G.R. No. 179673; June 8, 2011
NATIVIDAD STA. ANA VICTORIA, Petitioner, vs. REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES, Respondent.

FACTS

On November 2, 2004, petitioner Natividad Sta. Ana Victoria applied for registration of a 1,729-square meter lot in Bambang, Taguig City, before the Metropolitan Trial Court (MeTC). The Republic, through the Office of the Solicitor General, opposed. Victoria presented evidence that the lot was a portion of land originally owned by her father, Genaro Sta. Ana, and inherited by her and her siblings. She submitted a Conversion/Subdivision Plan containing a notation that the land was within an alienable and disposable area under Project 27-B per L.C. Map 2623, certified by the Bureau of Forest Development on January 3, 1968. She testified that she and her predecessors-in-interest had been in open, continuous, exclusive, and notorious possession since the early 1940s. The Republic presented no evidence. The MeTC granted the application on January 25, 2006.
The Republic appealed to the Court of Appeals (CA), arguing Victoria failed to prove the land was alienable and disposable and failed to establish the required possession. In her appellee’s brief, Victoria attached a DENR Certification dated November 6, 2006, verifying the property as within alienable and disposable land. On June 19, 2007, the CA reversed the MeTC, holding that the notation on the plan was insufficient proof of alienability and that the DENR Certification could not be considered as it was not offered as evidence during the trial. The CA denied reconsideration on September 11, 2007.

ISSUE

1. Whether Victoria amply proved that the subject lot is alienable and disposable land of the public domain.
2. Whether she amply proved her claim of ownership of the property.

RULING

The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the petitioner.
1. On the Alienability of the Land: The Court held that Victoria sufficiently proved the land is alienable and disposable. While the DENR Certification was not formally offered during trial, the Court, citing Llanes v. Republic, allowed its consideration on appeal to avoid patent unfairness and to serve the ends of justice. The rules of procedure may be suspended when their rigid application frustrates justice. Furthermore, the OSG, upon the Court’s order, submitted a verification confirming that the DENR official who issued the Certification was authorized to do so and provided a certified true copy of Forestry Administrative Order 4-1141 dated January 3, 1968, signed by the Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources, which declared the area covered by Map LC-2623 as alienable and disposable. The subject property was verified to be within this approved area. The Court also noted that the property was covered by a government-conducted cadastral survey of Taguig, which is done to encourage landowners to obtain titles, making it illogical to later claim the land is inalienable.
2. On Proof of Ownership: The Court found it unnecessary to remand the case to the CA for a ruling on possession. Since the CA reversed solely on the ground of failing to prove alienability and did not rule on the sufficiency of the possession evidence, and considering the MeTC had already found Victoria’s evidence of possession satisfactory (a finding the Republic did not actively contest during trial by presenting contrary evidence), the Court deemed it prudent to affirm the MeTC’s decision granting the application for registration. The requisites under Section 14(1) of the Property Registration Decree were satisfied: (a) the land was proven alienable and disposable; (b) the applicant and her predecessors-in-interest had been in open, continuous, exclusive, and notorious possession; and (c) such possession was under a bona fide claim of ownership since June 12, 1945, or earlier (since the early 1940s).
The CA decision was reversed, and the MeTC decision granting the application for registration was reinstated.