Week 3 – Continuation of Requisites for Judicial Registration
possession constitute evidence of great weight and can
1. Continuation of Sec. 14(1) of P.D. No. 1529
2. Open, Continuous, Exclusive and Notorious Possession in the concept of an
Owner since June 12, 1945 or earlier.
 Open – patent, visible, apparent, notorious and not clandestine.
 Continuous- uninterrupted, unbroken and not intermittent or occasional.
 Exclusive- adverse possessor can show exclusive domain over the land ad
an appropriation of it to his own use and benefit.
 Notorious Possession- conspicuous that it is generally known and talked of
by the public or the people in the neighborhood.
a. C.A No. 141 v. R.A. No. 1942 v. P.D. No. 1073
 C.A. No. 141- classification and disposition of land of the
public domain. Requires possession of lands of the public
domain must be from July 26, 1894 but the application for
registration was now limited only to Filipino citizens.
 R.A. No. 1942- requiring possession and occupation for at
least 30 years immediately preceding the filing of the
application for confirmation of title.
 P.D. 1073- applies only to alienable and disposable lands of
the public domain. Reverted the required possession and
occupation to June 12, 1945.
b. Difference between Sec. 48(b) of C.A. No. 141 and Section 14(1)
of P.D. No. 1529
Sec. 48(b) of C.A. No. 141 Sec. 14(1) of P.D. No. 1529
1. Subtantive provisions 1. Procedural provisions
2. Primarily establishes the 2. Substantive right granted under
substantive ownership of the Sec. 48(b) of the Public Land Act and
possessor who has been in provides the corresponding original
possesssion since June 12, 1945. registration procedure for the
judicial confirmation of an imperfect
or incomplete title.
c. Proofs required to establish possession in the concept of an
owner
 Actual possession of land consists in the manifestation
of acts of dominion over it of such a nature, as a party
would naturally exercise over his own property.
i. Cultivation of the land
 The general rule is that the possession and cultivation
of a portion of a tract of land under claim ownership of
all is a constructive possession of all, if the remainder is
not in the adverse possession of another.
d. Tax Declaration
i. Mere evidence of possession
 Good indication of the possession in the concept of
owner for no one in his right mind would be paying
taxes for a property that is not in his actual or at least
constructive possession.
 Tax declarations and receipts when coupled with actual
be the basis of a claim of ownership through
prescription.
 A tax declaration is a telling evidence of the declarant’s
possession, which could ripen into ownership.
ii. Weak probative of value
 Tax receipts may not prevail as proof of “adverse”
possession against one who is in actual possession
of the property, but they constitute at least an
indication of possession.
 Tax declarations and receipts are not
incontrovertible evidence of ownership, they
constitute, at least, proof that the holder has a
claim of title over the property.
iii. Exceptional cases where tax declarations facilitated the
registration of land
3. Requisites of Sec. 14(2) of P.D. No. 1529
 The land is an alienable and disposable, and patrimonial property of
the public domain.
 The applicant and its predecessor-in-interest have been in possession
of the land for at least 10 years, in good faith and with just title, or for
at least 30 years, regardless of good faith or just title.
 The land had already been converted to or declared as patrimonial
property of the State at the beginning of the said 10-year or 30-year
period of possession.
a. Private lands by prescription
 One acquires ownership and other real rights through the
lapse of time in the manner and under the action laid down
by the law. All things which are within the commerce of men
are susceptible of prescription, unless otherwise provided.
b. Concept of prescription under the Civil code
 The Civil Code makes it clear that patrimonial property of
the State may be acquired by private persons through
prescription.
c. Acquisitive prescription v. Extinctive prescription
Sec. 48(b) of C.A. No. 141 Sec. 14(1) of P.D. No. 1529
1. Rights and actions are acquired 1. Rights and actions are lost by
by lapse of time. lapse of time.
2. Ordinary acquisitive
prescription- a person who
acquires ownership through
possession for at least 10 years, in
good faith and with just title.
Extraordinary acquisitive
prescription- a person’s
unintterupted adverse possession
for at least 30 years, regardless of
good faith or just title, ripens into
 ownership.
d. Patrimonial Property
 Public dominion property not longer intended for public
service or the development of the national wealth or that the
property had been converted into patrimonial.
e. When does a public land become a patrimonial property
 The classification of land as alienable and disposable alone is
not enough. In addition to the said classification, there must
a expressly declared through either a law enacted by
Congress or a proclamation issued by the President that the
subject land is no longer retained for public service or the
development of the national wealth or that the property has
been converted into patrimonial.
