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Land Titles Jurisprudence · Podcast Episode 1 · 15:01
Regalian Doctrine: Lahat Ba ng Lupa, sa Gobyerno?
Does all land belong to the State? And when can long possession still win?
Boracay claimants said they had possessed their lands since time immemorial and paid realty taxes, yet the Supreme Court held that the island was unclassified public land before 2006. Atty. Jeric Dave Gallardo and Sweet Zel Grace Porras walk through the Regalian doctrine and three decisions in which every claimant said they had held the land for a long time, and why only one of them won.
Three cases, two answers
Same question. Different facts. Different results.
The rule
Land that does not clearly appear to be private is presumed to belong to the State, and the person who applies for a title must overcome that presumption.
Under Art. XII, Secs. 2 and 3 of the 1987 Constitution, the State owns all lands of the public domain, and only agricultural lands may be alienated. In Republic vs. Pasig Rizal Co., Inc. (2022), the Supreme Court called native title to land the single exception to the Regalian doctrine’s general rule.
Recap
- Under the Regalian doctrine, land that is not clearly private is presumed to belong to the State.
- Only agricultural lands may be alienated, and it takes a positive act of the government to make public land alienable and disposable.
- The exception is native title, as in Cariño.
Bar tip
When asked whether a parcel of land can be registered, start with its classification: is it alienable and disposable through a positive act of the government? While the land is forest or a reservation, possession, however long, will not make it private (Collado and the Boracay case). The exception is native title (Cariño).
The law
1987 Constitution, R.A. No. 8371 and R.A. No. 11573
“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. With the exception of agricultural lands, all other natural resources shall not be alienated.”1987 Constitution, Art. XII, Sec. 2, first and second sentences
“Alienable lands of the public domain shall be limited to agricultural lands.”1987 Constitution, Art. XII, Sec. 3, first paragraph, third sentence
“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 ICCs/IPs, have never been public lands and are thus indisputably presumed to have been held that way since before the Spanish Conquest”R.A. No. 8371 (Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act of 1997), Sec. 3(l)
“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 not covered by existing certificates of title or patents under a bona fide claim of ownership for at least twenty (20) years immediately preceding the filing of the application for confirmation of title except when prevented by war or force majeure.”P.D. No. 1529, Sec. 14(1), as amended by R.A. No. 11573, Sec. 6 (approved July 16, 2021)
1987 Constitution (LawPhil) · R.A. No. 8371 (LawPhil) · R.A. No. 11573 (LawPhil) · R.A. No. 11573 (SC E-Library)
Chapters
- 0:00Cold open: was Boracay public forest?
- 1:01What is the Regalian doctrine? Article XII of the 1987 Constitution
- 3:31Case 1: Cariño vs. Insular Government (native title)
- 6:13Case 2: Collado vs. Court of Appeals (the Marikina watershed)
- 9:14Case 3: Secretary of DENR vs. Yap, the Boracay case
- 12:29Why did the answers differ? Three questions
- 13:40Recap and bar tip
Cases cited
Each card opens the full text of the decision, or our case digest where we have written one.
Next episode
How do you prove that land is alienable and disposable? Is a CENRO certification enough?