GROUP 5

5. STATUTORY LIENS AFFECTING TITLE: READ & MEMORIZE: Sec. 44, PD

1529.
Section 44. Statutory liens affecting title. Every registered owner receiving
a certificate of title in pursuance of a decree of registration, and every
subsequent purchaser of registered land taking a certificate of title for value
and in good faith, shall hold the same free from all encumbrances except
those noted in said certificate and any of the following encumbrances which
may be subsisting, namely:
First. Liens, claims or rights arising or existing under the laws and
Constitution of the Philippines which are not by law required to appear
of record in the Registry of Deeds in order to be valid against
subsequent purchasers or encumbrancers of record.
Second. Unpaid real estate taxes levied and assessed within two years
immediately preceding the acquisition of any right over the land by an
innocent purchaser for value, without prejudice to the right of the
government to collect taxes payable before that period from the
delinquent taxpayer alone.
Third. Any public highway or private way established or recognized by
law, or any government irrigation canal or lateral thereof, if the
certificate of title does not state the boundaries of such highway or
irrigation canal or lateral thereof have been determined.
Fourth. Any disposition of the property or limitation on the use thereof
by virtue of, or pursuant to, Presidential Decree No. 27 or any other law
or regulations on agrarian reform.
A. General Rule: Every registered owner receives and holds the
certificate free from all encumbrances.
READ: SM Prime Holdings vs. Madayag, GR No. 164687, 12 February
2009, 578 SCRA 552
B. Exception: (a) those noted in the certificate and
(b) those enumerated by law

Sec. 44, PD 1529 is an exclusive enumeration.

READ: Roxas vs. Tagaytay City, GR No. L-13333, 24 November 1959,
106 Phil. 512.

 Sec. 60 of Commonwealth Act No. 141 is a statutory lien

affecting title of the registered land even if not annotated at the
back of the certificate. Hence, alienable lands of the public
domain held by the government entities, CANNOT, under Section
60, CA 141 be alienated or encumbered UNLESS CONGRESS
passes a law authorizing their disposition.
READ: Chavez v. Public Estates Authority, GR No. 133250, 9 July
2002. 348 SCRA 152.
Other exceptions: READ: Section 46, PD 1529
Section 46. General incidents of registered land. Registered land shall be
subject to such burdens and incidents as may arise by operation of law.
Nothing contained in this decree shall in any way be construed to relieve
registered land or the owners thereof from any rights incident to the relation
of husband and wife, landlord and tenant, or from liability to attachment or
levy on execution, or form liability to any lien of any description established
by law on the land and the buildings thereon, or on the interest of the owner
in such land or buildings, or to change the laws of descent, or the rights of
partition between co-owners, or the right to take the same by eminent
domain, or to relieve such land from liability to be recovered by an assignee
in insolvency or trustee in bankruptcy under the laws relative to preferences,
or to change or affect in any way other rights or liabilities created by law and
applicable to unregistered land, except as otherwise provided in this Decree.
Rights incident to husband and wife
Presumption: Under the Family Code, all property acquired
during the marriage are presumed to belong to the Absolute
Community of Property.
SEE: Domingo v Reed, GR No. 157701, 9 December 2005, 477
SCRA 227;
Under the Old Civil Code, all properties acquired during the
marriage are presumed to belong to the conjugal partnership.
READ: De Leon v De Leon, GR No. 185063, 23 July 2009, 593
SCRA 768
Exception: Where the title is in the name of only one spouse
and the rights of innocent third parties are involved.
Rights incident to landlord and tenant
Liability to attachment and execution
Liability to any lien of any description established by law on land
and buildings thereon or on the interest of the owner on such
land and buildings
Rights incident to the laws on descent

