Case Digests: Land Titles and Deeds

#4 Gomez vs. CA, 168 SCRA 503 (1988)

Case Title, GR ATTY. JOSE S. GOMEZ, DELFINA GOMEZ ESTRADA, ENRIQUITA GOMEZ OXCIANO, BENITA GOMEZ GARLITOS,
Number, Date REYNALDO GOMEZ ESPEJO, ARMANDO GOMEZ, ERLINDA GOMEZ GUICO, EUGENIA GOMEZ CALICDAN,
AZUCENA GOMEZ ORENCIA, TEODORO S. GOMEZ, JR., and ALEJO S. GOMEZ (now deceased) represented by
his wife, LETICIA Y. GOMEZ, and children, namely, MARGIE GOMEZ GOB, JACINTO Y. GOMEZ, ALEJO Y.
GOMEZ, JR., and MARY ANN Y. GOMEZ, petitioners, vs. HON. COURT OF APPEALS, HON. PEDRO G.
ADUCAYEN, Judge Regional Trial Court, San Carlos City (Pangasinan) Branch LVI, HON. CHIEF, LAND
REGISTRATION COMMISSION, Quezon City, Metro Manila, and SILVERIO G. PEREZ, Chief, Division of Original
Registration, Land Registration Commission, Quezon City, Metro Manila, respondents.

GR No. L-77770. December 15, 1988.

Ponente PADILLA, J.
Topic Special Patent
Facts • In the case of Government of the Philippine Islands vs. Abran, the court declared Consolacion Gomez
(Petitioner; the owner of certain lots. Petitioners became the absolute owners of the lots. Petitioners filed an
Respondent) application for registration of said lots, which the RTC granted. RTC issued an order expressly stating
that the decision become final and directed the LRC to issue the registration decrees.
• However, the RTC later amended its decision after the report of the LRC (now NLTDRA) had shown that
homestead patents had already been issued on some of the lots, and that as a rule, land already granted
by homestead patent can no longer be the subject of another registration.
• Petitioners argue that:
o The LRC’s report should have been submitted to the RTC before its decision became final
o The LRC’s report is inconsequential considering that no opposition was raised by the Bureau of
Lands during the registration proceedings
o After judgment has become final and executory, the court shall issue an order to the LRC for the
issuance of the registration decree and certificate of title. LRC’s duty to do so is purely ministerial.
o The law of the case is Government of the Philippine Islands vs. Abran, where it was decided that
the lands of Consolacion, from whom petitioners derive their ownership over the lots were not
public lands, and therefore they could not have been acquired by holders of homestead titles
Issue and
1. Whether prior to the LRC’s (now NLTDRA) issuance of the registration decree, the judge still has the power
Ruling and control over the decision he rendered? – YES
(Doctrine) o The finality or incontrovertibility of an adjudication of land in a registration or cadastral case takes place
only after the expiration of the 1-year period after entry of the final registration decree.
o As long as a final registration decree has not been entered by the LRC (now NLTDRA) and the period of
1 year has not elapsed from date of entry of such decree, the title is not finally adjudicated and the
decision in the registration proceeding continues to be under the control and sound discretion of the
court rendering it.
o Thus, the duty of land registration officials to render reports is not limited to the period before the
court’s decision becomes final, but may extend even after its finality but not beyond the lapse of 1 year
from the entry of the decree.
o The duty of land registration officials to issue the decree is ministerial in the sense that they act under
the orders of the court and the decree must be in conformity with the decision of the court. However,
if they are in doubt upon any point in relation to the preparation and issuance of the decree, it is their
duty to refer the matter to the court. They act, as officials of the court and not as administrative officials,
and their act is the act of the court. They are specifically called upon to “extend assistance to courts in
ordinary and cadastral land registration proceedings.”

2. Whether the case of Government vs. Abran is “the law of the case”? – NO
o The lots covered by homestead patents were not included among the private lands adjudicated to
Consolacion.
o The report of land registration officials states that the holders of the homestead patents registered the
lots in 1928 and 1929. The decision in Government of the Philippine Islands vs. Abran was promulgated
in 1931. Hence, the subject lots are specifically excluded from those adjudicated to Consolacion.
o A homestead patent, once registered under the Land Registration Act, becomes indefeasible and
incontrovertible as a Torrens title, and may no longer be the subject of an investigation for
determination or judgment in cadastral proceeding.
Dispositive • SC denied the petition.

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