SOBIACO,CLEOFE MAY- LLB 2nd yr. Land Titles and Deeds- Atty.

Quibo

CHAVEZ vs. Public Estate Authority

G.R 133250
July 9,2002
Facts:

This petition asked the Court to legitimize a government contract that conveyed to a private
entity 157.84 hectares of reclaimed public lands along Roxas Boulevard in Metro Manila at the
negotiated price of P1,200 per square meter. However, published reports place the market price
of land near that area at that time at a high of P90,000 per square meter. The difference in price
is a staggering P140.16 billion, equivalent to the budget of the entire Judiciary for seventeen
years and more than three times the Marcos Swiss deposits that this Court forfeited in favor of
the government.

Public Estates Authority (PEA), under the JVA, obligated itself to convey title and possession
over the Property, consisting of approximately One Million Five Hundred Seventy Eight
Thousand Four Hundred Forty One (1,578,441) Square Meters for a total consideration of One
Billion Eight Hundred Ninety Four Million One Hundred Twenty Nine Thousand Two Hundred
(P1,894,129,200.00) Pesos, or a price of One Thousand Two Hundred (P1,200.00) Pesos per
square meter.

Issue:
Whether or not in the Amended Joint Venture Agreement for the transfer to AMARI of
lands, reclaimed or to be reclaimed, violates the constitution.

Ruling: YES

The ownership of lands reclaimed from foreshore and submerged areas is rooted in the
Regalian doctrine which holds that the State owns all lands and waters of the public domain.
Upon the Spanish conquest of the Philippines, ownership of all "lands, territories and
possessions" in the Philippines passed to the Spanish Crown.42 The King, as the sovereign
ruler and representative of the people, acquired and owned all lands and territories in the
Philippines except those he disposed of by grant or sale to private individuals.

The 1935, 1973 and 1987 Constitutions adopted the Regalian doctrine substituting,
however, the State, in lieu of the King, as the owner of all lands and waters of the public
domain. The Regalian doctrine is the foundation of the time-honored principle of land ownership
that "all lands that were not acquired from the Government, either by purchase or by grant,
belong to the public domain."43 Article 339 of the Civil Code of 1889, which is now Article 420 of
the Civil Code of 1950, incorporated the Regalian doctrine.

The mere reclamation of these areas by the PEA does not convert these inalienable
natural resources of the State into alienable and disposable lands of the public domain. There
must be a law or presidential proclamation officially classifying these reclaimed lands as
alienable and disposable if the law has reserved them for some public or quasi- public use.
SOBIACO,CLEOFE MAY- LLB 2nd yr. Land Titles and Deeds- Atty. Quibo