December 13, 1996

DAR OPINION NO. 126-96

PARO Alfredo Alog

DAR Provincial Office

Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya

Dear PARO Alog:

This refers to the letter of Mr. Arturo Cabauatan, Legal Officer III, in your Office requesting legal opinion on the following, to wit:

1)        Whether or not a parcel of public land applied by an American citizen (Theodore Knippenberg) through Sales Application can be covered under the Land Tenure Improvement program?

2)        Has Knippenberg validly established a vested right over the property? If yes, who is the rightful successor?

3)        Can the heir file for consolidation of title in his name in pursuit of the order of award granted to Knippenberg?.

4)        Are the claims of the actual occupants invoking that said property be escheated and then to be given to them as government property meritorious? If yes, how will this happen?

5)        Will DAR initiate the move in behalf of the Office of the Solicitor General?

A perusal of the subject letter reveals the pertinent facts as follows: 1) that American citizen Theodore Knippenberg, married to a Filipino citizen, Anita Fortes, was awarded 102 hectares, more or less, of agricultural land located at Malabing, Kasibu, Nueva Vizcaya, through Sales Application No. V-789; 2) that said spouses Knippenberg and Fortes died intestate and without any issue; 3) that upon the effectivity of PD 27, a greater portion of subject land was identified as OLT area it being planted to rice and corn and tenanted; and 4) that Manolito Tolentino who claims himself as an heir of the Knippenberg protested the findings of DAR.

As can be inferred from the Order of Award dated February 14, 1950 (recorded as Sales Entry No. V-299) the auction sale of the subject property was held on June 8, 1949. Mr. Knippenberg bid for P240.00/hectare and deposited the amount of P240.00 as part payment of the purchase price of the land. Said Order of Award requires that the balance thereof be paid in not more than ten (10) equal annual installments beginning 1951 until the full amount is paid.

Anent the first query, the land covered by the Order of Award can be subjected to the Land Improvement Tenure Program if prior to October 21, 1972, the awardee, Mr. Knippenberg had paid in full the purchase price and had complied with the cultivation requirement of the land. This is so because the land can now be considered as private property. Otherwise, the property can not be subjected to either PD 27 or CARP.

Anent the second query, Sec. 28 of Commonwealth Act No. 141, as amended (The Public Land Act) provides that the purchaser shall have not less than one-fifth of the land broken and cultivated within five years after the date of the award; and before any patent is issued, the purchaser must show actual occupancy, cultivation and improvement of at least one-fifth of the land applied for until the date on which final payment is made. It follows therefore, that the compliance of the said provision of law makes an awardee of public land a beneficiary owner therein.

Anent the third query, if the heir can prove that Mr. Knippenberg had complied with all the requirements of law even if the patent has not been actually issued, the heir may petition for the issuance of the Sales Patent, because compliance of the requirements vests rights and interests unto the awardee and the issuance of a patent becomes ministerial.

With the foregoing, we submit that if the applicant is found to be a beneficial owner, then the property is covered under the program since it is already a private property.

Please be guided accordingly.

Very truly yours,

(SGD.) LORENZO R. REYES

OIC-Undersecretary
LAFMA

Copy furnished:

Mr. Arturo Cabauatan

DAR, Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya