LAND TITLES REVIEWER/NOTES BASED ON AGCAOILI BOOK AND ATTY. CADIZ'S LECTURE GENERAL PROVISIONS PDF

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LAND TITLES REVIEWER/NOTES BASED ON AGCAOILI BOOK AND ATTY. CADIZ’S LECTURE Page 1 of 127 GENERAL PROVISIONS  The Law of the Indies was followed by the Ley Hipotecaria or the Mortgage Law of 1893. This law provided for the systematic registration of titles and deeds as well as possessory claims Sec...

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LAND TITLES REVIEWER/NOTES BASED ON AGCAOILI BOOK AND ATTY. CADIZ’S LECTURE Page 1 of 127

GENERAL PROVISIONS

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Section 1. Title of Decree. This Decree shall be known as the PROPERTY REGISTRATION DECREE.

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Section 2. Nature of registration proceedings; jurisdiction of courts. Judicial proceedings for the registration of lands throughout the Philippines shall be in rem and shall be based on the generally accepted principles underlying the Torrens system. Courts of First Instance shall have exclusive jurisdiction over all applications for original registration of title to lands, including improvements and interests 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. The court through its clerk of court shall furnish the Land Registration Commission with two certified copies of all pleadings, exhibits, orders, and decisions filed or issued in applications or petitions for land registration, with the exception of stenographic notes, within five days from the filing or issuance thereof. WHAT IS THE CONCEPT OF JURE REGALIA? (REGALIAN DOCTRINE)  Generally, under this concept, 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 a broad sense, the term refers to royal rights, or those rights to which the King has by virtue of his prerogatives  The theory of jure regalia was therefore nothing more than a natural fruit of conquest CONNECTED TO THIS IS THE STATE’S POWER OF DOMINUUM  Capacity of the state to own or acquire property—foundation for the early Spanish decree embracing the feudal theory of jura regalia  This concept was first introduced through the Laws of the Indies and the Royal Cedulas  The Philippines passed to Spain by virtue of discovery and conquest. Consequently, all lands became the exclusive patrimony and dominion of the Spanish Crown.

BY: MA. ANGELA LEONOR C. AGUINALDO ATENEO LAW 2D BATCH 2010

The Law of the Indies was followed by the Ley Hipotecaria or the Mortgage Law of 1893. This law provided for the systematic registration of titles and deeds as well as possessory claims The Maura Law: was partly an amendment and was the last Spanish land law promulgated in the Philippines, which required the adjustment or registration of all agricultural lands, otherwise the lands shall revert to the State

TAKE NOTE THAT THE REGALIAN DOCTRINE IS ENSHRINED IN OUR PRESENT AND PAST CONSTITUTIONS THE 1987 CONSTITUTION PROVIDES UNDER NATIONAL ECONOMY AND PATRIMONY THE FOLLOWING—  “ Section 2. All lands of the public domain, waters, minerals, coal, petroleum, and other mineral oils, all forces of potential energy, fisheries, forests or timber, wildlife, flora and fauna, and other natural resources are owned by the State. With the exception of agricultural lands, all other natural resources shall not be alienated. The exploration, development, and utilization of natural resources shall be under the full control and supervision of the State. The State may directly undertake such activities, or it may enter into co-production, joint venture, or production-sharing agreements with Filipino citizens, or corporations or associations at least sixty per centum of whose capital is owned by such citizens. Such agreements may be for a period not exceeding twenty-five years, renewable for not more than twenty-five years, and under such terms and conditions as may be provided by law. In cases of water rights for irrigation, water supply fisheries, or industrial uses other than the development of water power, beneficial use may be the measure and limit of the grant.”  The abovementioned provision provides that except for agricultural lands for public domain which alone may be alienated, forest or timber, and mineral lands, as well as all other natural resources must remain with the State, the exploration, development and utilization of which shall be subject to its full control and supervision albeit allowing it to enter into coproduction, joint venture or production-sharing agreements, or into agreements with foreign-owned corporations involving technical or financial assistance for large-scale exploration, development, and utilization THE 1987 PROVISION HAD ITS ROOTS IN THE 1935 CONSTITUTION WHICH PROVIDES—

