BONIFACIO JULIAN, PLAINTIFF AND APPELLANT, VS. SILVERIO APOSTOL, SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES, ET AL., DEFENDANTS AND APPELLEES.

This action was commenced on May 19, 1926 in the Court of First
Instance of Nueva Ecija, for the purpose of recovering possession of two parcels
of land situated in the municipality of Munoz of said province, known in the
record as lots 1576 and 1577, together with damages in the sum of P10,000. The
plaintiff alleged that he was a homesteader of said lots, with preferential
right to the possession of the same. The defendant Remigia Juan was excluded
from the complaint, by stipulation of the parties, it having been found that she
had no interest in any of said lots. The defendants Silverio Apostol, as
Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources; Jorge Vargas, as Director of
Lands; Angel P. Miguel, Cesar Bengson and Frank E. Yost, as members of the Board
of Investigation and Survey,—were included, on the ground that said defendants
had unlawfully and without authority cancelled the homestead application of the
plaintiff for lots 1576 and 1577, and had unlawfully declared forfeited his
right as a homesteader.

All of the defendants answered by a general and special
defense. The defendants Filemon Saturno and Tomasa Tomas filed a counterclaim
for the sum of P15,000.

Upon the issue raised by the pleadings, the cause was brought
on for trial. After hearing the evidence adduced during the trial of the cause,
the Honorable Eduardo Gutierrez David, judge, in a carefully prepared opinion,
reached the conclusion that the plaintiff, as homesteader of lots 1576 and 1577,
had not complied with the requirements of the homestead law and had forfeited
his right to said lots, and rendered a judgment, absolving the defendants from
all liability under the complaint, without pronouncement as to costs. The
dispositive part of the judgment reads as follows:

“En virtud de estas consideraciones, el Juzgado es de opinion
que debe fallar este asunto, en cuanto a la demanda, absolviendo de ella a los
demandados en todas y cada una de sus peticiones, incluyendo la de la demanda
enmendada. En cuanto a la reconvencion de los demandados Filemon Saturno y
Tomasa Tomas, se absuelve de ella al demandante por improcedente. Sin
pronunciamiento en cuanto a las costas.”

From that judgment the plaintiff appealed.

The appellant now contends that the lower court committed eight
errors, relating to questions of both fact and law. His principal contentions
are: 

(1) That the lower court erred in finding that the plaintiff
had abandoned his possession of the land (lots 1576 and 1577), and had not
complied with the requirements of the law;

(2) That the lower court erred in not declaring that the
Director of Lands had no authority to create the Board of Investigation and
Survey, and that the decision of said board is null and void; and

(3) That the lower court erred in not declaring that the
homestead applications of Filemon Saturno and Raymundo Saturno were null and
void ab initio.

ANTECEDENT FACTS

(1) On January 27, 1914, the plaintiff filed a homestead
application for the lots in question, Nos. 1576 and 1577, which was approved by
the Director of Lands on September 14, 1914 (Exhibits A and A-l).

(2) On February 27, 1914, the defendant Filemon Saturno filed a
homestead application, which was approved by the Director of Lands on December
1,1914, for a parcel of land which was later found to include the northern
portion of the parcel covered by the application of the plaintiff (Exhibits 6
and 7). This portion is now known as lot 1577.

(3) On February 23, 1914, one Macario Santero filed a homestead
application, which was approved by the Director of Lands on December 10, 1914,
for a parcel of land, which was later found to be the southern portion of the
land covered by the application of the plaintiff. This portion is now known as
lot 1576. Macario Santero is the predecessor of the defendant Tomasa Tomas
(Exhibits 8 and 9).

