G.R. No. L-18867; April 30, 1966
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellant, vs. CESARIO OCTOBRE, SHERWIN TAMANG, JAMES OLILA, TERIO BAMBICO and ERNESTO ROSIMO, defendants-appellees.

FACTS

The Republic of the Philippines filed an action in the Court of First Instance of Baguio to recover possession of a 1.5-hectare portion of land. The plaintiff alleged it acquired the land by purchase from Ramon Valles in 1925 for the use of the Mountain National Agricultural School, a reserved land in La Trinidad, Mountain Province, and that the defendants were illegally occupying it. The defendants, in their answer, claimed actual, continuous, and peaceful possession of their respective portions since time immemorial, through themselves and their predecessors-in-interest. They further alleged that the land no longer formed part of the reservation, having been released by Presidential Proclamation No. 209 dated October 20, 1955, for disposition under the Public Land Law. The trial court, after a hearing on this point and finding that the disputed areas were included in the portion released by the presidential proclamation, dismissed the complaint on the ground that the Mountain National Agricultural School no longer had any claim over the land. The government appealed.

ISSUE

1. Whether a presidential proclamation can validly release land from a government reservation previously made for a specific public purpose, or whether a legislative act is necessary for such release.
2. Whether the trial court should have continued the hearing to determine the parties entitled to acquire the released land, considering the plaintiff’s claim of purchase from Ramon Valles and the defendants’ claims of possession.

RULING

1. Yes, a presidential proclamation can validly release land from a government reservation. The Supreme Court held that while Section 64(e) of the Revised Administrative Code authorizes the President to reserve alienable lands of the public domain for a specific public use, it does not specify that a congressional act is necessary to release such land. The law states the reserved land shall be used for the specified purposes until “otherwise provided by law.” The Court found that Section 9 of the Public Land Act ( Commonwealth Act No. 141 ) provides such authority, as it empowers the President to classify lands of the public domain and, at any time and in a similar manner (i.e., by presidential action), to transfer lands from one class to another. Therefore, the President’s act of reclassifying the land from a reserved area to one open for disposition through Proclamation No. 209 was in accordance with law.
2. Yes, the trial court should have continued the hearing. The Supreme Court sustained the government’s alternative contention. The dismissal of the complaint merely on the ground of the land’s release from the reservation was premature. The case should have proceeded to determine the persons entitled to acquire the released land, the validity of the plaintiff’s claim based on its alleged purchase from Ramon Valles, and the validity of the respective claims of the defendants, as these facts were directly put in issue by the pleadings. The order of dismissal was set aside, and the case was remanded to the court of origin for further proceedings. No costs were awarded.