LAND TITLES REVIEWER/NOTES BASED ON AGCAOILI BOOK AND

ATTY. CADIZ'S LECTURE GENERAL PROVISIONS

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LAND TITLES REVIEWER/NOTES

BASED ON AGCAOILI BOOK AND ATTY. CADIZS LECTURE
Page 1 of 127

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Section 1. Title of Decree. This Decree shall be known as the

PROPERTY REGISTRATION DECREE.

Section 2. Nature of registration proceedings; jurisdiction of courts.

Judicial proceedings for the registration of lands throughout the
Philippines shall be in rem and shall be based on the generally
accepted principles underlying the Torrens system.
Courts of First Instance shall have exclusive jurisdiction over all
applications for original registration of title to lands, including
improvements and interests therein, and over all petitions filed
after original registration of title, with power to hear and
determine all questions arising upon such applications or petitions.
The court through its clerk of court shall furnish the Land
Registration Commission with two certified copies of all pleadings,
exhibits, orders, and decisions filed or issued in applications or
petitions for land registration, with the exception of stenographic
notes, within five days from the filing or issuance thereof.
WHAT IS THE CONCEPT OF JURE REGALIA?
(REGALIAN DOCTRINE)
Generally, under this concept, private title to land must be traced
!
to some grant, express or implied, from the Spanish Crown or its
successors, the American Colonial Government, and thereafter,
the Philippine Republic
In a broad sense, the term refers to royal rights, or those rights to
!
which the King has by virtue of his prerogatives
The theory of jure regalia was therefore nothing more than a
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natural fruit of conquest
CONNECTED TO THIS IS THE STATES POWER OF DOMINUUM
Capacity of the state to own or acquire propertyfoundation for
!
the early Spanish decree embracing the feudal theory of jura
regalia
This concept was first introduced through the Laws of the Indies
!
and the Royal Cedulas
The Philippines passed to Spain by virtue of discovery and
!
conquest.
Consequently, all lands became the exclusive
patrimony and dominion of the Spanish Crown.

The Law of the Indies was followed by the Ley Hipotecaria or the
Mortgage Law of 1893. This law provided for the systematic
registration of titles and deeds as well as possessory claims
The Maura Law: was partly an amendment and was the last
Spanish land law promulgated in the Philippines, which required
the adjustment or registration of all agricultural lands, otherwise
the lands shall revert to the State

TAKE NOTE THAT THE REGALIAN DOCTRINE IS ENSHRINED IN OUR

PRESENT AND PAST CONSTITUTIONS
THE 1987 CONSTITUTION PROVIDES UNDER NATIONAL ECONOMY
AND PATRIMONY THE FOLLOWING
Section 2. All lands of the public domain, waters, minerals, coal,
!
petroleum, and other mineral oils, all forces of potential energy,
fisheries, forests or timber, wildlife, flora and fauna, and other
natural resources are owned by the State. With the exception of
agricultural lands, all other natural resources shall not be
alienated. The exploration, development, and utilization of natural
resources shall be under the full control and supervision of the
State. The State may directly undertake such activities, or it may
enter into co-production, joint venture, or production-sharing
agreements with Filipino citizens, or corporations or associations
at least sixty per centum of whose capital is owned by such
citizens. Such agreements may be for a period not exceeding
twenty-five years, renewable for not more than twenty-five years,
and under such terms and conditions as may be provided by law.
In cases of water rights for irrigation, water supply fisheries, or
industrial uses other than the development of water power,
beneficial use may be the measure and limit of the grant.
The abovementioned provision provides that except for
!
agricultural lands for public domain which alone may be alienated,
forest or timber, and mineral lands, as well as all other natural
resources must remain with the State, the exploration,
development and utilization of which shall be subject to its full
control and supervision albeit allowing it to enter into coproduction, joint venture or production-sharing agreements, or
into agreements with foreign-owned corporations involving
technical or financial assistance for large-scale exploration,
development, and utilization
THE 1987 PROVISION HAD ITS ROOTS IN THE 1935 CONSTITUTION
WHICH PROVIDES

