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

Land, which is an immovable property, may be classified as either of public dominion or of

private ownership. Regalian doctrine is legal concept which states that all lands of the public domain
belong to the state.

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

1.) 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;
2.) Those which belong to the state, without being for public use, and are intended for some
public service of for the development of the national wealth.

Public Dominion

Public dominion means ownership, control and administration belongs to the state only. The
state or subdivisions thereof may make them the object of commerce as long as they remain properties
for public use.

Three kinds of property of public dominion

1.) Public use – like roads, canals, shores

2.) Public service – like government buildings, army rifles, army vessels
3.) Development of national wealth – like our natural resources

A river is considered of public domain when it is navigable.

Characteristics of properties of Public Domain

1.) They are outside the commerce of man, and cannot be leased, donated, sold or be the
object of a contract.
2.) They cannot be acquired by prescription;
3.) They cannot be registered under the LRA and be the subject of a Torrens Title;
4.) They cannot be levied upon by execution, nor can they be attached.
5.) They can be used by everybody
6.) They may be either real or personal property, for it will be noted that the law here makes
no distinction.

Public Lands

The term is uniformly used to describe so much of the national domain under the legislative
power of congress as has not been subjected to private right or devoted to public use.
Article 421. All other property of the state, which is not of character stated in the preceding
article, is patrimonial property.

Patrimonial property of the state is the property it owns but which is not devoted to public use,
public service, or the development of the national wealth. Patrimonial properties may be acquired by
private individuals or corporations through prescription. These properties may be acquired by private
individuals or corporations through prescription.

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.

Only the executive and possibly the legislative department have the authority and power to
make the declaration that any land is not necessary for purposes of public utility. If no such
declaration has been made by the said departments, the lot in question forms part of the public domain.

Article 423. The property of provinces, cities, and municipalities is divided into property for
public use and patrimonial property.

Reclaimed lands are the result of human intervention in patching submerged lands with soil.
Submerged lands are owned by the state and are inalienable.

Article 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.

All other property possessed by any of them is patrimonial and shall govern by this
code, without prejudice to the provisions of special laws.

In absence of proof that the province, city, or municipality acquired the properties with
their own funds, we should presume that they really had come from the state.

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.

A Torrens title is generally a conclusive evidence of the ownership of the land. An alien
has had no right to acquire since the date of effectivity of the Philippine Constitution, any public or
private agricultural, commercial, or residential lands except by hereditary succession. The same rule
applies to a foreign corporations, even if it be a religious and non-stock foreign corporation.

What should an applicant establish to prove that the land subject of an application for registration is
alienable?

It must establish the existence of a positive act of the government such as a presidential proclamation
or an executive order, an administrative action, investigation reports of Bureau of Lands investigators
an a legislative act or statute. The applicant must also secure a certification from the government that
the lands applied are alienable and disposable.
Article 426. Whenever by provision of the law, or an individual declaration, the expression
“immovable things or property,” or “movable things or property,” is used, it shall be deemed to
include, respectively, the things enumerated in Chapter 1 and in Chapter 2.

Whenever the word “muebles,” or “furniture,” is used alone, it shall not be deemed to include
money, credits, commercial securities, stocks, and bonds, jewelry, scientifi c or artistic collections,
books, medals, arms, clothing, horses or carriages and their accessories, grains, liquids and
merchandise, or other things which do not have as their principal object the furnishing or
ornamenting of a building, except where from the context of the law, or the individual
declaration, the contrary clearly appears.