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LAND TITLES AND DEEDSbyGregorio G. Bilog, Jr.

Book 1REGISTRATION OF LANDS
INTRODUCTION
Land Registration is ajudicial or administrative proceeding whereby a person'sclaim of ownership over a particular land is
determined and confirmed or recognized sothat such land and the ownership thereof may be recorded in a public
registry.
Purposes
1.To issue a certificate o f title to the o wner which shall be the best evidence of his ownership of the
land described therein;
2.To give ever y registered o wner co mplete peace of mind;
3.To relieve the land of unknown claims;
4.To quiet title to land and to stop forever any q uestio n as to its legality;
5.To avoid conflicts of title in and to real estate, and to faciltate transactions
6.To guarantee the integrity o f land titles and to protect their indefeasibility once the claim of
wonership is established and reconized.
TorrensSystem
the Torrens System of land registration was introduced in thePhilippines by Act. No. 496, which took effect on
February 1, 1903.This law was amended and superseded by Presidential Decree No. 1529, which took effect on June
11, 1978, otherwise known as the Property Registration Decree. This isthe principal law now governing land
registration in the Philippines.The originator of the system was Sir Richard Torrens, reformer of Australian Land
Laws.
Judicial Land Registration is a proceeding where the application for land registration is filed in the proper court.
Two Kinds of Judicial Land Registration
1.Ordinary land registration proceeding
where the application for landregistration is initiated and filed in court by the owner or person claimingownership
of the land; and,
2.Cadastral land registration proceeding
where it is the governmentundertakes the survey of the land and files the petition in court for theregistration of the
whole or part of the lands in a municipality, city or province, and where all persons are given notice by publication
andrequired to make known and prove their claims of ownership or interestover the same, otherwise, the lots will be
declared public land. In this sense, a cadastral proceeding is in the nature of a large scale
compulsory proceeding.The court, after hearing, shall render judgment confirming the title of theapplicant and
ordering:(a) the Land Registration Authority to issue the decree of registration; and,(b) for the Register of Deeds to
issue the corresponding Original Certificate of Title to the applicant or adjudged owner.
Administrative Land Registration is a proceeding where the application for a Free Patent, Homestead Patent, Sales Patent,
or other grant of public land is filed in, anddetermined by, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources
(DENR).If the application is granted, the DENR issues a patent for the land applied for. Such patent shall be
registered in the office of Register of Deeds who shall then issue thecorresponding certificate of title.
Torrens Certificate of Title
is the evidence of ownership issued by the Register of Deeds to the owner of a particular land which is registered
under the Torrens system of registration.A certificate of title may be an
Original Certificate of Title or a Transfer of Certificate of Title
.
Original Certificate of Title is the first title issued in the name of a registered owner by the Register of Deeds covering a
parcel of land which had been registered under the Torrens System, by virtue of judicial or administrative
proceeding.

Transfer of Certificate of Title is the title issued by the Register of Deeds in favor of a transferee to whom the ownership
of the registered land has been transferred by virtue of a sale or other modes of conveyance.
Laws Implementing Land Registration
1. Property Registratio n Decree (PD No. 1529, as amended)
2.Cadastral Act (Act 2259, as amended)
3.Public Land Act (Com. Act. 141, as amended)
4 . P r e s i d e n t i a l D e c r e e N o . 2 7 5.Co mprehensive Agrarian Reform Law o f 1988 (R.A.
No. 6657, as amended)

