Digest Author: Fredrick Atienza

Republic v CA
Petitioner: REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES (DIRECTOR OF LANDS)
Respondent: COURT OF APPEALS, BENJAMIN TANCINCO,
AZUCENA TANCINCO REYES, MARINA TANCINCO IMPERIAL
AND MARIO C. TAN
Ponente: GUTIERREZ, JR.,J.

DOCTRINE:
For accretion or alluvion to form part of registered land of riparian
owner, the gradual alluvial deposits must be due to the effects of the
rivers current. Deposits made by human intervention are excluded.

A riparian owner cannot register accretions to his land arising from
special works or man-made dikes constructed for reclamation
purposes.

FACTS:
1. Respondents Benjamin Tancinco, Azucena Tancinco Reyes, Maria
Tancinco Imperial and Mario Tancinco are registered owners of a
parcel of land situated in Barrio Ubihan, Meycauayan, Bulacan
bordering on the Meycauayan and Bocaue rivers.
2. They filed for an application for the registration of three lots adjacent
to their fishpond property.
3. Assistant Provincial Fiscal Amando C. Vicente, representing the
Bureau of Lands, filed a written opposition to the application for
registration.
4. Lot 3 was ordered withdrawn from the application. The lower court
granted the application and found that the lands were accretions to
the private respondents fishponds.
5. Petitioner appealed arguing that the accretion were man-made due
to the transfer of the dikes by the respondent further down the river
bed of the Meycauayan River.
ISSUES:
1. Whether or not respondents are entitled to the accretion.
PROVISION: Article 457 of the Civil Code
1. To the owners of lands adjoining the banks of rivers belong the accretion which
they gradually receive from the effects of the current of the waters.

RULING + RATIO:
1. No. They are not entitled to the accretion.
The above-quoted article requires the concurrence of three
requisites before an accretion covered by this particular provision
is said to have taken place. They are (1) that the deposit be
gradual and imperceptible; (2) that it be made through the effects
of the current of the water; and (3) that the land where accretion
takes place is adjacent to the banks of rivers.
The requirement that the deposit should be due to the effect of
the current of the river is indispensable. This excludes from Art.
457 of the New Civil Code all deposits caused by human
intervention.
Riparian owner does not acquire the additions to his land caused
by special works expressly intended or designed to bring about
accretion. When the private respondents transferred their dikes
towards the river bed, the dikes were meant for reclamation
purposes and not to protect their property from the destructive
force of the waters of the river.


DISPOSITION: WHEREFORE, the instant petition is GRANTED. The
decision appealed from is hereby REVERSED and SET ASIDE. The
private respondents are ordered to move back the dikes of their
fishponds to their original location and return the disputed property to
the river to which it belongs.