G.R. No. 177797 - SPS. PEDRO TAN AND NENA ACERO TAN, VS. REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES.D E C I S I O N - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

WHEREFORE, [Spouses Tan] having conclusively established to the satisfaction of this Court their ownership of the [subject property], Lot 1794, Pls-923, situated in Villanueva, Misamis Oriental, should be as it is hereby adjudicated to the [Spouses Tan] with address at #166 Capistrano Street, Cagayan de Oro City. Once this judgment becomes final, let the Order for the issuance of decree and corresponding Certificate of Title issue in accordance with Presidential Decree No. 1529, as amended. [32] In its appeal of the afore-mentioned RTC Decision to the Court of Appeals, docketed as CA-G.R. CV No. 71534, the Republic made the following assignment of errors: The trial court erred in ruling that [herein petitioners Spouses Tan] and their predecessors-in-interest have been in open, continuous and notorious possession of subject property for the period required by law. The trial court erred in granting the application for land registration despite the fact that there is a disparity between the area as stated in [the Spouses Tan's] application and the tax declarations of Juanito Neri, Lucio Neri, and [herein petitioner Pedro Tan]. The trial court erred in granting the application for land registration despite the fact that [the Spouses Tan] failed to present the original tracing cloth plan. The trial court erred in relying on the Decision dated [29 August 1989] by the RTC-Branch 24, Cagayan de Oro City which declared [the Spouses Tan's] "title" on the subject [property] "quieted." The trial court erred in not finding that [the Spouses Tan] failed to overcome the presumption that all lands form part of the public domain. [33] On 28 February 2006, the Court of Appeals rendered a Decision in CA-G.R. CV No. 71534 granting the appeal of the Republic, and reversing and setting aside the 9 May 2001 Decision of the RTC on the ground that the spouses Tan failed to comply with Section 48(b) of Commonwealth Act No. 141, otherwise known as the Public Land Act, as amended by Presidential Decree No. 1073, which requires possession of the subject property to start on or prior to 12 June 1945. [34] Hence, the appellate court ordered the spouses Tan to return the subject property to the Republic. The spouses Tan filed a Motion for Reconsideration of the foregoing Decision of the Court of Appeals. To refute the finding of the appellate court that they and their predecessors-in-interest did not possess the subject property by 12 June 1945 or earlier, the spouses Tan attached to their Motion a copy of Tax Declaration No. 4627 covering the subject property issued in 1948 in the name of their predecessor-in-interest, Lucio Neri. They called attention to the statement in Tax Declaration No. 4627 that it cancelled Tax Declaration No. 2948 . Unfortunately, no copy of Tax Declaration No. 2948 was available even in the Office of the Archive of the Province of Misamis Oriental. The spouses Tan asserted that judicial notice may be taken of the fact that land assessment is revised b