HEIRS OF MARIO MALABANAN vs.
Community Environment & Natural
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES
HEIRS OF MARIO MALABANAN vs.
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES
GR No. 179987
April 29, 2009
en banc
FACTS:
On 20 February 1998, Mario Malabanan
filed an application for land registration
before the RTC of Cavite-Tagaytay,
covering a parcel of land situated in Silang
Cavite, consisting of 71,324 square meters.
Malabanan claimed that he had purchased
the property from Eduardo Velazco, and that
he and his predecessors-in-interest had been
in open, notorious, and continuous adverse
and peaceful possession of the land for more
than thirty (30) years. Velazco testified that
the property was originally belonged to a
twenty-two hectare property owned by his
great-grandfather, Lino Velazco. Lino had
four sons Benedicto, Gregorio, Eduardo
and Estebanthe fourth being Aristedess
grandfather. Upon Linos death, his four
sons inherited the property and divided it
among themselves. But by 1966, Estebans
wife, Magdalena, had become the
administrator of all the properties inherited
by the Velazco sons from their father, Lino.
After the death of Esteban and Magdalena,
their son Virgilio succeeded them in
administering the properties, including Lot
9864-A, which originally belonged to his
uncle, Eduardo Velazco. It was this property
that was sold by Eduardo Velazco to
Malabanan.
Among the evidence presented by
Malabanan during trial was a Certification
dated 11 June 2001, issued by the
Resources Office, Department of
Environment and Natural Resources
(CENRO-DENR), which stated that the
subject property was verified to be within
the Alienable or Disposable land per Land
Classification Map No. 3013 established
under Project No. 20-A and approved as
such under FAO 4-1656 on March 15,
1982. On 3 December 2002, the RTC
approved the application for registration.
The Republic interposed an appeal to the
Court of Appeals, arguing that Malabanan
had failed to prove that the property
belonged to the alienable and disposable
land of the public domain, and that the RTC
had erred in finding that he had been in
possession of the property in the manner and
for the length of time required by law for
confirmation of imperfect title. On 23
February 2007, the Court of Appeals
reversed the RTC ruling and dismissed the
appliocation of Malabanan.
ISSUES:
1. In order that an alienable and disposable
land of the public domain may be registered
under Section 14(1) of Presidential Decree
No. 1529, otherwise known as the Property
Registration Decree, should the land be
classified as alienable and disposable as of
June 12, 1945 or is it sufficient that such
classification occur at any time prior to the
filing of the applicant for registration
provided that it is established that the
applicant has been in open, continuous,
exclusive and notorious possession of the
land under a bona fide claim of ownership
since June 12, 1945 or earlier?
2. For purposes of Section 14(2) of the
Property Registration Decree may a parcel
of land classified as alienable and disposable
be deemed private land and therefore
susceptible to acquisition by prescription in
accordance with the Civil Code?
3. May a parcel of land established as
agricultural in character either because of its
use or because its slope is below that of
forest lands be registrable under Section
14(2) of the Property Registration Decree in
relation to the provisions of the Civil Code
on acquisitive prescription?
4. Are petitioners entitled to the registration
of the subject land in their names under
Section 14(1) or Section 14(2) of the
Property Registration Decree or both?
HELD:
The Pertition is denied.
(1) In connection with Section 14(1) of the
Property Registration Decree, Section 48(b)
of the Public Land Act recognizes and
confirms that those who by themselves or
through their predecessors in 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
acquisition of ownership, since June 12,
1945 have acquired ownership of, and
registrable title to, such lands based on the
length and quality of their possession.
(a) Since Section 48(b) merely requires
possession since 12 June 1945 and does not
require that the lands should have been
alienable and disposable during the entire
period of possession, the possessor is
entitled to secure judicial confirmation of his
title thereto as soon as it is declared
alienable and disposable, subject to the
timeframe imposed by Section 47 of the
Public Land Act.
(b) The right to register granted under
Section 48(b) of the Public Land Act is
further confirmed by Section 14(1) of the
Property Registration Decree.
(2) In complying with Section 14(2) of the
Property Registration Decree, consider that
under the Civil Code, prescription is
recognized as a mode of acquiring
ownership of patrimonial property.