BY: MA. ANGELA LEONOR C. AGUINALDO

ATENEO LAW 2D BATCH 2010

LAND TITLES REVIEWER/NOTES

BASED ON AGCAOILI BOOK AND ATTY. CADIZS LECTURE
Page 2 of 127

Section 1. All agricultural timber, and mineral lands of the public

domain, waters, minerals, coal, petroleum, and other mineral oils,
all forces of potential energy and other natural resources of the
Philippines belong to the State, and their disposition, exploitation,
development, or utilization shall be limited to citizens of the
Philippines or to corporations or associations at least sixty per
centum of the capital of which is owned by such citizens, subject
to any existing right, grant, lease, or concession at the time of the
inauguration of the Government established under this
Constitution. Natural resources, with the exception of public
agricultural land, shall not be alienated, and no license,
concession, or lease for the exploitation, development, or
utilization of any of the natural resources shall be granted for a
period exceeding twenty-five years, renewable for another
twenty-five years, except as to water rights for irrigation, water
supply, fisheries, or industrial uses other than the development of
water power, in which cases beneficial use may be the measure
and limit of the grant.

THE 1973 CONSTITUTION REITERATED THE REGALIAN DOCTRINE

AS FOLLOWS
Section 8. All lands of public domain, waters, minerals, coal,
!
petroleum and other mineral oils, all forces of potential energy,
fisheries, wildlife, and other natural resources of the Philippines
belong to the State. With the exception of agricultural, industrial
or commercial, residential, or resettlement lands of the public
domain, natural resources shall not be alienated, and no license,
concession, or lease for the exploration, or utilization of any of the
natural resources shall be granted for a period exceeding twentyfive years, except as to water rights for irrigation, water supply,
fisheries, or industrial uses other than development of water
power, in which cases, beneficial use may by the measure and the
limit of the grant.
THE REGALIAN DOCTRINE DOESN'T NEGATE NATIVE TITLE. THIS
IS IN PURSUANCE TO WHAT HAS BEEN HELD IN CRUZ V.
SECRETARY OF ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES
Petitioners challenged the constitutionality of Indigenous Peoples
!
Rights Act on the ground that it amounts to an unlawful
deprivation of the States ownership over lands of the public
domain and all other natural resources therein, by recognizing the
right of ownership of ICC or IPs to their ancestral domains and
ancestral lands on the basis of native title.

!
!

As the votes were equally divided, the necessary majority wasnt

obtained and petition was dismissed and the laws validity was
upheld
Justice Kapunan: Regalian theory doesnt negate the native title to
lands held in private ownership since time immemorial, adverting
to the landmark case of CARINO V. LOCAL GOVERNMENT, where
the US SC through Holmes held: xxx the land has been held by
individuals under a claim of private ownership, it will be presumed
to have been held in the same way from before the Spanish
conquest, and never to have been public land.
Existence of native titie to land, or ownership of land by Filipinos
by virtue of possession under a claim of ownership since time
immemorial and independent of any grant from the Spanish crown
as an exception to the theory of jure regalia
Justice Puno: Carino case firmly established a concept of private
land title that existed irrespective of any royal grant from the
State and was based on the strong mandate extended to the
Islands via the Philippine Bill of 1902. The IPRA recognizes the
existence of ICCs/IPs as a distinct sector in the society. It grants
this people the ownership and possession of their ancestral
domains and ancestral lands and defines the extent of these lands
and domains
Justice Vitug: Carino cannot override the collective will of the
people expressed in the Constitution.
Justice Panganiban: all Filipinos, whether indigenous or not, are
subject to the Constitution, and that no one is exempt from its allencompassing provisions

BACKGROUND OF THE TORRENS SYSTEM OF REGISTRATION

In this system, title by registration takes the place of title by
!
deeds of the system under the general law
A sale of land for example is effected by a registered transfer,
!
upon which a certificate of title is issued
Certificate is guaranteed by statute, and with certain
o
exceptions, constitutes indefeasible title to the land
mentioned therein
Under old system, the same sale would be effected
o
through conveyance, depending on its validity, apart
from intrinsic flaws, on the correctness of a long series of
prior deeds, wills, etc.
Object of the Torrens system: to do away with the delay,
!
uncertainty, and expense of the old conveyancing system
Generally, by Torrens systems are meant those systems of
!
registration of transactions with interest in land whose declared

