"x x x.
A certification from the CENRO is not sufficient proof that the property in question is alienable and disposable land of the public domain.
Even as we affirm the propriety of the MTC’s exercise of its delegated jurisdiction, we find that the lower court erred in granting respondent Corporation’s application for original registration in the absence of sufficient proof that the property in question was alienable and disposable land of the public domain.
The Regalian doctrine dictates that all lands of the public domain belong to the State.[44] The applicant for land registration has the burden of overcoming the presumption of State ownership by establishing through incontrovertible evidence that the land sought to be registered is alienable or disposable based on a positive act of the government.[45] We held in Republic v. T.A.N. Properties, Inc. that a CENRO certification is insufficient to prove the alienable and disposable character of the land sought to be registered.[46] The applicant must also show sufficient proof that the DENR Secretary has approved the land classification and released the land in question as alienable and disposable.[47]
Thus, the present rule is that an application for original registration must be accompanied by (1) a CENRO or PENRO[48] Certification; and (2) a copy of the original classification approved by the DENR Secretary and certified as a true copy by the legal custodian of the official records.[49]
Here, respondent Corporation only presented a CENRO certification in support of its application.[50] Clearly, this falls short of the requirements for original registration.
We therefore remand this case to the court a quo for reception of further evidence to prove that the property in question forms part of the alienable and disposable land of the public domain. If respondent Bantigue Point Development Corporation presents a certified true copy of the original classification approved by the DENR Secretary, the application for original registration should be granted. If it fails to present sufficient proof that the land in question is alienable and disposable based on a positive act of the government, the application should be denied.
x x x."
