DOJ OPINION NO. 100, s. 2012 November 13, 2012 Secretary Virgilio R.

R. delos Reyes Department of Agrarian Reform Elliptical Road, Diliman Quezon City Dear Secretary Delos Reyes : This refers to your request for opinion on the queries stated therein relating to the legal character of lands in excess of the twelve (12)-hectare titling limit. Specically, your queries are as follows: "A. Considering that Commonwealth Act No. 141 1 (C.A. 141) limits the area of land for which a person may secure a Torrens certicate of title, either through judicial conrmation of imperfect title or through administrative legalization, to only twelve (12) hectares, does ownership still vest on a claimant as to the area in excess of such 12 hectares although the same remains untitled (that is, unregistered under Presidential Decree No. 1529) 2 ? "1. If the answer to the rst query is in the afrmative, which agency has the authority to determine who the owner is of the excess untitled area obtained by acquisitive prescription in the context of the agrarian reform process? Specically, can such agency proceed with the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) coverage of such property? DCcHAa "2. If the answer to the immediately preceding query is in the afrmative, will such agency likewise have the authority to recognize the ownership of a possessor claiming ownership under Section 48(b) of C.A. 141, considering that the doctrine in Heirs of Mario Malabanan v. Republic 3 recognizes the right of ownership of such possessor upon the lapse of thirty (30) years of possession and upon declaration of the government that such land is alienable and disposable? "B. If the answer to the rst query is in the negative, can the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) turn over the
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excess area to the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) as government-owned/public land for distribution to CARP beneciaries?" You state that the 1987 Constitution 4 imposed an absolute limit of twelve (12) hectares of public lands that may be acquired by private individuals; that Congress enacted Republic Act (RA) No. 6940 on 28 March 1990 which provided for a limit of 12 hectares for the titling of lands through judicial or administrative legalization of imperfect or incomplete title; that the "doctrine of vested rights" under Balboa 5 and other cases 6 recognizes the grant of right of ownership over the land, which may have an area exceeding 12 hectares, possessed and occupied by a person for which he has complied with all the requirements for disposition under the Public Land Act; and that there is no law or jurisprudence that decisively characterizes the status of untitled private agricultural lands (UPALs) which are in excess of the 12 hectares constitutional limit. TEHIaA You also state that the CARP law, as amended, covers, for purposes of acquisition and distribution, all public and private agricultural lands; that the implementation of the CARP is undertaken jointly by the DAR and the DENR depending on whether the land is private or public; that EO No. 129-A empowers the DAR to acquire private agricultural lands, whether titled or untitled, for purposes of distribution under the CARP; and that the DENR is tasked with the implementation of the CARP insofar as public agricultural lands are concerned pursuant to its exclusive authority over all lands in the public domain. You further state that there are approximately 26,440 hectares involving an estimated 15,760 farmer beneciaries, and around 1,237 private claimants; and that a determination of the land's legal status would thus not only have a direct bearing on which government agency shall exercise jurisdiction in the distribution of the same under CARP but would serve as guide as well to the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) in the payment, if need be, for these untitled private agricultural lands. In answering your queries, we take the assumption that the untitled lands currently in possession of the claimants are public agricultural lands which have already been declared as disposable and alienable lands of the public domain in accordance with existing laws, rules and regulations. We answer your rst query in the negative. The provisions of the CA No. 141 or the Public Land Act, as amended, insofar as pertinent, state: DcHSEa "TITLE II Agricultural Public Lands "CHAPTER III Forms of Concession of Agricultural Lands "SECTION 11. Public lands suitable for agricultural purposes can be disposed of only as follows, and not otherwise:
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(1) For homestead settlement (2) By sale (3) By lease (4) By conrmation of imperfect or incomplete titles: (a) By judicial legalization (b) By administrative legalization (free patent)." In Martinez v. CA, 7 the Supreme Court explained that one claiming private rights as basis of ownership must prove compliance with the Public Land Act which prescribes the substantive as well as the procedural requirements for acquisition of public lands. 8 Each mode of disposition is appropriately covered by a separate chapter of the Public Land Act and there are specic requirements and application procedures for every mode. Chapter VII deals with administrative conrmation of imperfect title or free patents while Chapter VIII deals with judicial conrmation of imperfect or incomplete titles. As regards judicial conrmation of imperfect or incomplete titles, any citizen of the Philippines, occupying lands of the public domain or claiming to own any such lands or an interest therein may apply with the Regional Trial Court of the province where the land is located for conrmation of his/her claim and the issuance of a certicate of title therefor under the Property Registration Decree. Such applicants must, by themselves or through their predecessors in interest, have been in open, continuous, exclusive, and notorious possession and occupation of alienable and disposable agricultural lands of the public domain, under a bona de claim of acquisition or ownership, since 12 June 1945, except when prevented by war or force majeure, shall be conclusively presumed to have performed all the conditions essential to a Government grant. 9 Under R.A. 9176, applications for judicial conrmation of imperfect or incomplete titles must be led prior to 31 December 2020 10 and limited only to 12 hectares, consistent with Section 3, Article XII of the 1987 Constitution that a private individual may only acquire not more than 12 hectares of alienable and disposable land. This means that any application in excess of 12 hectares would be contrary to law and thus void ab initio. 11 As regards administrative conrmation of imperfect title, the law provides that the applicant must be a natural-born citizen of the Philippines who is not the owner of more than 12 hectares and who, for at least 30 years prior to the effectivity of Republic Act No. 6940 amending the Public Land Act, has continuously occupied and cultivated, either by himself or through his predecessor-in-interest, a tract or tracts of agricultural public land subject to disposition, who shall have paid the real estate tax thereon while the same has not been occupied by any person shall be entitled to a free patent over such land/s not to exceed 12 hectares. 12 TCSEcI It must be stressed, at this juncture, that the acquisition of public land is subject to the requirements 13 as well as limitations and maximum limit imposed under Sections 31 and 122 of the Public Land Act, thus:
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"SECTION 31. No person, corporation, association, or partnership shall be permitted, after the approval of this Act, to acquire the title to or possess as owner any lands of the public domain if such lands, added to other lands belonging to such person, corporation, association, or partnership shall give a total area greater than the area the acquisition of which by purchase is authorized under this Act. Any excess in area over this maximum and all right, title, interest, claim or action held by any person, corporation, association, or partnership resulting directly or indirectly in such excess shall revert to the State. "xxx xxx xxx "SECTION 122. Except in cases of hereditary succession, no land or any portion thereof originally acquired under the free patent, homestead, or individual sale provisions of this Act, or any permanent improvement on such land, shall be transferred or assigned to any individual, nor shall such land or any permanent improvement thereon be leased to such individual, when the area of said land, added to that of his own, shall exceed one hundred and forty-four hectares. Any transfer, assignment, or lease made in violation hereof, shall be null and void." xxx xxx xxx" 14 When the conditions specied in Section 48 (b) 15 of the Public Land Act are complied with, the possessor is deemed to have acquired, by operation of law, a right to a grant, without the necessity of a certicate of title being issued. The land, therefore, ceases to be of the public domain, and beyond the authority of the director of lands to dispose of. The application for conrmation is a mere formality, the lack of which does not affect the legal sufciency of the title as would be evidenced by the patent and the Torrens title to be issued upon the strength of said patent. 16 This means that once title to alienable public land passes to a private individual, it is segregated from the lands of the public domain and becomes private land subject to the rights of private ownership. Nevertheless, for reasons of public interest, the state may follow such lands into private hands and impose limitations on them. One such limitation is found in Section 122, supra, of the Public Land Act. 17 The Supreme Court held that Section 122 of the Public Land Act which allowed an individual to acquire a maximum of 144 hectares of alienable public land has been amended by Section 11, Article XVI of the 1973 Constitution by reducing the said area to not more than 24 hectares. 