Need Help:Land Ownership

Magandang araw po sa inyong lahat:

Gusto ko lng ko sana magtanong tungkol sa kung sino ang may karapatan na may ari ng lupa sa case na ito. My father owns a land close to the bank of the river, over the years, the river has dried up and hence a new land has emerged. My father has cleared up the new land and planted some trees on it. Hindi po namin ito napa tituluhan. My mothers cousin asked her if he could settle in this land. My mother has agreed on the premise that he will return the property if we already needed the land. he settles in with his family without paying any rent. After 40 years, it's time na na kelangan na namin ang lupa ngunit ayaw na nila umalis at inangkin na ang lot kung saan naka tirik ang kanilang bahay. Recently pinatituluhan nila ang lupa sa kanilang pangalan, is it legal for them to do this? at pwede po ba nmin mabawi ang lupa? maraming salamat po.

Your case is a bit complicated and difficult.

Article 461 of the Civil Code states:

Art. 461. River beds which are abandoned through the natural change in the course of the waters ipso facto belong to the owners whose lands are occupied by the new course in proportion to the area lost. However, the owners of the lands adjoining the old bed shall have the right to acquire the same by paying the value thereof, which value shall not exceed the value of the area occupied by the new bed. (370a)

Determine how the river dried up. If it is due to natural change in the course of the water, then it may be acquired by in accordance with the above article. If it dried up due to the active intervention of man, the above article will not apply and the river bed forms part of the public domain which cannot be subject to acquisition by private ownership.

In any case, you have stated that your mother’s cousin was able to have it titled in his name. He either did it by filing a court case or by applying for a sales patent. In either case, publication is a requisite and such publication operates as a notice to the whole world that he is applying for a title. Thus, it is a must for those persons opposing such application to appear and contest the application for title being made. Otherwise, they will be barred forever.

At any rate, go to the Register of Deeds where the property is located and secure a copy of the title together with all documents supporting it. Then present these documents to a lawyer for review so that possible flaws in the issuance thereof can be determined.

Also, filing of legal action against your mother’s cousin should not be limited to the recovery of the said property. In the alternative, you can ask to be paid the value of the said property.

Thanks atty very informative, accdg to my mothers cousin, the title was awarded to them because they have stayed there for more than 40 years already and that within this time frame we havent done anything to have it registered in our name which they say is a negligence in our part. We haven't received any notice though that they are going through this process otherwise we would have contested. The main reason that we haven't really had this registered is because we are trustful to them that they will give back the land once we needed it. thanks atty.

Thanks for providing the great information

DUI Attorney

Nike88...sino ba ang nag ssiue ng title...kasi kung free patent yan through the DENR you may still question the issuance of the titlle through an administrative protest filed before the office of the DENR(CENRO or PENRO) having jurisdiction over the place where the subject land is located.

admiral thrawn wrote:Nike88...sino ba ang nag ssiue ng title...kasi kung free patent yan through the DENR you may still question the issuance of the titlle through an administrative protest filed before the office of the DENR(CENRO or PENRO) having jurisdiction over the place where the subject land is located.

Thanks admiral thrawn, yes i think it's the DENR who issued the title I'm not 100% sure though.