Original Registration

Lara, Mangrobang, Moreno, Paguyo - 2D

Registration
- Any entry made in the books of registry
- Entry made in the registry which records solemnly and
permanently the right of ownership and other real rights

Two (2) Systems of Registration

● Registered lands : PD 1529 (Property Registration Decree)
● Unregistered lands: Act No. 3344
Torrens System of Registration
Purpose:
● To be the most effective measure to guarantee the integrity of
land titles
● To issue certificate of titles that are absolute/best proof of
ownership
● To quiet title to the land
● To put a stop forever to a question of legality to a title
● To decree land titles as final, irrevocable, and indisputable
Torrens System of Registration
● A system of registration of title to land ONLY
● Does NOT confer ownership
● Ownership of lands registered under this system can still be
disputed
● The registration either relieves the land of all claims, absolutely, or
compels the claimants to come into court to clarify the extent of
such claims
Torrens System of Registration
Registration
● Must be done in the proper registry to bind the land
● If a land with a Torrens title is sold, but the sale is registered under
Act. No. 3344 instead of P.D. 1529, the sale is not considered
registered and does not operate as a constructive notice to the
world
● No instrument affecting land not registered under the Torrens
system shall be valid, except: 1) as between the parties thereto; 2)
unless such instrument shall have been recorded in the office of
the Register of Deeds
Laws governing Land Registration
A. CA No. 141 - Public Land Act

B. PD No. 1529 - Property Registration Decree

C. Act No. 2259 - Cadastral Act

D. RA No. 8371 - Indigenous Peoples Rights Act

Laws governing Land Registration
CA No. 141 (Public Land Act)
● Governs the judicial confirmation of imperfect or incomplete titles
on the basis of possession and occupation of alienable portions of
public domain in the manner and for the length of time required
by law.

PD 1529 (Property Registration Decree)

● A codification of all laws relative to registration of property that
supersedes all other laws regarding the matter and has
substantially incorporated the provisions of Act. No. 496
Cadastral Act (Act No. 2259)
Aims to serve public interests by requiring that
“the title to any lands be titled and adjudicated”
Indigenous Peoples Rights Anct (RA No. 8371
● Approved on October 29, 1997
● Recognizes rights of ownership and possession of indigenous cultural
communities or indigienous people to their ancestral domains and
ancestral lands on the basis of native title, and defines the extent of these
lands and domains

● IPRA expressly converts ancestral lands to public agricultural lands, and

individual members of cultural communities shall have the option to
secure a Torrens Title under the provisions of the Public Land Act or the
Property Registration Decree.
 Registration proceedings are judicial and in rem
A land registration court’s decision ordering confirmation and registration of
title binds the whole world
 Proceedings In Personam

● Proceeding to enforce personal rights and obligations against a person

although it may involve his right to, or the exercise of ownership of,
specific property

● Actions for recovery of real property are in personam

 Quasi In Rem
● Deal with the status, ownership or liability of a particular property but
which are intended to operate on theses questions only as between
particular parties to the proceedings and not to ascertain or cut off rights
or interests of all possible claimants.

● Judgements are binding only upon the parties who joined in the action
Registration in the Property Registration Decree
 Registration in the Property Registration Decree
Who may Apply?
Section 14 of PD 1529 enumerates the persons who may apply for
registration, whether personally or through their duly authorized
representatives:

1. Those who by themselves or through 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
 Registration in the Property Registration Decree
Who may Apply?
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 rights of accession or accretion under existing laws

4. Those who have acquired ownership of land in any other manner provided
for by law
Where the land is owned in common, all the co-owners shall file the
application jointly.

Where the land has been sold under 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.
Co-Owners Shall File Application Jointly
Under Article 493 of the Civil Code, each co-owner shall have the full
ownership of his part and of the fruits and benefits pertaining thereto, and he
may therefore alienate, assign or mortgage it, and even substitute another
person in its enjoyment, except when personal rights are involved.

