1. TORRENS SYSTEM; DECREE OF REGISTRATION; IRREVOCABILITY. — From the provisions of sections 38 and 112 of Act No. 496, as amended, it is evident that when a decree of registration is once made under the Torrens system, and the time has elapsed within which it may be contested, as in this case, the same becomes perfect, conclusive, and irrevocable (Reyes v. Borbon, 50 Phil., 591), and may no longer be reopened.

2. ID.; ID.; ID.; CORRECTION OF ERRORS. — Section 112 recognizes and permits the correction of an error of closure, "provided such correction does not include lands not included in the original petition." (Roxas v. Enriquez, 29 Phil., 63.) Otherwise, the doctrine of the conclusiveness and legal indefeasibility of a Torrens title would be a meaningless verbiage. It is admitted by the appellees in their brief that a variance in the total area exists between the G plan and the R plan.

3. ID.; ID.; ID.; ID. — The approval of plan Psu-17590 as amended would authorize not only the inclusion of land of the public domain which some seventy free patent applicants have been authorized to occupy but also a reopening of a decree of registration long closed and settled. It is well settled that after the issuance of the decree of registration of a land upon which a judgment has become final, no error can be corrected any longer regarding the area of the land. (Manlapas and Tolentino v. Llorente, 48 Phil., 298.) It seems clear, therefore, that what the lower court has attempted, and in fact accomplished, was not the correction of an error of closure, but a re-trial of the case and the subsequent approval of an entirely new decree of registration.

This is an appeal by the Director of Lands and others, oppositors in the present registration proceedings, from an order dated March 14, 1938, of the Court of First Instance of Pangasinan, granting applicants’ petition of August 7, 1934, praying (1) that the amended plan Psu-1759-Amd. be approved, (2) that proper correction in the technical description in Original Certificate of Title No. 7 be ordered to conform to said amended plan and its technical description, and (3) that an order be entered directing the Register of Deeds of Pangasinan to cancel said Original Certificate of Title No. 7 and to issue, in lieu thereof, a new certificate of title in accordance with the said amended plan and technical description.

The antecedent facts are stated in the following stipulation of facts:jgc:chanrobles.com.ph

"STIPULATION OF FACTS

"Come now the parties in the above-entitled case, represented by their respective undersigned attorneys, and enter into the following stipulation of facts:jgc:chanrobles.com.ph

"1. That on January 20, 1903, Crisanto Lichauco, Salud Nable Jose, Amparo Nable Jose, and Asuncion Nable Jose filed an application for the registration of the hacienda ’El Porvenir’ situated in the municipalities of Tayug, Natividad, San Quintin, and Santa Maria, Province of Pangasinan. Oppositions were filed by 150 individuals and by the Attorney-General on behalf of the Insular Government. After hearing, decision was rendered on May 1, 1905, which was appealed to, and confirmed by, the Supreme Court in its decision of May 5, 1906, copy of which appears on folios 257-259, Pieza No. 4, granting the adjudication and registration of the hacienda ’El Porvenir’ in favor of Crisanto Lichauco and the three sisters Salud, Amparo and Asuncion Nable Jose, in the proportion of a pro-indiviso one-half interest for the first and the remaining pro-indiviso half for the last three, a copy of which decision marked Exhibit A-2 is attached hereto and made a part hereof. After the Supreme Court promulgated its decision, the corresponding decree No. 1178 was issued, a copy of which decree marked Exhibit A-3 is attached hereto and made a part of this stipulation. Salud Nable Jose died during the pendency of the registration proceedings 1903-5, and all her rights, interest and participation to the hacienda ’El Porvenir’ were inherited by her sisters Amparo and Asuncion Nable Jose.

"2. In accordance with decree No. 1178, Original Certificate of Title No. 7 of the land records of Pangasinan was issued in favor of Crisanto Lichauco and the sisters Salud, Amparo, and Asuncion Nable Jose in the proportion above mentioned.

"3. That decree No. 1178 and Original Certificate of Title No. 7 were both based on a plan prepared by the Ingeniero de Montes Mr. Aurelio Diaz Rocafull in February, 1886, a copy of which plan is attached to the record, Pieza No. 1, folio 5, and on the corresponding technical description, a copy of which is also attached to the record, Pieza No. 2, folios 217-221, inclusive. For the convenience of the Court a certified copy of said technical description is attached hereto marked Exhibit A-1 and made a part hereof.

