This is an appeal by the applicant, municipality of Taytay from the judgment of the Court of First Instance of Rizal, rendered in registration proceeding No. 674,  G. L. R. O. record No. 30408, decreeing as follows:

"For the foregoing, and in accordance with the provisions of Act No. 3621, recently passed by the Legislature, amending sections 34, 37, 38, and 39 of the Land Registration Act (No. 496), the opposition filed by the Director of Lands in behalf of the Insular Government is upheld, and the application  of the municipality of  Taytay, denied.  Judgment in default is  entered against the whole world, and it is hereby decreed that after  reimbursement of the expenses of the survey of the land  and costs of  publication to the applicant municipality,  the parcels of land in  question are public lands, and are to be recorded in the name of the Government of the Philippine Islands, without costs."

In support  of its appeal the appellant has  assigned the following alleged errors as committed by the trial court, to wit:

1. The lower court  erred in holding that  the  decision, in the case No. 1369 of  the late Court of Land Registration and confirmed by the Supreme Court,  G. R. No. 3663, has become the law  of the case in so far  as the question of ownership is  concerned.
   
2. The lower court erred in not holding that the parcels of  land in  dispute belong to  the category of 'Bienes de propios y bienes patrimoniales' of the municipality of Taytay.
   
3. The lower court erred  in holding that there is no presumption of grant in favor of the municipality of Taytay despite the fact that said municipality has been in possession of the land  for about three hundred years now as its private property and the income derived from this land has been devoted to uses of public character and to the immediate needs of the municipality during all  that time*
   
4. The trial court erred in applying the doctrine laid down in the case of Municipality of Tacloban vs. Director of Lands (18 Phil., 201), to the case at bar and in holding that the land in dispute belongs to the public domain under the control and administration  of the  Government of the Philippine Islands.
   
5. The lower court erred in decreeing the registration of the two parcels of land in favor of the Government of the Philippine Islands  and in denying the  appellant's  motion for new trial."

The  following relevant  facts are necessary to decide the questions raised in this appeal:

Away back in the year 1905, the parish of Taytay applied to the  Court of Land Registration for the registration of a certain parcel of land  containing  over  305 hectares in area, situated in the municipality of Taytay, Province of Rizal, including the two parcels of land sought to be registered in the present proceedings.   The municipality of Taytay and the Insular Government, applicant and opponent herein, respectively, filed opposition to that application, and the court, after the  proper  proceedings,  denied  the inscription.  An appeal was taken from that  adverse decision, but this court affirmed it.¹

The  following are the relevant portions of the decision rendered by the Court of Land Registration and affirmed by this court:

"*   *  *  The  municipality of Taytay filed opposition to the  registration applied for,  alleging that the property described in the application belongs wholly and entirely to the municipality of Taytay; that the Government  of  the Philippine Islands recognized the exclusive right to the possession and use of the land as vested in the municipality of

Taytay, by means of a Royal Decree dated September 20, 1656; and that the municipality of  Taytay has been in possession of said property as owner for  over two hundred and fifty years.  To prove these allegations, the municipality presented the documents Exhibits 1 to 12, inclusive, and a number of witnesses.

"Exhibit 1 consists of several ancient documents touching the right to the possession of the Tapayan lands by the municipality, including the document of 1656 referred to in the opposition filed by the municipality.

"Exhibits 2  to 11, inclusive,  are contracts and  receipts signed by the municipal officials, relating  to the lease and collection of rents from the occupants of the Tapayan  lands.

"Exhibit 12 is a certified copy of a resolution  passed by the municipal council of Taytay, annulling the order of the president set forth in Exhibit D,  and designated  lawyers to file an opposition  to the application of this proceeding in behalf of the municipality.

"The Attorney-General also appeared in  behalf of the Insular  Government, and filed an  opposition to that application, alleging that the land in question is property belonging to the Government of the United States under the control of the Insular Government, and pointing out that according to the document Exhibit C, upon which the  applicant relies to justify its right,  the land contains  an area of 34 hectares, 29 ares, and 32 centares, whereas both the application and the plan Exhibit  A give the area as 305 hectares, 49 ares, and 49 centares.

"The witnesses adduced by the applicant and by the municipality have testified that there have been  disputes in times past between the parish and the municipality regarding the right to collect rents from the occupants of the lands in question, and that sometimes it  was  the parish that collected them,  and other times the municipality.  The applicant admits by its witnesses that at present the municipality is in possession of said lands, and collects the rents from the occupants.  *  *  *

"*  *  *   This court has At various times declared, for instance, in the course of proceedings 1510, 1299, and 1928, by decrees dated December 4, 13, and 14,1905, respectively, that the ownership of lands not subject to the acquired right of some individual, and included within the boundaries of municipalities under the Spanish sovereignty, has remained in the King,  and not in the municipality as a corporation. Wherefore, the land in question belonged  to the Crown of Spain until the date of  the  Treaty of Paris, and is now a part of the public domain of the  United  States under the control of the Insular Government.

