LAND TITLES AND DEEDS

by
Gregorio G. Bilog, Jr.

Book 1
REGISTRATION OF LANDS

INTRODUCTION

Land Registration – is a judicial or administrative proceeding whereby a person's

claim of ownership over a particular land is determined and confirmed or recognized so
that such land and the ownership thereof may be recorded in a public registry.

Purposes

1. To issue a certificate of title to the owner which shall be the best evidence
of his ownership of the land described therein;

2. To give every registered owner complete peace of mind;

3. To relieve the land of unknown claims;

4. To quiet title to land and to stop forever any question as to its legality;

5. To avoid conflicts of title in and to real estate, and to faciltate transactions

6. To guarantee the integrity of land titles and to protect their indefeasibility

once the claim of wonership is established and reconized.

Torrens System – the Torrens System of land registration was introduced in the
Philippines 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This law was amended and superseded by Presidential Decree No. 1529, which took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 is
the 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 land

registration is initiated and filed in court by the owner or person claiming
ownership of the land; and,

2. Cadastral land registration proceeding – where it is the government

undertakes the survey of the land and files the petition in court for the
registration of the whole or part of the lands in a municipality, city or
province, and where all persons are given notice by publication and
required to make known and prove their claims of ownership or interest
over 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 the
applicant 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, and
determined 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 the
corresponding 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 Registration Decree (PD No. 1529, as amended)

2. Cadastral Act (Act 2259, as amended)

3. Public Land Act (Com. Act. 141, as amended)

4. Presidential Decree No. 27

5. Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law of 1988 (R.A. No. 6657, as amended)

Agencies Implementing Land Registration and Land Reform

1. Department of Environment and Natural Resources

2. Department of Justice – Land Registration Authority (LRA) and it registries of

deeds

3. Department of Land Reform

4. 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 regalian
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. Publication of the notice of the initial hearing of said publication;

3. Opposition to said application shall be filed by any person who claims the land or
interest therein;

4. Hearing of said application and presentation of evidence in court;

5. Judgment shall be rendered by the court;

6. Decree of Registration for 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 1: APPLICATION FOR LAND REGISTRATION IN COURT

A. Who May Apply for Land Registration

Applicant must be the owner

 Rights included in ownership:

◦ Jus possidendi (right to posses)
◦ jus utendi (right to use and enjoy)
◦ jus fruendi (right to the fruits)
◦ jus accessionis (right to accessories)
◦ jus abutenti (right to consume)
◦ jus disponendi (right to dispose or alienate), and
◦ jus vindicandi (right to vindicate or recover)

How to Acquire Ownership of Land

1. By possession of land since time immemorial;

2. By possession of alienable public land;

3. By sale, donation and other modes of acquiring ownership:

 • by law (Civil Code, Art. 712) – e.g. public grants; title to accretion in
river banks under Art. 457, Civil Code); title by escheat under the
Rules of Court, Rule 91

• by donation

• by testate and intestae succession

• in consequence of certain contracts, by tradition - e.g. ownership is

transferred by delivery

• by prescription

B. Where to File the Application

1. In the RTC – it has the exclusive jurisdiction over all applications for original
registration of title of 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 and petitions.

2. In the MTC and MCTC (if authorized by the Supreme Court) – to hear and
determine cadastral or land registration cases.

C. Contents of the Application; Annexes

1. Name of applicant, etc.

2. Description of the land

3. Verification – the application shall be signed by the applicant or the person duly
authorized in his behalf, and sworn to before any officer authorized

4. Application covering tow or more parcels of land may be included provided they
are situated in the same province or city

5. Annexis to the application:

• Survey plan of the land

• technical descriptions
• Certificate of the Geodetic Engineer
• Certificate regarding the last assessment for taxation of the property

D. Dealings with the Land, Pending registration

After the filing of the application and before the issuance of the decree of registration, the
land therein described may still be the subject of dealings in whole or in part.
STEP 2: PUBLICATION OF THE NOTICE OF THE INITIAL HEARING OF
SAID APPLICATION

A. 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 APPLICATION

A. 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 registration

should 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 PRESENTATION

OF EVIDENCE IN COURT

A. Rules of Court

The Rules of Court shall, insofar as not inconsistent with the provisions of Presidential
Decree No. 1529, be applicable to land registration and cadastral cases by analogy or in a
suppletory character and whenever practicable and convenient.

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.

B. Evidence

1. To prove: that the Notice of Initial Hearing of the application has been
published, 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 land
cannot be acquired by prescription because there can be no prescription against
the 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 lands
of the public domain, except by lease, does not apply. Title and ownership
over 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 individual

should 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 adjoining

owner only when it is no longer washed by the waters of the sea and when
it is no longer necessary for public use.

• The owners of estates adjoining ponds or lagoons do not acquire the land
left dry by the natural decrease of the waters, nor lose those inundated by
them 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 titles are 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 the

Executive 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. Judgment

1. Judgment confirming title

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 by
such 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 as

conclusive adjudication (res judicata) between the applicant and the opponent
who 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 the
trial.

STEP 6: DECREE OF REGISTRATION FOR THE LAND SHALL BE

ISSUED 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 LAND

SHALL BE ISSUED BY THE LRA ADMINISTRATOR, WHICH
SHALL BE THEN 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

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 but
a complement of the former.

Book 2
REGISTRATION OF DOCUMENTS INVOLVING LANDS

Part 1
DOCUMENTS DEALING WITH “TITLED LANDS”

A. 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.