The following are intended to guide you in your study of Regalian Doctrine and Immovable Property

concepts.

Sec. of DENR vs. Mayor Jose S. Yap, G.R. No. 167707; October 8, 2008

A. What is the legal implication of the Regalian doctrine vis a vis the right of an individual to own land
granted by the State?
The Regalian doctrine dictates that all lands of the public domain belong to the State, that the State
is the source of any asserted right to ownership of land charged with the conservation of such
patrimony. The doctrine has been consistently adopted under the 1935, 1973 and 1987 constitutions.
All lands not otherwise appearing to be clearly within private ownership are presumed to belong to
the State. Thus, all lands that have not been acquired from the government, either by purchase or by
grant, belong to the State as part of the inalienable public domain. Necessarily, it is up to the State to
determine if lands of the public domain will be disposed of for private ownership. The government, as
the agent of the state, is possessed of the plenary power as the persona in law to determine who
shall be the favoured recipients of public lands, as well as under what terms they may be granted
such privileged, not excluding the placing of obstacles in the way of their exercise of hat otherwise
would be ordinary acts of ownership.

B. What is the legal implication of the Regalian doctrine vis a vis the right of the State to dispose of
alienable land?
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 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 disposal.

As provided under Art. XII, Sec. 2,the provisions excepted agricultural lands which alone may be
alienated, forest or timber, and mineral lands as well as all other natural resources must remain with
the state, the exploration, development and utilization of which shall be subject to full control and
supervision of the state albeit allowing the co-production, joint venture and production sharing
agreement with Filipino citizens, or corporation or associations, with atleast sixty percentum of
whose capital is owned by such citizen.

Q. May the parties treat the building as personal property?

Yes. By Principle of estoppel since the parties treated the house as personalty. By means of ceding,
selling, or transferring a property by way of chattel mortgage.

Q.: May a person execute a chattel mortgage on his house on a rented land?
Yes. was held to be a personal property, not only because the deed of mortgage considered it as
such, but also because it did not form part of the land, for it is now well settled that an object placed
on land by one who has only a temporary right to the same, such as a lessee or usufructuary, does
not become immobilized by attachment.
Q: In the case of Leung Yee vs. Strong Machinery Company, what if Leung Yee did not know that of
the prior sale of the building to Strong Machinery? Do you think, Leung Yee would have a better
right?
No. The New Civil Code under Article 1473, provides that If the same thing should have been sold to
different vendees, the ownership shall be transferred to the person who may have first taken
possession thereof in good faith, if it should be personal property.
Should it be real property, it shall belong to the purchaser who first recorded it in the registry of
deeds.
Should it not be recorded, the property shall belong to the person who first took possession of it in
good faith, or, in default of possession, to the person who presents the oldest title, provided there is
good faith.
Leung Yee, when he bought the building at the sheriffs sale and inscribed his title in the land
registry, was duly notified that the machinery company had bought the building from plaintiffs
judgment debtor. Having bought in the building with full knowledge that at the time of the levy and
sale of the building had already been sold to the machinery company by the judgment debtor, Leung
Yee (plaintiff) cannot be said to have been a purchaser in good faith.
One who purchases real estate with knowledge of a defect or lack of title in his vendor cannot claim
that he has acquired title thereto in good faith as against the true owner of the land interest therein;
and the same rule must be applied to one who has knowledge of facts which should have put him
upon such inquiry and investigation as might be necessary to acquaint him with the defects in the
title of his vendor.
Prudential bank vs. Panis
Q: May a Real Estate Mortgage be constituted on the building separate from the land?
Yes. In the enumeration of properties under article 415 of the Civil Code of the Philippines, that the
inclusion of building separate and distinct from the land in said provision of law can only mean that
a building itself an immovable property.
Q: May a Real Estate Mortgage be constituted on the building situated on a land of another?
Yes. While it is true that a mortgage of land necessarily includes, in the absence of stipulation of the
improvements thereon, buildings, still a building by itself may be mortgage apart from the land on

which it has been built. Such mortgage would still a real estate mortgage for the building would still
be considered immovable property even if dealt with separate and apart from the land.
Q. In the case of Prudential Bank vs. Panis, why was the 2nd mortgage considered as void?
The second mortgage executed over the same properties on May 2, 1973 for an additional loan of
20,000 which as registered with registry of deeds of Olongapo City on the same date. Relative
thereto, it is evident that such mortgage executed after the issuance of the sales patent and of the
original certificate of title, falls squarely under the prohibitions stated in Sections 121, 122 and 124 of
the Public Land Act and Section 2 of the Republic Act 730and is therefore null and void.
>> For failure of the plaintiffs to pay their obligation to defendant Bank it became due, and upon
application of said defendant, the deeds of Real Estate Mortgage were extra judicially foreclosed.
Q. What are the rules on buildings or house being treated as chattel?
Only personal properties can be treated as Chattel Mortgage.

B. Machines (par 5)
Q. In the case of Davao Sawmil Co. vs. Castillo, how were the machines treated? And why were the
machines treated as such? What is the implication of the lease contract on between the parties?
Davao Saw Mill Co., Inc. has on a number of occasions treated the machinery as personal property
by executing chattel mortgages in favor of third persons.
Machinery only becomes immobilized when placed in a plant by the owner of the property or plant,
but not when so placed by the tenant, usufructuary, or any person having temporary right, unless
such person acted as the agent of the owner.
In the case of buildings, the parties may treat them as chattel, hence chattel mortgage may be
constituted on them as long as that is the intention of the parties, no third person is prejudiced and
the parties are estopped from taking a contrary position when a controversy arise. In the case of
movable properties, no real property mortgage is allowed to be constituted on them. Would you know
of instances, if any, whereby movable properties are treated as immovable?
Before movables may be deemed immobilized in contemplation of paragraph 5 of article 415, it is
necessary that they must be essential and principal elements of the industry or works would be
unable to function or carry on the industrial purpose for which it as established.
Machinery which is movable in its nature only becomes immobilized when placed in a plant by the
owner of the property or plant, but not when so placed by the tenant, usufructuary, or any person
having temporary right, unless such person acted as the agent of the owner