GR 131501; (July, 2004) (Digest)
G.R. No. 131501 ; July 14, 2004
FRANCISCO ZARATE, petitioner, vs. THE DIRECTOR OF LANDS, PRECIOSA T. DAVILA, REGALADO TORIAGA, PATRIA TORIAGA, RENATO TORIAGA, ROSALINDA TORIAGA, RYL TORIAGA, PROBO TORIAGA, JOSE CORPUS, MARCELINITO HONORIO, JOSE MELO, LOLITO TALAGA, FELIPE VILLANUEVA, DOMINADOR TAGBALAY, MAXIMO VILLANUEVA, and the DEVELOPMENT BANK OF THE PHILIPPINES, respondents.
FACTS
Petitioner Francisco Zarate applied for the registration of three parcels of land in Tangalan, Aklan, with a total area of over 82 hectares. He claimed ownership through purchase from Josefino Tirol, who allegedly inherited the lands from his ancestors. Zarate asserted that he and his predecessors-in-interest had been in open, continuous, exclusive, and notorious possession for over 80 years. Multiple oppositors, including private individuals and the Development Bank of the Philippines, contested the application, claiming ownership over specific portions through inheritance, mortgage foreclosure, and actual occupation. They asserted that the lands were unoccupied and forested when they began cultivating them.
The Republic of the Philippines, through the Director of Lands, opposed on the ground that the subject lands were part of the inalienable public domain, classified as timberland or unclassified forest. Evidence showed the lands were released as alienable and disposable only on April 16, 1973, under a specific land classification project. The trial court dismissed Zarate’s application, a decision affirmed by the Court of Appeals.
ISSUE
Whether the petitioner has acquired a registrable title over the subject parcels of land.
RULING
No. The Supreme Court denied the petition and affirmed the lower courts’ decisions. The core legal principle applied is that forest lands or lands of the public domain classified as timberland are incapable of private appropriation. Possession thereof, no matter how lengthy, cannot ripen into private ownership or vest any title in the possessor. For land to be subject to registration under the Torrens system, it must first be shown to be alienable and disposable agricultural land of the public domain.
The Court found that the lands in question were classified as forest or timberland. A positive act of the government, such as an official proclamation or classification map, is required to reclassify such land as alienable and disposable. The records indicated this reclassification occurred only in 1973. Since Zarate filed his application in 1976, his claimed period of possession, even if proven, included years when the land was legally inalienable. Consequently, his possession during that time conferred no vested rights. The Court emphasized that the inability to register title was not a mere procedural defect but a substantive lack of a registrable interest, as the property was not legally susceptible to private ownership for the majority of the claimed possession period.