"4. That on October 18, 1912, the then Director of Lands, Mr. C. H. Sleeper, filed with the then Court of Land Registration a petition wherein, for the reason that —

"‘The properties in the above-mentioned cases have not been platted thereon, as it is impossible to properly locate them from the tie lines, and the descriptions and surveys hereof are of doubtful accuracy in many instances. A large number of property surveys are being executed in this province and continual corrections are required after the completion of the surveys in order to secure agreement with those previously decreed properties.

"‘It is therefore proposed to execute new tie line surveys and boundary surveys of these properties without cost to the owners, in order that future conflicts of this nature may be avoided. For this purpose it is necessary that the holders of the certificates of title be required to point out to the surveyor on the ground their actual boundaries.

"‘It is therefore requested that this office be furnished a list of the names and addresses of each of the owners of these properties, and that the court issue an order directing that said owners point out to the surveyor on the ground the true limit of their properties as claimed and occupied, and further, that they be advised that accurate plans and descriptions and a new certificate of title will be furnished them without cost, for the purpose of clearing up the doubt as to the proper boundaries.’

it was prayed that an order be entered ordering the new survey of the properties and that a new certificate of title be issued in conformity with the new survey. This petition of Director Sleeper appears in the record of this case, Pieza No. 4, folios 296-296 and for the convenience of the Court a certified copy of the said petition marked Exhibit R is attached hereto and made a part of this stipulation. Acting on the said petition, the then Court of Land Registration promulgated an order, dated November 12, 1912, granting the petition. This order appears in the record of this case, Pieza 4, folios 297-298, and for the convenience of the Court a certified copy thereof marked Exhibit C is attached hereto and made a part hereof.

"5. That on September 9, 1918, Crisanto Lichauco, Asuncion Nable Jose and Amparo Nable Jose, through their counsel, filed a motion praying that the order of November 12, 1912, of the then Court of Land Registration be amended in such a manner that the same should provide that the proposed new survey of the land covered by Original Certificate of Title No. 7 as requested by the Director of Lands in his petition of October 18, 1912, be made by any authorized private surveyor at the expense of the owners, instead of by public land surveyors. This motion appears in the record, Pieza 4, folios 304-305, and for the convenience of the Court a certified copy of said motion marked Exhibit D is attached hereto and made a part hereof.

"6. That the petition in said motion Exhibit D having been granted by this Honorable Court, the deceased Crisanto Lichauco, Asuncion Nable Jose and Amparo Nable Jose caused a new survey of the hacienda ’El Porvenir’ by private surveyor Zoilo Garcia, who from October 25, 1918 to July 4, 1919, made the new survey and as a result thereof prepared plan Psu-17590 and its corresponding technical description. Said plan Psu-17590 and its technical description appear in the record of this case, Pieza 4, folios 307 and 308-345, respectively, and a certified copy of the plan appears in the record, Pieza 5, folio 647. Both the certified copy of plan Psu-17590 and its technical description attached to the record are hereby made by reference parts of this stipulation as Exhibits E and F, respectively.

"7. That on October 31, 1922, the executrix of the testamentary estate of Crisanto Lichauco filed a motion asking for the cancellation of the titles issued for the hacienda ’El Porvenir’ and the issuance of a new one for the said hacienda one-half in favor of the testamentary estate of Crisanto Lichauco and the remaining half to Amparo Nable Jose and Asuncion Nable Jose, in accordance with the new plan prepared by Zoilo Garcia and the technical description, with the exception of lots Nos. 9 and 10 thereof. This motion appears in the record, Pieza 4, folios 306, 306-A, 306-B. A simple copy of the said motion marked Exhibit F-1 is hereto attached and made a part hereof for the convenience of the Court.

"8. That on November 24, 1922, this Court issued an auto granting the said motion, subject, however, to the approval by the General Land Registration Office of the plan prepared by Zoilo Garcia and its technical description, said auto being found in Pieza 4, folios 355-57. A simple copy of said auto marked Exhibit F-2 is hereto attached and made a part hereof for the convenience of the Court.

"9. That on December 6, 1922, in a communication to this Honorable Court, the Chief Surveyor of the General Land Registration Office pointed out certain corrections to be made on plan Psu-17590 which communication appears in the record, Pieza 4, folios 359-360, and for the convenience of the Court a certified copy of same marked Exhibit G is attached hereto and made a part hereof.

"10. That on December 20, 1922, this Honorable Court, acting on the said recommendation of the Chief Surveyor of the General Land Registration Office, entered an order requiring the applicants to have plan Psu-17590 amended in such a manner as to conform with the recommendation of the Chief Surveyor of the General Land Registration Office. This order appears in the record, Pieza 4, folios 364-365, and for the convenience of the court a certified copy thereof marked Exhibit H is attached hereto and made a part of this stipulation.

