Non-registrable properties:

1. Property of public dominion

2. Forest lands
3. Watersheds
4. Mangrove swamps
5. Mineral lands
6. National parks
7. Military or naval reservation
8. Foreshore lands and reclaimed lands
Foreshore land is that strip of land that lies between the high and low water
marked and that is alternately wet and dry according to the flow of the tide
or that part of the land adjacent to the sea which is alternately covered by the
ordinary flow of the tides.
9. Submerged areas
10. Lakes
11. Navigable waters
12. Creeks
13. Reservations for public and semi-public purposes

Section 48(c) shall now apply only to A and D lands:

1. ownership based on adverse possession
2. period of possession
3. RA NO. 9176 has extended period of filing to December 31, 2020
4. Requisites for availment of Chapter VIII
5. Land must be A and D at the time the application for confirmation is filed
6. Rule different where land is not registrable as when it forms part of the
public forest
7. Non-registrable properties
8. Where applicant has acquired a right to a government grant, application is a
mere formality
When the onditions specified in Section 48(b) of the PLA are complied with,
the possessor is deemed to have acquired, by operation of law, a right to a
grant, without the necessity of a certificate of title being issued. The land,
therefore, ceases to be of public domain, and beyond the authority of the
Director to dispose of. The application for confirmation is a mere formality,
the lack of which does not affect the legal sufficiency of the title as would be
evidenced by the patent and the Torrens title to be issued upon the strength
of said patent. (Herico v DAR, GR No. 23265)

9. Vested right cannot be impaired by subsequent law

10. Land declared public land in a previous registration case may be the subject
of judicial confirmation
Basically because Act 141 presupposes that the land is public (Zara v
Director of Lands, GR No. 19535)
11. Hearing
 RTC
12. Burden of proof rests on applicant
13. The law requires both possession and occupation
14. Judgment
15. Order for the issuance of the decree