LAND TITLES AND DEEDS

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OF ATTY. HANNIYAH P. SEVILLA

I. CLASSIFICATION OF LANDS

• Focus of this area of study: only government lands of public domain, specifically those
agricultural in classification and have been declared as alienable and disposable.

• Government lands of private domain have already been discussed in Constitutional Law
I; whereas private property and rules on private ownership fall within Civil Law under
Property.

GOVERNMENT
LANDS

• ALIENABLE
• AGRICULTURAL
PUBLIC • INALIENABLE
• FOREST
DOMAIN • TIMBER
• MINERAL LANDS
• NATIONAL PARKS

PRIVATE •A&D
• NOT RESERVED
DOMAIN FOR PUBLIC USE

Figure 1: MATRIX OF CLASSIFICATION OF GOVERNMENT LANDS FOR PURPOSES OF STUDY OF L&T

• NO PUBLIC LAND CAN BE

LANDS OF PUBLIC ACQUIRED BY PRIVATE
DOMAIN PERSOS WITHOUT
EXPRESS GRANT

ALIENABLE AND • EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT

DISPOSABLE

•HOMESTEAD
•SALES
•FREE PATENT
AGRICULTURAL •RESIDENTIAL SALES
LANDS ONLY PATENT
•JUDICAL
CONFIRMATION OF
IMPERFECT TITLE.

Figure 2: REFERS TO HOW OWNERSHIP OF LANDS OF PUBLIC DOMAIN IS GRANTED TO AN INDIVIDUAL

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LAND TITLES AND DEEDS
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OF ATTY. HANNIYAH P. SEVILLA

1. WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF CLASSIFICATION OF LAND INTO ALIENABLE AND

DISPOSABLE?

• The rules on confirmation of imperfect titles do not apply unless and until the lands is
classified as alienable and disposable by a positive act of the government;

• In the absence of classification, it cannot be rendered open for disposition;

• Under the Regalian doctrine, which is embodied in our Constitution, all lands of the
public domain belong to the State, which is the source of any asserted right to any
ownership of land. All lands not appearing to be clearly within private ownership are
presumed to belong to the State. Accordingly, public lands not shown to have been
reclassified or released as alienable agricultural land or alienated to a private person
by the State remain part of the inalienable public domain. Unless public land is shown
to have been reclassified as alienable or disposable to a private person by the State,
it remains part of the inalienable public domain. Property of the public domain is
beyond the commerce of man and not susceptible of private appropriation and
acquisitive prescription. Occupation thereof in the concept of owner no matter how
long cannot ripen into ownership and be registered as a title. The burden of proof in
overcoming the presumption of State ownership of the lands of the public domain is
on the person applying for registration (or claiming ownership), who must prove that
the land subject of the application is alienable or disposable. To overcome this
presumption, incontrovertible evidence must be established that the land subject of
the application (or claim) is alienable or disposable. (Republic vs. Heirs of Sin)

2. WHO CLASSIFIES LAND OF PUBLIC DOMAIN

• The classification of public lands is an exclusive prerogative of the executive

department.

• There must be a positive act declaring land of the public domain as alienable and
disposable. To prove that the land subject of an application for registration is
alienable, the applicant must establish the existence of a positive act of the
government, such as a presidential proclamation or an executive order; an
administrative action; investigation reports of Bureau of Lands investigators; and a
legislative act or a statute. The applicant may also secure a certification from the
government that the land claimed to have been possessed for the required number
of years is alienable and disposable. (Valio vs. Republic)

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 LAND TITLES AND DEEDS
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OF ATTY. HANNIYAH P. SEVILLA

3. WHO CAN HOLD ALIENABLE LANDS OF PUBLIC DOMAIN

• All lands of public domains, waters and other natural resources are owned by the
State and with respect to agricultural lands, their alienation is limited to Filipino
citizens.

o Private corporations or associations may not hold such alienable lands of

public domain except by lease, for a period not exceeding 25 years, renewable
for not more than 25 years, and not to exceed 1,000 hectares;

o Citizens of the Philippines may not lease more than 500 hectares, or acquire
more than 12 hectares thereof by purchase, homestead, or grant.

o A natural born citizen of the Philippines who has lost his Philippine citizenship
may be a transferee of private lands, subject to limitations provided by law

HOW CAN YOU OWN ALIENABLE LANDS OF PUBLIC DOMAIN?