A co-owner is not considered a true owner of a specific portion until division

or partition is effected, thus he cannot file an application for registration for
the whole area without joining the co-owners as applicants
Vendee a retro may file application in his name
● A sale with pacto de retro transfers the legal title to the vendee and the
vendee is subrogated to all the rights and actions of the vendor, subject to
the latter’s right of redemption

● Having the legal title to the land, the vendee a retro has therefore a
registrable title which may subject to initial registration

● The right to redeem the property retained by the vendor a retro

Trustee may apply for registration on behalf of his
principal
A trustee may apply in behalf of his principal may apply for original
registration of any land held in trust with him

Trustor - person who establishes trust

Trustee - one whom confidence is reposed as regards property for the benefit
of another

cestui que trust - the person for whose benefit the trust has been created is
referred to as the beneficiary
 Trustee may apply for registration on behalf of his
principal
Whoever claims an interest in registered land by reason of any implied or
constructive trust shall file with the Register of Deeds for registration a sworn
statement containing the following:

a. description of land;
b. the name of the registered owner;
c. and a reference number to the certificate of title
● A corporation sole or “ordinary” is not the owner of the properties that he
may acquire but merely the administrator thereof and holds the same in
trust for faithful of members of the society or church for which the
corporation is organized.

● Properties acquired by the incumbent pass, by operation of law, upon his

death not to his personal heirs but to his successor in office
Section 14 of P.D. No. 1529
(1) Those who by themselves or through 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.
Requisites under Section 14 (1) of P.D. No 1529
(a) The land applied for is an agricultural public land already classified as
alienable and disposable land at the time of the filing of the application
for registration

(b) The applicant, by himself or through his predecessors-in-interest, has

been in open, continuous, exclusive and notorious possession and occupation
of the land under a bona fide claim of ownership; and

(c) such possession and occupation must have commenced since June 12,
1945, or earlier.
Republic vs. Roasa, G.R. No. 176022, Feb. 2, 2015.
“ The law imposes no requirement that land should have been declared
alienable and disposable agricultural land as early as June 12, 1945. What is
important in computing the period of possession is that the land already been
declared alienable and disposable at the time of the application of
registration.”
(1) Land must already be A and D at the time of the
filing of the application
Section 14 (1) merely requires the property sought to be registered as already
alienable and disposable “at the time the application for registration of
the title is filed.” (Republic vs. Court of Appeals and Naguit, G.R. No. 144057, Jan. 17,
2005, 448 SCRA 442)
(1) Land must already be A and D at the time of the
filing of the application
To prove that the land subject of an application for registration is alienable,
an applicant must establish the existence of a POSITIVE ACT of the
government such as a presidential proclamation or an executive order ; an
administrative action; investigation report of the Bureau of Lands
investigators; and a legislative act or a statute. (Republic vs. Court of Appeals and
Naguit, G.R. No. 144057, Jan. 17, 2005, 448 SCRA 442)

A mere surveyor has no authority to reclassify lands of the public domain.

(Republic vs. Ocol, G.R. No. 208530, Nov. 14, 2016)
(1) Land must already be A and D at the time of the
filing of the application
To prove that the land subject of an application for registration is alienable,
an applicant must establish the existence of a POSITIVE ACT of the
government such as a presidential proclamation or an executive order ; an
administrative action; investigation report of the Bureau of Lands
investigators; and a legislative act or a statute. (Republic vs. Court of Appeals and
Naguit, G.R. No. 144057, Jan. 17, 2005, 448 SCRA 442)

A mere surveyor has no authority to reclassify lands of the public domain.

