Republic of the Philippines v.

Court of Appeals
G.R. No. L-43938, April 15, 1988, 160 SCRA 228
Cruz, ].
FACTS: An appcaton for regstraton of a parce of and was fed on
February 11, 1965, by |ose de a Rosa on hs own behaf and on behaf of hs
three chdren. The and, stuated n Tudng, Itogon, Benguet Provnce, was
dvded nto 9 ots. Accordng to the appcaton, Lots 1-5 were sod to |ose de
a Rosa and Lots 6-9 to hs chdren by Mamaya Babao and |ame Aberto,
respectvey, n 1964. In support of the appcaton, both Babao and Aberto
testfed that they had acqured the sub|ect and by vrtue of prescrpton
Babao camed to have receved Lots 1-5 from her father shorty after the
Lberaton. Aberto sad he receved Lots 6-9 n 1961 from hs mother, Bea
Aberto. She was corroborated by Fex Marcos, who recaed the earer
possesson of the and by Aberto's father. Benguet opposed on the ground
that the |une Bug mnera cam coverng Lots 1-5 was sod to t on
September 22, 1934, by the successors-n-nterest of |ames Key, who
ocated the cam n September 1909 and recorded t on October 14, 1909.
From the date of ts purchase, Benguet had been n actua, contnuous and
excusve possesson of the and n concept of owner. Atok aeged that a
porton of Lots 1-5 and a of Lots 6-9 were covered by the Emma and Freda
mnera cams ocated by Harrson and Reynods on December 25, 1930, and
recorded on |anuary 2, 1931, n the offce of the mnng recorder of Baguo.
These cams were purchased from these ocators on November 2, 1931, by
Atok, whch has snce then been n open, contnuous and excusve
possesson of the sad ots. The Bureau of Forestry Deveopment aso
nterposed ts ob|ecton, argung that the and sought to be regstered was
covered by the Centra Cordera Forest Reserve under Procamaton No. 217
dated February 16, 1929. Moreover, by reason of ts nature, t was not
sub|ect to aenaton under the Consttutons of 1935 and 1973.
The tra court dened the appcaton, hodng that the appcants had faed
to prove ther cam of possesson and ownershp of the and sought to be
regstered. The appcants appeaed to the respondent court, whch reversed
the tra court and affrmed the surface rghts of the de a Rosas over the
and whe at the same tme reservng the sub-surface rghts of Benguet and
Atok by vrtue of ther mnng cams. Both Benguet and Atok appeaed to the
Supreme Court, nvokng ther superor rght of ownershp. The Repubc fed
ts own petton for revew and reterated ts argument that nether the
prvate respondents nor the two mnng companes had any vad cam to
the and because t was not aenabe and regsterabe.
lSSUE: Whether or not Benguet and Atok have a better rght over the
property n queston.
HELD: Yes. It s true that the sub|ect property was consdered forest and
and ncuded n the Centra Cordera Forest Reserve, but ths dd not mpar
the rghts aready vested n Benguet and Atok at that tme. The perfecton of
the mnng cam converted the property to mnera and and under the aws
then n force removed t from the pubc doman. By such act, the ocators
acqured excusve rghts over the and, aganst even the government,
wthout need of any further act such as the purchase of the and or the
obtenton of a patent over t. As the and had become the prvate property of
!"