Short answer. Yes. Abandonment of the thing is the first of the ways Article 555 lists by which a possessor loses possession. But abandonment means voluntarily giving the thing up with the intention of no longer possessing it — not a mere temporary absence — and the real right of possession is not lost until ten years pass.
What the law says
A possessor may lose his possession: (1) By the abandonment of the thing;
Civil Code, Article 555 — How Possession Is Lost. Read the full provision →
What the law says
But the real right of possession is not lost till after the lapse of ten years.
Civil Code, Article 555 — How Possession Is Lost. Read the full provision →
Abandonment is the first way possession ends
Article 555 lists the ways possession comes to an end, and it opens with the plainest of them: a possessor may lose his possession: (1) By the abandonment of the thing. Abandonment is a voluntary loss of possession — the possessor himself lets the thing go. It stands apart from the other modes in the list precisely because it is the possessor's own act; no one takes the property from him, and nothing happens to the property itself. He simply gives it up, and with that his possession ends.
What abandonment actually requires
Not every parting from a thing is abandonment. It requires both the physical relinquishment of the property and the intention to give up possession for good. A possessor who leaves his land for a season, or who is temporarily kept off it, has not abandoned it — he means to return and to keep possessing. Abandonment is the deliberate casting-off of the thing with no intention of retaining any hold on it. Because intent is central, a claim that someone abandoned property has to rest on conduct showing that settled purpose, not merely on absence or neglect, which are consistent with an intention to keep possessing.
The other ways possession is lost
Abandonment heads a longer list. Possession is also lost by an assignment of the thing to another, whether by onerous or gratuitous title; by the destruction or total loss of the thing, or its going out of commerce; and by another person's possession, where that new possession has lasted longer than one year. Each describes a different route out of possession — the possessor's transfer, the thing's disappearance from legal commerce, or a rival's sustained holding — but abandonment remains the one that turns entirely on the possessor's own decision to let go, rather than on an outside event or another's act.
The real right survives for ten years
Losing possession as a fact is not the same as losing the right behind it. The article ends with an important reservation: but the real right of possession is not lost till after the lapse of ten years. Even after a possessor is out of possession, the underlying real right endures for that period, giving him a window in which the law still recognises his position and he may act to recover. So a possessor who has been dispossessed, or who let the thing slip, is not necessarily without remedy — the date on which possession was lost, and how much of the ten years remains, is what he should establish first.
Cases citing this provision
These Supreme Court decisions cite the provision above. We list them so you can read them yourself; the summaries of what each decided are not ours to give.
- The Heirs of Alfredo Cullado, namely: Lolita Cullado, et al. vs. Dominic V. Gutierrez, G.R. No. 212938, July 30, 2019 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Adoracion L. Basilio and Lolita P. Lucero vs. Perla Callo, G.R. No. 223763, November 23, 2020 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Heirs of Jose Peñaflor vs. Heirs of Artemio and Lydia Dela Cruz, G.R. No. 197797, August 9, 2017 — read the decision on LawPhil →