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Heirs of Simplicio Santiago vs Heirs of Mariano Santiago

HEIRS OF SIMPLICIO SANTIAGO, REPRESENTED BY ANGELITA S. CASTRO, PETITIONERS, VS. HEIRS OF MARIANO E. SANTIAGO, RESPONDENTS.

G.R. No. 151440 | 2003-06-17

D E C I S I O N

YNARES-SANTIAGO, J.:

A free patent issued over a private land is null and void and produces no legal effects whatsoever. Quod nullum est, nullum producit effectum.[1] Free patent applications under the Public Land Act[2] apply only to disposable lands of the public domain, and not to private lands which became such by virtue of a duly registered possessory information or by open, continuous, exclusive, and notorious possession, of the present or previous occupants.[3]

This petition seeks to reverse and set aside the December 3, 1999 decision[4] of the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. CV No. 42761, which reversed and set aside...