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Section 1. All agricultural timber, and mineral lands of the public domain, waters, minerals, coal, petroleum, and other mineral oils, all forces of potential energy and other natural resources of the Philippines belong to the State, and their disposition, exploitation, development, or utilization shall be limited to citizens of the Philippines or to corporations or associations at least sixty per centum of the capital of which is owned by such citizens, subject to any existing right, grant, lease, or concession at the time of the inauguration of the Government established under this Constitution. Natural resources, with the exception of public agricultural land, shall not be alienated, and no license, concession, or lease for the exploitation, development, or utilization of any of the natural resources shall be granted for a period exceeding twenty-five years, renewable for another twenty-five years, except as to water rights for irrigation, water supply, fisheries, or industrial uses other than the development of water power, in which cases beneficial use may be the measure and limit of the grant.

THE 1973 CONSTITUTION REITERATED THE REGALIAN DOCTRINE AS FOLLOWS—  Section 8. All lands of public domain, waters, minerals, coal, petroleum and other mineral oils, all forces of potential energy, fisheries, wildlife, and other natural resources of the Philippines belong to the State. With the exception of agricultural, industrial or commercial, residential, or resettlement lands of the public domain, natural resources shall not be alienated, and no license, concession, or lease for the exploration, or utilization of any of the natural resources shall be granted for a period exceeding twentyfive years, except as to water rights for irrigation, water supply, fisheries, or industrial uses other than development of water power, in which cases, beneficial use may by the measure and the limit of the grant. THE REGALIAN DOCTRINE DOESN'T NEGATE NATIVE TITLE. THIS IS IN PURSUANCE TO WHAT HAS BEEN HELD IN CRUZ V. SECRETARY OF ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES  Petitioners challenged the constitutionality of Indigenous Peoples Rights Act on the ground that it amounts to an unlawful deprivation of the State’s ownership over lands of the public domain and all other natural resources therein, by recognizing the right of ownership of ICC or IPs to their ancestral domains and ancestral lands on the basis of native title.

BY: MA. ANGELA LEONOR C. AGUINALDO ATENEO LAW 2D BATCH 2010

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As the votes were equally divided, the necessary majority wasn’t obtained and petition was dismissed and the law’s validity was upheld Justice Kapunan: Regalian theory doesn’t negate the native title to lands held in private ownership since time immemorial, adverting to the landmark case of CARINO V. LOCAL GOVERNMENT, where the US SC through Holmes held: “xxx the land has been held by individuals under a claim of private ownership, it will be presumed to have been held in the same way from before the Spanish conquest, and never to have been public land.” Existence of native titie to land, or ownership of land by Filipinos by virtue of possession under a claim of ownership since time immemorial and independent of any grant from the Spanish crown as an exception to the theory of jure regalia Justice Puno: Carino case firmly established a concept of private land title that existed irrespective of any royal grant from the State and was based on the strong mandate extended to the Islands via the Philippine Bill of 1902. The IPRA recognizes the existence of ICCs/IPs as a distinct sector in the society. It grants this people the ownership and possession of their ancestral domains and ancestral lands and defines the extent of these lands and domains Justice Vitug: Carino cannot override the collective will of the people expressed in the Constitution. Justice Panganiban: all Filipinos, whether indigenous or not, are subject to the Constitution, and that no one is exempt from its allencompassing provisions

BACKGROUND OF THE TORRENS SYSTEM OF REGISTRATION  In this system, title by registration takes the place of “title by deeds” of the system under the “general” law  A sale of land for example is effected by a registered transfer, upon which a certificate of title is issued o Certificate is guaranteed by statute, and with certain exceptions, constitutes indefeasible title to the land mentioned therein o Under old system, the same sale would be effected through conveyance, depending on its validity, apart from intrinsic flaws, on the correctness of a long series of prior deeds, wills, etc.  Object of the Torrens system: to do away with the delay, uncertainty, and expense of the old conveyancing system  Generally, by “Torrens” systems are meant those systems of registration of transactions with interest in land whose declared

