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of Court seeking the reversal of the Decision[1] dated May 29, 1998 of the
Court of Appeals (CA) in CA-G.R. CV No. 37001 which affirmed an earlier
decision[2] of the Regional Trial Court at Iba, Zambales, Branch 69 in Land
Registration Case No. N-25-1.
The decision under review recites the factual backdrop, as follows:
With its motion for reconsideration having been denied by the trial
court, petitioner Republic went on appeal to the CA in CA-G.R. CV No. 37001.
As stated at the outset hereof, the CA, in the herein assailed decision
of May 29, 1998, affirmed that of the trial court, to wit:
SO ORDERED.
Hence, the Republics present recourse on its basic submission that the
CAs decision is not in accordance with law, jurisprudence and the evidence,
since respondent has not established with the required evidence her title in
fee simple or imperfect title in respect of the subject lots which would
warrant their registration under (P.D. 1529 or Public Land Act (C.A.) 141. In
particular, petitioner Republicfaults the appellate court on its finding
respecting the length of respondents occupation of the property subject of
her application for registration and for not considering the fact that she has
not established that the lands in question have been declassified from forest
or timber zone to alienable and disposable property.
Forests, in the context of both the Public Land Act[7] and the
Constitution[8] classifying lands of the public domain into agricultural, forest
or timber, mineral lands and national parks, do not necessarily refer to a
large tract of wooded land or an expanse covered by dense growth of trees
and underbrush. As we stated in Heirs of Amunategui [9]-
A forested area classified as forest land of the public domain does not lose
such classification simply because loggers or settlers have stripped it of
its forest cover. Parcels of land classified as forest land may actually be
covered with grass or planted to crops by kaingin cultivators or other
farmers. Forest lands do not have to be on mountains or in out of the way
places. xxx. The classification is merely descriptive of its legal nature or
status and does not have to be descriptive of what the land actually looks
like. xxx
The theory of [petitioner] that the properties in question are lands of the public
domain cannot be sustained as it is directly against the above doctrine.
Said doctrine is a reaffirmation of the principle established in the earlier
cases . . . that open, exclusive and undisputed possession of alienable
public land for period prescribed by law creates the legal fiction whereby
the land, upon completion of the requisite period, ipso jure and without
the need of judicial or other sanction, ceases to be public land and becomes
private property . (Word in bracket and underscoring added.)
Director of Lands, Herico and the other cases cited by the CA are not,
however, winning cards for the respondent, for the simple reason that, in
said cases, the disposable and alienable nature of the land sought to be
registered was established, or, at least, not put in issue. And there lies the
difference.
Here, respondent never presented the required certification from the proper
government agency or official proclamation reclassifying the land applied for
as alienable and disposable. Matters of land classification or reclassification
cannot be assumed. It calls for proof.[18] Aside from tax receipts, respondent
submitted in evidence the survey map and technical descriptions of the
lands, which, needless to state, provided no information respecting the
classification of the property. As the Court has held, however, these
documents are not sufficient to overcome the presumption that the land
sought to be registered forms part of the public domain.[19]
The foregoing considered, the issue of whether or not respondent and her
predecessor-in-interest have been in open, exclusive and continuous
possession of the parcels of land in question is now of little moment. For,
unclassified land, as here, cannot be acquired by adverse occupation or
possession; occupation thereof in the concept of owner, however long,
cannot ripen into private ownership and be registered as title.[22]
WHEREFORE, the instant petition is GRANTED and the assailed
decision dated May 29, 1998 of the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. CV No.
37001 is REVERSED and SET ASIDE. Accordingly, respondents application
for original registration of title in Land Registration Case No. N-25-1 of the
Regional Trial Court at Iba, Zambales, Branch 69, is DENIED.