BY: MA. ANGELA LEONOR C. AGUINALDO

ATENEO LAW 2D BATCH 2010

LAND TITLES REVIEWER/NOTES

BASED ON AGCAOILI BOOK AND ATTY. CADIZS LECTURE
Page 3 of 127

object is, under governmental authority, to establish and certify to

the ownership of an absolute and indeafisible title to realty, and to
simplify its transfer.
LAND REGISTRATION ACT OR ACT #496
Grants of public land were brought under the operation of a
!
Torrens system
Placed all public and private land under the Torrens system
!
Torrens system requires that the government issue an official
!
certificate of title attesting to the fact that the person named is
the owner of the property described therein, subject to such liens
and encumbrances as thereon noted or the law warrants or
reserves
PURPOSE OF THE TORRENS SYSTEM
1. To quiet the title to land
2. To put a stop forever to any question of legality of the title, except
claims which were noted at the time of registration, in the
certificate, or which may arise subsequent thereto
!

!
!

ADVANTAGES OF TORRENS SYSTEM

1. Substituted security for insecurity
2. Reduced the cost of conveyance from pounds to shillings, and the
time occupied from months to days
3. It has exchanged brevity and clearness for obscurity and verbiage
4. It has so simplified ordinary dealings that he who has mastered
the 3 Rs can transact his own conveyancing
5. It affords protection against fraud
6. It has restored to their just value many estates, held under good
holding titles, but depreciated in consequence of some blur or
technical defect, and has barred the reoccurrence of any similar
faults
A VIEW OF PAST
REGISTRATION

Once a title is registered the owner may rest secure, without the
necessity of waiting in the portals of the court, to avoid the
possibility of losing his land
All the world are parties, including the government
After the registration is complete and final, and there exists no
fraud, there are no innocent third parties who may claim any
interest.
Aims to decree land titles shall be final, irrevocable, and
indisputable, and to relieve the land of the burden of known as
well as unknown claims
The registration either relieves the land of all known as well as
unknown claims absolutely, or it compels the claimants to come
unto court and to make there a record, so that thereafter, there
may be no uncertainty concerning either the character or the
extent of such claims

!
!
!

!
!

1.
REGISTRATION IS NOT A MODE OF ACQUIRING OWNERSHIP
Registration doesnt vest title
!
Merely evidence of such a title over a particular property
!
Not a mode of acquiring ownership but is merely a PROCEDURE to
!
establish evidence of title over realty
Where a petitioners registration of their deed of sale was done in
!
bad faith, it is as if no registration was made at all insofar as
private respondent is concerned.

BY: MA. ANGELA LEONOR C. AGUINALDO

ATENEO LAW 2D BATCH 2010

Registration under Act No. 496 or PD No. 1529 doesnt vest in the
registrant private or public ownership of the landit is merely
evidence of ownership but is not a mode of acquiring ownership

AND

PRESENT

LEGISLATION

ON

LAND

State has the power and right to provide for a procedure for the
adjudication of title to real estate
State has control over the real property within the limits
State doesnt possess only the right to determine how title to real
estate may be acquired and proved, but it is also within its
legislative capacity to establish the method of procedure
All land that were not acquired from the government either by
purchase or by grant, belong to the public domain
Oh Cho case: reiterated the rule enunciated in Carino, which is
any land that has been in possession of an occupant and of his
predecessors-in-interest since time immemorial, as to which such
possession would justify the presumption that the land had never
been part of the public domain or that it had been private
property even before the Spanish conquest.

THE PUBLIC LAND ACT, CA 141

Governed the disposition of lands of the public domain
!
Prescribed rules and regulations for the homesteading, selling,
!
and leasing of portions of the public domain of the Philippine
Islands
Prescribed the terms and conditions to enable persons to perfect
!
their titles to public lands in the Islands

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