GR 35700; (January, 1933) (Digest)
G.R. No. 35700. January 27, 1933.
THE GOVERNMENT OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS, applicant-appellee, vs. JUAN FRANCO, ET AL., claimants. VICTOR RIVERA AND COHEIRS, appellants.
FACTS
The Director of Lands filed a cadastral petition to settle title to two parcels of land in Floridablanca, Pampanga. The Rivera co-heirs claimed ownership by inheritance and alleged possession by their predecessors for sixty years, tracing their claim to a possessory information title recorded in 1894. The Government asserted the land was public and subject to the homestead rights of Juan Franco, who entered the land in 1917, believing it to be public land, applied for a homestead, cultivated it, and possessed it exclusively until the Riveras attempted to enter in 1929. The trial court declared the land public and recognized Franco’s homestead rights, rejecting the Riveras’ claim.
ISSUE
Whether Juan Franco, who entered and possessed the land under a good faith belief that it was public land and in subservience to the Government (as a homestead applicant), can acquire title by adverse possession as against the true owners (the Rivera claimants).
RULING
Yes. The Supreme Court affirmed the trial court’s judgment. It held that a person who takes possession of land under the erroneous belief it is public land, with the intention of claiming it under the homestead law, can acquire title by adverse possession against the true owner. Prescription cannot run against the Government, so it is never necessary for adverse possession against a private owner that the possession be held adversely to the Government. Franco’s possession was exclusive, continuous, and adverse to all others except the Government, which is sufficient under Section 41 of the Code of Civil Procedure to vest title by prescription against the Rivera claimants. The land was correctly declared public land subject to Franco’s homestead rights.
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