DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS AND HIGHWAYS

Manila, Philippines
Simplified Guidelines for Validation and Evaluation of IROW Claims

CHAPTER II

HIGHWAY RIGHTS
INTRODUCTION
Generally, the width of a highway is in some instances prescribed by the statute under the
authority of which it is laid out. However, where the road has been laid out under a statute, it
is the statute and not the use that determines the width, as the failure of the state to open
the highway to its full width does not extinguish the rights of the public to the unused portion.
Accordingly, even though a highway is defectively laid out under color of statutory authority,
it will be deemed to create a prescriptive right to the widths prescribed by the statute,
although greater than the extent of actual use. However, where a highway has a specified
width and has not been developed or used for such purposes beyond that width, the public
authority has the burden of proving that it was originally laid out a greater width. (Federal
Highway Administration)
The Commonwealth Act 141 or known as Public Land Act of 1936 prescribed a reservation of
strip of land not exceeding twenty (20) meters in width for public highways, railroad, etc.
(Section 112). The reservation for right-of-way in unpatented land (Public domain) was
further reaffirmed in EO 47 (1936), EO 194 (1939), EO 294 (1940), EO 483 (1951) specifying
the sixty meters highway width for national roads. In 1952, then President Elpidio Quirino
issued Proclamation 336, withdrawing from settlement except by Homestead or Purchase in
small parcels public lands located along proposed road projects in the island of Mindanao1,
namely: a) Zamboanga-Pagadian Road, Province of Zamboanga.; b) Davao-Agusan Road,
Provinces of Davao and Agusan; c) Labungan-Tupi Road, Province of Cotabato and d)
Malabang-Maranding Road, Province of Lanao.
Subsequently, in 1955, the width of ROW for national roads, as prescribed in EO 113, is to be
not less than twenty (20) meters: Provided that a ROW at least sixty meters shall be reserved
for roads constructed through unpatented public land and at least one hundred twenty meters
reserved through naturally forested areas of aesthetic or scientific values. Further, EO 113 of
1955 enumerated the various national and provincial roads nationwide. Refer to Laws
Prescribing Highway Widths on pp. A1-A2. In 1975, under the Marcos regime, the width of
twenty meters for right-of-way as prescribed in CA 141 was increased to sixty meters in
patented lands (PD 635, Jan. 7, 1975). However, in 1980, EO 113 (1955) was amended by
EO 621, prescribing that the National roads shall have a right of way of not less than twenty
(20) meters, provided that such minimum width may be reduced at the discretion of the
Minister of Public Highways to fifteen (15) meters in highly urbanized areas.
In some cases, due to lack of information on the character of the highway acquisition,
lack of proper understanding or knowledge of pertinent laws, procedures, rules and
regulations, as well as jurisprudence, governing right-of-way acquisition, the DPWH
had not been very assertive in claiming these highway rights prescribed under the enacted
laws. As a result, the DPWH inadvertently lost its rights to these decreed properties by the
adverse claims of some unscrupulous individuals. As a general rule, the Register of Deeds
assumes that the jurisdictional agency holding the property has an accurate understanding of
the extent of its ownership interests, including boundary lines, existing occupancies and
current use.

Please note that some sections of these decreed highways, as laid out on ground, were not fully utilized
by the government as the actual highway route deviated from the cadastral plan, which resulted to
abandoned roads.

IROW Technical Working Group, Special Order 96, series of 2006

2a

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS AND HIGHWAYS

Manila, Philippines
Simplified Guidelines for Validation and Evaluation of IROW Claims

Thus, to ensure that the Department officials and staff have an accurate understanding of the
extent of ownership interest, it is but necessary to establish and safeguard the highway
rights.

PURPOSE
In order to avoid the inadvertent lost of highway rights and to forestall fraudulent claims, this
chapter provides the steps or minimum standards for administering the highway rights of the
Department. Knowing first its highway rights should be a priority concern of the Department
prior to the conduct of the validation and evaluation of claims on right-of-way acquisitions.
Form 1 in pp D1-D3 of this guideline shall serve as a template and guidance to determine
highway character of acquisition or highway rights.