(4) On November 13,1918, by reason of complaints filed with the
Bureau of Lands by the plaintiff, the Director of Lands addressed letters to the
defendants homesteaders, advising them not to interfere with the possession and
cultivation by the plaintiff of the land covered by his homestead application
(Exhibits B and C)

(5) On November 24, 1919, in reply to a letter of the
plaintiff, the Director of Lands advised him to file an action against the
defendants homesteaders in the court of the justice of the peace of the
municipality of Muiioz, for their interference with his possession and
cultivation of said lots 1576 and 1577 (Exhibits E-2 and E-3).

(6) On October 25, 1921, the Secretary of Agriculture and
Natural Resources directed the Director of Lands to establish a branch office of
the Bureau of Lands in the Province of Nueva Ecija, in order to expedite the
disposition and settlement of conflicting claims to public lands in each
municipality of said province. Accordingly, a board composed of three members
(the defendants Angel P. Miguel, Cesar Bengson and Frank D. Yost) was created.
Said board was known as “Investigation and Survey Board” (Exhibits 1 and 12).

(7) On January 23, 1922, said board heard the claims of the
plaintiff and the defendants Saturno and Tomasa Tomas. Both sides presented
witnesses, and were given a full and impartial hearing (Exhibit 11).

(8) On March 10, 1922, said Board of Investigation and Survey
rendered its decision, based on the facts disclosed at the hearing, and held
that the plaintiff Bonifacio Julian had forfeited his right as homesteader of
lots 1576 and 1577, on the ground of abandonment. The pertinent part of said
decision reads as follows:

“It thus appears that Bonifacio Julian may rightfully claim
priority in the filing of the application. However, it seems clear that whatever
rights he has acquired by such priority, were lost because he has neglected the
cultivation of his homestead as is shown by his own testimony to the effect that
he worked in his homestead only in 1915 and in 1921. He himself testified that
during the intervening period he worked for other people to earn a living. He,
however, asserts that he did not cultivate his land because he Vas afraid of the
other claimants, namely Saturno and Santero, but thisexcuse cannot avail him
because he himself admitted that during that time he could clear the land, and
if he could clear it there is no reason why he could not have cultivated the
same.

“In view of the foregoing, this Board finds that Bonifacio
Julian has forfeited his rights to lots 1576 and 1577 which are hereby
adjudicated in favor of the heirs of Eaymundo Saturno and in favor of Filemon
Saturno, respectively.”

(9) On April 4, 1922, the Director of Lands approved said
decision, from which the plaintiff appealed to the Secretary of Agriculture and
Natural Resources (Exhibits G-2 to G-5)

(10) On August 7,1923, the Secretary of Agriculture and Natural
Resources affirmed the decision of the Board, as approved by the Director of
Lands (Exhibit 13).

TRIAL OF THE CAUSE—FACTS

The trial of the cause in the lower court was substantially a
repetition of the hearing made by the Survey and Investigation Board in 1922.
The same witnesses testified for the plaintiff (plaintiff himself and Jose
Cabanatan). The witnesses for both partes testified to the same facts covered by
the testimony of the witnesses at the hearing before the Survey and
Investigation Board.

A great preponderance of the evidence adduced by both parties
shows that the plaintiff has not cultivated lots 1576 and 1577 except in 1915
and 1921. The conclusion of the lower court, that the plaintiff had abandoned
the land and that he had not complied with the requisites of the homestead law,
is in conformity with the facts proved during the trial.

Section 5 of Act No. 926, which corresponds to section 16 of
Act No. 2874, authorizes the Director of Lands to cancel any homestead entry,
upon satisfactory proof that the homesteader has voluntarily abandoned the land
for more than six months at any one time, or has otherwise failed to comply with
the requirements of the homestead law.

Section 70 of Act No. 926, which corresponds to section 4 of
Act No. 2874, provides that the decisions of the Director of Lands upon
questions of fact relating to the survey, classification, lease, sale or any
other form of concession or disposition and management of the lands of the
public domain, shall be conclusive when approved by the Secretary of Agriculture
and Natural Resources.

