G.R. No. 30814. March 05, 1929
ROSALIO GONZALES, PETITIONER, VS. DIRECTOR OF LANDS, RESPONDENT.
OSTRAND, J.:
Procedure. The petitioner alleges that he has occupied lot No. 2640 of
Mexico Cadastre, Pampanga, since time immemorial and has religiously
paid land tax on it; that he remembers that he filed a written claim to
said lot in the cadastral proceedings, but that said claim had probably
been lost by reason of the excessive amount of work imposed upon the
functionaries of the trial court; that having filed his claim, he
believed that the court had adjudicated the lot to him, but that on
November 24, 1928, he found, much to his surprise, that it, on August
29, 1918, had been declared public property.
The Director of Lands opposes the petition on the ground that the
petitioner has allowed more than ten years to pass from the time the
decision in the aforesaid cadastral case was rendered, without
attempting to ascertain whether the land in question had been
adjudicated to him.
In our opinion, the objection of the Director of Lands is well
taken. The fact that no certificate of title was issued to the
petitioner was sufficient to put him on inquiry, and it could not have
been difficult for him to obtain the necessary information. His
indifference and negligence cannot be regarded as excusable and, if so,
an action under section 513 of the Code of Civil Procedure cannot be
maintained.
The petition is therefore denied, and the case is dismissed without costs. So ordered.
Johnson, Street, Malcolm, Johns, Romualdez, and Villa-Real, JJ., concur.