Republic vs.

Herbieto hear and proceed with respondents’

application for registration.
FACTS Respondents, however, failed to comply with the
! publication requirements mandated by the
Property Registration Decree, thus, the MTC
The Herbieto brothers, Jeremias and David, filed with the
MTC a single application for registration of two parcels of was not invested with jurisdiction as a land
land located in Consolacion, Cebu. They claimed to be registration court.
owners having purchased the lots from their parents. !
! NO, the applicants failed to comply with the required
period of possession.
The government opposed the registration arguing that: (1)
the Herbieto's failed to comply with the period of adverse !
possession required by law; (2) their evidence were !
insufficient to prove ownership; and the Subject Lots were RATIO DECIDENDI
part of the public domain belonging to the Republic and !
were not subject to private appropriation. 1. The misjoinder of causes of action and parties does not
! affect the jurisdiction of the MTC to hear and proceed
with respondents’ application for registration.
The MTC set the initial hearing on September 3, 1999. All
owners of the land adjoining the Subject Lots were sent !
copies of the Notice of Initial Hearing. A copy of the Notice The Property Registration Decree recognizes and
was also posted on July 27, 1999 in a conspicuous place on expressly allows the following situations: (1) the filing
the Subject Lots, as well as on the bulletin board of the of a single application by several applicants for as
municipal building of Consolacion, Cebu. Finally, the Notice long as they and (2) the filing of a single application
was also published in the Official Gazette on August 2, 1999 for registration of several parcels of land provided
and The Freeman Banat News on December 19, 1999. that the same are located within the same province.
! !
ISSUES The Property Registration Decree is silent, however,
W/N the MTC had jurisdiction as to the present situation wherein two applicants
W/N the applicants complied with the required period of filed a single application for two parcels of land, but
possession are seeking the separate and individual registration of
! the parcels of land in their respective names.
!
HELD
NO, the MTC had no jurisdiction. Since the Property Registration Decree failed to
The misjoinder of causes of action and parties provide for such a situation, then this Court refers to
does not affect the jurisdiction of the MTC to the Rules of Court to determine the proper course of
action. Considering every application for land
registration filed in strict accordance with the motion of a party to the case or on its own initiative,
Property Registration Decree as a single cause of to order the severance of the misjoined cause of
action, then the defect in the joint application for action, to be proceeded with separately (in case of
registration filed by the respondents with the MTC misjoinder of causes of action); and/or the dropping
constitutes a misjoinder of causes of action and of a party and the severance of any claim against said
parties. Instead of a single or joint application for misjoined party, also to be proceeded with separately
registration, respondents Jeremias and David, more (in case of misjoinder of parties).
appropriately, should have filed separate applications !
for registration of Lots No. 8422 and 8423, 2. Respondents, however, failed to comply with the
respectively. publication requirements mandated by the Property
! Registration Decree, thus, the MTC was not invested
Misjoinder of causes of action and parties do not with jurisdiction as a land registration court.
involve a question of jurisdiction of the court to hear !
and proceed with the case. They are not even accepted A defect in the publication of the Notice of Initial
as valid grounds for dismissal thereof.
 Hearing, which bars the MTC from assuming
! jurisdiction to hear and proceed with respondents’
RULE 2, SEC. 6. Misjoinder of causes of action. application for registration. A land registration case is
Misjoinder of causes of action is not a ground for a proceeding in rem, and jurisdiction in rem cannot
dismissal of an action. A misjoined cause of action be acquired unless there be constructive seizure of the
may, on motion of a party or on the initiative of land through publication and service of notice.
the court, be severed and proceeded with !
separately. Section 23 of the Property Registration Decree
requires that the public be given Notice of the Initial
RULE 3, SEC. 11. Misjoinder and non-joinder of Hearing of the application for land registration by
parties.·Neither misjoinder nor non-joinder of means of (1) publication; (2) mailing; and (3) posting.
parties is ground for dismissal of action. Parties
may be dropped or added by order of the court on
!
Publication in a newspaper of general circulation is
motion of any party or on its own initiative at any mandatory for the land registration court to validly
stage of the action and on such terms as are just. confirm and register the title of the applicant or
Any claim against a misjoined party may be applicants. All such requirements, including
severed and proceeded with separately. publication of the Notice in a newspaper of general
circulation, is essential and imperative, and must be
Misjoinder of causes of action and parties involve an strictly complied with.
implied admission of the court’s jurisdiction. It
acknowledges the power of the court, acting upon the
!
The reason is due process and the reality that the tantamount to no publication at all, having the same
Official Gazette is not as widely read and circulated as ultimate result.
newspaper and is oftentimes delayed in its !
circulation, such that the notices published therein 3. The applicants failed to comply with the required period
may not reach the interested parties on time, if at all. of possession of the Subject Lots for the judicial
Additionally, such parties may not be owners of confirmation or legalization of imperfect or incomplete
neighboring properties, and may in fact not own any title.
other real estate. In sum, the all encompassing in rem !
nature of land registration cases, the consequences of Respondents’ application filed with the MTC did not
default orders issued against the whole world and the state the statutory basis for their title to the Subject
objective of disseminating the notice in as wide a Lots. The Subject Lots are thus clearly part of the
manner as possible demand a mandatory public domain, classified as alienable and disposable
construction of the requirements for publication, as of 25 June 1963, according to the DENR-CENRO
mailing and posting. Certification.
! !
While the Notice thereof was printed in the issue of No public land can be acquired by private persons
the Official Gazette, dated 02 August 1999, and without any grant, express or implied, from the
officially released on 10 August 1999, it was published government; and it is indispensable that the person
in The Freeman Banat News, a daily newspaper claiming title to public land should show that his title
printed in Cebu City and circulated in the province was acquired from the State or any other mode of
and cities of Cebu and in the rest of Visayas and acquisition recognized by law.
Mindanao, only on 19 December 1999, more than !
three months after the initial hearing. Such The Public Land Act, as amended, governs lands of
publication of the Notice, way after the date of the the public domain, except timber and mineral lands,
initial hearing, would already be worthless and friar lands, and privately-owned lands which reverted
ineffective. Whoever read the Notice as it was to the State. It explicitly enumerates the means by
published in The Freeman Banat News and had a which public lands may be disposed, as follows:
claim to the Subject Lots was deprived of due process (1) For homestead settlement;

