REPUBLIC VS.

SHAI

FACTS:

Proclamation No 423 which established a military reservation known as Fort William McKinley – later
renamed Fort Bonifacio Military Reservation, was issued by former President Carlos Garcia. Areas
specified in the Proclamation were withdrawn from sales and settlements and were reserved for military
purposes. Several presidential proclamations would later be issued excluding certain defined areas from
the operation of Proclamation 423.

What is mainly sought to be declared as a nullity in this petition is the title over the parcels of land that
are referred to as JUSMAG housing are in Fort Bonifacio being occupied by active and retired military
officers and their families.

SHAI , a non-stock corporation organized mostly by wives of AFP military officers, was able to secure title
in its name over the bulk, if not the entire, JUSMAG area. The TCT was issued by the Rizal Registry on the
basis of a notarized deed of sale purportedly executed by then Land Management Bureau Director
Abelardo Palad Jr. The investigation conducted by the DOJ, however, reported land scams at the FBMR a
copy of the aforesaid October 30, 1991 deed of sale surfaced and eventually referred to the NBI for
examination. The results of the examination undertaken by NBI Document Examiner Eliodoro Constantino
reveals that the puported signatures in the document are forgeries.

In 1993, then Pres Ramos ordered the OSG to institute an action towards the cancellation of TCT 15084 in
SHAI’s name as well as the title acquired by the Navy Officer’s Village Association (NOVA) over a bigger
parcel of land within the reservation.

ISSUE:

Whether the land sold was alienable, hence can be subject to lawful private conveyance

RULING: NO.

As regards the issue of inalienability, the Court upheld the contention of the Republic that the JUSMAG
area is inalienable, the same having not effectively been separated from the military reservation and
declared as alienable and disposable. Until a given parcel of land is released from its classification as
part of the military reservation zone and reclassified by law or by presidential proclamation as
disposable and alienable, its status as part of a military reservation remains, even if incidentally it is
devoted for a purpose other than as a military camp or for defense.

SHAI had not pointed to any proclamation or legislative act for that matter segregating the property from
the reservation and classifying the same as alienable lands of public domain. Furthermore, the Constitution
also forbids private corporations from acquiring any kind of alienable public land except through lease for
a limited period. The whole conveyance process was also suspicious since the whole process was
accomplished only in one day.

There is no doubt that the JUSMAG area subject of the questioned October 30, 1991sale formed part of the
FBMR as originally established under Proclamation No. 423. And while private respondent SHAI would
categorically say that the petitioner Republic had not presented evidence that “subject land is within
military reservation,”and even dared to state that the JUSMAG area is the private property of the government
and therefore removed from the concept of public domain per se its own evidence themselves belie its posture
as their evidence both the TCT and the Deed of Sale technically described the property as situated in
JUSMAG area located at Fort Bonifacio which is now renamed Fort Mckinley a declared a military
reservation.

The Republic has, since the filing of its underlying complaint, invoked Proclamation No. 423. In the
process, it has invariably invited attention to the proclamation’s specific area coverage to prove the nullity
of TCT No. 15084, inasmuch as the title embraced a reserved area considered inalienable, and hence,
beyond the commerce of man.