Forest or timberland, public forest, forest reserves Forest lands or

forest reserves, are incapable of private appropriation and possession

thereof, however long, cannot convert them into private properties. This is
premised on the Regalian doctrine enshrined not only in the 1935 and 1973
Constitutions but also in the 1987 Constitution.1
Under Section 2, Article XII of the 1987 Constitution
All lands of the public domain, waters, minerals, coal, petroleum, and
other mineral oils, all forces of potential energy, fisheries, forests or
timber, wildlife, flora and fauna and other natural resources are
owned by the State. With the exception of agricultural lands, all other
natural resources shall not be alienated.
A positive act of Government is needed to declassify land which is
classified as forest and convert it into alienable or disposable land
for agricultural or other purposes. That positive act may not necessarily,
exclusively and absolutely be in the form of an official proclamation by the
President or by an act of Congress. In most instances, such releases from
the forest zone into alienable zone were done by mere administrative orders
issued by the Secretary of Natural Resources and by BF (Bureau of
Forestry) Classification Maps.
Heirs of Jose Amunategui vs. Director of Forestry
A forested area classified as forest land of the public domain does
not lose such classification simply because loggers or settlers may
have stripped it of its forest cover. Parcels of land classified as forest
land may actually be covered with grass or planted to crops by Kaingin
cultivators or other farmers. Forest lands do not have to be on mountains or
in out of the way places. Swampy areas covered by mangrove trees, nipa
palms, and other trees growing in brackish or sea water may also be
classified as forest land. The classification is descriptive of its legal nature
1 Aquino, Amado D., Land Registration and Related Proceedings, Revised Edition
(1997)

or status and does not have to be descriptive of what the land actually looks
like. Unless and until the land classified as forest is released in an
official proclamation to that effect so that it may form part of the
disposable agricultural lands of the public domain, the rules on
confirmation of imperfect title do not apply.

Bureau of Forestry v. CA
As provided for under Section 6 of Commonwealth Act 141, which was lifted
from Act 2874, the classification or reclassification of public lands into
alienable or disposable, mineral or forest lands is now a prerogative
of the Executive Department of the government and not the courts.
With these rules, there should be no more room for doubt that it is not the
court which determines the classification of lands of the public domain into
agricultural, forest or mineral but the Executive Branch of the government,
through the Office of the President.
Section 6 of Commonwealth Act 141
The President, upon the recommendation of the Secretary of Agriculture
and Natural Resources (formerly Commerce), shall from time to time
classify the lands of the public domain into
(a) Alienable or disposable;
(b) Timber; and
(c) Mineral lands;
and may at any time and in a like manner transfer such lands from one
class to another, for the purpose of their administration and disposition.
Section 8 of the Act
The President may, for reasons of public interest, declare lands of the
public domain open to disposition before the same have had their
boundaries established or been surveyed, or may, for the same reason,
suspend their concession or disposition until they are again declared open
to concession or disposition by proclamation duly published or by Act of the
National Assembly (now Congress).

It can thus be also said that, conversely, a parcel of land that has been
declassified as alienable and disposable does not cease to be such
simply because there remains on the land trees fit for logging.2
Yu Chang vs. Republic of the Philippines
The fact that the area within which the subject parcels of land are located is
being used for residential and commercial purposes does not serve to
convert the subject parcels of land into agricultural land. It is fundamental
that before any land may be declassified from the forest group and
converted into alienable or disposable land for agricultural or other
purposes, there must be a positive act from the government. A person
cannot enter into forest land and by the simple act of cultivating a
portion of that land, earn credits towards an eventual confirmation
of imperfect title. The Government must first declare the forest land to be
alienable and disposable agricultural land before the year of entry,
cultivation and exclusive and adverse possession can be counted for
purposes of an imperfect title.

2 Aquino, Amado D., Land Registration and Related Proceedings, Revised Edition
(1997)