Land Titles and Deeds

Land Titles and Deeds

Section13
Section 13and
andSection
Section14
14

Reportedby:
Reported by:
MARIA CECILIA M. VEGA
MARIA CECILIA M. VEGA
 Section 13. Chief Geodetic
Engineer

Chief Geodetic Engineer – there shall be a Chief

Geodetic Engineer in the Land Registration
Commission who shall be the technical adviser of
the Commission on all matters involving surveys and
shall responsible to him for all plats , plans and works
requiring the services of a geodetic engineer in said
office.
He shall perform such other functions as may,
from time to time, be assigned to him by the
Commissioner.
Important of a survey plan
Survey is the process by which a parcel of land is
measured and its boundaries and contents ascertained .
A survey plan is important because it serves to establish
the true identity of the land to ensure that it does not overlap
a parcel of land of a portion.

Only the lands Management Bureau has authority to

approve original survey plans for registration purposes
Pursuant to PD NO. 239, dated July 9, 1973, the
authority of the Land Registration Authority to approve
survey plans for original registration purposes has been
withdrawn.
 ORIGINAL REGISTRATION
1. Ordinary Registration Proceeding
Section 14. Who may apply – The Following persons may file in
the proper Court of First Instance an application for registration of
title to land, whether personally or through their duly authorized
representatives:
(1) Those who by themselves or though their predecessors-in-
interest have been in open, continuous exclusive and notorious
possession and occupation of alienable and disposable lands of
the public domain under a bona fide claim of ownership since
June 12, 1945, or earlier.
(2) Those who have acquired ownership of private lands by
prescription under the provisions of existing laws.
(3) Those who have acquired ownership of private lands or
abandoned river beds by right of accession or accretion under
the existing law.
 (4) Those who have acquired ownership of land in any other
manner provided for by law.
Where the Land has been sold under the pacto de retro,
the vendor a retro may file an application for the original
registration of the land, provided however that should the
period for redemption expire during the pendency of the
registration proceedings and ownership to the property
consolidated in the vendee a retro, the latter shall be
substituted for the applicant and may continue the proceedings
A trustee on behalf of his principal may apply for original
registration of any land held in trust by him, unless prohibited
by the instrument creating the trust.
Purpose of the Torrens system registration.
The primary purpose of the Torrens system of registration is
to decree land titles that shall be final, irrevocable, and
undisputable .
Our Torrens system serves a very important purposes. As
general rule, a Torrens certificate of title is conclusive proof of
ownership.
The Torrens system was adopted in this country because it
was believed to be the most effective measure to guarantee the
integrity of land titles and to protect their indefeasibility once the
claim of ownership is established and recognized. The law aims
“to ascertain once and for all the absolute title over a given
landed property make, so far it is possible, a certificate of title, to
quite title to the land and to put a stop forever to a question of
legality to a title; and to decree that land title to be final,
irrevocable and indisputable.
System of Registration
Registration means any entry made in books of the registry, including both
registration in its ordinary and strict sense and cancellation, annotation and
even marginal notes.

There are two (2) Systems of Registration:

1. For registered land under P.D. No. 1529 (Property Registration Decree) and
2. For unregistered lands under Act No. 3344

Laws Governing Land Registration

The state has control over the real property within its limits. The
conditions of ownership of real estate within the states whether the
owner be stranger or a citizen is subject to its rules, concerning the
holding, transfer , liability to obligation, private or public and the modes
of establishing title thereto, and for the purpose of determining these
questions , the State may provide any reasonable rules or procedure.
The primary sources of legislation governing the registration
of private lands and lands of the public domain are:
(a) CA No. 141 or the Public Land Act, approved on November 7, 1936, but
which became effective on December 1, 1936.
(b) PD No. 1529 or the Property Registration Decree, issued on June 11,
1978.
(c) Act No. 2259, or the Cadastral Act, enacted on February 11, 1913.
(d) RA No. 8371, or the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act, approved on
October 29, 1997.
Registration proceedings are judicial and in rem; distinguished
from proceedings in personam and quasi in rem.
A land registration court’s decision ordering the confirmation and the
registration of title being the result of a proceeding in rem, binds the whole
world. This should be distinguished from a proceeding in personam which
is a proceeding to enforce against a person.
On the other hand , actions quasi in rem deal with the status,
ownership or liability of a particular property.
 (A)Registration under the Property Registration Decree
 1. Who may Apply and dispose
- Section of P.D. No. 1529, the Property Registration Decree,
enumerates the persons who may apply for registration, whether
personally or through their duly authorized representatives.
(1) Co-owners shall file application jointly
(2) Vendee a retro may file application in his name
(3) Trustee may apply for registration on behalf of his principal

