G.R. No. L-2507

FACTS:
On January 22, 1904, petitioners Cristobal Ramos (a Spanish citizen) and his wife filed a petition with the Court of Land Registration seeking inscription as owners of a 13-are, 373-centare tract of land located within the Government reservation in Baguio, Benguet. They claimed ownership by virtue of a deed of sale executed on November 8, 1893, by the original Igorot occupants, Pilay and Gamoc. The Insular Government opposed the petition, asserting that the land was public domain. The lower court ruled in favor of the petitioners, prompting the Government to appeal.

ISSUE:
Whether the petitioners have acquired a registrable title to the land based on the alleged adverse possession of their Igorot predecessors-in-interest.

RULING:
Yes. The Supreme Court affirmed the lower court’s judgment. Applying the principles established in the analogous case of Jones vs. The Insular Government, the Court found the evidence sufficient to establish that the Igorot vendors had been in actual, adverse possession of the land for the requisite period under Section 41 of the Code of Civil Procedure, as made applicable to government reservations by Acts Nos. 648 and 627. The possession was characterized by the existence of a house, an enclosing fence, and the cultivation of coffee on the land. Consequently, the petitioners, as lawful purchasers, acquired a valid title capable of registration. The opposition of the Insular Government was therefore without merit.