Agencies Implementing Land Registration and Land Reform

1.
D e p a r t m e n t o f E n v i r o n m e n t a n d N a t u r a l R e s o u r c e s 2.Department of Justice
Land Registratio n Authority (LRA) and it registries of deeds3 . D e p a r t m e n t o f L a n d
Reform4.Department of Agriculture
Regalian Doctrine (or jura regalia) is a time-honored Constitutional precept that all lands of the public domain belong to
the State, and that the State is the source of any asserted right to ownership in land and charged with the
conservation of such patrimony.
Imperium the government authority possessed by the State in the concept of sovereignty.
Dominium
the government's capacity to own or acquire property. The 1935, 1973, and 1987 Constitution of the Philippines
adopted the universal feudal theory that all lands belong to the crown, ownership, however, being vested in the State
as such, rather than the head thereof. Art. XII, Sec. 2 of the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines states that all lands
of the public domain and other natural resources are owned by the State; and that with the exception of agricultural
lands, all other natural resources shall not be alienated. The theory of jura regalia was nothing more than a natural
fruit of conquest. The regalia theory does not negate native title to lands held in private ownership since time
immemorial.
(Cruz vs Secretary of Environment and Natural resources, 347 SCRA 128)
SEVEN (7) STEPS IN JUDICIAL LAND REGISTRATION
1.Application for land registration shall be filed in court
by the applicant;
2.Publicationof the notice of the initial hearing of said publication;
3.Oppositionto said application shall be filed by any person who claims the land or interest therein
;4.Hearingof said application and presentationof evidencein court;
5.Judgment shall be rendered by the court;
6.Decree of Registrationfor the land shall be issued by the LRA Administrator;and
7.Original Certificate of Title for the land shall be issued by the LRA Administrator which shall then be entered by the
Register of Deeds in his record book. The owners duplicate of said certificate of title shall be given to the registered
owner thereof.
STEP 2: PUBLICATION OF THE NOTICE OF THE INITIAL HEARING OFSAID APPLICATIONA.
Notice of the Initial Hearing
1.Publication of the Notice of Initial Hearing must be published in the Official Gazette; and in a newspaper of general circulation in the Philippines;
2.Mailing of Notice of Initial Hearing
to persons named in the application. The Administrator of the LRA shall also, within seven days after publication,
cause a copy of the notice to be mailed to:
every person named in the notice whose address is known;
government officials concerned;
the Secretary of Agrarian Reform, the Solicitor General, the Director of Lands, etc.
other persons as directed by the court;
3.Posting of Notice of Initial Hearing

 caused by the Administrator of LRA to be posted by the sheriff of the province or city in a conspicuous place on
the bulletin board of the municipal building of the municipality or city in which the land or portion thereof is
situated;
STEP 3: OPPOSITION TO SAID APPLICATIONA. Opposition: Who May File
Any person claiming the land or adverse interest therein, whether named in the notice or not, may appear and file an
opposition to the application for land registration on or before the date of initial hearing, or within such further time
as may be allowed by the court. The opposition shall state all the objections to the application, the interest claimed
by the party filing the same, and apply for the remedy desired; it shall be signed and sworn to by the oppositor or by
some other duly authorized person.
Case Notes
Basis of Opposition
the opposition to the application for land registrationshould be based on a right of dominion or some other real right
independent of,and not at all subordinate to the rights of, the government.
Motion for intervention not allowed
Failure of government to oppose
the government cannot be estopped from questioning the validity of the certificates of title which were granted
without opposition from the government. The principle of estoppel does not operate against the government for the
act of its agents.
STEP 4: HEARING OF SAID APPLICATION AND PRESENTATIONOF EVIDENCE IN COURT
A. Rules of Court
The Rules of Court shall, insofar as not inconsistent with the provisions of PresidentialDecree No. 1529, be
applicable to land registration and cadastral cases by analogy or in asuppletory character and whenever practicable
and convenient.Judicial proceedings for the registration of lands throughout the Philippines shall be
inrem
, and shall be based on the generally accepted principles underlying the Torrenssystem.
B. Evidence1.To prove: that the Notice of Initial Hearing of the application has beenpublished, mailed, and posted as required
by Law
2.To prove that the applicant is the owner
:(a) by virtue of possession of private land(b) by virtue of possession of public land the general rule is that public
landcannot be acquired by prescription because there can be no prescription againstthe State
Case Notes:
Possession of lands of public domain must be from June 12, 1945 or earlier, for the same to be acquired through
judicial confirmation of imperfect title.
Possession of the applicant for land application for land registration must be under bonafide claim of ownership,
which presupposes colorable title or acquisition of land through some state grant.
Public land becomes private land open, exclusive and undisputed possession of alienable public land by a citizen
of the Republic of the Philippines for the period prescribed by law creates the legal fiction whereby the land, upon
completion of the requisite period ipso jure and without the need of judicial or other sanction, ceases to be public
land and becomes private property. Petitioners are deemed to have acquired , by operation of law, a right to a grant,
a government grant, without the necessity of a certificate of title being issued. The land is segregated from public
land.
Filipino Corporations: can acquire private lands if the land was already private at the time the corporation bought
it from the seller, then the prohibition in the Constitution against corporations holding alienable landsof the public
domain, except by lease, does not apply. Title and ownershipover lands within the meaning of the Constitutional
prohibition dates back to the time of their purchase, not later.
A parcel of land acquired by a corporation from a private individualshould be deemed applied for by such private
person for registration purposes.
For accretion or alluvion to form part of registered land or riparian owner,the gradual alluvial deposits made by
human intervention are excluded.
The Government may declare the accretion property of the adjoiningowner only when it is no longer washed by the
waters of the sea and whenit is no longer necessary for public use.
The owners of estates adjoining ponds or lagoons do not acquire the landleft dry by the natural decrease of the
waters, nor lose those inundated bythem in extraordinary floods.

