FIRST DIVISION

[G.R. No. L-2869. March 25, 1907.]

MATEO CARIÑO , petitioner-appellant , vs. THE INSULAR

GOVERNMENT, respondent-appellee.

Coudert Brothers, for appellant.

Solicitor-General Araneta, for appellee.

SYLLABUS

1. REALTY; PUBLIC LANDS; TITLE. — Under the express provisions of

the law, a piece of land being of common origin presumptively belonged to
the State during its former sovereignty, and in order to perfect the legitimate
acquisition of such land by private persons it was necessary that the same
passed from the possession of the State by title of egression, title under
agreement or composicion or title by way of possessory proceedings
equivalent during a certain period to that of adjustment (composicion).
2. ID.; ID.; POSSESSORY INFORMATION; TITLE. — The title under
possessory proceedings, the only title presented herein, is not a proprietary
title authorized in substitution for that of agreement or adjustment by royal
decree of February 13, 1894, this being that last law or decree of the former
sovereignty applicable to the present subject-matter of common lands: First,
for the reason that the land referred to is not covered nor does it come
within any of the conditions required in article 19; second, because the
possessory proceedings authorized in said royal decree for the purpose of
acquiring proprietary title, equivalent to that of agreement or adjustment,
can only be brought or instituted within a period of one year, in accordance
with article 21, and the possessory information or proceedings presented in
this case was instituted on March 7, 1901, and registered on the 11th day of
the same month and year.
3. ID.; ID.; REVERSION. — After the expiration of the period of one year
allowed by such royal decree, the right of the cultivators and persons in
possession to obtain a free title thereto becomes canceled and lapses, and
the land and the full possession thereof reverts to the State or to the
community, as the case may be.
4. ID.; ID.; POSSESSION; TITLE. — The possessors not included or
mentioned in the said provisions of the royal decree can only acquire, by
time, the ownership and title to public alienable lands in accordance with
common law.
5. ID.; ID.; ID.; POSSESSORY INFORMATION. — In accordance with
common law, the possession as attested to and shown in a possessory
information could not go further to show right of ownership or title until after
the expiration of twenty years from the time of verification or registry of the
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 same in the Registry of Properties, as prescribed in article 393 of the
Mortgage Law and upon other conditions required by this law.
6. ID.; ID.; PRESCRIPTION. — Section 6 of Act No. 627 of the Philippine
Commission admits prescription, in accordance with the terms and
conditions prescribed in Act No. 190, covering the title for the obtaining of
the right of ownership of lands not exceeding an extension of 16 hectares,
but not when the land in question consists of an extension of 40 hectares, as
is the case with the petition presented herein, or of an extension of 28
hectares as referred to in the possessory information proceeding upon which
such petition has been based.