18 This limitation has been further reduced to 12 hectares pursuant to Section 3, Article XII of the Constitution and R.A. No. 9176. The constitutional intent, under the 1973 and 1987 Constitutions, is to transfer ownership of only a limited area of alienable land of the public domain to a qualied individual. DICcTa Having settled that the limitation is now 12 hectares, Section 31, supra, of the Public Land Act is the applicable provision on the treatment of the excess area. To repeat, Section 31 provides that any excess in area over this maximum and all right, title, interest, claim or action held by any person, corporation, association, or partnership resulting directly or indirectly in such excess shall revert to the State. This interpretation is in accord with the
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Regalian doctrine and its concomitant assumption that all lands owned by the State, although declared alienable or disposable, remain as such and ought to be used only by the Government. 19 In answer to your second query, we have held in the past 20 that the mode for distribution of public agricultural lands that falls within the coverage of CARP is found in Section 15 of E.O. No. 229, which is suppletory in application to R.A. No. 6657. Said provision states: "SECTION 15. Distribution and Utilization of Public Lands. All alienable and disposable lands of the public domain suitable for agriculture and outside proclaimed settlements shall be distributed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to qualied beneciaries as certied to jointly by the DAR and the DENR." It appearing that it is the DENR which is clothed with the power to distribute the public agricultural lands, we suggest that the DAR coordinate with the DENR on how to distribute these lands to CARP beneciaries. Please be guided accordingly. Very truly yours, (SGD.) LEILA M. DE LIMA Secretary Footnotes 1. The Public Land Act (1936). 2. The Property Registration Decree (1978). 3. G.R. No. 179987, April 29, 2009. 4. Section 3, Article XII (National Economy and Patrimony) provides: "SECTION 3. Lands of the public domain are classied into agricultural, forest or timber, mineral lands, and national parks. Agricultural lands of the public domain may be further classied by law according to the uses which they may be devoted. Alienable lands of the public domain shall be limited to agricultural lands. Private corporations or associations may not hold such alienable lands of the public domain except by lease, for a period not exceeding twenty-ve years, renewable for not more than twenty-ve years, and not to exceed one thousand hectares in area. Citizens of the Philippines may lease not more than ve hundred hectares, or acquire not more than twelve hectares thereof by purchase, homestead, or grant. "Taking into account the requirements of conservation, ecology, and development, and subject to the requirements of agrarian reform, the Congress shall determine, by law, the size of lands of the public domain which may be acquired, developed, held, or leased and the conditions therefor." 5. 51 Phil. 498 (1928). 6. The cases cited include: Juanico v. American Land Commercial Company, Inc., 97 Phil. 221 (1955); Vda. De Delizo v. Delizo, 69 SCRA 216, 229 (1976); Republic v. Director of Lands, G.R. No. 100709, November 14, 2007; Heirs of Cirila Gamos v. Heirs of Juliano Frando, G.R. No. 149117, December 16, 2004; Martinez v. CA, G.R. No. 170409, January 28, 2008. 7. G.R. No. 170409, January 28, 2008. 8. Citing Collado v. Court of Appeals, 439 Phil. 149, 173 (2002).
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 9. See Sec. 48 (b), CA No. 141 or The Public Land Act. 10. See Section 2, Republic Act No. 9176 (2002). 11. See Republic v. T.A.N. Properties, Inc., G.R. No. 154953, June 26, 2008. 12. See Section 44, Chapter VII of the Public Land Act. 13. See Sections 47 and 48 of the Public Land Act, as amended. 14. Stress added. 15. It provides: "Sec. 48. The following described citizens of the Philippines, occupying lands of the public domain or claiming to own any such lands or interest therein, but whose titles have not been perfected or completed, may apply to the Regional Trial Court of the province where the land is located for conrmation of their claims and the issuance of a certicate of title therefor, under the Property Registration Decree, to wit: xxx xxx xxx (b) 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 de claim of acquisition or ownership, since 12 June 1945, 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 certicate of title under the provisions of this chapter. (As amended by P.D. No. 1073)." 16. See Herico v. DAR, L-23265, 28 January 1980, 95 SCRA 437, 443-444. 17. Bernas, Joaquin G., The 1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines: A Commentary, 1996 Edition, p. 1025. 18. Guiang v. Kintanar, 106 SCRA 49 (1981). 19. See Heirs of Mario Malabanan v. Republic, G.R. No. 179987, April 29, 2009. 20. Secretary of Justice Opinion No. 59, s. 2004.