This case has been cited 2 times or more.
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2015-08-05 |
PEREZ, J. |
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| It is clear under the law that before compliance with the foregoing conditions and requirements the applicant has no right over the land subject of the patent and therefore cannot dispose the same even if such disposal was made gratuitously. It is an established principle that no one can give what one does not have, nemo dat quod non habet.[29] It is true that gratuitous disposal in donation may consist of a thing or a right but the term right must be understood in a "proprietary" sense over which the possessor has jus disponendi.[30] This is because in true donations there results a consequent impoverishment of the donor or diminution of his assets.[31] In Republic v. Court of Appeals,[32] the Court declared the contract of donation, executed by the donor who has no proprietary right over the object of the contract, null and void, viz:Even on the gratuitous assumption that a donation of the military "camp site" was executed between Eugenio de Jesus and Serafin Marabut, such donation would anyway be void because Eugenio de Jesus held no dominical rights over the site when it was allegedly donated by him in 1936. In that year, Proclamation No. 85. of President Quezon already withdrew the area from sale or settlement and reserved it for military purposes, x x x Eugenio de Jesus cannot be said to be possessed of that "proprietary" right over the whole 33 hectares in 1936 including the disputed 12.8081 hectares for at the time this 12.8081-hectare lot had already been severed from the mass disposable public lands by Proclamation No. 85 and excluded from the Sales Award. Impoverishment of Eugenio's asset as a result of such donation is therefore farfetched. (Emphasis supplied) | |||||
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2008-12-23 |
CARPIO, J. |
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| Further, the burden is on respondents to prove that the Lot ceased to have the status of a military reservation or other inalienable land of the public domain. No proof was ever submitted by respondents that the Calumpang Point Naval Reservation, or the Lot, ceased as a military reservation. Even if its ownership and control had been transferred by the Americans to the Philippine government, the Calumpang Point Naval Reservation remained as an official military reservation. Thus, being a military reservation at the time, the Calumpang Point Naval Reservation, to which the Lot is a part of, can not be subject to occupation, entry or settlement.[39] This is clear from Sections 83 and 88 of CA 141, which provide:SECTION 83. Upon the recommendation of the Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce, the President may designate by proclamation any tract or tracts of land of the public domain as reservations for the use of the Commonwealth of the Philippines or of any of its branches, or of the inhabitants thereof, in accordance with regulations prescribed for this purpose, or for quasi-public uses or purposes when the public interest requires it, including reservations for highways, rights of way for railroads, hydraulic power sites, irrigation systems, communal pastures or leguas comunales, public parks, public quarries, public fishponds, working-men's village and other improvements for the public benefit. | |||||