MateoCariovsTheInsularGovernment

(March1907)

8 Phil. 150 Civil Law Land Titles and Deeds Ancestral Domain
Ancestral Land Claim

Political Law Regalian Doctrine

In February 1904, Mateo Cario filed a claim before the Court of Land
Registration praying that he be granted title over a 40 hectare land in
the then town of Baguio, Province of Benguet.

The government filed its opposition as it averred that Cario or his

predecessors in interest did not continuously, exclusively, and
adversely possessed the said parcel of land. Cario interposed that he
and his ancestors had been in possession over said parcel of land since
time immemorial. And that in 1901, Cario filed a claim under the
mortgage law over said parcel of land.

The government maintained that whatever right Cario and his

predecessors had over the said parcel of land, the same had already
prescribed by reason of their failure to register their title during the
Spanish Era. Under Spanish Law (specifically, a decree issued in 1880),
a land privately held, if not registered, shall revert back to the public
(regalian doctrine).

ISSUE: Whether or not Carios claim must be granted.

HELD: No. Cario was not able to support his claim. As a rule, a parcel
of land, being of common origin, presumptively belonged to the State
during its sovereignty, and, in order to perfect the legitimate
acquisition of such land by private persons, it was necessary that the
possession of the same pass from the State.

The parcel of land being contested here was not part of the lands
disposed off during the Spanish Era. The last disposition made by the
Spanish government was in 1894. The lands disposed in 1894 did not
include the land being claimed by Cario hence, said land is presumed
to belong to the State.
It is true that the American Government (which was then ruling the
Philippines at the time of this case) provided that prescription may
favor a land claimant but only in instances where the Spanish
Government has allowed the claimant to cultivate an unappropriated
land. There was no showing that Cario or his predecessors in interest
were allowed to cultivate said land (title of egresion or title of
composicion). In short, Cario or his predecessors in interest failed to
show that they were able to comply with the legal requisites for them
to acquire title.

His claim of title under the mortgage law is only possessory. He must
wait for twenty years to lapse before such can ripen to ownership.