New Rules Concerning Registering Title to Unregistered Lands

Heirs of Malabanan v. Republic was decided last April 29, and this case reexamined all the rules relating to the right to seek original registration of lands yet untitled under the Torrens system (i.e., alienable or disposable lands of the public domain). In particular, the Supreme Court established what are now the operative guidelines in seeking registration under Section 14(1) and (2) of the Property Registration Decree. These guidelines are summarized as follows:

(1) In connection with Section 14(1) of the Property Registration Decree, Section 48(b) of the Public Land Act recognizes and confirms that “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 bona fide claim of acquisition of ownership, since June 12, 1945” have acquired ownership of, and registrable title to, such lands based on the length and quality of their possession.

(a) Since Section 48(b) merely requires possession since 12 June 1945 and does not require that the lands should have been alienable and disposable during the entire period of possession, the possessor is entitled to secure judicial confirmation of his title thereto as soon as it is declared alienable and disposable, subject to the timeframe imposed by Section 47 of the Public Land Act.

(b) The right to register granted under Section 48(b) of the Public Land Act is further confirmed by Section 14(1) of the Property Registration Decree.

(2) In complying with Section 14(2) of the Property Registration Decree, consider that under the Civil Code, prescription is recognized as a mode of acquiring ownership of patrimonial property. However, public domain lands become only patrimonial property not only with a declaration that these are alienable or disposable. There must also be an express government manifestation that the property is already patrimonial or no longer retained for public service or the development of national wealth, under Article 422 of the Civil Code. And only when the property has become patrimonial can the prescriptive period for the acquisition of property of the public dominion begin to run.

(a) Patrimonial property is private property of the government. The person acquires ownership of patrimonial property by prescription under the Civil Code is entitled to secure registration thereof under Section 14(2) of the Property Registration Decree.

(b) There are two kinds of prescription by which patrimonial property may be acquired, one ordinary and other extraordinary. Under ordinary acquisitive prescription, a person acquires ownership of a patrimonial property through possession for at least ten (10) years, in good faith and with just title. Under extraordinary acquisitive prescription, a person’s uninterrupted adverse possession of patrimonial property for at least thirty (30) years, regardless of good faith or just title, ripens into ownership.

The decision recognized that in ruling that the declaration of alienability or disposability of public domain lands is insufficient to convert such property into patrimonial property, the right of registration under Section 14(2) has been significantly limited. At the same time, the decision called for legislation to remedy the problem, given the vast numbers of people who may be affected by the ruling.

There are two dissenting opinions, by Justices Brion and Chico-Nazario. They both focus on Section 14(1), which concerns the right of registration for persons able to establish possession of such lands since 12 June 1945 or earlier.