By purchase, homestead, or grant (government or court), through original registration.

Note: When the right of ownership or title to land is for the first time made of public record under
any of the existing systems of registration, it is known as original registration. Any transaction
affecting such originally registered land, is known as subsequent registration.

REGISTRATION OF PATENTS

PUBLIC LANDS
•AGRICULTURAL
AS CLASSIFIED ONLY
UNDER CA 141

HOMESTEAD
SALE
FREE PATENT

LAND BECOMES •SEE Garingan

vs. Garingan,
PRIVATE GR No.
PROPERTY 144095 (2005)

1. HOMESTEAD PATENTS

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LAND TITLES AND DEEDS
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OF ATTY. HANNIYAH P. SEVILLA

• Section 12, 14 of CA 141

• Any citizen of the Philippines
• Over 18 years of age, or the head of a family
• 12 hectare limit
• Applicant must have cultivated and improved at least 1/5th of the land continuously;
• Resident of the place where the land is situated for at least 1 year

2. SALES PATENT

• Sections 22, 26, 28 of CA 141

• Citizen of the Philippines at least 18 years of age, or head of the family
• Purchase any tract of agricultural land not to exceed 12 hectares;
• Sold to highest bidder
• Purchase shall have cultivated not less than 1/5th of the land within 5 years from date
of award;
• Before patent is issued, show actual occupancy, cultivation and improvement

3. FREE PATENT

• SECTION 44 of CA 141 as amended by RA No. 782, RA No. 6940, RA 10023

• Natural born citizen of the Philippines
• Not an owner of more than 12 hectares
• 30 years continuously occupied and cultivated, either by himself or predecessor in
interest, the agricultural public land;
• Paid real estate tax thereon

4. RESIDENTIAL FREE PATENTS

• Any Filipino citizen who is an actual occupant of a residential land may apply for a free
patent under the law, subject to the following maximum area limitations
o Highly urbanized cities – 200 sq m
o Other cities – 500 sq m
o First and second class municipalities – 750 sq meters
o All other municipalities – 1,000 sq m.

• It used to be that only agricultural lands may be subject to disposition under free
patent, but with the latest amendment, the following act now covers: lands that are
zoned as residential areas, including townsites as defined under CA 141, as amended;
and zoned residential areas located inside a delisted military reservation or
abandoned military camps.

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 LAND TITLES AND DEEDS
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OF ATTY. HANNIYAH P. SEVILLA

5. ORDINARY REGISTRATION PROCEEDINGS/JUDICIAL CONFIRMATION OF AN IMPERFECT

TITLE UNDER PD 1529.

Sec. 14. Who may apply. The following persons may file in the proper Court of First
Instance an application for registration of title to land, whether personally or through
their duly authorized representatives:

(1) 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 bonafide claim of ownership since June
12, 1945, or earlier;

(2) Those who have acquired ownership of private lands by prescription under the
provision of existing laws;

(3) Those who have acquired ownership of private lands or abandoned river beds by
right of accession or accretion under the existing laws; and

(4) Those who have acquired ownership of land in any other manner provided for by
law.

(1) 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 bonafide claim of ownership since June 12, 1945, or earlier;

NOTE: Twin requirements must be proven.

• OPEN, CONTINUOUS, EXCLUSIVE AND NOTORIOUS POSSESSION AND OCCUPATION

The applicant must present proof of specific acts of ownership to substantiate the claim and
cannot just offer general statements, which are mere conclusions of law rather than factual
evidence of possession. Actual possession consists in the manifestation of acts of dominion
over it of such a nature as a party would actually exercise over his own proper.

Claim of ownership of the subject properties based on the tax declarations they presented will
not prosper. It is only when these tax declarations are coupled with proof of actual possession
of the property that they may become the basis of a claim of ownership. (Cequena vs. Bolente,
386 Phil. 419, 422 (2000).