for it was already too late for him to appear before the (2) By sale;

MTC on the day of the initial hearing to oppose (3) By lease;

respondents’ application for registration, and to (4) By confirmation of imperfect or incomplete
present his claim and evidence in support of such titles;
claim. The late publication of the Notice of Initial (a) By judicial legalization; or

Hearing in the newspaper of general circulation is (b) By administrative legalization (free patent).
!
Since respondents herein filed their application
before the MTC, then it can be reasonably inferred
that they are seeking the judicial confirmation or
legalization of their imperfect or incomplete title over
the Subject Lots. Judicial confirmation or legalization
of imperfect or incomplete title to land, not exceeding
144 hectares, may be availed of by persons identified
under Section 48 of the Public Land Act, Subject Lots
became alienable and disposable only on 25 June
1963. Any period of possession prior to the date when
the Subject Lots were classified as alienable and
disposable is inconsequential and should be excluded
from the computation of the period of possession;
such possession can never ripen into ownership and
unless the land had been classified as alienable and
disposable, the rules on confirmation of imperfect
title shall not apply thereto. It is very apparent then
that respondents could not have complied with the
period of possession required by Section 48(b) of the
Public Land Act.
!
The Court of Appeals overlooked the difference
between the Property Registration Decree and the
Public Land Act. Under the Property Registration
Decree, there already exists a title which is confirmed
by the court; while under the Public Land Act, the
presumption always is that the land applied for
pertains to the State, and that the occupants and
possessors only claim an interest in the same by
virtue of their imperfect title or continuous, open, and
notorious possession.