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Also, the matters contained in the following were written in accordance with the law, rules, and jurisprudence prevailing at the time of writing and posting, and do not include any future developments on the subject matter under discussion.
AT A GLANCE:
A written donation or formal act is necessary for the transfer of ownership of open spaces and road lots in subdivisions, and the local government cannot simply rely on ordinances or laws alone to assume ownership of the property.
Section 31 of Presidential Decree No. 957 was amended by Presidential Decree No. 1216, which mandated the donation of open spaces and road lots by subdivision owners or developers to local government units. It provides:
“Sec. 31. Roads, Alleys, Sidewalks and Open spaces. The owner as developer of a subdivision shall provide adequate roads, alleys and sidewalks. For subdivision projects one (1) hectare or more, the owner or developer shall reserve thirty percent (30%) of the gross area for open space. such open space shall have the following standards allocated exclusively for parks, playgrounds and recreational use:
(a) 9% of gross area for high density or social housing (66 to 100 family lot per gross hectare).
(b) 7% of gross area for medium-density or economic housing (21 to 65 family lot per gross hectare).
(c) 3.5 % of gross area low-density or open market housing (20 family lots and below per gross hectare).
These areas reserved for parks, playgrounds and recreational use shall be non-alienable public lands, and non-buildable. The plans of the subdivision project shall include tree planting on such parts of the subdivision as may be designated by the Authority.
Upon their completion as certified to by the Authority, the roads, alleys, sidewalks and playgrounds shall be donated by the owner or developer to the city or municipality and it shall be mandatory for the local governments to accept provided, however, that the parks and playgrounds may be donated to the Homeowners Association of the project with the consent of the city or municipality concerned. No portion of the parks and playgrounds donated thereafter shall be converted to any other purpose or purposes.”
In Quezon City Government v. Madrid (G.R. No. 268254, April 2, 2025), the Supreme Court upheld the principle that there is no such thing as an automatic cession to the government of subdivision road lots. Absent a “positive act,” the local government unit’s bare reliance on the effectivity and passage of the ordinances, as well as other relevant laws, do not suffice in proving the public character of the properties; thus, it remained private.
In the said case, the Supreme Court noted that the question of whether subdivision owners and developers can be compelled to donate its open spaces and road lots to the local government or homeowner’s associations had already been settled in the case of Republic of the Philippines v. Sps. Llamas (G.R. No. 194190, January 25, 2017).
In Sps. Llamas, the Court held that the transfer of ownership of the properties from the subdivision owner or developer to the local government is not automatic but requires a positive act from the owner or developer before the city, municipality, or homeowner’s association can acquire dominion over the subdivision’s open spaces.
Section 31 of P.D. No. 957 is conceptually oxymoronic as one cannot speak of a donation and compulsion in the same breath. A donation has to be out of one’s volition being an act of liberality or animus donandi.
Section 31’s compulsion to donate (and concomitant compulsion to accept) cannot be sustained as valid. Not only does it run afoul of basic legal concepts; it also fails to withstand the more elementary test of logic and common sense. As opposed to this, the position that not only is more reasonable and logical, but also maintains harmony between our laws, is that which maintains subdivision owner’s or developer’s freedom to donate or not to donate.
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Alburo Alburo and Associates Law Offices specializes in business law and labor law consulting. For inquiries regarding legal services, you may reach us at info@alburolaw.com, or dial us at (02)7745-4391/ 09175772207/ 09778050020.
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