Judgment

• Section 28. Partial judgment. In a case where only a

portion of the land subject of registration is contested,
the court may render partial judgment provided that a
subdivision plan showing the contested and uncontested
portions approved by the Director of Lands is previously
submitted to said court.

• Section 29. Judgment confirming title. All conflicting

claims of ownership and interest in the land subject of
the application shall be determined by the court. If the
court, after considering the evidence and the reports of
the Commissioner of Land Registration and the Director
of Lands, finds that the applicant or the oppositor has
sufficient title proper for registration, judgment shall be
rendered confirming the title of the applicant, or the
oppositor, to the land or portions thereof.
• The distinction between the general and limited
jurisdiction of the registration court has been
eliminated.

• All conflicting claims of ownership and interest in

the land, and related issues, submitted to the court
with or without the unanimity of the parties, may
now be heard and resolved by the court.

• The court is now authorized to hear and decide not

only non-controversial cases but even contentious
issues which used to be beyond competence.
• Section 29 mandates the LRA Administrator and
the Director of Lands to submit to the court all
necessary and relevant evidence as well as reports to
aid the court in the determination of the case.

• The court may also require the DENR and the LRA
to submit a report on whether the subject property
has already been registered and covered by
certificates if title.

• The duty of the aforesaid officials to render reports

is not limited to the period before the court’s
decision become final, but may extend even after its
finality but not beyond the lapse of one year from
the entry of the decree.
• The notice of appearance makes it clear that “only
notices of orders, resolutions, and decisions served on the
Solicitor General will bind the party represented.”

• The period to perfect an appeal shall be counted from the

date when the Solicitor General received a copy of the
decision because the service of the decision upon the city
fiscal did not operate as a service upon the Solicitor
General.

• The belated filing of an appeal by the State, or even its

failure to file an opposition, in a land registration case
because of the mistake or error on the part of its officials
or agents does not deprive the government of its right to
appeal from a judgment of the court.
 Principle of Res judicata

• Res Judicata

- Where a judgment on the merits rendered in a

former case is final and executory, and was rendered by
a court of competent jurisdiction, and that case and the
present case involves the same parties, the same parcels
of land and a similarity of causes of action, the present
action is barred by a prior judgment.
Requisites of Res Judicata
1. The former judgment must be final;

2. It must have been rendered by a court having

jurisdiction of the subject matter and the parties;

3. It must be a judgment on the merits;

4. There must be between the first and second actions,

a. Identity of parties
b. Identity of subject matter
c. Identity of cause of action
• A final judgment in an ordinary civil case
determining the ownership of a piece of land is a res
judicata in a registration proceeding where the
parties and the property are the same as in a former
case.

• But a judgment dismissing an application for

registration of land does not constitutes res judicata,
and the unsuccessful applicant or any person
deriving title from him, may file another proceeding
for the registration of the same land.
Valisno vs. Plan
GR. No. L-55152
August 19, 1986
J. Fernan