G.R. No. 68166 - HEIRS OF EMILIANO NAVARRO, VS. INTERMEDIATE APPELLATE COURT AND HEIRS OF SINFOROSO PASCUAL.

Ruling

WHEREFORE, judgment is rendered: (1) Dismissing plaintiff [private respondent] Sinforoso Pascual's complaint for ejectment in Civil Case No. 2873; (2) Denying the application of Sinforoso Pascual for land registration over the land in question; and (3) Directing said Sinforoso Pascual, through his heirs, as plaintiff in Civil Case No. 2873 and as applicant in Land Registration Case No. N-84 to pay costs in both instances."[6] The heirs of Pascual appealed and, before the respondent appellate court, assigned the following errors: "1. The lower court erred in not finding the land in question as an accretion by the action of the Talisay and Bulacan Rivers to the land admittedly owned by applicants-appellants [private respondents]. 2. The lower court erred in holding that the land in question is foreshore land. 3. The lower court erred in not ordering the registration of the and is controversy in favor of applicants-appellants [private respondents]. 4. The lower court erred in not finding that the applicants-appellants [private respondents] are entitled to eject the oppositor-appellee [petitioners]."[7] On appeal, the respondent court reversed the findings of the court a quo and granted the petition for registration of the subject property but excluding therefrom fifty (50) meters from corner 2 towards corner 1; and fifty meters (50) meters from corner 5 towards corner 6 of the Psu-175181. The respondent appellate court explained the reversal in this wise: "The paramount issue to be resolved in this appeal as set forth by the parties in their respective briefs is whether or not the land sought to be registered is accretion or foreshore land, or, whether or not said land was formed by the action of the two rivers of Talisay and Bulacan or by the action of the Manila Bay. If formed by the action of the Talisay and Bulacan rivers, the subject land is accretion but if formed by the action of the Manila Bay then it is foreshore land. xxx It is undisputed that applicants-appellants [private respondents] owned the land immediately adjoining the land sought to be registered. Their property which is covered by OCT No. 6830 is bounded on the east by the Talisay River, on the west by the Bulacan River, and on the north by the Manila Bay. The Talisay and Bulacan rivers come from inland flowing downstream towards the Manila Bay. In other words, between the Talisay River and the Bulacan River is the property of applicants with both rivers acting as the boundary to said land and the flow of both rivers meeting and emptying into the Manila Bay. The subject land was formed at the tip or apex of appellants' [private respondents'] land adding thereto the land now sought to be registered. This makes this case quite unique because while it is undisputed that the subject land is immediately attached to appellants' [private respondents'] land and forms the tip thereof, at the same time, said land immediately faces the Manila Bay which is part of the sea. We can understan