TONGSON vs.

DIRECTOR OF FORESTRY
September 27, 1977
G.R. No. L-34463

FACTS:
This case started in the application for registration of title of a lot (Lot 855). Testimonial
evidence shows that a parcel of land, to which the subject lot belong, was under the exclusive
possession of one Francisco Borja. Borja cut trees for firewood in the land. It was alleged that
the land at that time was a mangrove swamp. After subsequent transfers, a portion of the land
was transferred to Santiago Bermejo. After Santiagos death, Macario Bermejo, his heir and
administrator, converted the land into a fishpond.
ISSUE:
Whether or not a parcel of land, possessed as far back as 1905, which has been alleged to
be a mangrove swamp and converted into a fishpond, is considered as part of the timber domain,
and thus is not disposable and cannot be registered.
HELD:
The possession of Borja and the subsequent owners was peaceful, continuous, open, and
adverse under claim of ownership for a period of not less than 50 years. The application for
registration must be granted.
Besides, the definition of forestry; as including manglares found in the Administrative
Code of 1917 cannot affect rights which are vested prior to its enactment. The applicable law is
the Act of Congress of July 1st 1902. The Act classifies the public lands in the Philippine Islands
as timber, mineral or agricultural lands, and all public lands that are not timber or mineral lands
are necessarily agricultural public lands, whether they are used as nipa swamps, manglare,
fisheries, or ordinary farmlands. Therefore, mangrove lands are not forest lands in the sense in
which this phrase is used in the Act of Congress.
So even if the subject land was indeed a mangrove land, it still does not make it into an
inalienable forest land.