You must know the technical meaning of an action, as opposed to a proceeding. You also have to know the differences among ordinary civil actions, special civil actions, criminal actions, and special proceedings. These words are not interchangeable and have technical meanings of their own.
Let's start with civil action. This is referred to in Rule 1, Section 3(a) as follows:
A civil action is one by which a party sues another for the enforcement or protection of a right, or the prevention or redress of a wrong. A civil action may either be ordinary or special.
As you can see, a civil action has two purposes: first, the enforcement or protection of a right; second, the prevention or redress of a wrong.
Note that remedial law does not declare or create rights. That is done by substantive law, such as the 1987 Constitution and the Family Code. The Bill of Rights of the Consitution (Article (III) enumerates certain human rights which are inherent in every individual, such as the right to privacy, and the right to equal protection of the law. The Family Code enumerates the rights and obligations of husband and wife, such as the right to live together, observe mutual love, respect, and fidelity, and render mutual help and support.
What remedial law does, specifically the rule on ordinary civil actions is to enforce or protect a right or to prevent or redress a wrong. Thus, to provide redress when one's right to privacy has been violated, one can bring an action for damages. Or to enforce a spouse's right to financial support, the aggrieved spouse can bring an action for support.
The determinative word in the phrase "ordinary civil action" is the word "action". Its technical meaning is that of a dispute, a contention, or a conflict between the parties. You can imagine one party fighting another, and this will connote "action" in your mind.
Cause of action
Why am I emphasizing this? Because in an ordinary civil action, there has to be a cause of action. There has to be a conflict, a contention, a dispute. Remember, without any cause of action, there is no civil action. But, there could be a special proceeding which, by definition, is "a remedy by which a party seeks to establish a status, a right, or a particular fact." (Rule 1, Section 3c) More on that later. For this moment, let us focus on the word "action."
Cause of action is defined this way in Rule 2, Section 2:
Cause of action is defined this way in Rule 2, Section 2:
Sec. 2. Cause of action, defined. - A cause of action is the act or omission by which a party violates a right of another.
Elements of a cause of action
A cause of action has three elements. As stated in the case of Spouses Nolasco Fernandez et al vs. Smart Communications, Inc., GR No. 212885, July 17, 2019:
A complaint states a cause of action if it sufficiently avers the existence of the three (3) essential elements of a cause of action, namely: (a) a right in favor of the plaintiff by whatever means and under whatever law it arises or is created; (b) an obligation on the part of the named defendant to respect or not to violate such right; and (c) an act or omission on the part of the named defendant violative of the right of the plaintiff or constituting a breach of the obligation of defendant to the plaintiff for which the latter may maintain an action for recovery of damages. If the allegations of the complaint do not state the concurrence of these elements, the complaint becomes vulnerable to a motion to dismiss on the ground of failure to state a cause of action. (Emphasis supplied)
These three elements must all be present in a civil action, otherwise, the case will be dismissed.
Rights and obligations
I looked at the popular definitions of rights, and they are as follows:
- a moral or legal entitlement to have or obtain something or to act in a certain way. (Oxford Languages)
- a moral or legal entitlement to have or obtain something or to act in a certain way. (Merriam-Webster)
- a power or privilege held by the general public as the result of a constitution, statute, regulation, judicial precedent, or other type of law. (Wex Toolbox)
- Law
- Contracts
- Quasi-contracts
- Delicts
- Quasi-delicts
For more information, see Project Jurisprudence.
Parties to a civil action
The parties to an ordinary civil action are known as the plaintiff and defendant. Rule 3, Section1 states:
Section 1. Who may be parties; plaintiff and defendant. - Only natural or juridical persons, or entities authorized by law may be parties in a civil action. The term "plaintiff" may refer to the claiming party, the counter-claimant, the cross-claimant, or the third (fourth, etc.)[-]party plaintiff. The term "defendant "may refer to the original defending party, the defendant in a counterclaim, the cross-defendant, or the third (fourth, etc.) - party defendant.
The word "plaintiff" comes from the Anglo-French word "pleintif" which means "complaining". It can be traced back to the word "plaint" meaning "lamentation."
From there, you can see that the plaintiff and the defendant are contending against each other. The plaintiff is claiming from the defendant, while the latter is defending himself.
That is not the case in special proceedings.
Special proceedings
I mentioned earlier that ordinary civil actions refer to "actions" but not "proceedings". There is a technical meaning for special proceedings in remedial law, and this is found in Rule 1, Section 3(c):
(c) A special proceeding is a remedy by which a party seeks to establish a status, a right, or a particular fact.
Do not interchange these two terms. Actions have the three elements of a cause of action, while special proceedings do not pertain to any action, conflict, or dispute. Instead, they seek to establish a status, a right, or a particular fact.
There are several kinds of special proceedings, one of which is guardianship under Rules 92 to 97. There are two main facts sought to be established in this kind of proceeding. First, that the person sought to be placed under guardianship is an "incompetent" as defined by law. Second, that the person sought to be appointed as guardian is duly qualified.
A guardianship proceeding does not involve any dispute between the prospective guardian and the prospective ward. One is not suing the other because of any violation.
Therefore, the person who brings the proceeding is not a plaintiff. He is a petitioner. He is petitioning, or praying, for something. The prospective ward is not a defendant. He is not defending himself against any claim of the petitioner. If he will oppose the petition, he does so by proving that he does not come under the definition of incompetent, but he will not be denying any liability to the petitioner because he has not committed any act or omission against the petitioner. He can be designated as an oppositor or a respondent, but not a defendant.
Special Civil Actions
Special civil actions are those which are governed by specific provisions of the Rules of Court, such as interpleader, petition for certiorari, mandamus or prohibition, foreclosure of real estate mortgage, or expropriation.
Criminal Actions
Criminal actions are those by which the State prosecutes persons for acts or omissions punishable by law. These are governed by the Revised Penal Code, the Rules of Criminal Procedure, and other penal laws.
Actions and proceedings not covered by the Rules of Court
There are also actions and proceedings that are not covered by the Rules of Court because there are specific laws and rules that govern them. Under Rule 1, Section 4, these are election cases, land registration, cadastral, naturalization and insolvency proceedings, and other cases not provided for.
In these cases, the Rules of Court may apply by analogy or in a suppletory character whenever practicable and convenient.
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