Dream Village Neighborhood Association Inc.

, Represented by its Incumbent President, Greg

Seriego, Petitioner, vs. Bases Conversion Development Authority, Respondent
G.R. No. 192896, July 24, 2013

Facts: Dream Village, composed of more than 2,000 families have been occupying the disputed lot
continuously, exclusively and notoriously since the year 1985. Said lot used to be a part of the Hacienda
de Maricaban, which was subsequently purchased by the government of the United States of America
(USA) and was converted to Fort William McKinley. Later on, USA transferred 30 hectares of it to the
Manila Railroad Company, while the rest were still in the name of US Government. Finally, on December
of 1956, the US government ceded Fort William McKinley to the Republic of the Philippines (RP) and was
renamed Fort Bonifacio, reserved for military purposes. On January 1986, President Marcos Issued
Proclamation No. 2476 declaring certain portions of Fort Bonifacio alienable and disposable, thus
allowing sale to the settlers of home lots in Upper Bicutan, Lower Bicutan, Signal Village, and Western
Bicutan. President Corazon Aquino on the other hand amended the proclamation of Pres. Marcos and
limited the lots which were open for disposition. On March of 1992, the Bases conversion and
Development Authority (BCDA) was created to oversee and accelerate the conversion of Clark and
Military Reservations to productive civilian uses, which then authorized the President of the Philippines to
sell the lands covered in whole or in part, specifically to raise capital for the BCDA. BCDA asserted its title
to Dream Village owing to the fact that BCDA’s titles over Fort Bonifacio are valid and commercially
valuable to the agency, however, due to the passage of time, was contended to have been abandoned to
Dream Village, and that BCDA’s right over it has already prescribed.

Issue: Whether the area occupied by Dream Village is susceptible of acquisition by prescription.

Ruling: No. Property of the State or any of its subdivisions not patrimonial in character shall not be the
object of prescription (Art.1113, NCC). Also, under Article 422 of the Civil Code, public domain lands
become patrimonial property only if there is a declaration that these are alienable or disposable, together
with an express government manifestation that the property is already patrimonial or no longer retained
for public service or the development of national wealth. Only when the property has become patrimonial
can the prescriptive period for the acquisition of property of the public dominion begin to run. It is also
stipulated under PD 1529 that before the acquisitive prescription can commence, the property must
expressly declared by the State that it is no longer intended for public service or the development of
national wealth, and that absent such express declaration, the land remains to be property of public
dominion. Subsequent proclamations over vast portions of Maricaban exempted the lot where Dream
Village was situated from being open for disposition, thus Fort Bonifacio remains a property of public
Dominion of the State because although declared alienable and disposable, it is reserved for some public
service or development of national wealth, and thus, the acquisitive prescription asserted by Dream
Village has not even begun to run. Thus, the area occupied by Dream Village is still not susceptible of
acquisition by prescription.