Republic v CAPetitioner: REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES (DIRECTOR OF LANDS) Respondent: COURT OF APPEALS, BENJAMIN TANCINCO, AZUCENA TANCINCO REYES, MARINA TANCINCO IMPERIAL AND MARIO C. TANPonente: 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 river’s 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 Lot 3 was ordered withdrawn from the application.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.