HIGHWAY RIGHTS
Generally, any highway right-of-way acquires its character as a public highway in any of the
following four ways:2
i)

By proceedings according to State law or statute: Common or recorded roads, are

examples of right-of-way acquired under statutes. (Refer to recorded national and
provincial roads established since 1936, pursuant to EO 113, pp B1-B24 of this
guideline). The laws under which these rights-of-way are/were acquired. (Refer
to the List of Laws Prescribing Right-of-Way Widths, pages 50-51 of this guideline.

ii) By dedication through offer and expressed acceptance. Dedication as defined as

the appropriation of land, or an easement therein, by the owner, for the use of
the public, and accepted for such use by or on behalf of the public. Likewise,
Expressed Acceptance is defined as the intention to dedicate is expressly
manifested by a deed or an explicit oral or written declaration of the owner, or
some other explicit manifestation of his purpose to devote the land to the public
use. (These are lands acquired by the Republic of the Philippines to private
landowners under Torrens System)
iii) By dedication through offer and implied acceptance. The definition of Implied
Acceptance may be shown by some act or course of conduct on the part of the
owner from which a reasonable inference of intent may be drawn, or which is
inconsistent with any other theory than that he intended a dedication. Existing
roads are dedicated through an offer and the municipality implies acceptance by
maintaining the road. (These are local roads converted to national roads)
iv) By prescription (public use) over a specific period of time mandated by statute
(now 30 years) of which the owner had knowledge but to which explicit consent
was not given (a type of public adverse possession). (Article 1141 of Civil Code)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION TO DETERMINE HIGHWAY RIGHTS

a.

Historical review on the establishment of the highway.

b.

Information on the character of a highway, whether it was created by statute. (Refer

to Annex 1: Memorandum Circular No. 36 Prescribing the Widths of Highway or Right
of Way in Unpatented lands: and Annex 2: Executive Order 113, s. 1955 pursuant to
Section 26, Article VIII of RA 917, Philippine Highway Act of 1953 establishing
national primary and national secondary and national aid provincial and city roads).

ROW Mapping Procedure Manual, June 19, 2002, New York State Department of Transportation,

IROW Technical Working Group, Special Order 96, series of 2006

2b

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS AND HIGHWAYS

Manila, Philippines
Simplified Guidelines for Validation and Evaluation of IROW Claims

c.

Information on the Road Reclassification from Provincial to National Road. The

minimum property right held by a municipality or province with maintenance
jurisdiction is an easement for highway purposes. It is a Highway-by-Use which
means that the highway has been laid out and recorded as a highway. Prescription
period of thirty (30) years (Ref. GR 148103, July 27, 2006, Republic of the
Philippines/Mactan-Cebu International Airport Authority vs. Rosa Baltazar-Ramirez.)
The government has been in open, adverse and exclusive possession of the lots in
the concept of owner. Article 1141, Civil Code of the Philippines: Real actions over
immovable prescribed after thirty years.

d.

Information from PENRO/CENRO cadastral maps. Check delineation of the existing

highway boundary. Highways by use are usually delineated in the cadastral map.

e.

Information from Abutting Owners Deed Description/Land Title Technical Description.

Deed Boundaries may be construed to monument the limits used for highway
purposes. Check if the property is described in a deed as bounded by, fronting on,
or along a certain highway for which the public has an easement, the grantee
acquires the grantors underlying rights to the easement, unless the wording of the
deed indicates differently.

f.

Information on the Annotation in the title on the easement, particularly the perpetual
easement. The reservation of strip of land for government purposes can be verified in
the annotation in the Deed or Title which read as follows: Road Right of Way
Agreement in favor of the City of Zamboanga- Grant or cession of a perpetual
easement of a right of way 60 meters in width over and thru the land covered by this
certificate of title for road purposes Date of inscription Nov. 9, 1953.

g.

