BALANGCAD vs.

COURT OF APPEALS
G.R. No. 83888, February 12, 1998

FACTS:

A case was filed by respondent for quieting of title to a parcel of land which they alleged
had been illegally registered in the name of Lunesa Balangcad (Petitioner). But after
trial, judgment was rendered annulling defendant’s Free Patent Title No. 213712 with
respect to the land in suit, which the defendant was ordered to vacate. Balangcad
invokes that cadastral proceedings is in rem in character, she insists on the
indefeasibility of her title to the disputed land after one year from its registration and
contends it is too late now for the respondents to contest her ownership. But the
respondent contends that the disputed land was already private land when the petitioner
continuously possessed it for over 30 years.

ISSUE:

Whether or not the issuance of Free Patent Title No. 213712 in petitioner’s name is
valid?

HELD:

No. The land in suit is already a private land from the time the petitioners possessed the
said land. The grant therefore indicated in the cadastral survey is null and void with
respect to the land in litigation, but valid with respect to the unquestioned portion.