Text of the provision
Art. 47. Upon the dissolution of corporations, institutions and other entities for public interest or purpose mentioned in No. 2 of article 44, their property and other assets shall be disposed of in pursuance of law or the charter creating them. If nothing has been specified on this point, the property and other assets shall be applied to similar purposes for the benefit of the region, province, city or municipality which during the existence of the institution derived the principal benefits from the same.
(39a)
Civil Code of the Philippines, Republic Act No. 386, approved June 18, 1949, effective August 30, 1950. Reproduced in full; verified verbatim against the LawPhil and ChanRobles renderings and the Official Gazette, all three of which agree word for word.
What this article means
This closes the Code's short chapter on juridical persons. When a corporation, institution, or other entity organized for a public interest or purpose (the class described in Article 46's cross-reference to Article 44, No. 2 — provinces, cities, municipalities, and other public corporations, as distinct from private ones) is dissolved, its property does not simply escheat or vanish. It is disposed of as its own charter or enabling law provides; only if that law is silent does the property go to similar purposes benefiting the region, province, city, or municipality that principally benefited from the institution while it existed. The rule keeps assets impressed with a public character tied to a public use even after the entity that held them is gone.
Related provisions
- Article 46 — Powers of Juridical Persons.
- Article 48 — Who Are Citizens of the Philippines.
Cases interpreting this article
- Authorities on this article will be added here as each is verified against primary sources.