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object is, under governmental authority, to establish and certify to the ownership of an absolute and indeafisible title to realty, and to simplify its transfer. LAND REGISTRATION ACT OR ACT #496  Grants of public land were brought under the operation of a Torrens system  Placed all public and private land under the Torrens system  Torrens system requires that the government issue an official certificate of title attesting to the fact that the person named is the owner of the property described therein, subject to such liens and encumbrances as thereon noted or the law warrants or reserves PURPOSE OF THE TORRENS SYSTEM 1. To quiet the title to land 2. To put a stop forever to any question of legality of the title, except claims which were noted at the time of registration, in the certificate, or which may arise subsequent thereto 

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ADVANTAGES OF TORRENS SYSTEM 1. Substituted security for insecurity 2. Reduced the cost of conveyance from pounds to shillings, and the time occupied from months to days 3. It has exchanged brevity and clearness for obscurity and verbiage 4. It has so simplified ordinary dealings that he who has mastered the 3 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 A VIEW OF PAST REGISTRATION

Once a title is registered the owner may rest secure, without the necessity of waiting in the portals of the court, to avoid the possibility of losing his land All the world are parties, including the government After the registration is complete and final, and there exists no fraud, there are no innocent third parties who may claim any interest. Aims to decree land titles shall be final, irrevocable, and indisputable, and to relieve the land of the burden of known as well as unknown claims The registration either relieves the land of all known as well as unknown claims absolutely, or it compels the claimants to come unto court and to make there a record, so that thereafter, there may be no uncertainty concerning either the character or the extent of such claims

REGISTRATION IS NOT A MODE OF ACQUIRING OWNERSHIP  Registration doesn’t vest title  Merely evidence of such a title over a particular property  Not a mode of acquiring ownership but is merely a PROCEDURE to establish evidence of title over realty  Where a petitioner’s registration of their deed of sale was done in bad faith, it is as if no registration was made at all insofar as private respondent is concerned.

BY: MA. ANGELA LEONOR C. AGUINALDO ATENEO LAW 2D BATCH 2010

Registration under Act No. 496 or PD No. 1529 doesn’t vest in the registrant private or public ownership of the land—it is merely evidence of ownership but is not a mode of acquiring ownership

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State has the power and right to provide for a procedure for the adjudication of title to real estate State has control over the real property within the limits State doesn’t possess only the right to determine how title to real estate may be acquired and proved, but it is also within its legislative capacity to establish the method of procedure All land that were not acquired from the government either by purchase or by grant, belong to the public domain Oh Cho case: reiterated the rule enunciated in Carino, which is any land that has been in possession of an occupant and of his predecessors-in-interest since time immemorial, as to which such possession would justify the presumption that the land had never been part of the public domain or that it had been private property even before the Spanish conquest.

THE PUBLIC LAND ACT, CA 141  Governed the disposition of lands of the public domain  Prescribed rules and regulations for the homesteading, selling, and leasing of portions of the public domain of the Philippine Islands  Prescribed the terms and conditions to enable persons to perfect their titles to public lands in the Islands

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Provided for the issuance of patents to certain native settlers upon public lands for the establishment of townsites and sale of lots therein, for the completion of imperfect titles, and for the Islands In short, this Act worked on the assumption that title to public lands in the Philippines remained in the government and that the government’s title to public land sprung from the Treaty of Paris and other subsequent treaties between Spain and the US

PUBLIC LAND  Referred to all land of the public domain whose title still remained in the government and are thrown open to private appropriation and settlement, and excluded the patrimonial property of the government and the friar lands

WITH THE PASSAGE OF THE ABOVEMENTIONED ACT, TWO THINGS OCCURRED WORTHY OF NOTE: 1. A court of limited jurisdiction, with special subject matter, and with only one purpose was created 2. By reason thereof, courts theretofore of general, original, exclusive jurisdiction, were shon of some of their attributes—in other words, powers were restricted  3.

