LAND TITLES AND DEEDS
proceeding where the application for
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 this 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 question as to its legality;
5. To avoid conflicts of title in and to
real estate, and to facilitate transactions
6. To guarantee the integrity of land
titles and to protect their indefeasibility
once the claim of ownership is
established and recognized.
TorrensSystemthe 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amended and superseded by Presidential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.
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Judicial Land Registration is a
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. 275.
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
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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. 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 abutmenti (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. Annex is to the application:
Survey plan of the land
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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
OFSAID 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 stopped from
questioning the validity of the
certificates of title which were granted
without opposition from the
government. The principle of estoppels
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
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
Torrents 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
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(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
all conflicting claims of
ownership and interest in the
land subject of the application
shall be determined by the court
considering the evidence and the
reports of the Commissioner of
LR (now Admin of the Land Reg
Autho) and the Dir of Lands
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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.
Exc: so long as the final decree is not
issued and the one year within which it
may be revised has not elapse, the
decision remains under the control and
sound discretion of the court, which
court after hearing, may set aside the
decision or decree or adjudicate the land
to another party. Not incontrovertible
until expiration of 1 yr.
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. Applicant or any person
deriving title from him may institute
another proceeding for the reg of the
same land
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 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
Original Certificate of Title
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LRA Administrator shall cause
the preparation of the original
certificate of title shall be signed
by the Administrator and shall be
set together with the owners
duplicate certificate to the RD of
the city or province where the
property is situated for entry in
his reg book
Owners duplicate cert of title
Owners duplicate of the OCT
shall be delivered to reg owner or
rep
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, especially 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.
4. Books of Registration
a. For documents relating to
titled lands
Each RD shall keep a
PRIMARY BOOK OF
ENTRY in which upon
payment of the entry fee, he
shall enter, in the order of
their reception all instruments
filed with him relating to
registered land
b. For documents relating to
untitled lands
No deed, conveyance,
mortgage, lease or other
voluntary instrument
affecting untitled land or land
not reg under Torrens system
shall be valid, exc as bet
parties thereto, unless such
instrument shall have been
recorded in the PRIMARY
ENTRY BOOK and a
REGISTRATION BOOK
c. For documents relating to
chattel mortgages
Shall be recorded in the
PRIMARY ENTRY BOOK
and in the REGISTRATION
BOOK for chattel mortgages
of the RD of the province or
city where the mortgagor
resides as well as where the
property is situated or
ordinarily kept
5. Registration of Documents:
Purposes
a. To bind the property
b. To give notice
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c. To transfer ownership, etc
d. To bind third persons
6. Kinds of Documents
a. Voluntary document
Executed by the registered owner
of a titled land by himself or
through duly authorized rep of
his own free will
How registered
o Owners duplicate of title
must be presented
When deemed registered
o An innocent purchaser for
value becomes the reg
owner and, in
contemplation of law, the
holder of a cert if title, the
moment he presents and
files a duly notarized and
valid deed of sale and he
same is entered in the day
book and at the same time
he surrenders or presents
the owner duplicate
certificate of title covering
the land sold and pays the
rg fees bc what remains to
be done is not within his
power to perform
b. Involuntary document
Executed by another person
other than the registered owner
of a titled property the object of
which is to bind or charge the
property without the consent of
or against the will of the
registered owner
How registered
o Owners duplicate of title
not required
When deemed registered
o Entry in the day book is a
sufficient notice to all
persons even if the
corresponding owners
duplicate certificate of title
is not presented to the RD
DEALINGS WITH UNTITLED
LANDS

PD 1529

Art 1544 not applicable to untitled

lands

Priority of rights

Registration under Act no. 3344

(now PD 1529) by the first buyer
of an untitled land can have the
effect of constructive notice to the
second buyer that can defeat his
right as such buyer

Better right on double sales

The better right that cannot be

prejudiced by the registration of a
second sale of a parcel of land,
referred to in Act 3344 is much
more than the mere prior deed of
sale in favor of the first vendee. It
involves facts and circumtances
in addition to a deed of sale-
which, combined, would make it
clear that the first vendee has a
better right than the second
purchaser

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