G.R. No. 36385. March 04, 1933
RITA GARCHITORENA VIUDA DE CENTENERA, PLAINTIFF AND APPELLANT, VS. HERMOGENES P. OBIAS ET AL., DEFENDANTS AND APPELLEES.
OSTRAND, J.:
520, Record No. 37166, of the Court of First Instance of Camarines Sur,
are the application by Rita Garchitorena Vda. de Centenera for the
registration of four lots or parcels of land with a total area of 2,770
hectares, 77 ares, and 60 centares, and with description and plan
attached. This was opposed by the Director of Lands, Director of
Forestry, Hermogenes P. Obias, Ramon Alvarez, Jose Alvarez, Januario
Alferez, and Mariano, Flor, and Marcel Garchitorena.
Hermogenes P. Obias stated that some 800 hectares belonged to him as
part of the land in question, but it seems quite clear that he had only
300 hectares as appears in the application for a lease given him by the
Director of Lands, and the court below holds that the land leased by
the Government to the opponent Hermogenes P. Obias is unduly included
in the Government’s plan. Another portion of 18 hectares was acquired
by prescription of adverse possession for over ten years in accordance
with the provisions of section 41 of the Code of Civil Procedure by a
person who sold the portion to Obias, and therefore Obias must be
declared owner of the said 18 hectares.
As to the damages
claimed by Hermogenes in civil case No. 36385 between himself and Rita
Garchitorena, so far as the matter appears, there is not sufficient
legal ground therefor, since the evidence did not definitely show
whether there was any damage of importance done to the cattle found in
the three hundred hectares.
THE QUESTION BETWEEN RAMON ALVAREZ AND RITA GARCHITORENA
From the evidence it conclusively appears that the late Jose Alvarez
and his successors had a considerable extent of land in the same place
where the applicant’s land is situated, and taking also into account
that the land was surveyed for purposes of registration, we find that
the weight of the evidence indicates that the land claimed by the
opponent Ramon Alvarez had been included in the applicant’s plan. This
land has an area of 500 hectares. According to Ramon Alvarez, it
appears that his father, Ibo Alvarez, had held the tract since 1905 and
that at the death of said Ibo Alvarez, Ramon Alvarez and his coowner,
Jose Alvarez, entered into possession and have remained therein since.
THE OPPOSITION OF JANUARIO ALFEREZ
The weight of the evidence likewise shows that the land is occupied by
Januario Alferez, some 24 hectares in area, was also taken in by the
applicant, Rita Garchitorena, and that this land is and has been in the
possession of said opponent as a homestead from the Government since
the year 1917, there being included in the 24 hectares of the homestead
some 4 hectares belonging to him privately since the time of the
Spanish Government.
THE OPPOSITION OF THE DIRECTOR OF LANDS
The Director of Lands asserts that the land in question has always been
public land and that Andres Garchitorena had never been in possession
of the same as owner, although, like others residing in the place, he
had been grazing thereon about 200 head of cattle.
THE OPPOSITION OF THE DIRECTOR OF FORESTRY
This opposition rests mainly upon the proposition that in the land
covered by the application there are mangrove lands as shown in this
opponent’s Exhibit 1, but we think this opposition of the Director of
Forestry is untenable, inasmuch as it has been definitely decided that
mangrove lands are not forest lands in the sense in which this phrase
is used in the Act of Congress (Montano vs. Insular Government, 12 Phil., 572; and Jocson vs. Director of Forestry, 39 Phil., 560).
THE APPELLANT RITA GARCHITORENA
The finding that the deed, Exhibit A, dated October 2, 1918, is clearly
a fictitious document is of no value. The appellant, the daughter of
the deceased Andres Garchitorena, could not very well acquire title by
prescription or adverse possession against the creditor of her late
father in the intestate proceedings. “Heirs having entered as such
cannot acquire title to the land descended, as against the debts of the
ancestor, by a claim of adverse possession as against the title
descended, * * *. Devisees having entered as such cannot acquire title
to the lands descended or devised as against the debts of the devisor
by a claim of adverse possession as against the title devised. * * *.”
(2 C. J., 164, secs. 307, 308.)
But notwithstanding that
deed Exhibit A was executed in the year 1918, the supposed vendor,
Andres Garchitorena, had the land mentioned in said Exhibit A declared
in his name and had it reassessed in 1920 (Exhibits 5 and 69).
Furthermore, seven months after the death of the sup- posed vendor, on
September 28, 1921, the applicant filed a sworn declaration, Exhibit
79, before the provincial assessor of Camarines Sur, requesting that
the tax declaration of the land which is the object of this
application, in the name of Andres Garchitorena, be cancelled by
another in the name of the said applicant on the ground that she had
inherited it from her deceased father in the year 1921. In the
application for the registration of the property here in question, the
complaint was duly sworn to by Rita Garchitorena, and in this complaint
it was alleged that the land in question was the object of the present
registration proceedings and was inherited by her from her deceased
father without any allegation. It is very clear that it has not been of
her own property.
OPPOSITION TO GARCHITORENA BROTHERS AND LI SENG GIAP
The opponents Mariano de Garchitorena, Flor de Garchitorena, Marcel de
Garchitorena, and Li Seng Giap claim that the following debts should be
paid to the herein persons, namely: (a) To Mariano de Garchitorena by assignment of the Philippine National Bank the sum of P5,500; (b) to Flor de Garchitorena and Marcel de Garchitorena the sum of P5,017.39; and (c) to Li Seng Giap the sum of P2,569.71.
No assets are at present in the hands of the administrator of the
estate in question, and the debts referred to in regard to Mariano,
Flor, and Marcel de Garchitorena, as well as Li Seng Giap, are not
sufficiently identified. (See the “Informe de la Comision de
Avaluo y Reclamaciones” found on pages 371-397 in the application for
the registration of title on January 30, 1930.) As a consequence, the
debts insisted upon by Mariano de Garchitorena, Flor de Garchitorena,
Marcel de Garchitorena, and Li Seng Giap, must hereby be dismissed from
the registration of title of the 2,770 hectares now in the possession
of Rita Garchitorena Vda. de Centenera. In these circumstances, under
sections 712 and 713 of the Code of Civil Procedure, the administrator
or creditors may commence and prosecute their actions to final judgment.
The appealed decision will be entered upholding the herein oppositions
filed by the Director of Lands, Hermogenes P. Obias (18 hectares),
Ramon and Jose Alvarez (500 hectares), and Januario Alferez (24
hectares), all in accordance with the terms of said decision, and after
amendment of the plan PSU-66063 so as to exclude the portions of land
pertaining to said opponents, the remaining portions shall be
registered in the name of the said applicant, Rita Garchitorena Vda. de
Centenera.
The complaint in civil case No. 4783 of the Court
of First Instance of Camarines Sur in regard to the 300 hectares, is
dismissed, and the defendant Hermogenes P. Obias is absolved therefrom.
Without costs. So ordered.
Avanceña, C. J., Street, Abad Santos, and Butte, JJ., concur.