SECOND DIVISION
[G.R. No. 235351. November 5, 2018.]
HIGHPOINT DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION, petitioner, vs.REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES, respondent.
NOTICE
Sirs/Mesdames :
Please take notice that the Court, Second Division, issued a Resolution dated 05 November 2018which reads as follows:
"G.R. No. 235351 (Highpoint Development Corporation v. Republic of the Philippines)
After a judicious study of the case, the Court resolves to DENY the instant petition 1 and AFFIRM the December 14, 2015 Decision 2 and the August 30, 2017 Resolution 3 of the Court of Appeals (CA) in CA-G.R. CV No. 02974 for failure of petitioner Highpoint Development Corporation (petitioner) to sufficiently show that the CA committed any reversible error in ruling that it is not entitled to have the subject land registered under its name pursuant to Section 14 (1) and (2) 4 of Presidential Decree No. 1529, 5 otherwise known as the "Property Registration Decree."
As correctly ruled by the CA, petitioner did not only fail to show that it or its predecessors-in-interest have been in open, continuous, exclusive, and notorious possession of the subject land since June 12, 1945 or earlier, it also failed to prove that the subject land is alienable and disposable. 6 To prove that the land sought to be registered is alienable and disposable, the present rule is that the application for original registration must be accompanied by: (1) a Community Environment and Natural Resources Officer or Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Officer Certification; and (2) a copy of the original classification approved by the DENR Secretary, and certified as true copy by the legal custodian of the official records. 7 More importantly, jurisprudence instructs that "public domain lands become only patrimonial property not only with a declaration that these are alienable or disposable. There must also be an express government manifestation that the property is already patrimonial or no longer retained for public service or the development of national wealth," 8 which was not shown in this case. CAIHTE
SO ORDERED." (REYES, J., JR., J., designated Additional Member per Special Order No. 2587 dated August 28, 2018; on official leave.)
Very truly yours,
(SGD.) MARIA LOURDES C. PERFECTODivision Clerk of CourtBy:TERESITA AQUINO TUAZONDeputy Division Clerk of Court
Footnotes
1.Rollo, pp. 12-21.
2.Id. at 36-42. Penned by Associate Justice Edward B. Contreras with Associate Justices Edgardo L. Delos Santos and Gabriel T. Robeniol, concurring.
3.Id. at 26-28.
4. Section 14 (1) and (2) of Presidential Decree No. 1529 provide:
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.
(2) Those who have acquired ownership of private lands by prescription under the provisions of existing laws.
5. Entitled "AMENDING AND CODIFYING THE LAWS RELATIVE TO REGISTRATION OF PROPERTY AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES" (January 8, 1979).
6. See rollo, pp. 39-41.
7. See Republic v. Rovency Realty and Development Corporation, G.R. No. 190817, January 10, 2018, citing Republic v. Vda. de Joson, 728 Phil. 550, 563 (2014).
8.Republic v. Vda. de Joson, id. at 567, citing Heirs of Malabanan v. Republic, 605 Phil. 244, 285 (2009).