REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES vs. APOSTOLITA SAN MATEO, BRIGIDA TAPANG, ROSITA ACCION,
and CELSO MERCADO, G.R.
No. 203560, November 10, 2014
“x x x.
The trial court properly
acquired jurisdiction over the case.
We find without error the CA’s characterization of the petition for registration as an action in rem, as well as its ruling on
the petition’s compliance with the rules on notice
and publication. The CA correctly held that the RTC properly acquired
jurisdiction over the res, i.e. the
subject property. As the CA found, the names
of the owners of the adjoining lots were indicated in respondents’ Amended
Petition on April 28, 1999, and these persons have been properly notified of the proceedings. Moreover, there was proper publication of the Notice of Initial
Hearing, along with the technical
description of the property. Given that this is an action in rem, the publication of the notice is sufficient
notice to all claimants to the property.
The amendment of the technical
description of the property, or the
reduction of the area from 12,896 to 12,776 square meters, does not require a republication of the
technical description, because the
amended area was already included during the first publication.
As this
Court held in Republic v. CA and Heirs of
Luis Ribaya:17
x x x only where the original survey plan
is amended during the registration proceedings, by the addition of land not previously included in the original plan,
should publication be made in order
to confer jurisdiction on the court to order the registration of the area added after the publication of the original
plan. Conversely, if the amendment
does not involve an addition, but on the contrary, a reduction of the original
area that was published, no new publication is required.
The amendment of the area was not a result of any substantial
amendment in the property to be covered by the petition for registration,
but was done merely to conform to the
cadastral mapping of Taguig.18 Suffice
it to say, therefore, that the amendment
did not result in an addition of land not previously included in the original
plan. Thus, no republication is
necessary.
X x x.”