From the provisions of said section 5 of Act No. 926 and
section 16 of Act No. 2874, it appears that the Director of Lands was justified
in declaring forfeited the right of plaintiff as homesteader of lots 1576 and
1577, and in cancelling his homestead entry, because of his failure to cultivate
said lots from 1916 to 1920. The Survey and Investigation Board, created by
order of the Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources was a lawfully
organized body—a branch office of the Bureau of Lands, established in Nueva
Ecija for the purpose of expediting the disposition and settlement of
conflicting claims to public lands in said province. At least there is nothing
in the law to show that said board was not lawfully organized. Its report on the
investigation of plaintiff’s homestead, was approved by the Director of Lands
and became his decision. Upon appeal to the Secretary of Agriculture and Natural
Resources, it was affirmed, and the fact therein decided—plaintiffs failure to
cultivate the land and his abandonment of the same—became final and conclusive,
under the provisions of said section 70 of Act No. 926, which corresponds to
section 4 of Act No. 2874.

The decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States have
consistently followed the general rule, that when the officers of the land
department decide controverted questions of fact, which fall within the scope of
their authority, their decision on those questions is final, except as they may
be reversed on appeal in that department. (Cyc. of the U. S. Supreme Court
Reports, vol. 10, p. 245.)

In the case of Vance vs. Burbank (101 U. S., 519) the Supreme
Court of the United States, speaking through Mr. Chief Justice Waite, said:

“So far as this suit depends on the original title of Lemuel
Scott, it is clear, under the well-settled rules of decision in this court, that
there can be no recovery. The question in dispute is one of fact; that is to
say, whether Scott, when he demanded his patent certificate as against for the
other contesting claimants, had resided on and cultivated the lands in dispute
for four consecutive years, and had otherwise conformed to the requirements of
the donation act. This was to be determined by the Land Department, and as there
was a contest, the contending parties were called on in the usual way to make
their proofs. They appeared, and full opportunity was given Scott to be heard.
He presented his evidence and was beaten, after having taken the case through,
by successive stages on appeal, to the Secretary of the Interior. This, in the
absence of fraud, is conclusive on all questions of fact. We have1 many times so
decided. (Johnson vs. Towsley, 13 Wall., 72; Warren vs. Van Brunt, 19 Wall, 646;
Shepley vs. Cowan, 91 U. S., 330; Moore vs. Robbins, 96 U. S. 530; Marquez vs.
Frisbie, supra p. 800.) The appropriate officers of the Land Department have
been constituted a special tribunal to decide such questions, and their
decisions are final to the same extent that those of other judicial or
quasi-judicial tribunals are.”

In these proceedings, however, the decision of the Director of
Lands was tacitly considered open for review by the judicial department. Another
opportunity was thus afforded the plaintiff to prove his alleged right to the
possession of the lots in question. However, the evidence adduced during the
trial showed that the plaintiff had really abandoned the land and had failed to
cultivate the same from 1916 to 1920, inclusive, in violation of the
requirements of the homestead law. Therefore, the cancellation of his homestead
entry by the Director of Lands and the forfeiture of his right as homesteader of
lots 1576 and 1577 are in accordance with the law and with the facts proved
during the trial. The judgment of the lower court, dismissing the complaint and
denying plaintiff’s right to the possession of said lots, is correct and should
be affirmed.

The foregoing discussion of the facts and the law thereto
applicable, disposes entirely of the first two assignments of error above noted.
The other assignments of error need not be discussed for the purposes of this
decision. Whether or not the homestead applications of Filemon Saturno and
Raymundo Saturno (now Tomasa Tomas) are null and void ab initio, it is not
necessary for this court to determine. The only question for determination is
whether or not plaintiff is entitled to the possession of the lots as a
homesteader, and we have decided that question in the negative.

Therefore, the judgment appealed from is hereby affirmed,
without pronouncement as to costs. So ordered.

Avanceña, C. J., Street, Malcolm, Villamor, Ostrand, Romualdez,
and Villa-Real, JJ., concur.