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September 10, 1998] In ruling in Doldols favor, the Court of Appeals grounded its decision on Section
48 of Commonwealth Act No. 141 (otherwise known as the Public Land Act). Said
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES, (represented by Opol National Secondary provision, as amended by Republic Act No. 1942, provides as follows:
Technical School), petitioner, vs. NICANOR DOLDOL, respondent.
Section 48. The following described citizens of the Philippines, occupying
DECISION lands of the public domain or claiming interest therein, but whose titles
have not been perfected or completed, may apply to the Court of First
ROMERO, J.: Instance (now Regional Trial Court) of the province where the land is
located for confirmation of their claims and the issuance of a certification of
Before us is a petition for review of the decision of the Court of Appeals dated title therefor under the Land Registration Act, to wit:
October 27, 1997, reversing the decision of the Regional Trial Court and dismissing xxxxxxxxx
herein petitioners complaint, as well as its resolution of March 5, 1998, denying
petitioners motion for reconsideration. (b) Those who by themselves or through their predecessors-in-interest
have been in open, continuous, exclusive and notorious possession and
The facts are as follows: occupation of agricultural lands of the public domain, under a bona
fide claim of acquisition or ownership for at least thirty years immediately
Sometime in 1959, respondent Nicanor Doldol occupied a portion of land in Barrio preceding the filing of the application for confirmation of title, except when
Pontacan, Municipality of Opol, Misamis Oriental. On October 23, 1963, he filed an prevented by wars or force majeure. Those shall be conclusively presumed
application for saltwork purposes for the said area with the Bureau of Forest to have performed all the conditions essential to a Government grant and
Development.The Director of Forestry, however, rejected the same on April 1, shall be entitled to a certificate of title under the provisions of this
1968. Meanwhile, the Provincial Board of Misamis Oriental passed a resolution in chapter. (Italics ours)
1965 reserving Lot 4932, Cad-237, Opol Cadastre as a school site. This reserved lot
unfortunately included the area occupied by Doldol. In accordance with the above provision, the appellate court averred that a
citizen of the Philippines may acquire alienable land of the public domain if he has
possessed the same for thirty years. Finding Doldol to have occupied the disputed lot
In accordance with said resolution, the Opol High School transferred to the site in for thirty-two years, it ruled that the former had acquired ownership of the same,
1970. Seventeen years later, on November 2, 1987, then President Corazon Aquino thereby negating Opol National Schools claim over the questioned area.
issued Proclamation No. 180 reserving the area, including the portion in dispute, for
the Opol High School, now renamed the Opol National Secondary Technical School To further bolster its argument, the appellate court cited Republic vs.
(hereafter Opol National School). Needing the area occupied by Doldol for its CA[1] where this Court, citing Director of Lands vs. Iglesia ni Cristo, 200 SCRA 606
intended projects, the school made several demands for him to vacate said portion, (1991) declared that:
but he refused to move.
The weight of authority is that open, exclusive and undisputed possession
of alienable public land for the period prescribed by law creates the legal
In view of Doldols refusal to vacate, Opol National School filed in 1991 a complaint fiction whereby the land, upon completion of the requisite period ipso
for accion possessoria with the Regional Trial Court of Cagayan de Oro. The trial jure and without the need of judicial or other sanction, ceases to be public
court ruled in the schools favor and ordered Doldol to vacate the land. On appeal, the land and becomes private property.
Court of Appeals reversed the decision of the court a quo, ruling that Doldol was
entitled to the portion he occupied, he having possessed the same for thirty-two years, xxxxxxxxx
from 1959 up to the time of the filing of the complaint in 1991.
with the latters proven occupation and cultivation for more than 30 years
since 1914, by himself and by his predecessors-in-interest, title over the
Opol National Schools motion for reconsideration of said decision having been denied land has vested on petitioner so as to segregate the land from the mass of
by the Court of Appeals in its resolution of March 5, 1998, Opol National School public land.
elevated its case to this Court, claiming that the Court of Appeals erred on a question
of law when it held, contrary to the evidence on record, that respondent had been in xxxxxxxxx
open, continuous, notorious and exclusive possession of the land in dispute for thirty-
two years. As interpreted in several cases, when the conditions as specified in the
foregoing provision are complied with, the possessor is deemed to have
acquired, by operation of law, a right to a grant, a government grant,
The petition is meritorious. without the necessity of a certificate of title being issued. The land,
therefore, ceases to be of the public domain and beyond the authority of
the Director of Lands to dispose of. The application for confirmation is mere
formality, the lack of which does not affect the legal sufficiency of the title
as would be evidenced by the patent and the Torrens title to be issued President to withdraw such lands for sale or acquisition by the public, or to
upon the strength of said patent. reserve them for public use, prior to the divesting by the government of title
thereof stands, even though this may defeat the imperfect right of a
The appellate court has resolved the question as to who between the parties settler. Lands covered by reservation are not subject to entry, and no lawful
had a better right to possess the lot through the erroneous application of an outdated settlement on them can be acquired.[3]
version of Section 48 of the Public Land Act. Likewise, Solicitor Renan E. Ramos of
the Office of the Solicitor General erred in assuming that the thirty-year proviso in the In sum, Opol National School has the better right of possession over the land in
aforementioned section was still good law. The original Section 48(b) of C.A. No. 141 dispute.
provided for possession and occupation of lands of the public domain since July 26,
1894.This was superseded by R.A. No. 1942,[2] which provided for a simple thirty year WHEREFORE, premises considered, the decision of the Court of Appeals dated
prescriptive period of occupation by an applicant for judicial confirmation of imperfect October 27, 1997, and Resolution dated March 27, 1998, are hereby ANNULLED and
title. The same, however, has already been amended by Presidential Decree No. SET ASIDE and the Decision of the Regional Trial Court dated August 25, 1992, is
1073, approved on January 25, 1977. As amended, Section 48(b) now reads: hereby REINSTATED.