the government, either by purchase or by grant, belong to the State as part of the

Secretary of DENR vs Yap inalienable public domain.

Natural Resources and Environmental Laws: Regalian Doctrine

GR No. 167707; Oct 8, 2008

FACTS:
This petition is for a review on certiorari of the decision of the Court of Appeals (CA)
affirming that of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Kalibo Aklan, which granted the
petition for declaratory relief filed by respondents-claimants Mayor Jose Yap et al,
and ordered the survey of Boracay for titling purposes.
On Nov. 10, 1978, President Marcos issued Proclamation No. 1801 declaring Boracay
Island as a tourist zone and marine reserve. Claiming that Proc. No. 1801 precluded
them from filing an application for a judicial confirmation of imperfect title or survey
of land for titling purposes, respondents-claimants filed a petition for declaratory
relief with the RTC in Kalibo, Aklan.
The Republic, through the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) opposed the petition
countering that Boracay Island was an unclassified land of the public domain. It
formed part of the mass of lands classified as “public forest,” which was not available
for disposition pursuant to section 3(a) of PD No. 705 or the Revised Forestry Code.

ISSUE:
Whether unclassified lands of the public domain are automatically deemed
agricultural land, therefore making these lands alienable.

HELD:
No. To prove that the land subject of an application for registration is alienable, the
applicant must establish the existence of a positive act of the government such as a
presidential proclamation or an executive order, an administrative action,
investigative reports of the Bureau of Lands investigators, and a legislative act or
statute.
A positive act declaring land as alienable and disposable is required. In keeping with
the presumption of state ownership, the Court has time and again emphasized that
there must be a positive act of the government, such as an official proclamation,
declassifying inalienable public land into disposable land for agricultural or other
purposes.
The Regalian Doctrine dictates that all lands of the public domain belong to the State,
that the State is the source of any asserted right to ownership of land and charged
with the conservation of such patrimony.

All lands not otherwise appearing to be clearly within private ownership are
presumed to belong to the State. Thus, all lands that have not been acquired from