"The  Government's opposition is hereby admitted,  and the application denied."

In the present case, the municipality of Taytay has adduced the same evidence it had presented as an opponent in the former proceeding, with the exception  of certain documents of a private nature, and certain testimony on  acts of possession executed  by the municipality.

With  the exception of the  part to the north, containing 42 hectares, covered by the church's possessory information, and adjudicated to it in registration proceeding G. L. R. O. record No. 11271, the land applied for in that case, wherein the applicant herein was one of the opponents, is the same sought here.

All the questions  here discussed, then, whether of  fact or of law, have already been discussed and decided by the defunct Court  of Land  Registration in registration  proceeding G. L. R.  O.  record No. 11271, in which the parish of Taytay was the applicant, and the Insular Government and the municipality of Taytay the latter being the present applicant the opponents.   As we have stated, the municipality of Taytay has adduced the same evidence here as there, and we see no reason for altering the findings and conclusions in that case, considering the long series of decisions by this court on the matter, notably the doctrine laid down in City of Manila vs. Insular Government (10 Phil., 327) as follows:

1. REALTY; EVIDENCE OP OWNERSHIP. The mere leasing of property and the receiving of the rent therefor can not, in the absence of other proof, support a claim of ownership in favor of the  lessor.
   
2. MUNICIPALITIES ; COMMUNAL LANDS. The municipalities of the Philippine Islands are not entitled, by right, to any part of the public domain for use as communal  lands. The Spanish law provided that the usufruct of a portion of the public domain adjoining municipal territory might be granted by the Government for communal purposes, upon proper petition, but, until granted, no rights therein passed to the municipalities,  and, in any event, the  ultimate title remained in the sovereign."

And in Municipality of Tigbauan  vs. Director of Lands (35 Phil., 798), the following statement  was made:

"PUBLIC LANDS ; CONDITIONS FOR THEIR REGISTRATION IN THE NAME OP A MUNICIPALITY. The doctrine laid down in the case of Municipality of Tacloban vs. Director of Lands (18 Phil., 201), followed, wherein it was held that when, on the part of a municipality petitioning for the inscription of land, it is not shown that the land  was granted by the Government to the municipality to form a part of the municipal assets  or  estate,  or  that a municipal  building was erected thereon for public purposes, a circumstance that would have  led to the presumption that, in obtaining permission to erect the building it also obtained a grant of the land, the municipality cannot be considered as the proprie  tor of the land with a right to inscribe the same in the property registry.   The fact that, for several years, a municipality has been cutting cane from cane-brakes on public land,  and  the  further fact  that it  planted  thereon  caña espina trees, do not prove that it is the owner of the land, but only that it has been enjoying the usufruct of the  same, which does not give it the right to have the property entered as its  own in the property registry."

The document Exhibit FF, which is a writ of protection issued on  September 20, 1656 by Sabiniano  Manrique  de Lara, Captain General and  Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and Royal Chancellor  for these Islands, says, in part, "And having taken  cognizance thereof with my  adviser, I deem it wise to dispatch these presents to you, the Lord Mayor and  Captain of War for the jurisdiction of  that circuit, that you  may  protect the officials and natives of said  town of Taytay in their possession and in any right which they may have upon the river and shoals of Laguna de Bay, not permitting or  suffering the natives of other towns to fish or avail themselves of the edible products from within the boundaries belonging to them, under penalty as aforesaid, declaring the boats lost, and paying the resulting damages,  which you will  comply with and execute justly and promptly.  Given  in Manila, on the twentieth of  September in the year sixteen hundred and fifty-six.   Don Sabiniano."   This means nothing more than that the officials and natives of  the town of  Taytay had been and  were in possession of the property applied for herein, but it  does not mean  that said property had been ceded to the town of Taytay to become its own private property, but only for the common  benefit of  its inhabitants.

Wherefore, the  judgment appealed from is affirmed,  with the modification that the right  of  the inhabitants of the municipality of Taytay to use and avail themselves of the products thereof, shall be  recorded in the registry,  and that  the  passage referring  to  the reimbursement to the applicant municipality  of the  expenses  incurred in  surveying the  land  and publishing  the  application,  shall be eliminated from  the judgment,  without special award of costs.¹  So ordered.

Avanceña, C. J., Johnson,  Street, Malcolm, Villamor, Ostrand, and Romualdez, JJ., concur.

---

¹ Pinzon vs. Insular Government, G. R. No. 3663, promulgated January 3,  1910, not reported.
¹ See Resolution of September 18, 1931.