Case Digest (G.R. No. 95608)
Facts:
Spouses Ignacio Palomo and Trinidad Pascual, and Carmen Palomo Vda. de Buenaventura v. The Honorable Court of Appeals, The Republic of the Philippines, Faustino J. Perfecto, Raffy Santillan, Boy Ariado, Lorenzo Brocales, Salvador Doe, and Other Does, G.R. No. 95608, January 21, 1997, Second Division, Romero, J., writing for the Court.In 1913 Governor-General William Cameron Forbes issued Executive Order No. 40, which reserved some 440,530 square meters in Barrio Naga, Tiwi, Albay, for provincial park purposes pursuant to Act 648. In December 1916 and January 1917 the then Court of First Instance of Albay ordered the registration of 15 parcels covered by that reservation in the name of Diego Palomo. Diego allegedly donated these parcels (about 74,872 sq. m.) to his heirs, the petitioners here, shortly before his death in April 1937.
The petitioners claim their predecessor titles were lost during the Japanese occupation and, on May 30, 1950, Ignacio Palomo sought reconstitution; the Register of Deeds of Albay issued Transfer Certificates of Title (TCT) Nos. 3911–3914 in October 1953. On July 10, 1954 Proclamation No. 47 converted the area embraced by EO No. 40 into the Tiwi Hot Spring National Park, under the control of the then Commission of Parks and Wildlife (now within the Bureau of Forest Development). The area was not released as alienable and disposable public domain.
The petitioners remained in possession, paid real estate taxes, improved the land, and on April 8, 1971 mortgaged the parcels covered by TCTs 3911–3914 to the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI). On May 7, 1974 the petitioners filed Civil Case No. T-143 in the Court of First Instance of Albay for injunction and damages against several employees of the Bureau of Forest Development for cutting bamboo on lots covered by TCT 3913 and/or 3914. On October 11, 1974 the Republic filed Civil Case No. T-176 for annulment and cancellation of the original certificates of title and the subsequent TCTs for the 15 parcels; BPI and the Register of Deeds were impleaded, though the Bank was later dismissed when the loan was shown paid.
The trial court conducted a joint trial of T-143 and T-176 and on July 31, 1986 rendered judgment: in T-143 the plaintiffs’ injunction and damages claim was dismissed; in T-176 the court declared null and void the Order dated September 14, 1953 and the Original Certificates of Title Nos. 513, 169, 173 and 176 and Transfer Certificates of Title Nos. T-3911 to T-3914, forfeited to the Government any improvements on the lands, declared specific lots as part of the Tiwi Hot Spring National Park, and ordered the Register of Deeds to cancel the titles. The trial court found insufficient proof that the Palomos’ predecessors had acquired property rights before the Treaty of Paris, and noted that the alleged Court of First Instance “decisions” were unsigned and merely clerical notifications.
The petitioners appealed to the Court of Appeals, which affirmed the...(Subscriber-Only)
Issues:
- Did the Court of Appeals commit grave abuse of discretion in affirming the trial court's judgment?
- Are the Original Certificates of Title (OCTs) issued in 1916–1917 and the Transfer Certificates of Title (TCTs) issued in 1953 valid as to the parcels in question?
- Was the forfeiture of improvements introduced by the petitioners in fav...(Subscriber-Only)
Ruling:
- (Subscriber-Only)
Ratio:
- (Subscriber-Only)
Doctrine:
- (Subscriber-Only)