a. Property of Public Dominion

Non- Registrable Lands

These are properties of public dominion which, under existing legislation, are not the subject of private ownership and are reserved for public purposes.

All lands of the public domain, waters, minerals, coal, petroleum, and other mineral oils, all forces of potential energy, fisheries, forests or timber, wildlife, flora and fauna, and other natural resources are owned by the State. (Sec. 2, Art. XII, 1987 Constitution)

NOTE: The properties of public dominion are not susceptible to acquisitive prescription and only properties of the State that are no longer earmarked for public use, otherwise known as patrimonial, may be acquired by prescription. In Heirs of Malabanan v. Republic, (G.R. No. 179987, 03 Sept. 2013) the Supreme Court, in observance of the foregoing, clarified the import of Sec. 14(2) and made the following declarations:

• The prescriptive period for purposes of acquiring an imperfect title over a property of the State shall commence to run from the date an official declaration is issued that such property is no longer intended for public service or the development of national wealth; and
• Prescription will not run as against the State even if the property has been previously classified as alienable and disposable as it is that official declaration that converts the property to patrimonial. (Republic v. Metro Index Realty and Development Corp., G.R. No. 198585, 24 June 2013)

Concept of Native Title; Time Immemorial

Native title refers to pre-conquest rights to lands and domains which, as far back as memory reaches, have been held under a claim of private ownership by Indigenous Cultural Communities/Indigenous Peoples (ICCs/IPs), have never been public lands and are thus indisputably presumed to have been held that way since before the Spanish Conquest. (Sec. 3(L), Ch. III, R.A. 8371)

NOTE: The Regalian Doctrine does not negate native title.

NOTE: To prove that the subject property is alienable and disposable land of the public domain, applicant must:

• Present a Community Environment and Natural Resources Office Certificate (CENRO);
• Prove that the DENR Secretary had approved the land classification and released the land of the public domain as alienable and disposable; and
• That the land subject of the application for registration falls within the approved area per verification through survey by the PENRO or CENRO. In addition, the applicant for land registration must present a copy of the original classification approved by the DENR Secretary and certified as a true copy by the legal custodian of the official records. (See Republic v. Malijan-Javier, G.R. No. 214367, April 4, 2018, as penned by J. Leonen)

Q: On March 1980, Cornelio filed an application for land registration of a parcel of agricultural land. During the trial, Cornelio claimed that he and his predecessors-in-interest had been in open, continuous, uninterrupted, public and adverse possession and occupation of the land for more than 30 years. He likewise introduced a certification, dated February 1981 citing a presidential declaration that on June 1980, the subject matter of the application was declared alienable and disposable agricultural land. If you are the judge, will you grant the application for land registration of Cornelio? (2014 Bar)

A: NO, I will not grant the application. To be entitled to register the parcel of land, the applicant must show that the land being applied for is an alienable land. At the time of the filing of the application, the land has not yet been declared alienable by the state. (Republic v. CA, G.R. No. 144057, January 17, 2005)

Q: Can Cornelio acquire said agricultural land through acquisitive prescription, whether ordinary or extraordinary? (2014 Bar)

A: Cornelio cannot acquire the land by acquisitive prescription merely because it was declared alienable and disposable. Prescription against the State can begin only after a separate declaration that the land is no longer intended for public service or the development of national wealth has made it patrimonial, subject to the applicable requisites and prescriptive period: ordinary prescription requires ten years of possession in good faith with just title; extraordinary prescription requires possession for thirty years without need of any other condition. (NCC, Arts. 1113, 1134 and 1137; Heirs of Malabanan v. Republic, G.R. No. 179987, September 3, 2013)

Q: Socorro Orcullo was a grantee of a Free Patent for a parcel of land in Cebu. Subsequently, the subject lot was sold to SAAD Agro-Industries, Inc. by one of Orcullo’s heirs. Yet, the Solicitor General filed a complaint for the annulment of the title and reversion of the said lot on the ground that the issuance of the free patent and title was irregular and erroneous, following the discovery that the lot is allegedly part of the timberland and forest reserve. Decide on the case.

A: In instances where a parcel of land considered to be inalienable land of the public domain is found under private ownership, the Government is allowed by law to file an action for reversion in which the ultimate relief sought is to revert the land to the government pursuant to the Regalian doctrine. Nevertheless, in applying the Regalian Doctrine, the paramount considerations of fairness and due process must be observed in every claim of right by the Government against one of its citizens. The Government failed to prove that the subject lot formed part of timberland or a forest reserve before issuance of the free patent and title. (Saad Agro-Industries, Inc. v. Republic of the Philippines, G.R. No. 152570, September 27, 2006)

Updated: The issuing official must identify a CENRO/PENRO land-classification certification to avoid hearsay (Republic v. Manahan, G.R. No. 255266, 21 April 2025).