2. Registration under Section 14(1)

- Section 14(1) of the Property Registration Decree (PD No. 1529)
pertains to original registration through ordinary registration
proceedings. The right to file the application for registration derives
from a bona fide claim of ownership going back to June 12, 1945 or
earlier by reason of the claimants open, continuous, exclusive and
notorious possession of alienable and disposable lands of the public
domain in the concept of owner.
(1) Land must already be A and B at the of the filing of the application
(2) Proof that land is alienable and disposable
(3) Rule reiterated in Malabanan v. Republic
(4) Classification of land according to ownership and alienability
(5) Requisites character and period of possession and occupation
(6) Summary of the requirements for registration under Section 14(1) of PD
No. 1529
Requirements for registration under Section14(1) of PD No. 1529 as follows;
1. The applicant by himself or through his predecessor-in-interest, has
been in possession and occupation of the property subject of the
application.
2. The possession and occupation must be open, continuous, exclusive,
and notorious
3. The possession and occupation must be under a bonafide claim of
acquisition of ownership;
4. The possession and occupation must have taken place since June 12,
1945, or earlier; and
5. The property subject of the application must be an agricultural land of
the public domain
3. Registration under Section 14(2)
- Properties of public domain cannot be acquired by prescription.
- Section 14(1) and section 14(2) are clearly different. Section 14(1)
covers alienable and disposable land while Section 14(2) covers private
property
(1) Prescription, generally
(2) Kinds of Prescription
(3) Concept of possession from purpose of prescription
(4) When lands of the public domain become patrimonial property of the
state
(5) Differences between Section14(1) and Section14(2)
(6) acts which do not constitutes and effective interruption of possession
(7) Application of Section 14(2) as synthesized in Malabanan
4. Acquisition of private lands or abandoned river beds by the
accession or accretion under Section 14(3)
- Ownership of abandoned river beds by right of accession
- Ownership of right of accretion along river banks
There are three requisites before an accretion is said to have taken place. They
are:
a. That the deposit be gradual and imperceptible;
b. That it be made through the effects of the current of the water and
c. That the land where accretion takes place is adjacent to the banks of rivers.

- Accretion along the banks of creeks, streams and lakes

a. Alluvion must be the exclusive work of nature
b. Accretion does not automatically become registered land
c. Where alluvial increment is not registered, it may be acquired by third
persons through prescription
d. Alluvial formation along the seashore forms part of the public domain
- Dried up river beds

5. Acquisition of ownership in any other manner provided for by law under

Section 14(4)
- This obtains when land of the public domain is by statute or executive act,
ceded and transferred in full ownership in favor the grantee who may
thereafter file an application fro registration thereof.
(B) Judicial Confirmation of Imperfect or Incomplete Titles
1.Governing provision: Section 48(b), Public Land Act (CA No. 141, as amended)
Two Modes of disposing public lands through confirmation of imperfect and
incomplete titles:
(1) by judicial confirmation ;and
(2) By administrative legalization, otherwise known as the grant of free
patent.
2. Registration proceeding presuppose that the land is a public agricultural land.
- The Public Land Act, as amended, is a special law specifically
applying lands of the public domain.
- as a rule no title or right to or equity in, any lands of the public
domain may be acquired by prescription or by adverse possession or
occupancy except as expressly provided by law.
3. Requisites for the availment of Chapter VIII.
a. The applicant must be a Filipino Citizen
b. He must have by himself or through his predecessors-in-interest,
possessed and occupied an alienable and disposable agricultural portion of
the public domain;
 c. such possession and occupation must have been open , continuous,
exclusive, notorious and in concept of owner (OCENCO), since June 12,
1945; and
d. The applicant must be filed with the proper court.
4. Land must be A and D at the time of application for confirmation is
filed
- Section 48(a) of the Public Land act (Judicial Confirmation of Imperfect or
Incomplete Title) applies exclusively to alienable and disposable
agricultural lands of the public domain.

What is the consequence of full compliance with the requirements of

Section48(b) No. 141.
- The possessor is deemed to have acquired by operation of law, a right to
a grant, without the necessity of a certificate of title being issued, the land
therefore ceases to be of the public domain and beyond the authority of the
Director to dispose of. The application for confirmation is mere formality,
the lack of which does not affect the legal sufficiency of the title as would
be evidenced by the patent and the Torrens title to be issued upon the
strength of said patent.
 (C) Registration Under the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act.

1. The Indigenous Peoples Rights Act.

• What law governs the ownership and disposition of ancestral and
ancestral domains?
- RA No.8371 or the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997 (IPRA)
which was enacted October 29, 1997. The IPRA is a law dealing with a specific
group of people, i.e., the Indigenous Cultural Communalities (ICCSs) or the
Indigenous People (IPs). The law allows indigenous peoples to obtain
recognition of their right of ownership over ancestral lands and ancestral
domains by virtue of native title.
(1)The Constitutional provisions on the rights of indigenous
cultural communities.
Section 5, Article XII of the Constitution provides:
• SEC.5. The state, subject to the provisions of this Constitution and national
development policies and programs, shall protect the rights of indigenous
cultural communities to their ancestral lands to ensure their economic,
social, and cultural well-being.
• The congress may provide for the applicability of customary laws
governing property rights or relations in determining the ownership and
extent of ancestral domain.
Section 2, Article II of the Constitution provides:
“The state recognizes and promotes the rights of indigenous cultural
communities within the framework of national unity and development.”

