CHAPTER I Jurisdiction
General Provisions  Section 2 of PD No. 1529 provides
Concept of Jura Regalia
 Under the concept of jura regalia,
private title to land must be traced to
some grant, express or implied, from
the Spanish Crown or its successors,
the American Colonial government,
and thereafter, the Philippine
Republic.
 In its broad sense, the term jura
regalia refers to royal rights, or
those rights which the King has by
virtue of his prerogatives. By fiction
of law, the King was regarded as the
original proprietor of all lands, and
the true and only source of title, and
from him all lands were held.
Torrens System of Registration
 Generally, are meant those systems
of registration of transactions with
interest in land whose declared
object is, under governmental
authority, to establish and certify to
the ownership of an absolute and
indefeasible title to realty, and to
simplify its transfer.
Purpose of Torrens System
 The main purpose of the Torrens
system of registration is to decree
land titles that shall be final,
irrevocable, and undisputable.
Advantages of Torrens System
1. It has substituted security for
insecurity.
2. It has reduced the cost of
conveyance and the time occupied
from months to days.
3. It has exchange brevity and
clearness for obscurity and verbiage.
4. it has so simplified ordinary dealings
that he who has mastered the three
R’s can transact his own
conveyancing.
5. It affords protection against fraud.
6. It has restored to their just value
many estates held under good
holding titles but depreciated in
consequence of some blur or
technical defect, and has barred the
reoccurrence of any similar faults.
that “Courts of First Instance (now
Regional Trial Courts) shall have
exclusive jurisdiction over all
applications for original registration
of titles to lands, including
improvements and interest therein
and over all petitions filed after
original registration of title, with
power to hear and determine all
questions arising upon such
applications or petitions.
 As amended by RA No. 7691, Sec.
34 of BP Blg. 129 known as the
Judiciary Reorganization Act of
1980, grants MeTC, MTC and MCTC
the delegated jurisdiction to hear and
determine cadastral of land
registration cases in the following
instances:
1. where the lot sought to be
registered is not the subject of
controversy or opposition; or
2. where the lot is contested but the
value thereof does not exceed
P100,000.00, such value to be
ascertained by the affidavit of the
claimant or by the agreement of the
respective claimants, if there be
more than one, or from the
corresponding tax declaration of the
real property.
 Pursuant to Sec. 19(2) of BP 129, as
amended, RTCs shall exercise
exclusive original jurisdiction in all
civil actions which involve the title to,
or possession of, real property, or
any interest therein, where the
assessed value of the property
exceeds P20,000.00, or for civil
actions in Metropolitan Manila,
where such value exceeds
P50,000.00, except actions for
forcible entry into and unlawful
detainer of lands or buildings,
original jurisdiction over which is
conferred upon the MeTCs, MTCs
and MCTCs.
CHAPTER II
The Land Registration Commission
and its Registries of Deeds
The Land Registration Authority
 A government agency created under
the executive supervision of the
Dept. of Justice in order to have a
 more efficient execution of the laws
relative to the registration of lands,
geared to the massive and
accelerated land reform and social
justice program of the government.
Office of the Register of Deeds
 A government agency which
constitutes a public repository of
records of instruments affecting
registered or unregistered lands and
chattel mortgages.
 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.
Lands Management Bureau
 A government agency whose
function is to verify and approve
original survey plans for all purposes
in order to assure compliance with
established standards and minimize
irregularities in the execution of land
surveys for purposes of land
registration.
CHAPTER III
Ordinary Registration Proceedings
Who May Apply
 The following persons may file in the
proper RTC an application for
registration of title to land, whether
personally or through they 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;
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 laws;
4. Those who have acquired ownership
of land in any other manner provided
by law.
Laws Governing Land Registration
1. PUBLIC LAND ACT (CA No. 141)
Governs the judicial confirmation of
imperfect or incomplete titles on the
basis of possession and occupation
of alienable portions of the public
domain in the manner and for the
length of time required by law.
2. PROPERTY REGISTRATION
DECREE (PD No. 1529)
A codification of all laws relative to
registration of property, and
supersedes all other laws relative to
registration of property.
3. CADASTRAL ACT (Act No. 2259)
An offspring of the system of
registration under the Land
Registration Act which aims to serve
public interests by requiring that the
title to any lands be titled and
adjudicated.
4. INDIGENOUS PEOPLES RIGHTS
ACT (RA No. 8371)
Recognizes the rights of ownership
and possession of ICCs/IPs to their
ancestral domains and ancestral
lands on the basis of native title, and
defines the extent of these lands and
domains.
I. Judicial Confirmation of Imperfect
or Incomplete Titles
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.
The Public Land Act recognizes the
concept of ownership under the civil
law. This ownership is based on
adverse possession and the right of
acquisition is governed by Chapter
VIII on judicial confirmation of
imperfect or incomplete title.
Requisites:
1. The applicant must be a Filipino
citizen;
2. He must have, by himself or through
his predecessors-in-interest,
possessed and occupied an
alienable and disposable agricultural
portion of the public domain;
3. Such possession and occupation
must have been open, continuous,
exclusive, notorious and in the
concept of owner, since June 12,
1945; and
4. The application must be filed with the
proper court.