However, public domain lands become only
patrimonial property not only with a
declaration that these are alienable or
disposable. There must also be an express
government manifestation that the property
is already patrimonial or no longer retained
for public service or the development of
national wealth, under Article 422 of the
Civil Code. And only when the property has
become patrimonial can the prescriptive
period for the acquisition of property of the
public dominion begin to run.
(a) Patrimonial property is private property
of the government. The person acquires
ownership of patrimonial property by
prescription under the Civil Code is entitled
to secure registration thereof under Section
14(2) of the Property Registration Decree.
(b) There are two kinds of prescription by
which patrimonial property may be
acquired, one ordinary and other
extraordinary. Under ordinary acquisitive
prescription, a person acquires ownership of
a patrimonial property through possession
for at least ten (10) years, in good faith and
with just title. Under extraordinary
acquisitive prescription, a persons
uninterrupted adverse possession of
patrimonial property for at least thirty (30)
years, regardless of good faith or just title,
ripens into ownership.
It is clear that the evidence of petitioners is
insufficient to establish that Malabanan has
acquired ownership over the subject
property under Section 48(b) of the Public
Land Act. There is no substantive evidence
to establish that Malabanan or petitioners as
his predecessors-in-interest have been in
possession of the property since 12 June
1945 or earlier. The earliest that petitioners
can date back their possession, according to
their own evidencethe Tax Declarations
they presented in particularis to the year
1948. Thus, they cannot avail themselves of
registration under Section 14(1) of the
Property Registration Decree.
Neither can petitioners properly invoke
Section 14(2) as basis for registration. While
the subject property was declared as
alienable or disposable in 1982, there is no
competent evidence that is no longer
intended for public use service or for the
development of the national evidence,
conformably with Article 422 of the Civil
Code. The classification of the subject
property as alienable and disposable land of
the public domain does not change its status
as property of the public dominion under
Article 420(2) of the Civil Code. Thus, it is
insusceptible to acquisition by prescription.
Krivenko vs. The Register of Deeds,
City of Manila
G.R. No. L-360 November 15, 1947
ALEXANDER A. KRIVENKO,
petitioner-appelant, vs. THE
REGISTER OF DEEDS, CITY OF
MANILA, respondent and appellee.
FACTS:
Alexander Krivenko, an alien, bought a
residential lot in December of 1941. The
registration was interrupted by war. In 1945,
he sought to accomplish the registration but
was denied by the register of deed on ground
that, being an alien, he cannot acquire land
within the jurisdiction. Krivenko appealed to
the Court.
ISSUES:
1. Whether or not an alien under our
Constitution may acquire residential land?
2. Whether or not the prohibitions of the
rights to acquire residential lot that was
already of private ownership prior to the
approval of this Constitutions is applicable
at the case at bar?
RULING:
1. NO. Under the Article XIII, Section 1, of
the Constitution states that: All agricultural,
timber, and mineral lands of the public
domain, water, minerals, coal, petroleum,
and other mineral oils, all forces of potential
energy, and other natural resources of the
Philippines belong to the State, and their
disposition, exploitation, development, or
utilization shall be limited to citizens of the
Philippines, or to corporations or
associations at least sixty per centum of the
capital of which is owned by such citizens,
subject to any existing right, grant, lease, or
concession at the time of the inauguration of
the Government established under this
Constitution. This means to say that, under
the provisions of the Constitutions, aliens
are not allowed to acquire the ownership of
urban or residential lands in the Philippines
and, as consequence, all acquisitions made
in contravention of the prohibitions since the
fundamental law became effective are null
and void per se and ab initio.
2. Prior to the Constitution, there were in the
Public Land Act No. 2874 sections 120 and
121 which granted aliens the right to acquire
private only by way of reciprocity. It is to be
observed that the pharase "no land" used in
this section refers to all private lands,
whether strictly agricultural, residential or
otherwise, there being practically no private
land which had not been acquired by any of
the means provided in said two sections.
Therefore, the prohibition contained in these
two provisions was, in effect, that no private
land could be transferred to aliens except
"upon express authorization by the
Philippine Legislature, to citizens of
Philippine Islands the same right to acquire,
hold, lease, encumber, dispose of, or alienate
land." In other words, aliens were granted
the right to acquire private land merely by
way of reciprocity.