Classification of Properties

March 4, 2016fundamentals of property ownership

CLASSIFICATION OF PROPERTIES ACCORDING TO WHOM IT BELONGS

The New Civil Code expressly classified property according to ownership by this
article:

Article 419. Property is either of public dominion or of private ownership.

What are properties of public dominion?

Public dominion or property owned by the State (or its political subdivisions) in its
public or sovereign capacity and intended for public use and not for the use of the
State as a juridical person.

Article 420. The following things are property of public dominion:

Those intended for public use, such as roads, canals, rivers, torrents, ports and
bridges constructed by the State, banks, shores, roadsteads, and others of similar
character;

Those which belong to the State, without being for public use, and are intended for
some public service or for the development of the national wealth;

Art. 424. Property for public use, in the provinces, cities, and municipalities, consist
of the provincial roads, city streets, municipal streets, the squares, fountains, public
waters, promenades, and public works for public service paid for by said provinces,
cities, or municipalities.

*These subdivisions, however cannot register as their own any part of the public
domain unless it can be proved that the grant thereof has been made or possessed
under the concept of an owner. They have no authority to control or regulate
properties of public domain for they are under the authority of Congress.

What are the kinds of properties of public dominion?

1. Property intended for public use or which can be used by everybody and
others of similar character
2. Property which is not for public use but intended for public service or those
which can be used only by duly authorized persons, such as government buildings and
vehicles
3. Property intended for the development of national wealth such as minerals,
coal, oil, forest, and other natural resources

Further, under the 1987 Constitution (Section 3 Article XII) Lands of the public domain
are classified into:

Section 3. Lands of the public domain are classified into agricultural, forest or
timber, mineral lands and national parks. Agricultural lands of the public domain
may be further classified by law according to the uses to which they may be
devoted. Alienable lands of the public domain shall be limited to agricultural
lands. x x x

1. Agricultural
2. Forest or timber
3. Mineral lands
4. National parks

Examples of public dominion:  1987 Constitution:  agricultural, forest, timber, national

parks, mineral lands, water, minerals, oils, coal, petroleum, sources of potential energy,
fisheries, wildlife, flora, fauna, roads, canals, rivers, banks, shores and others similar in
character. Agricultural land is the only alienable and disposable land of the government

What are the characteristics of properties of public domain?

1. It is beyond the commerce of man

2. It cannot be acquired by prescription
3. It cannot be registered under the Land Registration Law and be the subject of a
Torrens Title
4. It cannot be levied upon by execution nor can be attached.

What are properties of private ownership?

Private ownership or property owned by the State in its private capacity, and is known
as patrimonial property. It may also be owned by private persons, either individually or
collectively.

Here are the provisions of the law which point out to this classification:
 Article 421. All other property of the State, which is not of the character stated in
the preceding article, is patrimonial property.

*Patrimonial property is the property of the State owned by it in its private or proprietary
capacity, i.e., the property is not intended for public use, or for some public service, or for
the development of the national wealth.

Article 422. Property of public dominion, when no longer intended for public use
or for public service, shall form part of the patrimonial property of the State.

*Under Article 422 there must be a formal declaration by the executive or possibly
legislative department of the government that the property of the State is no longer
needed for public use of for public service; otherwise, the property continues to be
property of public dominion notwithstanding the fact that it is not actually devoted for
such use or service.

Art. 423. The property of provinces, cities, and municipalities is divided into

property for public use and patrimonial property. (343)

*The political subdivisions of the national government may also own properties in their
private capacity.

Article 425. Property of private ownership, besides the patrimonial property of

the State, provinces, cities, and municipalities, consists of all property belonging
to private persons, either individually or collectively.

What are the differences between public domain and patrimonial properties?

 Public dominion cannot be acquired by prescription, even by city or municipality.

 Patrimonial property of the State may be the subject of acquisition through
prescription.
 Public lands become patrimonial property upon express government manifestation
that the property is already patrimonial and declaration that these are already alienable
and disposable.
 And only when the property has become patrimonial can the prescriptive period
for the acquisition of property of the public domain begin to run.
 113 of the Civil Code: All things that are within the commerce of man are
susceptible to prescription, and that the property of the State or any of its subdivisions not
patrimonial in character shall not be the object of prescription.
How are lands of public domain reclassified?

A positive act of the Government is necessary to enable such reclassification, and the
exclusive prerogative to classify public lands under existing laws is vested in the
Executive Department, not in the courts.

Section 2. 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. x x x

*The Constitution places a limit on the type of public land that may be alienated. Under
Section 2, Article XII of the 1987 Constitution, only agricultural lands of the public
domain may be alienated; all other natural resources may not be.

Article XII, Section 3, of the 1987 Constitution states:

Sec 3. x x x Alienable lands of the public domain shall be limited to agricultural
lands. Private corporations or associations may not hold such alienable lands of
the public domain except by lease, for a period not exceeding twenty-five years,
renewable for not more than twenty-five years, and not to exceed one thousand
hectares in area. Citizens of the Philippines may lease not more than five hundred
hectares, or acquire not more than twelve hectares thereof by purchase,
homestead or grant.

*The Constitution has laid down a prohibition for private corporations or associations to
own lands of public domain but may enjoy such only by lease in accordance to the terms
expressly provided in the abovementioned section.

Article 422. Property of public dominion, when no longer intended for public use
or for public service, shall form part of the patrimonial property of the State.

*Under Article 422 there must be a formal declaration by the executive or possibly
legislative department of the government that the property of the State is no longer
needed for public use of for public service; otherwise, the property continues to be
property of public dominion notwithstanding the fact that it is not actually devoted for
such use or service.

What lands may not be declared open to disposition or concession?

 Those which have been reserved for public or quasi-public uses;
 Those which have been appropriated by the government;
 Those which have become private property like the friar lands and the ancestral
lands under the IPRA Law
 The Revised Forestry code also provides that no land of the public domain 18% in
slope or over shall be classified as alienable and disposable;
 Submerged lands like the waters (sea or bay) above them are part of the
inalienable natural resources.

What are the classification of lands under the Constitution?

 Classification under 1935 Constitution- Agricultural, forest or timber

 Classification under 1973 Constitution- Agricultural, industrial, commercial,
residential, resettlement, mineral, timber and mineral lands
 Classification under 1987 Constitution- Agricultural, forest, timber and national
parks
 All others under the 1987 Constitution are patrimonial property
 No public land can be acquired except by a grant from the State