Ten Forty Realty v. Marina Cruz

Summary

This ejectment case involved a property dispute between Ten Forty Realty and Marina Cruz over a residential lot in Olongapo City. Ten Forty claimed ownership through a 1996 purchase from Barbara Galino, while Cruz acquired the same property from Galino in 1998 and took actual possession. The Supreme Court ruled that Ten Forty's unlawful detainer case failed because it never proved tolerance of Cruz's occupation, making her possession illegal from the start and requiring a forcible entry action that had already prescribed. The Court also held that as a corporation, Ten Forty was constitutionally disqualified from acquiring the alienable public land, and that Cruz had preferential rights under the double sale doctrine as the first buyer in actual possession with good faith, despite being the second purchaser chronologically.