Regalian Doctrine
All lands in the Philippines are presumed to be lands of the public domain and therefore,
owned by the State.
Section 2 Art XII 1987 Constitution – 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.
First introduced by the Spaniards through the Laws of the Indies and Royal Cedulas,
which laid the foundation that ―all lands that were not acquired from the Government,
either by purchase or by grant, belong to the public domain.‖
Under the Regalian doctrine, all lands of the public domain belong to the State and
lands not otherwise appearing to be clearly within. Private ownership is presumed to
belong to the State. Unless public land is shown to have been reclassified as alienable
or disposable, and subsequently alienated by the State, it remains part of the public
domain. Occupation or possession thereof by a person in the concept of owner, no
matter how long cannot ripen in ownership.
Citizenship Requirement
Save in cases of hereditary succession, no private lands shall be transferred or
conveyed except to individuals, corporations, or associations qualified to acquire or hold
lands of the public domain.
Natural-born citizen of the Philippines who has lost his Philippine citizenship may be a
transferee of private lands, subject to limitations provided by law.
Non-Filipinos cannot acquire or hold title to private lands or to lands of the public
domain, except only by way of legal succession.
But what is the effect of a subsequent sale by the disqualified alien vendee to a qualified
Filipino citizen? This is not a novel question. Jurisprudence is consistent that ―if land is
invalidly transferred to an alien who subsequently becomes a citizen or transfers it to a
citizen, the flaw in the original transaction is considered cured and the title of the
transferee is rendered valid.‖
Corporations
Private corporations or associations may not hold such alienable lands of the public
domain except by lease, for a period not exceeding twenty-five years, renewable for not
more than twenty-five years, and not to exceed one thousand hectares in area.
Corporations or associations — whether citizens or of citizens and aliens — may not
own, but may only hold by lease lands of the public domain.
However, only corporations or associations at least 60% of the capital stock of which is
owned by Filipinos, and the remainder by foreigners, may own private lands.
Lands of the public domain
Means that land is destined to public use or which belongs exclusively to the State
without being devoted to common use or to some public service or to the development
of the national resources and of mines until transferred to private persons.
Lands of the public domain must be declared alienable and disposable before being
susceptible of private ownership.
Alienable lands of the public domain shall be limited to agricultural lands.
Classification of Lands of the Public Domain
a. Agricultural
b. Forest or Timber
c. Mineral lands
d. National Parks
Lands of the public domain alienable or open to disposition shall be classified,
according to the use or purposes to which such lands are destined, as follows:
a. Agricultural
b. Residential commercial industrial or for similar productive
purposes c. Educational, charitable, or other similar purposes
d. Reservations for town sites and for public and quasi-public uses.
Legal requirements before being opened to ownership.
1. The lands must be officially delimited and classified and when practicable,
surveyed.
2. It must be declared alienable and disposable.
3. It must not be reserved for public or quasi-public uses, nor appropriated by the
government nor in any manner become private property, nor those on which a
private right authorized and recognized by law may be claimed, or which
having been appropriated have ceased to be so.
4. Publication
Delimited, classified and surveyed
It is the Director of Lands which shall have the direct executive control of the
survey, classification, sale or any other form of concession or disposition and
management.
The President may, if for reasons of public interest declare lands of the public
domain as open to disposition before the same have had their boundaries
established or have been surveyed.
Declared alienable and disposable
Without the declaration that the land is alienable and disposable, the claim of
ownership is empty and shall not prosper
While it is an acknowledged policy of the State to promote the distribution of
alienable public lands to spur economic growth and in line with the ideal of social
justice, the law imposes stringent safeguards upon the grant of such resources
lest they fall into the wrong hands to the prejudice of the national patrimony.
The burden of proof in overcoming the presumption of State ownership of lands
of the public domain is on the person applying for registration or claiming
ownership, who must prove that the land subject of the application is alienable
and disposable.
Possession, no matter how long and in the concept of an owner cannot ripen into
ownership without the declaration of alienability and disposability of land.
A certificate of title on inalienable land is void and can be cancelled in
whomsoever hand said title may be found. A certificate of title which covers
forest or timber lands is void, even if in the hands of an innocent purchaser for
value.
Authority to declare land as alienable and disposable
1. President, through presidential proclamation, executive order, administrative
action.
2. Congress by legislative act. (Example: Republic Act no. 9323 ―An act
reclassifying a parcel of timberland located in Brgy Atabay, Municipality of
Hilongos Province of Leyte, as alienable and disposable land for residential,
commercial, industrial and other productive purpose‖)
Lands which cannot be declared as alienable and disposable
1. Those reserved for public or quasi-public uses
2. Those appropriated by the government
3. Those private lands of the government like the Friar lands and the ancestral
lands under the IPRA law
4. Those covered by the Forestry Code with slope of 18% or more
5. Submerged lands
6. Lands classified as national parks under the National Integrated Protected
Areas System (NIPAS) Act