G.R. NO. 167652 - LIMCOMA MULTI-PURPOSE COOPERATIVE, VS. REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES.D E C I S I O N - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

WHEREFORE, finding the application sufficient in form and substance, it being supported by sufficient evidence, this Court, as recommended, finds that LIMCOMA MULTI-PURPOSE COOPERATIVE has a registrable title over a parcel of land located at Barangay Namuco, Rosario, Batangas in Lot 972-A, Cad 426, Rosario Cadastre of the Subdivision Plan, Csd-04-015172-D, containing an area of SIX HUNDRED FORTY-SIX (646) SQUARE METERS and order its registration in the name of LIMCOMA MULTI-PURPOSE COOPERATIVE. On appeal, the appellate court reversed and set aside the Decision of the trial court, to wit: " UPON THE VIEW WE TAKE OF THIS CASE, THUS, the judgment appealed from must be, as it is, hereby REVERSED and SET ASIDE . The verified petition instituted in Land Registration Case No. RY2K1-050 of the Regional Trial Court of Rosario, Batangas is ordered DISMISSED ." [25] In reversing the trial court, the CA ruled that petitioner failed to (1) demonstrate the open, continuous, exclusive, and notorious possession since June 12, 1945 or earlier, required by the Property Registration Decree and the Public Land Act; and (2) overcome the presumption that the subject lot is public and alienable land. On the other hand, petitioner maintains that it has occupied the subject lot since 1938, by virtue of its predecessors-in-interest's possession, and that it has duly established the character of the land as public and alienable. Petitioner submits that, at any rate, Lot 972, including the subject lot, was converted into private property through the Spouses Andres and Trinidad's exclusive and continuous possession of more than 30 years, from 1938 to 1982, thereby making it susceptible to prescription. Hence, we impale the issues for resolution of this Court, to wit: Whether or not the subject lot is public and alienable land, and the petitioner has been in open, continuous, exclusive, and notorious possession thereof since June 12, 1945, or earlier, under a bona fide claim of ownership; Corollarily, whether or not the subject lot acquired a private character in 1968, thus within the operation of the laws on prescription. In disposing of the foregoing issues, the provisions of both the Property Registration Decree and the Public Land Act invoked by the petitioner bear close scrutiny. Section 14 of the Property Registration Decree provides: SECTION 14. Who may apply. The following persons may file in the proper Court of First Instance an application for registration of title to land, whether personally or through their duly authorized representatives: (1) Those who by themselves or through their predecessors-in-interest have been in open, continuous, exclusive and notorious possession and occupation of alienable and disposable lands of the public domain under a bona fide claim of ownership since June 12, 1945, or earlier. (2) Those who have acquired ownership of private lands by prescription under the provision of existing laws. Likewise, Section 48(b) of the Public Land Ac