Photo from Unsplash | Dan Roizer
The following post does not create a lawyer-client relationship between Alburo Alburo and Associates Law Offices (or any of its lawyers) and the reader. It is still best for you to engage the services of a lawyer or you may directly contact and consult Alburo Alburo and Associates Law Offices to address your specific legal concerns, if there is any.
Also, the matters contained in the following were written in accordance with the law, rules, and jurisprudence prevailing at the time of writing and posting, and do not include any future developments on the subject matter under discussion.
AT A GLANCE:
The following properties are parts of the public domain intended for public use, are outside the commerce of men and, therefore, not subject to private appropriation:
(1) Those intended for public use, such as roads, canals, rivers, torrents, ports and bridges constructed by the State, banks, shores, roadsteads, and others of similar character;
(2) Those which belong to the State, without being for public use, and are intended for some public service or for the development of the national wealth.
(Article 420, Civil Code of the Philippines, as cited in the case of Martinez et. al. v. CA et. al., G.R. No. L-31271 April 29, 1974)
Not all properties can be registered under one’s name. Certain properties are excluded and classified by law as non-registrable properties.
Civil Code provides:
Article 420. The following things are property of public dominion:
(1) Those intended for public use, such as roads, canals, rivers, torrents, ports and bridges constructed by the State, banks, shores, roadsteads, and others of similar character;
(2) Those which belong to the State, without being for public use, and are intended for some public service or for the development of the national wealth.
These properties are outside the commerce of men and therefore not subject to private appropriation. (Martinez v. Court of Appeals, 56 SCRA 647)
A property continues to be part of the public domain, not available for private appropriation or ownership until there is a formal declaration on the part of the government to withdraw it from being such (Ignacio v. Director of Lands, 108 Phil. 335 [1960]).
Property of public dominion, when no longer needed for public use or for public service, form part of the patrimonial (or private) property of the State.
Patrimonial property may be acquired by private persons through prescription. (Malabanan v. Republic, 587 SCRA 172; Sec. 14(2), PD 1529)
Properties of public dominion are not only exempt from real estate tax, they are exempt from sale at public auction. In Heirs of Mario Malabanan v. Republic, the Court held that, “It is clear that property of public dominion, which generally includes property belonging to the State, cannot be x x x subject of the commerce of man.”
In Philippine Fisheries Development Authority v. Court of Appeals, the Court held:
x x x [T]he real property tax assessments issued by the City of Iloilo should be upheld only with respect to the portions leased to private persons. In case the Authority fails to pay the real property taxes due thereon, said portions cannot be sold at public auction to satisfy the tax delinquency. In Chavez v. Public Estates Authority it was held that reclaimed lands are lands of the public dominion and cannot, without Congressional fiat, be subject of a sale, public or private x x x.
In the same vein, the port built by the State in the Iloilo fishing complex is a property of the public dominion and cannot therefore be sold at public auction.
(City of Pasig, represented by the City Treasurer and the City Assessor vs. Republic of the Philippines, represented by the Presidential Commission on Good Government, G.R. No. 185023, August 24, 2011)
Read also: Basics of land titles, transactions, and real property registration
Alburo Alburo and Associates Law Offices specializes in business law and labor law consulting. For inquiries regarding taxation and taxpayer’s remedies, you may reach us at info@alburolaw.com, or dial us at (02)7745-4391/0917-5772207.
All rights reserved.