G.R. No. 163118; April 27, 2007
DORIS CHIONGBIAN-OLIVA, Petitioner, vs. REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES, THE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES AND THE REGISTER OF DEEDS OF CEBU CITY, Respondents.

FACTS

Petitioner Doris Chiongbian-Oliva is the registered owner of a parcel of land in Talamban, Cebu City, covered by Transfer Certificate of Title (TCT) No. 5455, which originated from a free patent granted in 1969. The title contained a condition imposing a forty-meter legal easement from the bank of any river or stream, to be preserved as permanent timberland. In 2001, petitioner filed a petition for reduction of this easement before the Regional Trial Court (RTC). She argued the property was residential, as shown by its tax declaration, and that the applicable easement under DENR Administrative Order No. 99-21 should only be three meters. She contended the forty-meter easement would deprive her of the beneficial use of her 1,000-square-meter lot.
The RTC ruled in petitioner’s favor, ordering the reduction of the easement to three meters, finding the property had been transformed into residential land within an urban area. On appeal, the Court of Appeals reversed the RTC decision. It upheld the DENR’s position, ruling that the property remained inalienable public land, and that a positive act of the government was required to reclassify it from forest land. The appellate court held that a tax declaration and urban reclassification were insufficient to alter its character.

ISSUE

The core issues are: (1) Whether the property is public or private land; and (2) Whether the applicable legal easement is forty meters or three meters.

RULING

The Supreme Court granted the petition, reversing the Court of Appeals and reinstating the RTC decision. On the first issue, the Court held the property is private land. Under Commonwealth Act No. 141, a free patent is a mode of disposing of alienable public land. Once a free patent is granted, registered, and a corresponding certificate of title is issued, the land ceases to be part of the public domain and becomes private property. The issuance of the free patent in 1969 and the subsequent OCT and TCT converted the land into private property. It is legally inconsistent for land covered by a free patent and title to retain its character as inalienable public land.
On the second issue, the Court ruled the applicable legal easement is three meters. While Section 90(i) of C.A. No. 141 prescribes a uniform forty-meter easement for river banks, this must be read in conjunction with subsequent laws. Section 51 of the Water Code (P.D. No. 1067) establishes a three-meter easement for urban areas. DENR A.O. No. 99-21, which implements these laws, explicitly provides for a three-meter easement for residential lands. The Court found the property is situated in an urban area, as judicially noticed from official classifications, and is used residentially. Therefore, the specific provision for urban residential areas under the Water Code and the administrative order prevails over the general provision in the Public Land Act. The forty-meter easement annotation on the title was correctly ordered reduced to three meters.