Source: http://lawlibrary.chanrobles.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=52972:gr-165141-2009&catid=1522&Itemid=566
Timestamp: 2019-04-26 11:56:05+00:00

Document:
PEREGRINA MISTICA, Petitioner, v. REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES, Respondent.
This is a Petition for Review on Certiorari of the Court of Appeals (CA) April 2, 2004 Decision1 in CA-G.R. CV No. 75058 and August 18, 2004 Resolution2 denying petitioner Peregrina Mistica's motion for reconsideration.
WHEREFORE, confirming the order of General Default issued by this Court on July 20, 1999, anent the instant application, this Court hereby renders judgment APPROVING the registration of Lot No. 7766-D under Plan CSD-03-010587-D, being a portion of Lot 7766 Cad. 337 Meycauayan Cadastre, located [in] Malhacan, Meycauayan, Bulacan, covered by Tax Declaration No. 06075, in favor of applicant herein Peregrina Mistica.
After this decision shall become final, let the corresponding decree issue.
Furnish copy of this decision, the Land Registration Authority, Quezon City; the Office of the Solicitor General, Makati City; the Land Management Bureau, Manila; and the applicant herein.
Petitioner moved for the dismissal of the appeal on the ground that the case should have been elevated to the CA. She argued that since the MTC heard and decided the case in the exercise of its delegated jurisdiction, the appeal should not have been taken to the RTC.
(1) 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 under a bona fide claim of ownership since June 12, 1945, or earlier.
(b) Those who by themselves or through their predecessors-in-interest have been in open, continuous, exclusive, and notorious possession and occupation of agricultural lands of the public domain, under a bona fide claim of acquisition of ownership, since June 12, 1945, or earlier, immediately preceding the filing of the application for confirmation of title except when prevented by war or force majeure. These shall be conclusively presumed to have performed all the conditions essential to a Government grant and shall be entitled to a certificate of title under the provisions of this chapter.
To prove that she has been in possession of the subject lot, petitioner presented documentary evidence such as the technical description of the subject lot, Certification in Lieu of Lost Surveyor's Certificate, tax declaration of real property, official receipts of realty tax payments, blueprint/machine copies of Subdivision Plan Csd-03-010587-D, joint affidavits of her co-heirs, and Deed of Partition dated July 30, 1980. Moreover, to prove that her predecessors-in-interest had also been in possession thereof, petitioner presented a document written in Spanish which she claimed to be a Deed of Absolute Sale dated May 16, 1921. Lastly, she testified that she acquired the subject lot from her parents who had been the owners and possessors thereof since she was still very young.
As aptly held by the appellate court, these pieces of evidence, taken together, do not suffice to prove that petitioner and her predecessors-in-interest have been in open, continuous, exclusive, and notorious possession and occupation of the subject lot since June 12, 1945 or earlier. The technical description, Certification in Lieu of Lost Surveyor's Certificate, and blueprint copies of the subdivision plan only prove the identity of the lot sought to be registered. The joint affidavits of her co-heirs, as well as the Deed of Partition, merely show that petitioner acquired the property through succession.
The presentation of a document dated May 16, 1921 which, according to petitioner, was a Deed of Sale of the subject property where her father was the vendee, did not work to her advantage. In the first place, the document was written in Spanish and petitioner did not bother to have the contents thereof translated to English or to any other language that the court could understand. We cannot, therefore, determine if, indeed, the document was a Deed of Sale, and if the subject matter thereof was the property sought to be registered.
With the general statements made by petitioner that she and her predecessors-in-interest have been in possession of the property, and even with the Deed of Absolute Sale allegedly executed in 1921, actual possession of the subject lot was not convincingly established.
In sum, petitioner could not have acquired an imperfect title to the land in question because she has not proven possession openly, continuously and adversely in the concept of an owner since June 12, 1945, the period of possession required by law.35 Accordingly, the CA did not err in reversing the decision of the trial court and in denying the application for registration of title over the subject lot.
WHEREFORE, premises considered, the petition is DISMISSED for lack of merit. The April 2, 2004 Decision and August 18, 2004 Resolution of the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. CV No. 75058 are AFFIRMED.
1 Penned by Associate Justice Rodrigo V. Cosico, with Associate Justices Mariano C. del Castillo and Vicente Q. Roxas, concurring; rollo, pp. 9-19.
19 Penned by Judge Calixtro O. Adriatico, id. at 238.
28 Alfredo, Preciosa, Angelita & Crisostomo, all surnamed Buenaventura v. Amparo Pascual & Republic of the Phil., G.R. No. 168819, November 27, 2008.
29 Id.; In Re: Application for Land Registration of Title, Fieldman Agricultural Trading Corporation v. Republic, G.R. No. 147359, March 28, 2008, 550 SCRA 92, 103; Republic v. Carrasco, G.R. No. 143491, December 6, 2006, 510 SCRA 150, 158.
30 Alfredo, Preciosa, Angelita & Crisostomo, all surnamed Buenaventura v. Amparo Pascual & Republic of the Phil., supra note 28.
31 In Re: Application for Land Registration of Title, Fieldman Agricultural Trading Corporation v. Republic, supra note 29, at 104; Limcoma Multi-Purpose Cooperative v. Republic, G.R. No. 167652, July 10, 2007, 527 SCRA 233, 245.
32 Republic v. Carrasco, supra note 29, at 160; Republic v. Jacob, G.R. No. 146874, July 20, 2006, 495 SCRA 529, 539.
33 In Re: Application for Land Registration of Title, Fieldman Agricultural Trading Corporation v. Republic, supra note 29, at 104-105; The Dir., Lands Management Bureau v. Court of Appeals, 381 Phil. 761, 770 (2000).
34 Ong v. Republic, G.R. No. 175746, March 12, 2008, 548 SCRA 160, 167-168, citing Republic v. Alconaba, G.R. No. 155012, April 14, 2004, 427 SCRA 611; Republic v. Jacob, supra note 32, at 538-539; Republic v. Enciso, G.R. No. 160145, November 11, 2005, 474 SCRA 700, 712.
35 Republic v. Carrasco, supra note 29, at 164.

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