 Rights incident to the laws on partition between co-owners

Taking of the property through eminent domain
Right to relieve such land from liability to be recovered by an
assignee in insolvency of trustee in bankruptcy under the laws
relative to preferences
Rights or liabilities created by law and applicable to unregistered
land
C. Certificate of title is subject to servitudes. Exception.
READ: Digran v Auditor General, 64 OG, p. 4512
**The provision of Section 39 of the Land Registration Act which states:
SEC. 39. Every person receiving a certificate of title in pursuance of a
decree of registration, and every subsequent purchaser of registered
land who takes a certificate of title for value in good faith shall hold the
same free of all encumbrances except those noted on said certificate,
and any of the following encumbrances which may be subsisting
namely:
xxx

xxx

xxx

Third. Any public highway, way, private way established by law or any
Government irrigation canal or lateral thereof; where the certificate of
title does not state that the boundaries of such highway, way, or
irrigation canal or lateral thereof, have been determined.
..has no application in this case for the reason that Mango Avenue was
constructed subsequent to the acquisition of Lot No. 638 by Ruperta
Cabucos. In other words, Mango Avenue is not an "encumbrance which
may be subsisting" when Ruperta Cabucos purchased the land from
the Government in 1909.
D. What are liens (charges) and encumbrances (burden)?
A "lien" is a charge on property usually for the payment of some
debt or obligation. A "lien" is a qualified right or a proprietary
interest, which may be exercised over the property of another. It is a
right which the law gives to have a debt satisfied out of a particular
thing. It signifies a legal claim or charge on property, either real or
personal, as a collateral or security for the payment of some debt or
obligation.

 An "encumbrance is a burden upon land, depreciative of its value,

such as a lien, easement, or servitude, which, though adverse to
(the) interest of (the) landowner, does not conflict with his
conveyance of (the) land in fee."

The following are considered encumbrances: A claim, lien, charge, or

liability attached to and binding real property; e.g., a mortgage,
judgment lien, lease, security interest, easement or right of way,
accrued and unpaid taxes. A lien is already an existing burden or
charge on the property while a notice of lis pendens, as the very term
connotes, is only a notice or warning that a claim or possible charge on
the property is pending determination by the court.

READ: Any LAW Dictionary

Identify whether the following are liens OR encumbrances:

Mortgage
Judgment
Lease
Security interest
Easement of right of way
Accrued and unpaid taxes

Is adverse possession by another an encumbrance?

READ: Ozaeta v Palanca, 63 OG 36, p. 7675
**An adverse possession by another is not an "encumbrance" in law,
and does not contradict the condition that the property be free from

encumbrance (Yuson, et al. v. Diaz, 42 Phil. 22) ; nor is it a "lien", which

connotes security for a claim (Shanghai Banking Corp. v. Rafferty, 39
Phil. 145).

Does a notice of lis pendens establish a lien?

A notice of lis pendens is an announcement to the whole world that a
particular real property is in litigation, serving as a warning that one
who acquires an interest over the said property does so at his own risk,
or that he gambles on the result of the litigation over the said
property. It is but a signal to the intending buyer or mortgagee to take
care or beware and to investigate the prospect or non-prospect of the
litigation succeeding before he forks down his money. A notice of lis
pendens, or a pending litigation, or the fact that the property is under
litigation is not within the purview of what is legally considered a lien
or encumbrance. The term notice of lis pendens is a distinct concept,
as differentiated from the term lien or encumbrance.

Annotations on TCT No. PT-10597 bound the petitioner but not to the
extent that rendered the petitioner liable for the non-performance of
the covenants stipulated in the Deed of Sale; what are annotations?;
purpose?
RECITE: ASB Realty Corporation v Ortigas & Company Limited
Partnership, GR No. 202947, December 9, 2015.
An annotation is a remark, note, case summary, or
commentary on some passage of a book, statutory provision,
court decision, of the like, intended to illustrate or explain its
meaning.
The purpose of annotation is to charge the purchaser or title
holder with notice of such burden and claims. Being aware of the
annotation, the purchaser must face the possibility that the title
or the real property could be subject to the rights of third parties.
**By acquiring the parcel of land without notice of the covenants
contained in the Deed of Sale between the vendor (Ortigas) and the
vendee (Amethyst), the petitioner (ASB Realty) bound itself to
acknowledge and respect the encumbrance. Even so, the petitioner did

