RAMON ARANDA
vs. REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES, G.R. No. 172331, August 24,
2011
“x x x.
Under the Regalian doctrine which is embodied in Section 2, Article XII
of the 1987 Constitution, all lands of the public domain
belong to the State, which is the source of any asserted right to ownership of
land. All lands not appearing to be clearly within private ownership are
presumed to belong to the State. Unless public land is shown to have been reclassified
or alienated to a private person by the State, it remains part of the
inalienable public domain. To overcome this presumption, incontrovertible
evidence must be established that the land subject of the application is
alienable or disposable.[15]
X x x.”
Footnotes:
[14] 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.
x x x x
[15] Republic v. Lao, G.R. No. 150413, July 1, 2003, 405 SCRA
291, 298, citing Seville v. National Development Company, G.R.
No. 129401, February 2, 2001, 351 SCRA 112, 120; Bracewell v. Court of
Appeals, 380 Phil. 156, 162 (2000); Menguito v. Republic, G.R.
No. 134308, December 14, 2000, 348 SCRA 128, 139; and Pagkatipunan v.
Court of Appeals, G.R. No. 129682, March 21, 2002, 379 SCRA 621, 628.
[22] Wee v. Republic, G.R. No. 177384, December 8, 2009, 608
SCRA 72, 83, citing Director of Lands v. Judge Reyes, 160-A
Phil. 832, 851 (1975) and Ramirez and Bayot de Ramirez v. Director of
Lands, 60 Phil. 114 (1934).
[23] Arbias v. Republic, G.R. No. 173808, September 17, 2008,
565 SCRA 582, 597, citing Republic v. Intermediate Appellate Court, No.
L-66069, September 28, 1984, 132 SCRA 395, 397, cited in Edao v. Court
of Appeals, G.R. No. 83995, September 4, 1992, 213 SCRA 585, 592.
[24] Id., citing Maloles and Malvar v.
Director of Lands, 25 Phil. 548, 553 (1913), cited in Edao v.
Court of Appeals, id. at 593.