DECISION

ARELLANO, C.J : p

Mateo Cariño, the appellant herein, on the 23d of February, 1904, filed
his petition in the Court of Land Registration praying that there be granted
to him title to a parcel of land consisting of 40 hectares, 1 are, and 13
centares, and situated in the town of Baguio, Province of Benguet, together
with a house erected thereon and constructed of wood and roofed with rimo,
and bounded as follows: On the north, in lines running 1,048 metes and 20
decimeters with the lands of Sepa Cariño, H. Phelps Whitmarsh, and Calsi; on
the east, in lines running 991 meters and 50 decimeters with the land of
Kuidno, Esteban Gonzales, and of the Civil Government; on the south, in lines
of 115 meters and 60 decimeters, with the lands of Talaca; and on the west,
in lines running 982 meters and 20 decimeters, with the lands of Sisco
Cariño and Mayengmeng.
By order of the court the hearing of this petition, No. 561, and that of
Antonio Rebollo and Vicente Valpiedad filed under No. 834, were heard
together for the reason that the latter petition claimed a small portion of
land included in the parcel set out in the former petition.
The Insular Government opposed the granting of these petitions,
alleging that the whole parcel of land is public property of the Government
and that the same was never acquired in any manner or through any title of
egresion from the State.
After trial, and the hearing of documentary and oral proof, the court of
Land Registration rendered its judgment in these terms:
"Therefore the court finds that Cariño and his predecessors have
not possessed exclusively and adversely any part of the said property
prior to the date on which Cariño constructed the house now there —
that is to say, for the years 1897 and 1898, and Cariño held possession
for some years afterwards of but a part of the property to which he
claims title. Both petitions are dismissed and the property in question
is adjudged to be public land. (Bill of exceptions, p. 15.)
The conclusions arrived at the set forth in definite terms in the decision
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 of the court below are the following:
"From the testimony given by Cariño as well as from that of
several of the witnesses for the Government it is deduced, that in or
about the year 1884 Cariño erected and utilized as a domicile a house
on the property situated to the north of that property now in question,
property which, according to the plan attached to expediente No. 561,
appears to be property belonging to Donaldson Sim; that during the
year 1893 Cariño sold said house to one Cristobal Ramos, who in turn
sold the same to Donaldson Sim, moving to and living on the adjoining
property, which appears on the plan aforesaid to be the property of H.
Phelps Whitmarsh, a place where the father and the grandfather of his
wife, that is to say, Ortega and Minse, had lived . . .
"In or about the years 1898 Cariño abandoned the property of
Whitmarsh and located on the property described in the plan attached
to expediente No. 561, having constructed a house thereon in which he
now lives, and which house is situated in the center of the property, as
is indicated on the plan; and since which time he has undoubtedly
occupied some portion of the property now claimed by him." (Bill of
exceptions, pp. 11 and 12.)
1. Therefore it is evident that this court can not decree the registration
of all of the superficial extension of the land described in the petition and as
appears on the plan filed herein, such extension containing 40 hectares, 1
are, and 13 centares, inasmuch as the documentary evidence accompanying
the petition is conclusive proof against the petitioners; this documentary
proof consists of a possessory information under date of March 7, 1901, and
registered on the 11th day of the same month and year; and, according to
such possessory information, the land therein described contains an
extension of only 28 hectares limited by "the country road to the barrio of
Pias," a road appearing on the plan now presented and cutting the land, as
might be said, in half, or running through its center from north to south, a
considerable extension of land remaining on the other side of the said road,
the west side, and which could not have been included in the possessory
information mentioned.
2. As has been shown during the trial of this case, this land, of which
mention is made in said possessory information, and upon which is situated
the house now actually occupied by the petitioner, all of which is set forth as
argument as to the possession in the judgment, is "used for pasture and
sowing," and belongs to the class called public lands.
3. Under the express provisions of law, a parcel of land, being of
common origin, presumptively belonged to the State during its sovereignty,
and, in order to perfect the legitimate acquisition of such land by private
persons, it was necessary that the possession of the same pass from the
State. And there is no evidence or proof of title of egresion of this land from
the domain of the Spanish Government, nor is there any possessory
information equivalent to title by composicion or under agreement.
4. The possessory information filed herein is not the title to property
authorized in substitution for that of adjustment by the royal decree of
February 13, 1894, this being the last law or legal disposition of the former
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 sovereignty applicable to the present subject-matter of common lands: First,
for the reason that the land referred to herein is not covered nor does it
come within any one of the three conditions required by article 19 of the
said royal decree, to wit, that the land has been in an uninterrupted state of
cultivation during a period of six years last past; or that the same has been
possessed without interruption during a period of twelve years and has been
in a state of cultivation up to the date of the information and during the
three years immediately preceding such information; or that such land had
been possessed openly without interruption during a period of thirty or more
years, notwithstanding the land had not been cultivated; nor is it necessary
to refer to the testimony given by the two witnesses to the possessory
