ANDRES CASTILLO, PETITIONER-APPELLANT VS. JUAN RODRIGUEZ, AS SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES, ETC., ET AL., RESPONDENTS AND APPELLEES.

This is an appeal from a decision of the Court of First Instance of
Cebu finding the respondent Elias L. Casals, as represented by Camilo
Casals, entitled to preferential right, as against the herein
petitioner, in connection with the land disputed at bar.

As recited in the decision under appeal, the facts of this case, as borne out by the record, are as follows:

“* * *. That the lot in question was originally
embraced in the area covered by Foreshore Lease Application No. 592
(E-104) of Restituto Casals, father of the appellee, who occupied and
improved the same but which application was subsequently converted as
Miscellaneous Sales Application No. 7861 of said applicant; that said
application was amended so as to exclude therefrom the portion which
was certified by the District Engineer of Cebu as needed for future
public improvements; that Miscellaneous Sales Application No, 7861 has
been patented in favor of applicant Restituto Casals; that the excluded
portion which is the premises in question continued to be occupied by
applicant Restituto Casals until his death and said occupation and
possession was continued by Elias Casals, the appellee herein now
represented by Camilo Casals; that sometime in 1951 the City Engineer
of Cebu in a representation of the Republic of the Philippines offered
the lot in question to Elias Casals in exchange of his private property
affected by the opening of Colon Extension Street, but when the
proposed exchange was referred to the Director of Lands, the said
official in his letter dated May 5, 1952, did not approve of it on the
ground that there was no law authorizing exchange of public land with
that of private property, but at the same time manifested that he will
not interpose any objection for the owner of the private land if
qualified, to file application therefor; that by virtue thereof, Elias
Casals on June 4; 1952 filed his Miscellaneous Sales Application No.
16888 over the premises; that the private property of Elias Casals was
taken by the government in the construction of said Colon Street; that
the land on which was built the house of Andres Castillo, the appellant
herein was also affected by the construction of said Colon Street; that
the City Engineer of Cebu requested him to transfer his house, and with
the permission granted him (Castillo) by Aquilino Vda.de Casals, mother
of the appellee, to temporarily occupy the premises, moved his house to
the land in question; but after staying for sometime refused to vacate
the place and instead filed his Miscellaneous Sales Application No.
19124 on May 19, 1953 for a portion of the land applied for by Ellas
Casals; that applicant Castillo made additional improvements thereon
without permit from the District Land Officer or the Director of Lands;
and that applicant Casals constructed a house on the premises in
question after filing his permit application with the District Land
Officer and obtaining a permit from the City Engineer of Cebu City.”

As the above two miscellaneous sales applications referred to the
same public land consisting of 193 square meters located at Barrio
Abuno, Cebu City, the Bureau of Lands designated one of its lawyers,
Atty. Cornelio Albos, to investigate the conflicting claims of the
applicants. On December 22, 1953, the said investigator submitted a
report the recommendatory portion of which was the following:   
                                   

“In view of foregoing circumstances, it is
respectfully recommended that the Miscellaneous Sales Application No.
V-19126 of the Applicant Contestant, Andres Castillo, be given due
course, and the Miscellaneous Application No. V-16888 of the Heirs of
Elias Casals be amended to exclude therefrom the portion now in
question which is claimed and occupied by the applicant-contestant,”

On review, however, by the District Land Officer of Cebu, the above
recommendation of Investigator Cornelio Albor was rejected and the
disputed land was awarded to Camilo Casals, in representation of the
deceased Elias L. Casals. In turn, this ruling of the District Land
Officer was forwarded to the Director of Lands, before whom applicant
Andres Castillo also addressed a motion for the reconsideration of the
ruling of the District Land Officer. In due time, however, the Director
of Lands sustained the finding of the District Land Officer of Cebu and
denied the above motion for reconsideration.

Andres Castillo then elevated the matter to the Secretary of
Agriculture and Natural Resources who, on February 25, 1955, rendered a
decision finding the appeal un-meritorious. On August 6, 1955, the said
Secretary denied the motion for reconsideration filed thereto by the
herein petitioner-appellant.

Still unsatisfied with the decision of the Secretary of Agriculture
and Natural Resources, Andres Castillo appealed the same to the Office
of the President which, however, on April 26, 1956 and thru its
Executive Secretary, rendered a decision sustaining in all respects the
action taken by the Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

On July 10, 1956, been petitioner instituted a suit for certiorari
with the Court of First Instance of Cebu against the Secretary of
Agriculture and Natural Resources, the Director of Lands and Elias L.
Casals. The Executive Secretary, who was the last to act on the
controversy at bar and who handed down a decision which superseded
those which were rendered by the Director of Lands and the Secretary of
Agriculture and Natural Resources, was not made a party. After hearing,
the said court promulgated its decision dated October 15, 1958, the
dispositive portion of which provided:

“IN VIEW OF THE FOREGOING, judgment is hereby
rendered, dismissing the petition with cost against the petitioner. The
writ of preliminary injunction issued in this case against the
respondents is hereby dissolved.”

From the above decision, the appeal on hand was filed.

We find for the respondents-appellees.

As intimated above, the last decision upholding the claim of the
respondent heirs of Elias Casals was the decision of the Office of the
President as promulgated by its Executive Secretary on April 26, 1956.
This latter decision indeed superseded those which were handed down by
the Director of Lands and the Secretary of Agriculture and Natural
Resources. And yet, the subject matter of the instant appeal, as in the
certiorari proceedings in the court below, is not the above decision of
the Executive Secretary, but, the decisions of the two respondent
officials herein. Consequently, the decision of the Executive
Secretary, as it was the last, binding and operative decision in the
matter on hand and from which any appeal in this instance should have
been taken, must be deemed to have lapsed into a finality that bars the
perfection of an appeal. Then, too, the Executive Secretary, whose
decision was the controlling judgment prior to the institution of this
suit, was not even made a party herein. Nor was he so made in the court
a quo. Consequently, any ruling now against his said decision
would have no binding effect on him at all. Neither this Court nor the
court below has acquired jurisdiction over him with respect to the
controversy in this incident.

Even overlooking the above procedural aspect, however, We find no
merit in this appeal. Essentially, this petition questions the factual
finding of the District Land Officer of Cebu, the Director of Lands and
the Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources to the effect that
as between the herein petitioner and Elias L. Casals, the latter should
be accorded the preferential right over the disputed lot. The findings
of the above-named officials have not been shown to be wanting in
reasonable evidentiary bases. As a matter of fact, the very numbers and
dates of the contestants’ miscellaneous sales applications conclusively
show that Elias L. Casals filed his application way ahead of the
petitioner. The former filed his M.S.A. No. 16888 on June 4, 1952 while
the latter’s application, M.S.A. No. 19124, was filed only on May 19,
1953. Neither has Elias L. Casals been shown by the petitioner or the
records to be suffering from any legal disqualification to be awarded
the lot in dispute. Consequently, and conformably with settled
jurisprudence, We shall not disturb the decisions of the Director of
Lands and the Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources on the
matter.

“The decision of the Director of Lands, affirmed by
the Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources, on a factual matter
should be binding on the court.” (Julian v. Apostol, 52 Phil. 422)

WHEREFORE, the appeal of the petitioner-appellant is hereby dismissed, with costs.

Bengzon, C.J., Bautista Angelo, Concepcion, Reyes, J.B.L., Paredes, Dizon, Makalintal, Bengzon, J.P. and Zaldivar, JJ., concur.