The Roman Catholic Bishop of Nueva Caceres v. The Municipality of Tabaco

Summary

The Roman Catholic Bishop sued the Municipality of Tabaco to recover P5,000 value of three parcels of land with chapels that the Church owned from time immemorial but were registered under the Torrens system to the municipality in 1910 without Church's knowledge. The Supreme Court held that while the municipality became the absolute owner through the certificate of title after twelve months, the Church retained the right to recover the monetary value of the wrongfully appropriated property. The Court distinguished between the prescription period for recovering land itself versus recovering its value, finding constructive fraud in the municipality's registration of property clearly possessed and used by another for religious purposes. The case was remanded for determination of damages, establishing the principle that Torrens system registration, while creating indefeasible title, does not bar former owners from seeking monetary compensation for property wrongfully titled to others.