(Republic vs. Ocol, G.R. No. 208530, Nov. 14, 2016)
(2) Proof that land is alienable and disposable

The standing doctrine is that land of the public domain, to be the subject of
appropriation, must be declared alienable and disposable either by the
President or the Secretary of DENR. Applicant must present a copy of the
original classification approved by the DENR Secretary and certified as true
copy by the legal custodian of the records. (Republic v. Ocol, G.R. No. 208530, Nov.
14, 2016)
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES, vs. T.A.N. PROPERTIES, INC.,
G.R. No. 154953 , June 26, 2008
CARPIO, J.:

ISSUE: Whether or not the land is alienable and disposable

RULING: No, the certification issued by the Regional Technical Director, FMS-DENR, in the form of a
memorandum to the trial court, has no probative value.

Further, it is not enough for the PENRO or CENRO to certify that a land is alienable and disposable. The
applicant for land registration must prove that the DENR Secretary had approved the land classification and
released the land of the public domain as alienable and disposable, and that the land subject of the application
for registration falls within the approved area per verification through survey by the PENRO or CENRO.

In addition, the applicant for land registration must present a copy of the original classification approved by the
DENR Secretary and certified as a true copy by the legal custodian of the official records. These facts must be
established to prove that the land is alienable and disposable. Respondent failed to do so because the
certifications presented by respondent do not, by themselves, prove that the land is alienable and disposable.
(3) Rule reiterated in Malabanan vs. Republic
The core of the controversy herein lies in the proper interpretation of Section 11(4), in relation to Section 48(b) of the Public Land Act,
which expressly requires possession by a Filipino citizen of the land since June 12, 1945, or earlier, viz:

Note that Section 48(b) of the Public Land Act used the words "lands of the public domain" or "alienable and disposable lands of the
public domain" to clearly signify that lands otherwise classified, i.e., mineral, forest or timber, or national parks, and lands of
patrimonial or private ownership, are outside the coverage of the Public Land Act. What the law does not include, it excludes. The use
of the descriptive phrase "alienable and disposable" further limits the coverage of Section 48(b) to only the agricultural lands of the
public domain as set forth in Article XII, Section 2 of the 1987 Constitution. Bearing in mind such limitations under the Public Land Act,
the applicant must satisfy the following requirements in order for his application to come under Section 14(1) of the Property
28
Registration Decree, to wit:

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 bona fide 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) Rule reiterated in Malabanan vs. Republic
To reiterate, then, the petitioners failed to present sufficient evidence to establish that they and their
predecessors-in-interest had been in possession of the land since June 12, 1945. Without satisfying the requisite
character and period of possession - possession and occupation that is open, continuous, exclusive, and
notorious since June 12, 1945, or earlier - the land cannot be considered ipso jure converted to private property
even upon the subsequent declaration of it as alienable and disposable. Prescription never began to run against
the State, such that the land has remained ineligible for registration under Section 14(1) of the Property
Registration Decree. Likewise, the land continues to be ineligible for land registration under Section 14(2) of the
Property Registration Decree unless Congress enacts a law or the President issues a proclamation declaring the
land as no longer intended for public service or for the development of the national wealth.
(4) Classification of land according to ownership
and alienability
a. Classification accodring to ownership

Land, which is an immovable property, may be classified as either public

domain or of private ownership. Land is considered of dominion public
dominion if it either:

(a) in intended for public use; or

(b) belongs to the State, without being for public use, and is intended for some
public service or for the development of the national wealth.
(4) Classification of land according to ownership
and alienability
b.Classification according to alienability

Whether or not the land of the public domain is alienable and disposable
primarili rests on the classification of public lands made under the
Constitution.

The 1987 Constitution adopted classification under the 1935 Constitution into
agricultural, forest or timber, and mineral, but added national parks.

The identification of lands according to their legal classification is done

exclusively by and through a positive act of the Executive Depertment.
(5) Requisite character and period of possession
and occupation
Without satisfying the requisite character and period of possession -
possession and occupation that is open, continuous, exclusive and notorious
since June 12, 1945, or earlier, the land cannot be considered ipso jure
converted to private property even upon the subsequent declaration of it as
alienable and disposable.
(6) Summary of the requirements for registration
under Section 14(1) of P.D. No. 1529
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 bona fide 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.