SAN BEDA COLLEGE OF LAW

Final Exams Pointers (24 Nov 2017)

Subject: Land Title and Deeds
Sections: 2-D and 2-K
Prof: Comm. Wilhelm Soriano
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1. Nature and Concept of Torrens system of land registration

 A system of registration of transaction with interest in land whose declared
object is, under government authority, to establish and certify to the
ownership of an absolute and indefeasible title to realty, and to simplify its
transfer.
 It is judicial in nature
 The purpose is not the acquisition of title but only the registration of title,
which the applicant already possessed over the land. Registration is not a
means of acquiring ownership. Merely confirms, not confer, ownership.

2. Section 14, PD 1529 – persons eligible to apply for the registration of title to
land

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 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.
(2) Those who have acquired ownership of private lands by prescription under the
provision 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 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.

NOTES:
 A possessory information which is based on a claim of possession for 20
years according to the Spanish Mortgage Law.
 Holders of Spanish titles may not claim ownership after 6 months after Feb.
16, 1976, by virtue of PD 892.
 A mortgagor cannot register unless with written consent by the mortgagee. If
there is no consent, registration may be had with annotation of the said
mortgage.
 If the period of redemption has lapsed, the vendee a retro will be subrogated
to the application of the vendor a retro

3. The procedures for the application for land registration

Steps in registration
1) Survey of the land
2) Application for registration to the RTC with muniments of title
3) Setting of date for initial hearing
4) Transmittal of the petition and pertinent documents by the Clerk or
Court to LRA
5) Publication of the notice of filing of application and hearing in the OG
or newspaper of gen. circulation
6) Service of notice upon those who have interest by the sheriff
7) Filing of answer or opposition
8) Hearing by the court
9) Promulgation of judgment by the court
10)Issuance of order of the court to LRA to issue a Decree of Registration
11)Issuance of Decree of Registration of the LRA
12)Sending a copy of the Decree to the Registry of Deeds
13)Transcription of the Decree in the registration book and issuance of
the owner’s duplicate Original Certificate of Title by the Registry of
Deeds upon payment of fees.

4. Purpose and effects of publication

1) To confer jurisdiction over the land applied for upon the court
2) To charge the whole world of knowledge of the application of the land
involved, and invite them to take part in the case and assent and
prove their rights over the property.

5. Requisites for a valid answer under section 23, PD 1529

 1) Set forth objections to the application
2) State the interest claimed by the opposition
3) Apply for the remedy desired; signed and sworn to by him or by some
other duly authorized person
(Section 25, PD 1529)

6. General default and Special default

Order of default – If no person appears and answers within the time allowed, the
court shall, upon motion of the applicant, no reason to the contrary appearing, order
a general default to be recorded and require the applicant to present evidence.

1) Order of General Default- covers the whole world and covers persons
who did not appear and file an answer
2) Order of Special Default- covers persons who appeared and asked for
an extension of time to file answer or opposition yet they were not
able to file opposition within the given extension of time

7. Section 22, PD 1529 – dealings of the land subject of the application for
registration
Section 22. Dealings with land pending original 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, in which case the
interested party shall present to the court the pertinent instruments together with a
subdivision plan approved by the Director of Lands in case of transfer of portions
thereof and the court, after notice to the parties, shall order such land registered
subject to the conveyance or encumbrance created by said instruments, or order
that the decree of registration be issued in the name of the person to whom the
property has been conveyed by said instruments.

8. Probative value of a Torrens title

Torrens Title may be received in evidence in all courts of the Philippines, and shall
be conclusive as to all matters contained therein, principally the identity of the
owner of the covered land and thereby the identity of the land.

9. Remedies available to aggrieved parties in a land registration

1) New Trial
 Grounds
i. Fraud, Accident, Mistake, or Excusable Negligence
ii. Award of excessive damages, or insufficiency of evidence to
justify decision
iii. Newly discovered evidence
  Period: within fifteen days from notice of judgement

2) Appeal
 In the same manner as ordinary proceedings. Must be filed within
15 days from receipt of judgment of final order.

3) Review of Decree of Registration

 Filed within 1 year after the entry of Decree of Registration
 Grounds
a. Actual Fraud – prevents a party from having a trial or from
presenting his entire case to the court
b. Lack of Due Process
c. Lack of Jurisdiction of the Court
 May be exercised if deprived of a right through fraud and the
property has not yet passed to an innocent purchaser for value.