"11. That in compliance with said order of this Honorable Court, plan Psu-17590 was amended by the Bureau of Lands as shown in the report dated February 3, 1923, of the Director of Lands to the Chief of the Land Registration Office. This report of February 3, 1923, appears in the record, Pieza 4, folios 369-371, and for the convenience of the Court a certified copy thereof marked Exhibit I is hereto attached and made a part hereof.

"12. That on February 21, 1923, the Chief Surveyor of the General Land Registration Office recommended to this Honorable Court the approval of plan Psu-17590 as amended by the Bureau of Lands and the issuance of a new certificate of title in accordance therewith. This recommendation appears in the record, Pieza 4, folio 368, and a certified copy hereof marked Exhibit J is hereto attached and made a part hereof.

"13. Acting on the said recommendation of the General Land Registration Office, this Honorable Court issued an auto, dated March 1, 1923, approving plan Psu-17590 as amended by the Bureau of Lands, cancelling all certificates of title previously issued and ordering the Register of Deeds of Pangasinan to issue a new certificate of title in favor of Amparo Nable Jose with respect to one-half pro-indiviso interest in the hacienda ’El Porvenir’ and in favor of the testamentary estate of the deceased Crisanto Lichauco with respect to the remaining one-half pro-indiviso interest in accordance with plan Psu-17590-Amd. and its technical description. This auto appears in the record, Pieza 4, folios 373-374, and a copy thereof marked Exhibit K is attached hereto and made a part hereof. Pursuant to said auto, Original Certificate of Title No. 7, and other certificates of title based on the Rocafull plan were cancelled and a new one, to wit, Transfer Certificate of Title No. 1776. was issued in favor of Amparo Nable Jose and Asuncion Nable Jose and the testamentary estate of Crisanto Lichauco in the proportion stated in the auto of March 1, 1923.

"14. After the issuance of Transfer Certificate of Title No. 1776, a partition agreement of the hacienda ’El Porvenir’ was entered into between Amparo Nable Jose and Asuncion Nable Jose on the one hand, and the testamentary estate of the deceased Crisanto Lichauco on the other, whereby it was agreed that to the former shall be adjudicated lots Nos. 1, 4, 5, 6 and 8 of plan Psu-17590-Amd., and to the latter, lots Nos. 2, 3 and 7 of the same plan. By virtue of the said partition, Transfer Certificate of Title No. 1776 was cancelled and two new certificates of title were issued on August 17, 1923, to wit, Transfer Certificate of Title No. 1788 in the name of Amparo Nable Jose and Asuncion Nable Jose covering the lots adjudicated to them, and Transfer Certificate of Title No. 1889 in favor of the testamentary estate of Crisanto Lichauco covering the lots corresponding to the said estate. On September 19, 1926, Transfer Certificate of Title No. 1789 in the name of the testamentary estate of Crisanto Lichauco was cancelled and superseded by Transfer Certificate of Title No. 4109 in the names of the heirs of the deceased Crisanto Lichauco, namely, Maria Perez Vda. de Lichauco, Maria, Macario, Amanda, Manuel, Mariano, and Renato, all surnamed Lichauco y Perez.

"15. On February 15, 1932, Cayetano Corpuz and 69 other individuals filed a motion appearing in folios 439-445, Pieza No. 4, praying for the reasons therein alleged, to declare null and void the orders of November 24, and December 20, 1922, and March 1, 1923, amending the original plan, approving the subdivision plan Psu-17590-Amd. and the issuance of the corresponding certificates of title and asking for the cancellation of those transfer certificates and the amendment of the original plan so as to conform with plan SWO-9497.

"16. That on June 30, 1932, Cayetano Corpuz Et. Al., amended their motion, and in paragraph V of this amended motion it was alleged that there was no publication of the amended plan and its technical description as well as of the motion asking for their approval. (See folios 465-470, Pieza No. 4.)

"17. After the filing of the answers of Amparo Nable Jose, Asuncion Nable Jose and the heirs of Crisanto Lichauco to the amended motion of Cayetano Corpuz, Et Al., and after oral argument without the presentation of any evidence, this Honorable Court rendered its resolution dated January 11, 1933 appearing in folios 485-492, Pieza No. 5, the dispositive part of which is as follows:jgc:chanrobles.com.ph

"‘En virtud de todo lo expuesto, se declaran nulos los autos de este Juzgado de fechas 24 de noviembre y 20 de diciembre de 1922 y 1.