117. Delos Reyes et al v.

Municipality of Kalibo o Assuming that the petitioners are Juanito's rightful successors, they still
G.R. No. 214587 did not register the subject increment under their names.
February 26, 2018 - An accretion does not automatically become registered land just because the lot
SPV that receives such accretion is covered by a Torrens Title.
Topic: Accession Natural o Ownership over the accretion received by the land adjoining a river is
Petitioners: JOSEPHINE P. DELOS REYES AND JULIUS C. PERALTA, REPRESENTED BY THEIR governed by the Civil Code; imprescriptibility of registered land is
ATTORNEY-IN-FACT, J.F. JAVIER D. PERALTA provided in the registration law.
Respondents: MUNICIPALITY OF KALIBO, AKLAN, ITS SANGGUNIANG BAYAN AND MAYOR o Registration under the Land Registration and Cadastral Act does not vest
RAYMAR A. REBALDO or give title to the land, but merely confirms and, thereafter, protects the
Ponente: Peralta title already possessed by the owner, making it imprescriptible by
occupation of third parties.
FACTS o To obtain this protection, the land must be placed under the operation of
- Lot No. 2076 of the Kalibo Cadastre was covered by an OCT registered in the name the registration laws.
of Ana O. Peralta. Upon her demise, the property was passed to her brother Jose, - If at all, whatever rights the Peraltas derived from their predecessors-in-interest
who caused the registration of a TCT in his name. respecting the area in question came only from the quitclaim of real property
- Through accretion, land was added to the subject lot. executed by Ignacio in Jose's favor in 1955.
o It was first occupied and declared for taxation pruposes in the name of o What the quitclaim merely proves is that Ignacio had forfeited any claim
Ambrocio Ignacio’s name in 1945. He was Peralta’s tenant. But he or interest over the accretion in Jose's favor.
executed a Quitclaim in favor of Jose. o In order that a plaintiff may draw to himself an equitable title, he must
o When Jose died, the property with the supposed area of accretion was show that the one from whom he derives his right had himself a right to
transferred to his son, Juanito. transfer.
o The area of accretion was apportioned and registered in the names of o Considering the aforementioned facts, the plaintiffs have neither legal
siblings Juanity, Javiere, Josephine and Julius. Juanito died. nor equitable title over the contested property.
- The municipality of Kalibo sought to convert more or less 4 hectares of said area of - Accretion is the process whereby the soil is deposited along the banks of rivers. The
accretion into a garbage dumpsite. deposit of soil, to be considered accretion, must be: (a) gradual and imperceptible;
o Juanito opposed said project. He then wrote a formal protest to the DENR (b) made through the effects of the current of the water; and (c) taking place on
- Despite opposition, the Municipality continued its project under the justification land adjacent to the banks of rivers.
that the contested property is actually part of the public domain. - Here, Ignacio characterized the land in question as swampy and its increase in size
o The Municipality built a retaining wall on the property and thus enclosed as the effect of the change of the shoreline of the Visayan Sea, and not through the
the area with a perimeter fence. gradual deposits of soil coming from the river or the sea.
- The Peraltas then filed a complaint for quieting of title over the 2 portions of o Also, Baltazar Gerardo, the OIC of CENRO of the Bureau of Lands, found
accretion declared in their names for taxation purposes. that the subject area was predominantly composed of sand rather than
- RTC ruled in their favor; parcels are considered accretion and not a public land soil.
- CA reversed o Javier, also testified that in 1974 or 1976, the Visayan Sea was around
one (1) kilometer from the land in question, and in 2003, the distance
ISSUE: W/N the parcels of land are accretion - NO already became around three (3) kilometers, giving the impression that
the increment was actually the result of additional area of sand deposits
HELD: left by the sea when it had receded, and not by gradual deposits of soil or
- In order that an action for quieting of title may prosper, the plaintiff must have sediment caused by the action of water
legal or equitable title to, or interest in, the property which is the subject matter of - The questionable character of the land, which could most probably be part of the
the action. public domain, indeed bars Jose from validly transferring the increment to any of
o In the absence of such legal or equitable title, or interest, there is no his successors.
cloud to be prevented or removed. - Indubitably, the plaintiffs are merely successors who derived their alleged right of
- The Peraltas are not even registered owners of the area adjacent to the increment ownership from tax declarations. But neither can they validly rely on said tax
claimed, much less of the subject parcels of land. declarations and the supposed actual, open, continuous, exclusive, and notorious
o Only the late Juanito became the registered owner of Lot 2076-A, the lot possession of the property by their predecessors-in-interest.
next to the supposed accretion. o Proof that the property involved had been declared for taxation purposes
for a certain period of time, does not constitute proof of possession, nor
 is it proof of ownership, in the absence of the claimant's actual
possession of said property.
o In the case at bar, the Peraltas failed to adequately prove their
possession and that of their predecessors-in-interest.

Dispositive
WHEREFORE, PREMISES CONSIDERED, the Court DENIES the petition, and AFFIRMS the
Decision of the Court of Appeals Cebu, Nineteenth (19th) Division, dated September 28,
2012, and Resolution dated August 28, 2014 in CA-G.R. CEB-CV No. 00700.