4) Relief from Judgment

 Grounds: FAME
 Filed within 60 days after the petitioner learns of the judgement,
order, or proceeding and not more than 6 months after such
judgment or order was entered or such proceeding was taken

5) Reconveyance
 An action seeking to transfer the land from the registered owner
to the rightful owner
 May be filed within 10 years, if based on implied trust, from the
date of issuance of certificate of title, and the property has not pass
to an innocent purchaser for value

6) Recovery of Damages
 When the title passed to an innocent purchaser for value
 Within 10 years from issuance of the certificate of title

10. Grounds for review of the decree of registration

1) Actual or extrinsic fraud
2) Lack of due process
3) Lack of jurisdiction of the court

11. Section 32, PD 1529 –review of the decree of registration and innocent
purchaser for value
Section 32. Review of decree of registration; Innocent purchaser for value. The
decree of registration shall not be reopened or revised by reason of absence,
minority, or other disability of any person adversely affected thereby, nor by any
proceeding in any court for reversing judgments, subject, however, to the right of
any person, including the government and the branches thereof, deprived of land or
of any estate or interest therein by such adjudication or confirmation of title
obtained by actual fraud, to file in the proper Court of First Instance a petition for
reopening and review of the decree of registration not later than one year from and
after the date of the entry of such decree of registration, but in no case shall such
petition be entertained by the court where an innocent purchaser for value has
acquired the land or an interest therein, whose rights may be prejudiced. Whenever
the phrase "innocent purchaser for value" or an equivalent phrase occurs in this
Decree, it shall be deemed to include an innocent lessee, mortgagee, or other
encumbrancer for value.

Upon the expiration of said period of one year, the decree of registration and the
certificate of title issued shall become incontrovertible. Any person aggrieved by
such decree of registration in any case may pursue his remedy by action for
damages against the applicant or any other persons responsible for the fraud.

12. Rights of Co-ownership over registered land

 Before partition, every co-owner is free to alienate, assign or mortgage his
interest
 The co-owner cannot sell or alienate a concrete, specific, or determinate part
of the thing owned in common. The sale will be void
 Right to ask for partition
 Heirs will also become co-owners with surviving co-owners

13. Section 44, PD 1529 – statutory liens affecting title

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 that 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.

14. Section 47, PD 1529 – registered land not subject to prescription

Section 47. Registered land not subject to prescriptions. No title to registered land in
derogation of the title of the registered owner shall be acquired by prescription or
adverse possession.

15. Voluntary dealings with registered lands

1) Sales
2) Mortgages and Leases
3) Powers of Attorney and Trusts
 Refer to deeds which are result of the free and voluntary acts of the parties
 Effect: an innocent purchaser for vale of registered land becomes the
registered owner the moment he presents and files a duly notarized and
valid deed of sale and the same is entered in the day book and at the same
time surrenders or presents the owner’s duplicate certificate of title covering
the land sold

16. Involuntary dealings

1) Attachments
2) Adverse Claims
3) Sale on execution or tax assessment
4) Notice of lis pendens
 Order issued by the court of record affecting registered land which by law
should be registered to be effective, and also to such instruments which are
not the willful acts of the registered owner and which may have been
executed even without his knowledge or against his consent
 Effect: entry thereof in the day book of the Register of Deeds is sufficient
notice to all persons even if the owner’s duplicate certificate of title is not
presented to the Register of Deeds

17. Execution or Sheriffs sale

 The notice of execution shall be entered as a memorandum to be attached
upon the proper certificate of title. Entry thereof in the day book of the
 Register of Deeds is sufficient notice to all persons even if the owner’s
duplicate certificate of title is not presented to the Register of Deeds

18. Assurance fund

 Upon entry of a certificate of title in the name of the owner, ¼ of 1% of the
assessed value of the land shall be contributed to the Assurance Fund.
 All the money received by the Register of Deeds shall be paid to the National
Treasury
 A person without negligence, sustains loss or damage, or is deprived of land
in the consequence of bringing the land under the operation of the Torrens
System, through fraud or mistake, who has no other remedy, may bring an
action to be paid out by the Assurance Fund
 Action shall be brought against the Registry of Deeds and the National
Treasurer, or other persons involved

19. Consultas
 When the Register of Deeds is in doubt with regard to the proper steps to be
taken in pursuance of any deed, or when any party in interest does not agree
with the action taken by the Register of Deeds, the question shall be
submitted to the Commissioner of Land Registration by the Register of Deeds
or by the party interested through RD.
 Where the instrument is denied of registration, the interested party may
elevate the matter in consulta within 5 days from receipt of notice of denial.
 The certificate of title shall have a memorandum of the pending consulta
 The decision of the Commissioner of Land Registration will be binding to all
Register of Deeds. The party may appeal the decision to the Court of Appeals
within 15 days from receipt of decision.

20. General functions of the Register of Deeds

Section 10. General functions of Registers 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.
It shall be the duty of the Register of Deeds to immediately register an instrument
presented for registration dealing with real or personal property which complies
with all the requisites for registration. He shall see to it that said instrument bears
the proper documentary and science stamps and that the same are properly
canceled. If the instrument is not registerable, he shall forthwith deny registration
thereof and inform the presentor of such denial in writing, stating the ground or
reason therefor, and advising him of his right to appeal by consulta in accordance
with Section 117 of this Decree.