THE CADASTRAL ACT, ACT NO. 2259  When, in the option of the President, the public interest requires that title to any lands be settled and adjudicated, he shall order the Director of Lands to make a survey thereof, with notice to all persons claiming interest therein  Thereafter, the Director of Lands, represented by the Solicitor General, shall institute registration proceedings by filing a petition in the proper court against the holders, claimants, possessors, or occupants of such lands, stating that the public interest requires that the titles to such lands be settled and adjudicated  Notice of the filing of the petition is published twice in successive issues of the Official Gazette  Decree shall be the basis for the issuance of the certificate of title which shall have the same effect as a certificate of title granted under the Property Registration Decree  A cadastral proceeding is in rem, hence, binding generally upon the whole world

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THE PROPERTY REGISTRATION DECREE, PD 1529  In order to update the Land Registration Act  To codify the various laws relative to the registration of property and  To facilitate effective implementation of said laws  Supercedes all laws relative to the registration of property  RTC: jurisdiction over applications for registration and all subsequent proceedings relative thereto, subject to judicial review  Substantially incorporated the substantive and procedural requirements of its precursor, the Land Registration Act of 1902  It has expanded the coverage to include judicial combination of imperfect and incomplete titles in its Section 14 (1), cadastral registration proceedings in Section 35 to 38, voluntary proceedings in Sections 51 to 68, involuntary proceedings in Sections 69 to 77, certificates of land transfer and emancipation

APPLICATION OF CA 141  Applies to all lands of public domain which have been declared open to disposition or concession and officially delimited and classified  Provisions on the different modes of government grant— homesteads, patents, sales, and reservations for public and semipublic purpose  Has a chapter on judicial confirmation of imperfect or incomplete titles based on acquisitive prescription 2.

THE LAND REGISTRATION ACT, ACT NO. 946  Established the Torrens system of registration in the country  Court of Land Registration—exclusive jurisdiction over all applications for registration, with power to hear and determine all questions arising upon such applications  To bring land titles in the Philippines under one comprehensive and harmonious system, the cardinal features of which are indefeasibility of title and the intervention of the State as a prerequisite to the creation and transfer of titles and interests, with the resultant increase in the use of land as a business asset by reason of the greater certainty and security of title  It doesn’t create a title nor vest one  It simply confirms a title already created and already vested, rendering it forever indefeasible.  Before the creation of the Court of Land Registration, the jurisdiction to determine the nature, quality, and extent of land titles, the rival claims of contending parties, and the legality and effect thereof was vested in the Courts of First Instance

BY: MA. ANGELA LEONOR C. AGUINALDO ATENEO LAW 2D BATCH 2010

Judicial proceedings were in rem and based on generally accepted principles underlying the Torrens system

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patents issued pursuant to PD No. 27 in Sections 104 to 106, and reconstruction of lost or destroyed original Torrens titles in Section 110. Judicial proceedings are in rem and are based on general principles underlying the Torrens system

REGISTRATION UNDER THE TORRENS SYSTEM IS A PROCEEDING IN REM  Main principle of registration: to make registered titles indeafisible  All occupants, adjoining owners, adverse claimants, and other interested persons are notified of the proceedings, and have a right to appear in opposition in such application  Proceeding against the whole world  Proceedings shall be in rem and based on generally accepted principles under the Torrens system PROCEEDING IS IN REM AND IN PERSONAM WHEN: IN REM When the object of the action is to bar indifferently all who might be minded to make an objection of any sort against the right sought to be established, and if anyone in the world has a right to be heard on the strength of alleging facts, which, if true, show an inconsistent interest

IN PERSONAM To establish a claim against some particular person, with a judgment which generally, in theory at least, binds his body, or to bar some individual claim or objection, or to only contain certain persons who are entitled to be heard in defense

HOW IS JURISDICTION IN REM ACQUIRED? BY GIVING THE PUBLIC NOTICE OF INITIAL HEARING BY MEANS OF: 1. Publication 2. Mailing 3. Notice 