President Rodrigo Duterte has approved into law a measure that simplifies the

procedure and requirements in granting land titles.

REPUPLIC ACT (RA) NO. 11573 ENTITLED, AN ACT IMPROVING THE

CONFIRMATION PROCESS FOR IMPERFECT LAND TITLES, AMENDING FOR THE
PURPOSE COMMONWEALTH ACT NO.141, AS AMENDED, OTHERWISE KNOWN
AS “THE PUBLIC LAND ACT,” AND PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 1529, AS
AMENDED, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE “PROPERTY REGISTRATION DECREE’
was approved on July 16, 2021. This ensures the continued titling of the agricultural
lands and simplifies the procedures and requirements for the judicial confirmation of
imperfect titles.

Under RA 11573, the deadline for agricultural free patent applications has been
removed; and shortened the required period of possession for confirmation of imperfect
titles to 20 years.

Also, under RA 11573 the Community or the Provincial Environment and Natural
Resources (CENRO/PENRO) is directed to process the application for agricultural free
patents within 120 days.

“We are very happy that finally President Duterte has already approved this law that
makes it easier for our beneficiaries to process and secure their land titles. Accelerated
land titling in the country has always been our priority program, so we have been
waiting for these amendments in CA 141 in order to hasten our processes. This will
surely benefit our farmers and landowners with untitled agricultural lands. We are
already working on the Implementing Rules and Regulations for its immediate
implementation.”, Atty. Emelyne V. Talabis, Land Management Bureau (LMB) Director
said.

The filing and acceptance of agricultural free patent applications in the CENR Offices
nationwide stopped last Dec 31, 2020 pursuant to Republic Act 9176 which set that
deadline. With this law, RA 11573, the acceptance of agricultural free patents
applications will now resume with simplified measures on its processing.

This law is in line with the Administration’s 10-point Socioeconomic Agenda, under
Agenda number 6, “ensure security of land tenure to encourage investments and
address bottlenecks in land management and titling agencies:”.