LANZAR V. DIRECTOR OF LANDS

FACTS:

Petitioner Ramon Lanzar filed an application for registration of title to a parcel of land, alleging that he is the owner in fee simple of the lad in question and asking that the title thereto be registered in his name. The Director of Lands filed an opposition on the ground that the land is a foreshore which forms a part of public domain. RTC decided in favor of Lanzar holding that the property in question has been possessed by the applicant publicly, continuously and adversely for more that 30 years. CA reversed, holding that the land, being an accretion formed by the action of sea, is property of public domain and not susceptible of appropriation.

ISSUE:

Whether or not the title to the land may be registered on the basis of adverse possession for over 30 years?

HELD:

No. The shores and lands reclaimed from the sea, while they continue to be devoted to public uses and no grant whatever has been made of any portion of them to private persons, remain part of the public domain and are of public uses, and, until they are converted to patrimonial property of the State, such lands, thrown up by the action of the sea, and the shores adjacent thereto, are not susceptible of prescription, inasmuch as, being dedicated to the public uses, they are not subject of commerce among men, in accordance with the provisions of article 1936 of the civil code.