G.R. No. 210738 , August 14, 2019
Republic of the Philippines, Petitioner, vs. Spouses Guillermo Alonso and Inocencia Britanico-Alonso, Respondents.

FACTS

Spouses Guillermo Alonso and Inocencia Britanico-Alonso filed a petition for registration of Lot 2209, Cad. 24, Iloilo Cadastre, AP-06-005399, situated in Oton, Iloilo. They claimed the land was alienable and disposable and that they acquired it from the heirs of spouses Rafael C. Montalvo and Manuela Garnica, who allegedly owned and possessed it since 1945. They asserted that by tacking their possession with that of their predecessors-in-interest, they had been in open, continuous, exclusive, and notorious possession under a bona fide claim of ownership since time immemorial. The Regional Trial Court (RTC) dismissed the petition, finding that the spouses failed to prove possession since June 12, 1945, or earlier. The Court of Appeals (CA) reversed the RTC and ordered the registration of the land, finding the possession requirement met. The Republic, through the Office of the Solicitor General, filed a Petition for Review on Certiorari, contending that the spouses failed to prove both the possession requirement and that the land is alienable and disposable.

ISSUE

Whether or not the registration of the subject land is proper.

RULING

No, the registration is not proper. The Supreme Court granted the Republic’s petition, reversing the CA Decision and Resolution, and denying the spouses’ petition for registration.
The Court held that under Section 14(1) of Presidential Decree No. 1529, for original registration, an applicant must prove: (a) the land forms part of the alienable and disposable lands of the public domain; (b) the applicant and predecessors-in-interest have been in open, continuous, exclusive, and notorious possession and occupation; and (c) such possession is under a bona fide claim of ownership since June 12, 1945, or earlier.
The Court emphasized that the applicant bears the burden of overcoming the presumption that all lands of the public domain belong to the State (Regalian doctrine). To prove the land is alienable and disposable, the applicant must submit: (1) a certification from the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) or Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO); and (2) a copy of the original classification approved by the DENR Secretary and certified as a true copy by the legal custodian of the official records.
In this case, the spouses Alonso failed to submit these requisite certifications. The only basis for considering the land alienable and disposable was the testimony of a DENR official who relied on a Control Map not offered in evidence and a survey plan. This was insufficient to establish a positive act of the Executive Department reclassifying the land. Consequently, the spouses failed to discharge their burden of proving the first and fundamental element—that the land is alienable and disposable. Without this, their possession, regardless of its length, cannot ripen into ownership, and a title cannot be issued in their favor.