Information from patented titles (homestead and free). Look for Public Land Survey
(PLS), which means that the land was part and parcel of the Public Lands which have
been subjected to distribution to qualified applicants for homestead or free patent.
Patent titles usually have notation that its subjectivity to public easements and
servitudes prescribed in Sections 109, 110, 111, 112Check also the date of issuance
of the title before or after 1975, pursuant to PD 635. The reserved strip of land for
government utilization has been increased from twenty to sixty meters (Reference:
Commonwealth Act 141, Public Land Act of 1936).

h.

Information on easements on riverbanks, lakes, seashores, etc. Article 51,

Presidential 1067, Water Code of 1976 provides: The banks of rivers and streams and
the shores of the seas and lakes throughout their entire length and within a zone of
three (3) meters in urban areas, ten (10) meters in agricultural areas and forty (40)
meters in forest areas, along their margins, are subject to the easement of public use
in the interest of recreation, navigation, floatage, fishing and salvage.

i.

Information from the field by verifying the integrity of the plotted lot with reference to
the tie line to the Bureau of Lands Land Monument.

j.

Information from the owner/claimant and owners of adjacent lots.

AVAILABLE INFORMATION SOURCES

a.

Listed below are some of the various governmental agencies that may have on file
maps, surveys, deeds and other related documents.
i) National Archives and Records Administrations Office
ii) Land Management Bureau (LMB), DENR
iii) National Maps (NAMRIA)
iv) Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO)

IROW Technical Working Group, Special Order 96, series of 2006

2c

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS AND HIGHWAYS

Manila, Philippines
Simplified Guidelines for Validation and Evaluation of IROW Claims

v) Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO)

vi) Provincial Agrarian Reform Office (PARO)
vii) Register of Deeds property records and survey maps
viii) Utility Companies records of utility easements and locations
b.

Private Survey Firms - Many surveys and maps prepared by surveying firms for
various reasons are not filed with the Register of Deeds. Some of these maps are with
the property owner. However, the surveyor should retain all the maps in his/her file.

c.

Property Owners - Property owners have a vested interest in their property and have
a reasonable idea where their property lines and corners exist on the ground. Insofar
as the property owners and long-time residents of the area are concerned a good
surveyor is a good listener. Not only are historic documents and sketches preserved
by the local populace, but also information is retained by memory that can provide
worthwhile clues to the surveyor.

d.

Wills - Occasionally, while researching a title, the chain of title appears to be lost or
broken. Often this is a result of the owners death. Therefore, the title should be
traced through the Register of Deeds Office.
i)

Testate Death - In the cases where there is a will, once the will is admitted to
probate, the title to any real property passes in accordance with the provisions of
the will. The executor may convey property, by means of an Executors Deed, to
any party, except that property specifically devised to a certain party or parties
may not be conveyed to someone else by the executor.

ii) Intestate Death - This occurs when there is no will. Real property of the estate
goes to the heirs in accordance with the law of intestate succession of the
jurisdiction in which the property is situated. Property may be conveyed by the
court-appointed administrator and claims for a taking can be settled by a duly
appointed Administrator or Extra-judicial settlement.
e.

Tax Deeds - The chain of title may appear lost or broken because the property was
seized by a municipality for unpaid taxes. The city or municipal tax office might be
able to provide title information for tax delinquent property. The property description
shown on the tax rolls is usually an abbreviated form, such as Tax Map Number,
Section Number, and Parcel Number only, and as such, clearly identifying the property
boundaries may be a problem necessitating a grantor/grantee search to find a
plottable description. The existence of a tax deed may also create a second chain of
title for the property thereby clouding the title. The clouded title may require that
court action, boundary line agreement, or other legal means be used to resolve the
situation.

IROW Technical Working Group, Special Order 96, series of 2006

2d