Answer
Philippine law gives an owner three actions to recover real property, distinguished by what is recovered and where the case is filed. Accion interdictal — forcible entry and unlawful detainer under Rule 70 — recovers only physical possession (possession de facto), must be filed within one year in the first-level court, and is a summary proceeding. Accion publiciana is a plenary action for the better right of possession (possession de jure), filed after the one-year period has lapsed. Accion reivindicatoria is the action to recover ownership itself, including possession as an attribute of ownership.
Jurisdiction over accion publiciana and accion reivindicatoria turns on the assessed value of the property. Under Republic Act No. 11576 (effective 30 July 2021), the first-level courts have exclusive original jurisdiction where the assessed value does not exceed ₱400,000, and the Regional Trial Courts where it exceeds ₱400,000 — a uniform nationwide threshold that superseded the old ₱20,000 limit (₱50,000 in Metro Manila). Ejectment remains with the first-level courts regardless of value.
Researching Philippine law? Intellegal brings Philippine case-law search, statute and issuance exploration, multi-dimension case comparison, document visualization, and cited deep-research reports into a single workflow — with every citation traced back to its original source, so you can verify each answer rather than take it on trust. Every authority it surfaces links back to its original provision or decision, so you can open the source and confirm the wording yourself, and save or export the questions and reports you reference most. See the full report for the statutes and cases behind this answer, or explore the related questions below.