3. To Prove: the identity of the land

(a) identity of land: survey plan and technical description(b) identity of land: by area(c) original tracing cloth plan:
mandatory evidence
Spanish titlesare no longer admissible as evidence of ownership
4. To prove: that the land is Alienable and Disposable
The prerogative of classifying lands of the public domain belongs to theExecutive Branch of the government.
Classification of lands of Public domain (1987 Constitution, Art. XII, Sec. 3)
(1) forest or timber (2) mineral lands(3) national parks(4) agricultural
With the exception of agricultural land, lands of the public domain shall not be alienated.
Case Notes
All lands not appearing to be clearly within private ownership are presumed to belong to the State.
Title to inalienable lands: void
STEP 5: JUDGMENT SHALL BE RENDERED BY THE COURT
A. Judgment1 . J u d g m e n t c o n f i r m i n g t i t l e Partial judgment allowed
in a land registration proceeding where only a portion of the land subject of registration is contested, the court may
render partial judgment provided that the subdivision plan showing the contested and uncontested portions approved
by the Director of Lands is previously submitted to said court.
Conditional judgments judgments which are subject to the performance of a condition precedent, are not final until the
condition is performed.2.
When judgment becomes final judgment rendered in a land registration proceeding becomes final upon the expiration of
fifteen (15) days to be counted from the date of the judgment.
Judgment binds the whole world.
Judgment is under the principle of
res judicata
:
former judgment must be final
the court which rendered judgment must have jurisdiction
it must be a judgment of the merits, and
there must be between the first and second actions identity of parties,subject matter, and cause of action
Under the principle of res judicata
, the Court and the parties, are bound bysuch final decision, otherwise there will be no end to litigation.
Adjudication of land to non-claimant is prohibited.
Title issued pending appeal, void.
A judgment dismissing an application for land registration does not operate asconclusive adjudication (res judicata)
between the applicant and the opponentwho has successfully resisted the application.
A void judgment has no legal or binding effect for any purpose. It is a nullity,and leaves the parties litigants in the
same position they were in before thetrial.
STEP 6: DECREE OF REGISTRATION FOR THE LAND SHALL BEISSUED BY THE LRA ADMINISTRATOR
After judgment of the land registration court has become final and executory, it shall devolve upon the court to
forthwith issue an order to the Administrator of LRA for the issuance of the decree of registration and the
corresponding certificate of title in the name of the person adjudged entitled to registration. The decree of
registration shall bear the date, hour and minute of its entry, and shall be signed by the Administrator of LRA. It
shall state whether the owner id married or unmarried, and if married, the name of husband or wife: provided
however that if the land adjudicated by the court is conjugal property, the decree shall be issued in the name of both
spouses. Upon finality of judgment in the land registration cases, the winning party does not file a motion for
execution as in ordinary civil actions. Instead, he files a petition with the LRA to issue a decree of registration, a
copy of which is then sent to the Register of Deeds for transcription in the registration book, and issuance of original
certificate of title.
STEP 7: ORIGINAL CERTIFICATE OF TITLE FOR THE LANDSHALL BE ISSUED BY THE LRA ADMINISTRATOR,
WHICHSHALL BE THEN ENTERED BY THE REGISTER OF DEEDS INHIS RECORD BOOK. THE OWNERS DUPLICATE OF
SAIDCERTIFICATE OF TITLE SHALL BE GIVEN TO THEREGISTERED OWNER THEREOF

A writ of possession may be issued in favor of the successful applicant or adjudged owner. It is not only against the
person who has been defeated in the registration case but also against anyone adversely occupying the land or any
portion thereof during the proceeding up to the issuance of the decree.
A writ of demolition must, likewise, issue, specially considering that the latter writ is bu ta complement of the
former.
Book 2
REGISTRATION OF DOCUMENTS INVOLVING LANDS
Part 1DOCUMENTS DEALING WITH TITLED LANDSA. PRELIMINARY
1.Definition of Terms
Titled land refers to land which has been registered under the Torrens system and for which a Torrens title issued in
the name of registered owner thereof.
Untitled land refers to land which has not been registered under the Torrens system, hence, not covered by a Torrens
title.
2.Functions of Register of Deeds
The office of the Register of Deeds constitutes a public repository of records of instruments affecting registered or
unregistered lands and chattel mortgages in the province or city wherein such office is situated.
3.Ministerial Duty
The function of the Register of Deeds with reference to the registration of deeds,encumbrances, instruments and the
like is ministerial in nature.