Non Registerable Lands

NON-REGISTRABLE PROPERTIES

Properties of public dominion have been described as those which, under existing legislation, are not the subject of private ownership and are reserved for public purposes, as held by the SC in Republic vs. Court of Appeals, 131 SCRA 532, 537 (1984). The following things are property of public dominion, according to the Civil Code Art. 420, to wit: 1. Those intended for public use, such as roads, canals, rivers, torrent, ports and bridges constructed by the State, banks, shores, roadsteads, and others of similar character; 2. Those which belong to the State, without being for public use, and are intended for some public service or for the development of the national wealth.” It has been held that such properties of the public dominion are held by the State by Regalian Right. They are things res publicae in nature, incapable of private appropriation, as held in Republic vs. Alagad, 169 SCRA 466, 461 (1989). Accordingly, the 1987 Constitution provides that “with the exception of agricultural lands, all other natural resources shall not be alienated”, Art. XI, Sec. 2.

Art. 502 of the Civil Code, deals with the special properties, like waters, likewise enumerated the following to be of public dominion, to wit: 1. Rivers and their natural beds; 2. Continuous or intermittent waters of springs and brooks running in their natural beds and beds themselves; 3. Waters rising continuously or intermittently on lands, and their beds; 4. Lakes and lagoons formed by Nature on public lands and their beds; 5. Rain water running through ravines or sand beds, which are also of public dominion; 6. Subterranean waters on public lands; 7. Waters found within the zone of operation of public works, even if constructed by a contractor; 8. Waters rising continuously or intermittently on lands belonging to private persons, to the State, to a province, or to a city or municipality from the moment they leave such lands; 9. The waste waters of fountains, sewers...