"x x x.
“An action for unlawful detainer exists when a person unlawfully withholds possession of any land or building against or from a lessor, vendor, vendee or other persons, after the expiration or termination of the right to hold possession, by virtue of any contract, express or implied.”[16] “The only issue to be resolved in an unlawful detainer case is physical or material possession of the property involved, independent of any claim of ownership by any of the parties involved.”[17] “Thus, when the relationship of lessor and lessee is established in an unlawful detainer case, any attempt of the parties to inject the question of ownership into the case is futile, except insofar as it might throw light on the right of possession.”[18]
In the present case, it is undisputed that the petitioner and the respondent entered into a contract of lease. We note in this regard that in her answer with affirmative defenses and counterclaim before the MeTC, the petitioner did not deny that she signed the lease contract (although she maintained that her signature was obtained through the respondent’s misrepresentations). Under the lease contract, the petitioner obligated herself to pay a monthly rental to the respondent in the amount of P3,960.00. The lease period was for one year, commencing on January 1, 1997 and expiring on December 31, 1997. It bears emphasis that the respondent did not give the petitioner a notice to vacate upon the expiration of the lease contract in December 1997 (the notice to vacate was sent only on August 5, 1998), and the latter continued enjoying the subject premises for more than 15 days, without objection from the respondent. By the inaction of the respondent as lessor, there can be no inference that it intended to discontinue the lease contract.[19] An implied new lease was therefore created pursuant to Article 1670 of the Civil Code, which expressly provides:
Article 1670. If at the end of the contract the lessee should continue enjoying the thing leased for fifteen days with the acquiescence of the lessor, and unless a notice to the contrary by either party has previously been given, it is understood that there is an implied new lease, not for the period of the original contract, but for the time established in Articles 1682 and 1687. The other terms of the original contract shall be revived.
“An implied new lease or tacita reconduccion will set in when the following requisites are found to exist: a) the term of the original contract of lease has expired; b) the lessor has not given the lessee a notice to vacate; and c) the lessee continued enjoying the thing leased for fifteen days with the acquiescence of the lessor.”[20] As earlier discussed, all these requisites have been fulfilled in the present case.
Article 1687 of the Civil Code on implied new lease provides:
Article 1687. If the period for the lease has not been fixed, it is understood to be from year to year, if the rent agreed upon is annual; from month to month, if it is monthly; from week to week, if the rent is weekly; and from day to day, if the rent is to be paid daily.
Since the rent was paid on a monthly basis, the period of lease is considered to be from month to month, in accordance with Article 1687 of the Civil Code. “[A] lease from month to month is considered to be one with a definite period which expires at the end of each month upon a demand to vacate by the lessor.”[21] When the respondent sent a notice to vacate to the petitioner on August 5, 1998, thetacita reconduccion was aborted, and the contract is deemed to have expired at the end of that month. “[A] notice to vacate constitutes an express act on the part of the lessor that it no longer consents to the continued occupation by the lessee of its property.”[22] After such notice, the lessee’s right to continue in possession ceases and her possession becomes one of detainer.[23]
x x x."
