry and Detainer.” Jurisprudence
interpreting these provisions hold that actions for forcible entry and
detainer invariably provide an indirect mantle of protection to the person
who in fact has actual possession of the land, and, in case of controversy,
require the parties to preserve the status quo until one or the other of
them sees fit to invoke the decision of a court of competent jurisdiction
upon the question of ownership, since in actions for forcible entry and
detainer, physical possession de facto, not possession de jure, is at
issue.

The widespread abuse by squatters or intruders demonstrates a
growing lack of respect of private ownership by those who take undue
advantage of the tolerant and magnanimous nature of Filipinos, the
prevalent use of strategy and stealth, even of threats and intimidation to
gain occupancy or possession of lands must now also be corrected and
remedied within a manageable legal framework.

It is for the foregoing reasons that the proponent of this bill has
deemed it urgent and necessary to define a framework of enforceable
juridical relations between a possessor or occupant of private land and the
owner of said land. Outside this framework, the possessor or occupant
should be deemed to be occupying or possessing land by the mere
tolerance or magnanimity of the owner, or deemed to be occupying or
possessing land without recognizable legal basis and shall be obligated to
vacate the premises within sixty (60) days from receipt of written notice
therefor by the owner, otherwise he/she shall be deemed to be a
possessor or occupant in bad faith from the beginning and shall be
construed to have no recognizable right to continue occupying or
possessing the land from and after the end of the sixty (60) day period of
notice to vacate.

rN
LUIS R. VILLAFUERTE


Republic of the Phiippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

FIFTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

House BrLLNo, 1152

AN ACT TO DEFINE ENFORCEABLE JURIDICAL RELATIONS ON
OCCUPANCY ON OR POSSESSION OF PRIVATE LANDS IN THE
PHILIPPINES

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in Congress
assembled:

Sec. 1. Every possessor or occupant of a private land owned by
another has a right to be respected in his possession provided his
Possession is supported by any of the following enforceable juridical
relations:

a. Where possession is by virtue of a verbal agreement with

the owner of the private land provided that written
receipts of payment of rentals or other compensation to
the owner, be it in cash or in kind are available to the
possessor or occupant;

b. A letter of the owner of the private land confirming the

right of the possessor to possess or occupy the same;

c. A letter written by the possessor to the owner showing his

right to possess or occupy which is not disputed in writing


by the owner within thirty (30) working days upon receipt
of such letter; and

d. Lease or other written contracts or agreements permitting

the use, occupancy or possession of the private land.

Sec. 2. Any possessor or occupant of a private land who does not
have any of the proof enumerated in Section 1 hereof is deemed to be
occupying or possessing the same merely by the tolerance or
magnanimity of the owner, in which event, the owner, upon sixty (60)
days written notice to said occupant or possessor shall have the right to
demand that the occupant or possessor thereof vacate the land and said
occupant or possessor shall be deemed acting in gross bad faith if he/she
fails or refuses to do so, and such possession or occupancy shall be
deemed unlawful ab initio.

Sec 3. This Act shall take effect thirty (30) days upon approval
thereof.

Approved,