information for the following reason: Second, because the possessory
information authorized by said royal decree or last legal disposition of the
Spanish Government, as title or for the purpose of acquiring actual
proprietary right, equivalent to that of adjustment with the Spanish
Government and required and necessary at all times until the publication of
said royal decree was limited in time to one year, in accordance with article
21, which is as follows: " A period of one year, not to be extended, is allowed
to verify the possessory informations which are referred to in articles 19 and
20. After the expiration of this period of the right of the cultivators and
persons in possession to obtain gratuitous title thereto lapses and the land
together with full possession reverts to the state, or, as the case may be, to
the community, and the said possessors and cultivators or their assigns
would simply have rights under universal or general title of average in the
event that the land is sold within a period of five years immediately following
the cancellation. The possessors not included under this chapter can only
acquire by time the ownership and title to unappropriated or royal lands in
accordance with common law."
5. In accordance with the preceding provisions, the right that remained
to Cariño, if it be certain that he was the true possessor of the land in
question, was the right of average in case the Government or State could
have sold the same within the period of five years immediately following for
example, if the denouncement of purchase had been carried out by Felipe
Zafra or any other person, as appears from the record of the trial of the
case. Aside from this right, in such event, his possession as attested in the
possessory information herein could not, in accordance with common law, go
to show any right of ownership until after the expiration of twenty years from
the expiration of twenty years from the verification and registry of the same
in conformity with the provisions of article 393 of the Mortgage Law and
other conditions prescribe by this law.
6. The right of possession in accordance with common law — that is to
say, civil law — remains at all times subordinate to the Spanish
administrative law, inasmuch as it could only be of force when pertaining to
royal transferable or alienable lands, which condition and the determination
thereof is reversed to the government, which classified and designated the
royal alienable lands for the purpose of distinguishing them from those lands
strictly public, and from forestry lands which could at no time pass to private
ownership nor be acquired through time even after the said royal decree of
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 February 13, 1894.
7. The advent of the new sovereignty necessarily brought a new
method of dealing with lands and particularly as to the classification and
manner of transfer and acquisition of royal or common lands then
appropriated, which were thenceforth merely called public lands, the
alienation of which was reserved to the Government, in accordance with
section 12 and 13 of the act of Congress of July 1, 1902, 1 and in conformity
with other laws enacted under this act of Congress by the Philippine
Commission prescribing rules for the execution thereof, one of which is Act
No. 648, 2 herein mentioned by the petitioner, in connection with Act No.
6 2 7 , 3 which appears to be the law upon which the petition herein is
founded.
8. Section 6 of Act No. 627 admits prescription, in accordance with the
provisions contained in Act No. 190, as a basis for obtaining the right of
ownership. "The petitioners claims title under the period of prescription of
ten years established by that act, as well as by reason of his occupancy and
use thereof from time immemorial." (Allegation 1.) But said act admits such
prescription for the purpose of obtaining title and ownership to lands "not
exceeding more that sixteen hectares in extent." (Sec. 6 of said act.) The
land claimed by Cariño is 40 hectares in extent, if we take into consideration
his petition, or an extension of 28 hectares, according to the possessory
information, the only thing that can be considered. Therefore, it follows that
the judgment denying the petition herein and now appealed from was
strictly in accordance with the law invoked herein.
9. And of the 28 hectares of land as set out in the possessory
information, one part of same, according to the testimony of Cariño, belongs
to Vicente Valpiedad, the extent of which is not determined. From all of
which it follows that the precise extent has not been determined in the trial
of this case on which judgment might be based in the event that the
judgment and title be declared in favor of the petitioner, Mateo Cariño. And
we should not lose sight of the fact that, considering the intention of
Congress in granting ownership and title to 16 hectares, that Mateo Cariño
and his children have already exceeded such amount in various
acquirements of lands, all of which is shown in different cases decided by the
said Court of Land Registration, donations or gifts of land that could only
have been made efficacious as to the conveyance thereof with the
assistance of these new laws.
By reason of the findings set forth it is clearly seen that the court below
did not err:
"1. In finding that Mateo Cariño and those from whom he claims
his right had not possessed and claimed as owners the lands in
question since time immemorial;
"2. In finding that the land in question did not belong to the
petitioner, but that, on the contrary, it was the property of the
Government." (Allegation 21.)
Wherefore, the judgment appealed from is affirmed with the costs of
this instance against the appellant. After the expiration of twenty days from
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 the notification of this decision let judgment be entered in accordance
herewith, and ten days thereafter let the case be remanded to the court from
whence it came for proper action. So ordered.
Torres, Mapa, Willard, and Tracey, JJ., concur.
Johnson, J., reserves his vote.

Footnotes

1. I Pub. Laws, 1056.

2. II Pub. Laws, 311.
3. II Pub. Laws, 288.

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