G.R. No. 157988 - REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES–BUREAU OF FOREST DEVELOPMENT, VS. VICENTE ROXAS AND THE REGISTER OF DEEDS OF ORIENTAL MINDORO.[G.R. No. 160640]PROVIDENT TREE FARMS, INC., VS. VICENTE ROXAS AND THE REGISTER OF DEEDS OF ORIENTAL MINDORO.D E C I S I O N - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

accordingly posted; [20] Roxass Final Proof Homestead Testimony of Applicant; [21] Assistant District Forester Dacanays letter dated July 12, 1965 to the District Land Officer of Calapan, Oriental Mindoro, verifying that Lot No. 1, GSS-569, was alienable and disposable; [22] Blue Print Plan of Land Group Settlement Survey as surveyed for the Republic; [23] Order dated July 19, 1965 of the Director of Lands approving Roxass application for patent; [24] The unsigned letter dated July 19, 1965 of Gabriel Sansano, Chief, Records Division, Bureau of Lands, to the ROD of Calapan, Oriental Mindoro, transmitting Roxass Homestead Patent No. 111598 for the registration and issuance of Owners Duplicate Certificate of Title in accordance with Section 122, Act No. 496; [25] and OCT No. P-5885 in Roxass name. [26] Respondent Roxas maintained that OCT No. P-5885 had been legally and validly issued to him and that he had been in actual, open, and continuous possession of the subject property in the concept of an owner since 1959. Respondent Roxas then prayed that judgment be rendered dismissing the Complaint of petitioner Republic; awarding damages to him in the amount of P500.00 and attorneys fees in the amount of P2,000.00; and declaring OCT No. P-5885 free from all claims and conflicts. Petitioner PTFI eventually filed a Complaint for Intervention on the ground that it was leasing the entire Matchwood Forest Reserve from petitioner Republic under Matchwood Plantation Lease Agreement No. 1 for a period of 25 years that would expire on June 30, 1990. [27] The RTC granted the intervention of petitioner PTFI in an Order dated August 10, 1979. [28] Subsequently, during the pendency of Civil Case No. R-3110 before the RTC, and considering the expiration of Lease Agreement No. 1 in 1990, petitioner PTFI entered into an Industrial Tree Plantation Lease Agreement [29] dated November 11, 1982 and Industrial Forest Plantation Management Agreement [30] dated November 24, 1982 with petitioner Republic, which extended the lease of petitioner PTFI of the Matchwood Forest Reserve until July 7, 2007. To determine whether or not the subject property was within the Matchwood Forest Reserve, the RTC issued an Order dated June 23, 1983 creating a committee to conduct a relocation survey. The committee was composed of three competent government officials: (1) the District Land Officer of Calapan, Oriental Mindoro, as chairman; (2) Geodetic Engineer (Engr.) Narciso Mulles (Mulles) of the BFD; and (3) Geodetic Engineer Cresente Mendoza (Mendoza) of the Bureau of Lands, Calapan, Oriental Mindoro. [31] However, Engr. Mulles was assigned to Region V, Naga City, so no relocation survey was conducted. Thus, the RTC issued another Order dated March 15, 1984, creating a second relocation survey committee composed of District Forester Gregorio O. Nisperos (Nisperos) as team leader, with representatives of the District Land Office, respondent Roxas, and petitioner PTFI as members. [32