not step into the shoes of Amethyst as a party in the Deed of Sale.
Thus, the annotation of the covenants contained in the Deed of Sale
DID NOT give rise to a liability on the part of the petitioner as the
purchaser/successor-in-interest without its express assumption of the
duties or obligations subject of the annotation. As stated, the
annotation was only the notice to the purchaser/successor-in-interest
of the burden, claim or lien subject of the annotation.
6. RESTRICTIVE COVENANTS THAT RUN WITH THE LAND
A. Nature of Restrictive Covenants.
READ: Fajardo v Freedom to Build, GR No. 134692, 1 August 2000.
** Restrictive covenants are not, strictly speaking, synonymous with
easements. While it may be correct to state that restrictive covenants
on the use of land or the location or character of buildings or other
structures thereon may broadly be said to create easements or rights,
it can also be contended that such covenants, being limitations on the
manner in which one may use his own property, do not result in true
easements, but a case of servitudes (burden), sometimes
characterized to be negative easements or reciprocal negative
easements. Negative easement is the most common easement created
by covenant or agreement whose effect is to preclude the owner of the
land from doing an act, which, if no easement existed, he would be
entitled to do.
7. SPLITTING OR CONSOLIDATION OF TITLE. READ: Sec. 49, PD 1529.
8. SUBDIVISION AND CONSOLIDATION PLANS. READ: Sec. 50, PD 1529.
A. Simple Subdivisions. REA: Sec. 50, PD 1529
Section 50. Subdivision and consolidation plans. Any owner subdividing a
tract of registered land into lots which do not constitute a subdivision project
has defined and provided for under P.D. No. 957, shall file with the
Commissioner of Land Registration or with the Bureau of Lands a subdivision
plan of such land on which all boundaries, streets, passageways and
waterways, if any, shall be distinctly and accurately delineated.

If a subdivision plan, be it simple or complex, duly approved by the

Commissioner of Land Registration or the Bureau of Lands together with the
approved technical descriptions and the corresponding owner's duplicate
certificate of title is presented for registration, the Register of Deeds shall,
without requiring further court approval of said plan, register the same in
accordance with the provisions of the Land Registration Act, as amended:
Provided, however, that the Register of Deeds shall annotate on the new
certificate of title covering the street, passageway or open space, a
memorandum to the effect that except by way of donation in favor of the
national government, province, city or municipality, no portion of any street,
passageway, waterway or open space so delineated on the plan shall be
closed or otherwise disposed of by the registered owner without the approval
of the Court of First Instance of the province or city in which the land is
situated.
A registered owner desiring to consolidate several lots into one or more,
requiring new technical descriptions, shall file with the Land Registration
Commission, a consolidation plan on which shall be shown the lots to be
affected, as they were before, and as they will appear after the consolidation.
Upon the surrender of the owner's duplicate certificates and the receipt of
consolidation plan duty approved by the Commission, the Register of Deeds
concerned shall cancel the corresponding certificates of title and issue a new
one for the consolidated lots.
The Commission may not order or cause any change, modification, or
amendment in the contents of any certificate of title, or of any decree or
plan, including the technical description therein, covering any real property
registered under the Torrens system, nor order the cancellation of the said
certificate of title and the issuance of a new one which would result in the
enlargement of the area covered by the certificate of title.

B. Complex Subdivisions. READ: PD 957

Complex subdivision plan. "Complex subdivision plan" shall mean a
subdivision plan of a registered land wherein a street, passageway or open
space is delineated on the plan.
Section 4, par. 2. The subdivision plan, as so approved, shall then be
submitted to the Director of Lands for approval in accordance with the

procedure prescribed in Section 44 of the Land Registration Act (Act No. 496,
as amended by R.A. No. 440): Provided, that it case of complex subdivision
plans, court approval shall no longer be required.
Section 17. Registration. All contracts to sell, deeds of sale and other
similar instruments relative to the sale or conveyance of the subdivision lots
and condominium units, whether or not the purchase price is paid in full,
shall be registered by the seller in the Office of the Register of Deeds of the
province or city where the property is situated.
Whenever a subdivision plan duly approved in accordance with Section 4
hereof, together with the corresponding owner's duplicate certificate of title,
is presented to the Register of Deeds for registration, the Register of Deeds
shall register the same in accordance with the provisions of the Land
Registration Act, as amended: Provided, however, that it there is a street,
passageway or required open space delineated on a complex subdivision
plan hereafter approved and as defined in this Decree, the Register of Deeds
shall annotate on the new certificate of title covering the street, passageway
or open space, a memorandum to the effect that except by way of donation
in favor of a city or municipality, no portion of any street, passageway, or
open space so delineated on the plan shall be closed or otherwise disposed
of by the registered owner without the requisite approval as provided under
Section 22 of this Decree.