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additional claims.[25] Respondents were not among the original and additional
claimants. Finally, in Republic v. Fañgonil,[26] this Court laid to rest claims within
the Baguio Townsite Reservation, to wit:
This case is about the registration of lots located within the
Baguio Townsite Reservation. As background, it should be noted
that in 1912 a petition was filed in the Court of Land Registration
regarding the Baguio Townsite Reservation, Expediente de
Reserva No. 1, GLRO Reservation Record No. 211. In 1914, when
the Land Registration Court was abolished, the record was
transferred to the Court of First Instance of Benguet.
The purpose of Case No. 211 was to determine once and for all what
portions of the Baguio Townsite Reservation were private and registerable
under Act No. 496 as provided in section 62 of Act No. 926. Once so
determined, no further registration proceeding would be allowed (Sees. 3
and 4, Act No. 627).
The court on July 22, 1915 issued a notice requiring all persons claiming
lots inside the reservation to file within six months from the date of the
notice petitions for the registration of their titles under Act No. 496. On
June 13, 1922, the General Land Registration Office submitted to the
court a report regarding the applications for registration. The case was
duly heard.
Judge C. M. Villareal in a decision dated November 13, 1922 held that all
lands within the Reservation are public lands with the exception of (1)
lands reserved for specified public uses and (2) lands claimed and
adjudicated as private property. He ruled that claims for private lands by
all persons not presented for registration within the period fixed in Act
No. 627, in relation to the first Public Land Law, Act No. 926, were barred
forever. (Sees. 3 and 4, Act No. 627.)
That 1922 decision established the rule that lots of the Baguio Townsite
Reservation, being public domain, are not registerable under Act No. 496.
As held by Judge Belmonte in a 1973 case, the Baguio Court of First
Instance "has no Jurisdiction to entertain any laijd registration
proceedings" under Act No. 496 and the Public Land Law, covering any lot
within the Baguio Townsite Reservation which was terminated in 1922
(Camdas vs. Director of Lands, L-37782, Resolution of this Court of March
8, 1974, dismissing petition for review of Judge Belmonte's ruling).
In the instant case, after more than half a century from the 1922 decision
declaring the townsite public domain, or during the years 1972 to 1976,
Modesta Paris, Lagya Paris, Samuel Baliwan, Pablo Ramos, Jr., Josephine
Abanag, Menita T. Victor, Emiliano Bautista and Odi Dianson filed with the
Court of First Instance of Baguio applications for the registration of lots
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