LAND TITLES & DEEDS | DIRECTOR OF LANDS V. IAC
DIRECTOR OF LANDS V. IAC
TOPIC/DOCTRINE
'A state may not impair vested rights by legislative
enactment, by the enactment or by the subsequent repeal of a municipal
ordinance, or by a change in the constitution of the State, except in a
legitimate exercise of the police power'
FACTS
The Director of Lands has brought this appeal by certiorari
from a judgment of the Intermediate Appellate Court affirming a decision of the
Court of First Instance of Isabela, which ordered registration in favor of Acme
Plywood & Veneer Co., Inc. of five parcels of land measuring 481, 390
square meters, more or less, acquired by it from Mariano and Acer Infiel,
members of the Dumagat tribe.
The Director of Lands asserts that, the registration
proceedings have been commenced only on July 17, 1981, or long after the 1973
Constitution had gone into effect, the latter is the correctly applicable law;
and since section 11 of its Article XIV prohibits private corporations or
associations from holding alienable lands of the public domain, except by lease
not to exceed 1,000 hectares (a prohibition not found in the 1935 Constitution
which was in force in 1962 when Acme purchased the lands in question from the
Infiels), it was reversible error to decree registration in favor of Acme.
ISSUE
Whether the title that the Infiels had transferred to Acme
in 1962 could be confirmed in favor of the latter in proceedings instituted by
it in 1981 when the 1973 Constitution was already in effect.
RULING
Yes.
The court held that the due process clause prohibits the
annihilation of vested rights. 'A state may not impair vested rights by
legislative enactment, by the enactment or by the subsequent repeal of a
municipal ordinance, or by a change in the constitution of the State, except in
a legitimate exercise of the police power'(16 C.J.S. 1177-78).