4. Requisites of Sec. 14(3) of P.D. No. 1529
 Refers to acquisition of ownership of private lands or
abandoned river beds “by right of accession or accretion”
under existing laws.
 Ownership of abandoned river beds by right of accession
o Under Article 461 of the Civil code, river beds
which are abandoned through natural change in
the course of the waters ipso facto belong to the
owners whose lands are occupied by the new
course in proportion to the area lost.
o However, the owners of the lands adjoining the old
bed shall have right to acquire the same by paying
the value thereof, which value shall not exceed the
value of the area occupied by the new bed.
Requisites:
a. The change must be sudden in order that the old river may be
identified.
b. The changing of the course must be more or less permanent and not
temporary overflooding of another’s land.
c. The change of the river must be natural one.
d. There must be a definite abandonment by the government.
e. The river must continue to exist, that is, it mist not completely dry up
or disappear.
 Ownership by right of accretion along river banks
o Article 457 of the Civil Code provides that to the
owners of lands adjoining the banks of rivers
belongs the accretion which they gradually receive
from the effects of the current of the water.
Requisites:
f. That the deposit be gradual and imperceptible.
g. That it made through the effects of the current of the water.
h. That the land where accretion takes place is adjacent to the banks of
rivers.
 Accretion along the banks of creeks, streams and lakes
o Alluvial deposits along the banks of creeks, streams
and lakes do not form part of the public domain as
the alluvial property automatically belongs to the
owner of the estate to which it may have been
added.
o Exception, it must be registered under the Torrens
System; otherwise, the alluvial property may be
subject to acquisition through prescription by third
persons. But a dried-up creek bed is property of
public domain.
 Alluvion must be exclusive work of nature
o The requirement that the deposit should be due to
the effects of the current of the river is
indispensable. This excludes all deposits cause by
human intervention.
 Accretion does not automatically become registered land
o Accretion doe not automatically registered land
just because the lot, which receives it is covered by
a Torrens title thereby making the alluvial property
imprescriptible. To bring an area formed by
accretion under the Torrens system, there must be
an application for registration filed for the purpose.
 Where alluvial increment is not registered, it may be
acquired by third persons through prescription
o In order that the accretion may be protected by the
rule on imprescriptibility, it is necessary that same
be brought under the operation of the Torren
System.
 Alluvial formation along the seashore form part of the public
domain
o Alluvial formation along the seashore is part of the
public domain and therefore, not open to
acquisition by adverse possession by private
persons. It is outside the commerce of man, unless
otherwise declared by either executive or
legislative branch of government.
o Until a formal declaration on the part of the
government, through the executive department or
the legislative, to the effect that the land is no
longer needed for coast guard service, for public
use or for special industries, they continue to be
part of the public domain, not available for private
appropriation or ownership.
 Dried-up river beds
o A dried-up riverbed belongs to the State as
property of public domain, not to the riparian
owner, unless a law vests the ownership in some
other person. The drying up of the river is not
accretion. Similarly, a dried-up creek bed is
property of public domain.
5. Requisites of Sec. 14(4) of P.D. No. 1529
 Acquisition of ownership “in any other manner provided by
law”, which could be either be a statute or executive act.
 Registration under the Indigenous People Rights Act (IPRA)
o Individual members of cultural communities, with
respect to their individually-owned ancestral lands
who, by themselves or through their predecessor-
in-interest, have been in continuous possession
and occupation of the same in the concept of owner
since time immemorial or for a period of not less
than 30 years immediately preceding the approval
of the Act shall have the option to secure title to
their ancestral lands under C.A. No. 141 or P.D. No.
1529.
o The law requires that the said ancestral lands must
be agricultural in character and actually used for
agricultural, residential, pasture, and tree farming
purposes.
 Registration of foreshore and offshore areas through “special
patents”
o A “special patent” is a form of land grant whereby
the government, by an act of Congress or executive
order, conveys land in full ownership to the
guarantee without regard to its classification.
o The Republic may grant the beneficial use of its
real property to an agency or instrumentality of the
national government but the government remains
the owner of the real property.
f. Reserving the public land for a specific purpose
 Initial Registration under the Land Registration Act is
constitutive of a “fee simple” title or absolute title in favor of
petitioner.
 Lands covered by reservation are not subject to entry, and
no lawful settlement on them can be acquired. Patents for
lands which b have been previously granted, reserved from
sale, or appropriated are void.