Section 6, Article XIII of the Constitution provides:

“The State shall establish a special agency for disabled persons for their
rehabilitation, self-development and self-reliance, and their integration into
the mainstream of society.”

Section 17, Article XIV of the Constitution provides:

“The State shall recognize, respect, and protect the rights of indigenous
cultural communities to preserve and develop their cultures, traditions, and
institutions. It shall consider these rights in the formulation of national plans
and policies.”
(2) Constitutionality of the IPRA
• Does the IPRA violate the constitutional provision in Section 2, Article XII
that all lads and other natural resources are owned by the State?
-No. The petition challenging the constitutionality of RA No. 8371 (IPRA)
was dismissed by the Supreme Court in Secretary of Environmental and
Natural Resources. Under the IPRA, ancestral lands and ancestral domains are
not deemed part of the lands of the public domain but are private lands
belonging to indigenous people who have actually occupied, possessed and
utilize their territories under claim of ownership since time immemorial. The
Court thus laid down the principle of a certain title held as far back as
testimony or memory went, and under a claim of private ownership as
presumed to “never have been public hand.”
2. Definition of Terms. (Indigenous Cultural
Communities/Indigenous Peoples.)
• (1)What group of peoples or societies are comprised by the terms
Indigenous Cultural Communities/Indigenous Peoples(ICCPs/IPs)?
- It refers to that group of peoples or homogenous societies who have
continuously lived as organized community on communally bounded and
defined territory, and who have, under claims of ownership since time
immemorial, occupied, possessed and utilized such territories, sharing
common bonds of language , customs, traditions, and other distinctive
cultural traits, or who have, through resistance to political, social and cultural
inroads of colonization, non-indigenous religions and cultures, became
historical differentiated from the majority of Filipinos. ICCs/IPs shall likewise
include peoples who are regarded as indigenous on account of their descent
from the populations which inhabited the country, at the time of conquest or
colonization, or at the time of inroads of non-indigenous religions and
cultures, or the establishment of present state boundaries, who retain some
or all of their own social, economics, cultural and political institutions, but
who may have been resettled outside their ancestral domains.
• (2 and 3) Define ancestral domains and ancestral lands.
-Ancestral Domains refers to all area generally belonging to ICCs/IPs
comprising lands, inland waters, coastal areas, and natural resources therein,
held under a claim of ownership, occupied or possessed by ICCs/IPs, by
themselves or through their ancestors, communally or individual since time
immemorial, continuously to the present except when interrupted by war,
force majeure or displacement by force, deceit, stealth, or as consequence of
by governments projects or any other voluntary dealings entered into are
necessary to ensure their economic, social and cultural welfare.
-Ancestral lands refers to land occupied, possessed and utilize by
individuals, families and clans who are members oft the ICCs/IPs since time
immemorial, by themselves or through their predecessors interest, under
claims of individual or tradition group ownership, continuously, to the present
except when interrupted by war, force majeure or displacement by force,
deceit, stealth, or as consequence of by governments projects or any other
voluntary dealings entered into by government and private
individuals/corporations, including, but not limited to, residential lots, rice
terraces or paddies, private forest, swidden farms tree lots.
3. Registration of CADTs and CALTs
- The NCIP, through the ADO, shall register all CADTs and CALTs with the
Register of Deeds of the place where the properties are located. The
awardees themselves may opt to personally cause such registration.
- The recording of the CADT and CALT in the office of the Register of Deeds
does not result in the issuance of a Torrens certificate of title, like a Torrens
title issued through registration proceedings. The purpose of registration is
simply to apprise the public of the fact of recognition by the NCIP of specific
claims to portions of ancestral domains and ancestral domains.
4. Modes of Acquisition
There Two (2) modes:
(a) By native title over both ancestral lands and domains, or
(b) By Torrens title under the Public Land Act (CA No. 141, as amended) or the
Property Registration Decree(PD No. 1529) with respect lands only.
5. National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP)
- Is an independent agency under the Office of the President and is
composed of seven (7) Commissioners Belonging to ICCs/IPs from different
ethnographic areas who are appointed by the president.
- shall protect and promote the interest and well-being of the ICCs/IPs with due
regard to their beliefs customs, traditions, and institution.
- Is the primary government agency responsible for the formulation and
implementation of policies, plans and programs to promote and protect the
rights and well-being of the indigenous cultural communities/indigenous
people (ICCs/IPs) and the recognition of their ancestral domain as well as their
rights thereto