Property of Private Ownership

Article 425. Property of private ownership, besides the patrimonial property of the State, provinces, cities, and municipalities, consists of all property belonging to private persons, either individually or collectively.

Discussion:

Collectively refers to ownership by private individuals as co-owners; or by corporations, partnerships, or other juridical persons such as foundations who are allowed by the Civil Code to possess and acquire properties. Possession by private individuals since time immemorial carries the presumption that the land had never been part of the public domain, or that it had been private property even before the Spanish conquest.