Short answer. Roots yes, branches no. Article 680 lets you cut encroaching roots yourself within your own land, but for overhanging branches it gives you only the right to demand that they be cut off insofar as they spread over your property. Taking a saw to the branches yourself is not what the article allows.
What the law says
the owner of the latter shall have the right to demand that they be cut off insofar as they may spread over his property, and, if it be the roots of a neighboring tree which should penetrate into the land of another, the latter may cut them off himself within his property
Civil Code, Article 680 — Overhanging Branches And Roots. Read the full provision →
The asymmetry is the whole point of the article
Two encroachments, two different remedies, and the difference is not accidental. Roots run underground where nobody can see them, so a landowner is allowed self-help: he cuts them himself, within his own property, without asking anyone. Branches are visible and their removal can disfigure or kill a tree that belongs to somebody else, so the law keeps that decision with the owner and gives the neighbour a right to demand instead. Most disputes here begin with a homeowner who assumed the two situations were treated the same.
The limit that applies to both
Whichever remedy is in play, it reaches only what crosses the line. Branches may be cut insofar as they may spread over your property; roots may be cut within his property. Neither entitles you to enter the neighbour's land, to cut back beyond the boundary, or to remove the tree. Cutting a root at the boundary is lawful even if the tree suffers for it; going a metre further to make a cleaner job of it is not. And a demand that the whole tree come down is not a demand this article supports.
What the fruit on those branches is worth to you
A common assumption is that a branch hanging over your yard makes its fruit yours. It does not — the tree and what it produces remain the neighbour's, and the overhang gives you a right to have the branch removed rather than a right to harvest from it. Fruit that falls of its own accord onto your land is treated differently by the Code, but shaking, picking or knocking it down is not the same thing. The distinction is small and it is the one that most often turns a minor annoyance into a barangay complaint.
Demand in writing, and mind what the cutting costs you
Put the branch complaint in a dated letter identifying the tree and the extent of the overhang, with photographs, and keep proof it was received — the right is a right to demand, so there must be a demand. Before cutting roots, be sure of where the boundary runs, because a root severed on the wrong side of an unsurveyed line is damage to your neighbour's tree rather than an exercise of this article. Consider also that heavy root cutting can destabilise a large tree, and a tree that later falls is a separate problem for whoever caused it.
Related provisions
- Civil Code, Article 680 — Overhanging Branches And Roots
- Civil Code, Article 679 — Distances For Planting Trees