When the action is not in personam with the government as the named defendant, but an action in rem that does not name the government in particular. SUIT AGAINST THE STATE?

NO. In Republic v Feliciano (148 SCRA 424), a suit against the government for the recovery of possession and ownership of land based on a possessory information was disallowed by the SC on the ground that a suit for the recovery of property is an action "in personam" which seeks to bring the State to court just like any private person who is claimed to usurp a piece of property. What the plaintiff should have done, the Court continued, was to apply for a judicial confirmation of imperfect title under Sec. 48(b) of CA 141, which is an "action in rem", i.e., one directed against the whole world, and not the government in particular.