Heirs of Navarro v.

Intermediate Appellate Court

G.R. No. 68166, February 12, 1997, 268 SCRA 589
Hermosisima, J:

FACTS: On October 3, 1946, Sinforoso Pascual, filed an application for foreshore lease
covering a tract of foreshore land in Sibocon, Balanga, Bataan, having an area of
approximately seventeen (17) hectares. Subsequently, petitioners' predecessor-in-
interest, Emiliano Navarro, filed a fishpond application with the Bureau of Fisheries
covering twenty five (25) hectares of foreshore land also in Sibocon, Balanga, Bataan.
Initially, such application was denied by the Director of Fisheries on the ground that the
property formed part of the public domain.

Sometime in the early part of 1960, Sinforoso Pascual flied an application to register
and confirm his title to a parcel of land, situated in Sibocon, Balanga, Bataan, described
in Plan Psu-175181 and said to have an area of 146,611 square meters. Pascual
claimed that this land is an accretion to his property, situated in Barrio Puerto Rivas,
Balanga, Bataan, and covered by Original Certificate of Title No. 6830. It is bounded on
the eastern side by the Talisay River, on the western side by the Bulacan River, and on
the northern side by the Manila Bay. The Talisay River as well as the Bulacan River flow
downstream and meet at the Manila Bay thereby depositing sand and silt on Pascual's
property resulting in an accretion thereon. Sinforoso Pascual claimed the accretion as
the riparian owner.

On March 25, 1960, the Director of Lands, represented by the Assistant Solicitor
General, filed an opposition thereto stating that neither Pascual nor his predecessors-in-
interest possessed sufficient title to the subject property, the same being a portion of the
public domain and, therefore, it belongs to the Republic of the Philippines.

ISSUE: Whether or not the land sought to be registered is accretion or foreshore land,
or, whether or not said land was formed by the action of the two rivers of Talisay and
Bulacan or by the action of the Manila Bay.

HELD: Accretion as a mode of acquiring property under said Article 457, requires the
concurrence of the following requisites: (1) that the accumulation of soil or sediment be
gradual and imperceptible; (2) that it be the result of the action of the waters of the river;
and (3) that the land where the accretion takes place is adjacent to the bank of the river.
If the accretion were to be attributed to the action of either or both of the Talisay and
Bulacan Rivers, the alluvium should have been deposited on either or both of the
eastern and western boundaries of petitioners' own tract of land, not on the northern
portion thereof which is adjacent to the Manila Bay. Clearly lacking, thus, is the third
requisite of accretion, which is, that the alluvium is deposited on the portion of claimant's
land which is adjacent to the river bank.

The disputed land, thus, is an accretion not on a river bank but on a sea bank, or on
what used to be the foreshore of Manila Bay which adjoined petitioners' own tract of
land on the northern side. Applicant Pascual has not presented proofs to convince the
Court that the land he has applied for registration is the result of the settling down on his
registered land of soil, earth or other deposits so as to be rightfully be considered as an
accretion [caused by the action of the two rivers]. Article 457 finds no applicability where
the accretion must have been caused by action of the bay.

The conclusion formed by the trial court on the basis of the aforegoing observation is
that the disputed land is part of the foreshore of Manila Bay and therefore, part of the
public domain. Thus, the disputed property is an accretion on a sea bank, Manila Bay
being an inlet or an arm of the sea; as such, the disputed property is, under Article 4 of
the Spanish Law of Waters of 1866, part of the public domain.