Case Digest (G.R. No. 210738)
Facts:
Republic of the Philippines v. Spouses Guillermo Alonso and Inocencia Britanico-Alonso, G.R. No. 210738, August 14, 2019, Supreme Court Second Division, Reyes, J. Jr., writing for the Court.The petition arose from an application for original registration of Lot 2209, Cad. 24, Iloilo Cadastre, AP-06-005399, a parcel of about 724 square meters located in Poblacion, Oton, Iloilo, filed by petitioners Spouses Guillermo Alonso and Inocencia Britanico-Alonso (spouses Alonso). The spouses claimed tacked possession tracing to predecessors-in-interest, spouses Rafael C. Montalvo and Manuela Garnica, who allegedly possessed the land since 1945. After the predecessors’ death, their heirs executed an Extrajudicial Settlement Among Heirs with Waiver of Hereditary Shares, and the spouses Alonso obtained a Deed of Sale dated January 27, 1998; they asserted open, continuous, exclusive and notorious possession under a bona fide claim of ownership since time immemorial.
The Regional Trial Court (RTC), Branch 22, Iloilo City, dismissed the petition in an Order dated December 29, 2009, finding that spouses Alonso failed to prove possession meeting the statutory requisites; its denial of reconsideration was issued April 26, 2010. The spouses appealed to the Court of Appeals (CA-Cebu) which, in a Decision dated May 31, 2013, reversed the RTC and granted registration in their favor; the CA denied the Republic’s motion for reconsideration in its December 12, 2013 Resolution. The Republic, through the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), filed a Petition for Review on Certiorari befo...(Subscriber-Only)
Issues:
- Did the respondents prove that the subject land is part of the alienable and disposable public domain?
- Did the respondents establish open, continuous, exclusive and notorious possession under a bona fide claim of ownership since June 12, 1945 (or earlier) so as to wa...(Subscriber-Only)
Ruling:
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Ratio:
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Doctrine:
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