Short answer. The head of the family living in that unit. Article 2193 makes whoever heads the household in a building, or in a part of it, responsible for damages caused by things thrown or falling from it. Liability follows occupancy of the unit, not ownership of the tower.
What the law says
The head of a family that lives in a building or a part thereof, is responsible for damages caused by things thrown or falling from the same.
Civil Code, Article 2193 — Things Thrown or Falling from a Building. Read the full provision →
Why the article names a household and not a person
The head of a family that lives in a building or a part thereof, is responsible for damages caused by things thrown or falling from the same. The words or a part thereof are what bring a condominium unit inside the rule. The practical value of the provision is that the injured pedestrian does not have to prove which member of the household knocked the pot over, or that anyone was careless at all. It is enough to establish which unit the object fell from. That is a deliberate allocation: the people inside know what happened on their balcony and the person on the pavement never can.
It only reaches things falling from the dwelling
The article is about a household and the space it occupies, so it does nothing for an object that came loose from the facade, a common corridor, a rooftop deck or a planter box maintained by the building itself. Damage from those points is dealt with elsewhere, ordinarily through the proprietor's responsibility for a structure in want of necessary repairs under Article 2190, or through the general rule in Article 2176 obliging whoever causes damage by fault or negligence to pay for it. Identifying the exact origin of the fall is therefore not a detail; it decides who is sued.
Others who may answer alongside
Responsibility under Article 2193 does not displace the ordinary routes. Article 2180 makes the obligation in Article 2176 demandable not only for one's own acts but for those of persons one is responsible for, including employers for damages caused by household helpers acting within the scope of their assigned tasks. If the plants were being watered by staff, that is a second and independent basis. The same article ends by allowing those it names to escape liability on proof that they observed all the diligence of a good father of a family to prevent the damage.
What to secure while it is still available
Building footage is usually overwritten within weeks, so a written request to preserve it should go to the administration immediately, along with the incident report and the guard's logbook entry. Keep the object itself and photograph the balcony from below before anything is tidied. On the claim side, Article 2199 allows compensation only for pecuniary loss duly proved, which means medical records and receipts, while Article 2217 recognises that physical suffering and mental anguish are compensable even though they cannot be computed.
Related provisions
- Civil Code, Article 2193 — Things Thrown or Falling from a Building
- Civil Code, Article 2176 — Quasi-Delict Defined (Culpa Aquiliana)
- Civil Code, Article 2180 — Vicarious Liability
- Civil Code, Article 2190 — Liability for a Collapsing Building