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Publisher’s Note
by CK May is the month of flowers not just in the Philippines but also here in Calgary. A lot of my neighbors have done their spring cleaning and unfortunately I cannot cope up with them. I remember that during this time of the year my husband, Hank gets busier day by day. He takes care [...]
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The Philippine Lawyer

-Atty. Ferdie Aguirre

(About the writer: G. Ferdinand (Ferdie) Aguirre has more than 20 years of combined experience as a legal professional in the Philippines and in Canada. After graduating from the Ateneo de Manila College of Law in 1987 and passing the Bar given that year, he has held the following positions in the Philippine Corporate world: Asst. Senior Vice President of the Philippine National Bank, Senior Manager of the Law Division of the Metropolitan Bank & Trust Company and as Chief Legal Counsel of Unibancard. His private practice included having successfully handled several major cases and being included in the Philippine case books. Ferdie Aguirre was also a professor of Political Science and Business Law before migrating to Ontario Canada in 2005 where worked as a Paralegal. He is presently a Court Agent & a Commissioner of Oaths in Alberta and is now working on his admission to the Alberta Bar. Ferdie Aguirre may be reached at (403) 6131168 /403 4747168 or at [email protected])

Can a co –owner of a piece of land buy back the share of another co-owner that was already sold to a stranger?

In 1995, Marian went to work in Calgary as a caregiver. Eventually she got her Canadian citizenship and was later able to bring her only sister Grace to Canada. Through their hard work, they were able to save enough money to buy a 400 square meter lot in Cebu City which they intended to construct an apartment building. The sisters agreed in writing that the property will be divided equally and that Grace would own the South side and Marian the North side of the land. Unfortunately, before they were able to start building the apartment, the sisters found out that they were both dating Amadeo, their dance instructor. A bitter fight ensued and the sisters went their separate ways. For years they refused to talk to each other. Believing that their plans of putting up an apartment building will never materialize, Grace sent Marian an e-mail where she offered to sell her share of the property to Marian for two million pesos. Marian ignored this letter refusing to communicate with Grace. After the lapse of almost one year, Vladmir, a wealthy merchant from Cebu bought Grace’s share for two million pesos, the same price Grace offered to sell the property to Marian. A few months later, Vladimir’s lawyer sent Marian a letter requesting Marian to agree to the partition of the property. Vladimir needed Marian’s consent to the partition in order that he can register the portion of the land he bought from Grace in his name. Marian instead of complying with the request, sent Vladimir a letter demanding that she be allowed to buy back Grace’s share. Upon the refusal of Vladimir, Marian went back to the Philippines and filed a case in court so she could buy back or redeem Grace’s share of the land from Vladimir. Will Marian be allowed to redeem or buy back the property?

Marian will not be allowed to redeem or buy back the property sold by Grace to Vladimir.

Although Art.1620 of the Civil Code provides that a co-owner shall have a right of pre-emption (right of first refusal) or redemption (buy back) at a reasonable price, such right is subject to the period provided under Article 1623 of the same Code. In above situation, Marian was offered the property first but such offer was ignored with no justification causing her lose her right to redeem the property from Vladimir, a third party.

Secondly, there was no longer co-ownership to speak of because there was already a partition of the property, though unregistered, between the sisters. When the sisters agreed that the property will be divided equally with Grace getting the Southside and Marian getting the Northside, their shares in the property became identifiable causing their co ownership to cease.

“The regime of co-ownership exists when the ownership of an undivided thing or right belongs to different persons. By the nature of co-ownership, a co-owner cannot point to any specific portion of the property owned in common as his own because his share in it remains intangible and ideal.” (Avila vs. Barabat G.R. No.141993 March 17, 2006)

The Civil Code of the Philippines states that:

Art.1620-A co-owner of a thing may exercise the right of redemption in case the shares of all the other co-owners or any of them are sold to a third person. If the price of the alienation is grossly excessive, the redemptioner shall pay only a reasonable one.

Should two or more co-owners desire to exercise the right of redemption, they may only do so in proportion to the share they may respectively have in the thing owned in common.

x x x x x x x x x

Art. 1623. The right of legal pre-emption or redemption shall not be exercised except within thirty days from the notice in writing by the prospective vendor, or by the vendor, as the case may be. The deed of sale shall not be recorded in the Registry of Property, unless accompanied by an affidavit of the vendor that he has given written notice thereof to all possible redemptioners.

The right of redemption of co-owners excludes that of adjoining owners.

(Legal Disclaimer: This article is designed for general information only. The information presented at this site should not be construed to be neither formal legal advice nor the formation of a lawyer/client relationship.)

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One Comment on "The Philippine Lawyer"

Julius Bada on Fri, 11th Feb 2011 12:58 am

My friend bought a low cost housing to a developer thru pagibig financing, without due notice failure to pay for 5 months, the developer said the property is already buy back.

The Philippine Lawyer

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