Laws & Jurisprudence
Land To Be Registered Must Already Been Declared Alienable And Disposable At The Time Of The Application For Registration
1:16 AM
This is a petition for review on certiorari seeking the
annulment of the Decision
of
the Court of Appeals (CA), dated December 13, 2006 which reversed and
set aside the Decision of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Tagaytay
City, Branch 18, in Land Registration Case No. TG-930.
The
instant petition arose from an application for registration of title
over a parcel of land filed by herein respondent, represented by her
attorneys-in-fact, Bernardo M. Nicolas, Jr. and Alvin B. Acayen. In
her application, respondent alleged, among others, that she is the
owner in fee simple of the subject lot, having acquired the same by
purchase as evidenced by a Deed of Absolute Sale dated December 2,
1994; that the said property is an agricultural land planted with
corn, palay, bananas, coconut and coffee by respondent's
predecessors-in-interest; that respondent and her
predecessors-in-interest had been in open, continuous, exclusive and
uninterrupted possession and occupation of the land under bona
fideclaim of ownership since the 1930's and that they have declared
the land for taxation purposes.
Subsequently,
the Republic of the Philippines, through the Office of the Solicitor
General (OSG), opposed the application contending that the muniments
of title, such as tax declarations and tax payment receipts, did not
constitute competent and sufficient evidence of a bona fide
acquisition of the land applied for nor of the alleged open,
continuous, exclusive and notorious possession by respondent and her
predecessors-in-interest as owners for the period required by law.
The OSG also argued that the subject lot is a portion of the public
domain belonging to the Republic of the Philippines which is not
subject to private appropriation.
The
RTC rendered its Decision denying respondent's application. The trial
court held that the evidence adduced by the applicant [herein
respondent] shows that the subject land applied for registration was
declared as not part of the forest land of the government before
March 15, 1982, or short of moreor less seven (7) years of the
required adverse possession of thirty (30) years.
Aggrieved
by the RTC Decision, herein respondent filed an appeal with the CA.
It reversed and set aside the Decision of the RTC. The CA held that
when the property was classified as alienable and disposable,
specifically on March 15, 1982, does not have any bearing with the
second requirement of possession so that despitethe fact that the
property became alienable and disposable only in 1982, the possession
requirement since June 12, 1945 stands so that, as in this case at
bench, when the possession was since 1930, which is before June 12,
1945, the requirement of possession has been met. Hence, this instant
petition.
ISSUE:
Is
the computation of the applicant's possession reckoned from the time
of declaration that the subject land is already alienable and
disposable?
RULING:
Possession
must be computed from the time of actual possession and not
from
the time of declaration that the subject land was already alienable
and disposable. Section 14(1), Presidential Decree No. 1529 provides
as follows:
Section
14. Who may apply. The following persons may file in the proper Court
of First Instance an application for registration of title to land,
whether personally or through their duly authorized representatives:
(1)
Those who by themselves or through their predecessorsin-interest have
been in open, continuous, exclusive and notorious possession and
occupation of alienable and disposable lands of the public domain
under a bona fide claim of ownership since June 12, 1945, or earlier.
In
the same manner, Section 48 of Commonwealth Act No. 141, otherwise
known as The Public Land Act, as amended by Presidential Decree No.
1073, states:
Sec.
48. The following described citizens of the Philippines, occupying
lands of the public domain orclaiming to own any such lands or an
interest therein, but whose titles have not been perfected or
completed, may apply to the Court of First Instance of the province
where the land is located for confirmation of their claims and the
issuance of a certificate of title therefor under the Land
Registration Act, to wit:
x
x x x
(b)
Those who by themselves or through their predecessors-ininterest have
been in open, continuous, exclusive, and notorious possession and
occupation of agricultural lands of the public domain, under a bona
fideclaim of acquisition or ownership, since June 12, 1945,
immediately preceding the filing of the application for confirmation
of title, except when prevented by war or force majeure. Those shall
be conclusively presumed to have performed all the conditions
essential to a government grant and shall be entitled to a
certificate oftitle under the provisions of this chapter.
Based
on the above provisions, an applicant for original registration of
title based on a claim of exclusive and continuous possession or
occupation must show the existence of the following:
1.
Open, continuous, exclusive and notorious possession, by themselves
or through their predecessors-in-interest, of land;
2.
The land possessed or occupied must have been declared alienable and
disposable agricultural land of public domain;
3.
The possession or occupation was under a bona fideclaim of ownership;
4.
Possession dates back to June 12, 1945 or earlier.
The
more reasonable interpretation of Section 14(1) is that it merely
requires the property sought to be registered as already alienable
and disposable at the time the application for registration of title
is filed. If the State, at the time the application is made, has not
yet deemed it proper to release the property for alienation or
disposition, the presumption is that the government is still
reserving the right to utilize the property; hence, the need to
preserve its ownership in the State irrespective of the length of
adverse possession even if in good faith. However, if the property
has already been classified as alienable and disposable, as it is in
this case, then there is already an intention on the part of the
State to abdicate its exclusive prerogative over the property. The
law imposes no requirement that land should have been declared
alienable and disposable agricultural land as early as June 12, 1945.
Therefore,
what is important in computing the period of possession is that the
land has already been declared alienable and disposable at the time
of the application for registration. Upon satisfaction of this
requirement, the computation of the period may include the period of
adverse possession prior to the declaration that land is alienable
and disposable.
Respondent’s
right to the original registration of title over the subject property
is, therefore, dependent on the existence of (a) a declaration that
the land is alienable and disposable at the time of the application
for registration and (b) open and continuous possession in the
concept of an owner through itself or through its
predecessors-in-interest since June 12, 1945 or earlier.
In
the present case, there is no dispute that the subject lot has been
declared alienable and disposable on March 15, 1982. This is more
than eighteen (18) years before respondent's application for
registration, which was filed on December 15, 2000. Moreover, the
unchallenged testimonies of two of respondent's witnesses established
that the latter and her predecessors-in-interest had been inadverse,
open, continuous, and notorious possession in the concept of an owner
even before June 12, 1945. The instant petition is DENIED.
G.R.
No. 176022,
February 2, 2015
REPUBLIC
OF THE PHILIPPINES, Petitioner,
vs. CECILIA
GRACE L. ROASA, married to GREG AMBROSE ROASA, as herein represented
by her Attorneys-in-Fact, BERNARDO M. NICOLAS, JR. and ALVIN B.
ACAYEN, Respondent.
PERALTA,
J.:
0 comments