Short answer. Yes. In an expropriation case under Rule 67, the plaintiff may take possession before compensation is finally fixed — but only after due notice to you and after depositing with the authorized government depositary an amount equivalent to the assessed value of the property for taxation purposes, held subject to the court's orders.
What the law says
the plaintiff shall have the right to take or enter upon the possession of the real property involved if he deposits with the authorized government depositary an amount equivalent to the assessed value of the property for purposes of taxation
Rule 67, Section 2 — Entry of plaintiff upon depositing value with authorized government depositary. Read the full provision →
What the law says
After such deposit is made the court shall order the sheriff or other proper officer to forthwith place the plaintiff in possession of the property involved
Rule 67, Section 2 — Entry of plaintiff upon depositing value with authorized government depositary. Read the full provision →
Possession follows a deposit, not final payment
Rule 67, Section 2 separates possession from payment. Upon filing the complaint or at any time after, and after due notice to the defendant, the plaintiff shall have the right to take or enter upon the possession of the real property involved if he deposits with the authorized government depositary an amount equivalent to the assessed value of the property for purposes of taxation. The owner's day for full compensation comes later, when the court fixes just compensation in the proceedings; what the deposit buys the expropriator is entry in the meantime. Notice to you and the deposit are both conditions — possession taken without either is not what the rule authorises.
What the deposit must be
The section is specific about form. The deposit shall be in money, unless the court authorises, in place of cash, a certificate of deposit of a government bank of the Republic of the Philippines payable on demand to the authorized government depositary. The amount is pegged to the property's assessed value for taxation. Where personal property is being expropriated, its value shall be provisionally ascertained and the amount to be deposited shall be promptly fixed by the court. Throughout, the money is held by such bank subject to the orders of the court — it secures the owner, but it is not yet theirs, and it is not yet the price.
The sheriff, not self-help
Entry is court-supervised: After such deposit is made the court shall order the sheriff or other proper officer to forthwith place the plaintiff in possession of the property involved, and the officer must promptly submit a report to the court, with copies served on the parties. For the owner, that report matters — it fixes the official date possession changed hands, a date that can bear on the compensation case that follows. If someone claiming to expropriate is on your land with no case filed, no notice, no deposit, and no sheriff, what is happening is not Rule 67 possession, and it is worth putting before a lawyer immediately.
The deposit is not the measure of what you get
Assessed value for taxation is routinely far below what property is actually worth, and the rule does not pretend otherwise — the deposit is a provisional security for entry, while just compensation remains to be determined in the case itself. Owners should therefore resist the instinct to treat the deposited figure as the offer, or its smallness as the final word. Note also that particular kinds of takings are governed by specific statutes that set their own, sometimes stricter, requirements for entry; which regime applies to your land is one of the first questions counsel will settle.