Reason behind their Non-Registrability

Inalienable property of the public domain is beyond the commerce of man and not susceptible of private appropriation and acquisitive prescription. Alienable and disposable agricultural land of the public domain may be acquired only as authorized by law; mere occupation, no matter how long, does not make it patrimonial property or subject it to acquisitive prescription against the State. (Valiao v. Republic, G.R. No. 170757, 28 Nov. 2011)

Exceptions:

• Res communes
• Property of public dominion
• Discontinuous servitudes
• Non-apparent servitudes
• Things specifically prohibited by law

Forest Lands

Forest lands are lands legally classified as forest lands; their classification does not depend solely on the presence or absence of trees. If the land forms part of the public forest, possession thereof, however long, cannot convert it into private property as it is within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Bureau of Forest Development and beyond the power and jurisdiction of the registration court. (Agcaoili, 2018; Director of Lands v. Abanzado, G.R. No. L-21814, 15 July 1975)

Unless the land is released as A and D, the rules on confirmation of title do not apply. (Heirs of Amunategui v. Director of Forestry, G.R. No. L-27873, November 29, 1983)

Foreshore Land

A strip of land that lies between the high and low water marks and is alternately wet and dry according to the flow of tide. It is that part of the land adjacent to the sea, which is alternately covered by the ordinary flow of tides. (Republic v. CA, G.R. No. 126316, 25 June 2004)

Foreshore lands are inalienable unless reclaimed by the government and classified as agricultural lands of the public domain. (Chavez v. Public Estates Authority, G.R. No. 133250, 11 Nov. 2003)

NOTE: Seashore, foreshore land, and/or portions of the territorial waters and beaches, cannot be registered. It is outside the commerce of man. Even alluvial formation along the seashore is part of the public domain and, therefore, not open to acquisition by adverse possession by private persons unless subsequently declared as no longer needed for public use. (Aranas De Buyser v. Director of Lands, G.R. No. L-22763, 18 Mar. 1983)

Q: Are mangrove swamps disposable?

A: NO. Mangrove swamps or manglares, as they are commonly called, are forestal and not alienable agricultural land.

Mangrove swamps form part of the public forests and, therefore, not subject to disposition until and unless they are first released as forest land and classified as alienable agricultural land. (Ibid. Director of Forestry v. Villareal, G.R. No, L-32266, 27 Feb. 1989)

Watershed Reservation

It is a forest land reservation established to protect or improve the conditions of the water yield thereof or reduce sedimentation. (Sec. 3(l), P.D. 705)

Q: Public Reclamation Authority (formerly Philippine Estate Authority or PEA) reclaimed several portions of the foreshore and offshore areas of Manila Bay. In 2003, the Parañaque City Treasurer issued Warrants of Levy on PRA’s reclaimed property. PRA filed a petition for prohibition with prayer for TRO but was denied by the RTC on the ground that PRA was not exempt from payment of real property taxes as it was organized as a stock corporation. Is PRA exempted from the payment of real property tax for its reclamation project?

A: YES. The subject lands are reclaimed lands, specifically portions of the foreshore and offshore areas of Manila Bay. As such, these lands remain public lands and form part of the public domain. It is clear from Sec. 234 of the LGC that real property owned by the Republic of the Philippines is exempt from real property tax unless the beneficial use thereof has been granted to a taxable person. In the case of Chavez v. Public Estates Authority (PEA) and AMARI Coastal Development Corporation, (G.R. No. 133250, 09 July 2002) the Court held that the fact that alienable lands of the public domain were transferred to the PEA (now PRA) and issued land patents or certificates of title in PEA’s name did not automatically make such lands private. Supreme Court also held therein that reclaimed lands retained their inherent potential as areas for public use or public service. (Republic v. City of Parañaque; G.R. No. 191109, 18 July 2012)

Things Not Subject to Prescription

• Property of public dominion (Art. 1113)
• Intransmissible rights
• Movables possessed through a crime cannot be acquired by prescription by the offender (Art. 1133)
• Registered land; lands covered by title (P.D. 1529, Sec. 47)

New Riverbanks

Whenever a river, changing its course by natural causes, opens a new bed through a private estate, this bed shall become of public dominion. (Art.462)

New riverbed may itself be abandoned, due to natural or artificial causes authorized by law.

Owners will get back this previous property if the course of the river reverts to its original place. (Sanchez v. Pascual, G.R. No. L-3551, October 6, 1908)

Islands Belonging to the State

Islands, which may be formed:

• On the seas within the jurisdiction of the Philippines.
• On lakes; and
• On navigable or floatable rivers. (Art.464)

Islands Formed in Non-Navigable or Non- Floatable Rivers:

• Islands formed through successive accumulation of alluvial deposits in non-navigable and non-floatable rivers belong to the owners of the margins or banks of the river nearest to each of them.
• If in the MIDDLE of the river divided longitudinally in halves (Art.465)

Note: Riverbeds that dry up continue to belong to the State as its property of public dominion, unless there is an express law that provides that the dried-up river beds should belong to some other person. (Republic vs. Santos III, GR No. 160453, 2012)