Director of Lands v.

CA July 28, 1997 Petition for review on certiorari of CA decision Panganiban Facts: Private respondent Abistado filed a petition for original registration of his title over a parcel of land. However, the land registration court dismissed the petition for want of jurisdiction because the applicants failed to comply with the provisions of Sec. 23 (1) of PD 1529 which required Applicants to publish the notice of initial hearing in a newspaper of general circulation in the Philippines as well as in the Official Gazette; since the notice was published only in the OG, the court a quo was of the view that it has not legally acquired jurisdiction over the petition. Upon appeal, the respondent Court of Appeals set aside the decision of the TC and ordered the registration in the name of Abistado. Issue: Is the requirement of publication of the notice of initial hearing in the Official Gazette and in a newspaper of general circulation mandatory to confer jurisdiction upon the trial court? Ruling: Petition granted; publication in both the OG and newspaper mandatory. Reasoning:

Sec. 23 of PD 1529 requires that upon receipt of the order of the court setting the time for initial
hearing, the Commissioner of Land Registration shall cause notice of initial hearing to be published once in the Official Gazette and once in a newspaper of general circulation in the Philippines; Provided however, that, the publication in the Official Gazette shall be sufficient to confer jurisdiction upon the court. Pertinent question in this case is: absent any publication in a newspaper of general circulation, can the land registration court validly confirm and register the title of private respondents? The court ruled in the negative because the law used the term shall in prescribing the work to be done by the Commissioner of Land Registration upon receipt of the notice for initial hearing. The said word denotes an imperative and thus indicates the mandatory character of the statute. The court earlier ruled in Republic v. Marasigan that Sec. 23 of PD 1529 requires notice of the initial hearing by means of publication, mailing and posting - all of which must be complied with since the said section stressed in detail the said requirements. The court further noted that land registration is a proceeding in rem (this means affecting a thing/other people in general) and such is essentially validated through publication because the party seeking the inscription of realty in the land registration court must prove the title against the whole world. Publication in a newspaper of general circulation is also deemed mandatory because of the reality that the Official Gazette is not as widely read as newspapers and is oftentimes delayed in its circulation, such that the notices published therein may not reach the interested parties on time, if at all.