 Private corporations or associations
may not hold such alienable lands of
the public domain except by lease,
for a period not exceeding 25 years,
renewable for not more than 25
years, and not to exceed 1,000
hectares in area.
. faith.
II. Registration Under the Property
Registration Decree
Requisites:
1. The property in question is alienable
and disposable land of the public
domain;
2. The applicants, by themselves or
through their predecessors-in-
interest, have been in open,
continuous, exclusive and notorious
possession and occupation; and
3. Such possession is under a bona
fide claim of ownership since June
12, 1945 or earlier.
1. Ownership by Prescription –
 Prescription is one of the modes of
acquiring ownership under the Civil
Code. Properties classified as
alienable public land may be
converted into private property by
ordinary prescription of 30 years,
without need of title or good faith.
With such conversion, such property
may now fall within the
contemplation of “private lands”
under Sec. 14(2), and may be
registered even if the possession
commenced on a date later than
June 12, 1945.
 By prescription, one acquires
ownership and other real rights
through the lapse of time in the
manner and under the action laid
down by law. All things are within
teh commerce of men are
susceptible of prescription, unless
otherwise provided. Property of the
State or any of its subdivisions not
patrimonial in character shall not be
the object of prescription.
 Acquisitive prescription of dominion
and other real rights may be ordinary
or extraordinary. Ordinary
acquisitive prescription requires
possession of things in good faith
and with just title for the time fixed by
law.
 Ownership and other real rights over
immovable property are acquired by
ordinary prescription through
possession of ten years. Ownership
and other real rights over immovable
also prescribe through uninterrupted
adverse possession thereof for 30
years, without need of title or of good
 While prescription is concerned with
the fact of delay, laches is concerned
with the effect of delay. Prescription
is a matter of time; laches is
principally a question of inequity of
permitting a claim to be enforced,
this inequity being founded on some
change in the condition of the
property or the relation of the parties.
Prescription is statutory; laches is
not. Laches applies in equity,
whereas prescription applies at law.
Prescription is based on a fixed time,
laches is not.
2. Ownership by right of accession –
 Under Art. 461 of the Civil Code,
river beds which are abandoned
through the natural change in the
course of the waters ipso facto
belong to the owners whose lands
are occupied by the new course in
proportion to the area lost. However,
the owners of the lands adjoining the
old bed shall have the right to
acquire the same by paying the
value thereof, which value shall not
exceed the value of the area
occupied by the new bed.
 The requisites for the application of
Art. 461 are:
1. The change must be sudden in
order that the old river may be
identified;
2. The changing of the course must
be more or less permanent, and
not temporary overflooding of
another’s land.
3. The change of the river must be a
natural one, i.e., caused by
natural forces and not by artificial
means.
4. There must be definite
abandonment by the government.
5. The river must continue to exist,
that is, it must not completely dry
up or disappear.

3. Ownership by right of accession –
 Art. 457 of the Civil Code provides
that to the owners of lands adjoining
the banks of rivers belong the
accretion which they gradually
receive from the effects of the
current of the waters.
 The article requires the concurrence
of three requisites before an
accretion is said to have taken place.
They are:
1. That the deposit be gradual and
imperceptible.
2. That it be made through the
effects of the current of the water.
3. That the land where accretion
takes place is adjacent to the banks
of rivers.
 The accretion does not automatically
become registered land just because
the lot which receives such accretion
is covered by a Torres title. As such,
it must also be placed under the
operation of the Torrens system.
Thus, where petitioner never sought
the registration of the alluvial
property, the increment never
became registered property, hence,
not subject to the protection of
imprescriptibility of registered
property under the Torrens system.
Consequently, the land may still be
acquired through prescription by
third persons.
 It should be noted, however, that
alluvial formation along the seashore
is part of the public domain and,
therefore, not open to acquisition by
adverse possession by private
persons. It is outside the commerce
of man, unless otherwise declared
by either the executive or legislative
branch of the government to the
effect that the land is no longer
needed for coast guard service, for
public use or for special industries,
they continue to be part of the public
domain not available for private
appropriation or ownership.
III. Registration Under The IPRA
 The rights of the ICCs/IPs to their
 Indigenous Peoples Rights Act
(RA No. 8371) – a law dealing with a
specific group of people, i.e., the
indigenous cultural communities
(ICCs) or the indigenous peoples
(IPs), which allows them to obtain
recognition of their rights of
ownership over ancestral lands and
ancestral domains by virtue of native
title.
a. Indigenous Cultural
Communities/Indigenous
Peoples – refers to a group of
people 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.
b. Ancestral domains – refers to
all areas 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 individually, since
time immemorial, continually to
the present except when
interrupted by war, force majeure,
et al.
c. Ancestral lands – refers to land
occupied, possessed and utilized
by individuals, families and clans
who are members of the
ICCs/IPs since time immemorial,
by themselves or through their
predecessors-in-interest, under
claims of individual or traditional
group of ownership, continuously
to the present except when
interrupted by war, force majeure,
et al.
d. Native title – refers to ICCs/IPs
pre-conquest rights to lands and
domains held under a claim of
private ownership as far back as
memory reaches.
ancestral domains and ancestral
lands may be acquired in two
modes: (a) by native title over both
ancestral lands and domains; or (b)
by Torrens title under the Public
Land Act and the Land Registration
Act (now Property Registration
Decree) with respect to ancestral
lands only.