• ALIENABLE AND DISPOSABLE LANDS OF THE PUBLIC DOMAIN

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 LAND TITLES AND DEEDS
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OF ATTY. HANNIYAH P. SEVILLA

• The applicant for land registration must prove that the DENR Secretary had approved
the subject property as alienable and disposable; certifications issued by the CENRO,
or specialists of the DENR, as well as Survey Plans prepared by the DENR containing
annotations that the subject lots are alienable, do not constitute incontrovertible
evidence to overcome the presumption that the property sought to be registered
belongs to the inalienable public domain; the Court stressed the importance of
proving alienability by presenting a copy of the original classification of the land
approved by the DENR Secretary and certified as true copy by the legal custodian of
the official records. (Rep. of the Phils. vs. Mendiola, G.R. No. 211144, Dec. 13, 2017)

• The applicant for land registration must prove that the Department of Environment
and Natural Resources Secretary had approved the land classification and released
the land of the public domain as alienable and disposable, and that the land subject
of the application for registration falls within the approved area per verification
through survey by the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office or
CENRO. (Rep. of the Phils. vs. Metro Cebu Pacific Savings Bank, G.R. No. 205665, Oct.
04, 2017)

When should the classification be done?

• Petitioner suggests an interpretation that the alienable and disposable character of the
land should have already been established since June 12, 1945 or earlier. This is not borne
out by the plain meaning of Section 14(1). "Since June 12, 1945," as used in the provision,
qualifies its antecedent phrase "under a bonafide claim of ownership." Generally
speaking, qualifying words restrict or modify only the words or phrases to which they are
immediately associated, and not those distantly or remotely located.13 Ad proximum
antecedents fiat relation nisi impediatur sentencia.

Besides, we are mindful of the absurdity that would result if we adopt petitioner’s
position. Absent a legislative amendment, the rule would be, adopting the OSG’s view,
that all lands of the public domain which were not declared alienable or disposable
before June 12, 1945 would not be susceptible to original registration, no matter the
length of unchallenged possession by the occupant. Such interpretation renders
paragraph (1) of Section 14 virtually inoperative and even precludes the government
from giving it effect even as it decides to reclassify public agricultural lands as alienable
and disposable. The unreasonableness of the situation would even be aggravated
considering that before June 12, 1945, the Philippines was not yet even considered an
independent state.

Instead, the more reasonable interpretation of Section 14(1) is that it merely requires
the property sought to be registered as already alienable and disposable at the time the
application for registration of title is filed. If the State, at the time the application is

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 LAND TITLES AND DEEDS
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OF ATTY. HANNIYAH P. SEVILLA

made, has not yet deemed it proper to release the property for alienation or disposition,
the presumption is that the government is still reserving the right to utilize the property;
hence, the need to preserve its ownership in the State irrespective of the length of
adverse possession even if in good faith. However, if the property has already been
classified as alienable and disposable, as it is in this case, then there is already an
intention on the part of the State to abdicate its exclusive prerogative over the property.
(Republic vs. Court of Appeals, Naguit, GR No. 144057, January 17, 2005, see also
Malabanan vs. Republic, G. RNo. 179987, 2009 and 2013)

(2) Those who have acquired ownership of private lands by prescription under the provision of
existing laws;

As a general rule, prescription does not run against the government, unless the law expressly
provides.

Art. 1113 of the Civil Code provides: All things which are within the commerce of men are
susceptible of prescription, unless otherwise provided. Property of the State or any of its
subdivisions not patrimonial in character shall not be the object of prescription.

See Malabanan vs. Republic.

(3) Those who have acquired ownership of private lands or abandoned river beds by right of
accession or accretion under the existing laws; and

Article 461 of the Civil Code, provides, river beds which are abandoned through the natural
change in the course of the waters ipso facto belong to the owners whose lands are occupied by
the new course in proportion to the area lost. However, the owners of the lands adjoining the
old bed shall have the right to acquire the same by paying the value thereof, which value shall
not exceed the value of the area occupied by the new bed.

See: Pang-oden vs. Leonen, G. R. No. 138939, 2005.

Article 457 of the Civil code provides, that to the owners of lands adjoining the banks of rivers
belong to the accretion which they gradually receive from the effects of the current of the waters.

Requisites:
a. The deposit must be gradual and imperceptible;
b. That it be made through the effects of the current of the water;
c. That the land where accretion takes place is adjacent to the bank of rivers.

See: Republic vs. Tancinco, G. R. L-61647, 1984

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LAND TITLES AND DEEDS
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OF ATTY. HANNIYAH P. SEVILLA