Chapter 2 onwards Flashcards
What is Act No. 3344 for?
For unregistered lands.
The first systematic registration of lands
Spanish Mortgage Law (Act No. 496) - this was used during the American Time
What are referred to as “unregistered lands?”
Lands that were registered under Spanish Mortgage Law but not during the American Time.
Can Spanish titles still be countenanced as indubitable evidence of land ownership?
No. The system of registration under the Spanish Mortgage Law was abolished and all holders of Spanish titles/grants should register their lands under the Land Registration Act.
Mariano San Pedro v. CA
Diaz-Enriquez v. Director of Lands
Explain the sales patent.
Citizens may lease not more than 500 hectares of agricultural lands of the public domain. Private corporations and associations may lease a maximum if 1,000 hectares.
Explain the free patent.
They may lease a maximum of 12 hectares only. Must have actual and continuous cultivation for at least 30 years. (amended to 10)
Public Land Act applies only to?
Public Land Act is a special law that applies only to alienable agricultural lands.
Republic v. Noval
What is the only ground to review or reopen a decree of registration?
Extrinsic fraud. It is fraud employed to deprive parties of that day in court and thus prevent them from asserting the right to the property registered in the name of the applicant.
Taar v. Lauan
What is an imperfect title?
A title that is defective and does not convey full legal transfer of a parcel of land or real estate.
What is the Cadastral Act (Act No. 2259)?
Registration of unregistered lands initiated by the State. There are instances that no one gets the title.
What is the purpose of CARP?
To close the disparity between the rich and the poor.
Aim of free patents to residential lands?
It aims to ease the requirements and procedures in the titling of residential lands. It is always applicable to PUBLIC lands ONLY.
What is the effect of a sale not correctly registered?
A sale that is not correctly registered is binding only between the seller and the buyer, but it does not affect innocent third persons.
What is the Public Land Act?
It governs the judicial confirmation of imperfect or incomplete titles on the basis possession and occupation of alienable portions of the public domain in the manner and for the length of time required by law. Applies only to public land (v. Act No. 3344 of unregistered lands)
How about registered lands to be transferred? Which law aplies?
Land Registration Act or Decree (PD 1529)
What lands are included in the Public Land Act?
It governs lands of the
a. public domain, except timber and mineral lands
b. friar lands
c. privately-owned lands which reverted to the State
How may public lands be disposed of under the Public Land Act?
- For homestead settlement
- By sale
- By leaase
- By confirmation of imperfect or incomplete title
a. by judicial legalization
b. by administrative legislation (free patent)
Can a private land be affected by the free patent issued over it?
No. Private ownership of land is not affected by the issuance of a free patent over the same land.
What is a free patent?
It is the acquisition of PUBLIC land by means of an administrative confirmation of imperfect title. This was implemented to legalize the land rights of Filipinos who are founded to be occupying and cultivating such lands for a certain period of time.
What is the origin of the Public Land Act (Act No. 926)?
It operated on the assumption that title to public lands in the Philippine Islands 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 United States.
What are public lands?
All lands of the public domain whose title still remained in the government and are thrown open to private appropriation and settlement.
What is the Agricultural Free Patent Reform Act (RA 11231)?
Farmers holding agricultural free patents may now sell their land or use it as collateral after President Duterte signed a measure that removed Commonwealth-era restrictions on lands covered by the Public Land Act.
What is the purpose of the cadastral system?
To serve the public interests by requiring that the titles to any lands “be settled and adjudicated.”
What kind of proceedings take place in the cadastral system?
Cadastral proceedings are in rem and are thus directed against property. There is no plaintiff and there is no defendant. In another sense, the Government is the plaintiff and all the claimants are defendants. A cadastral decree and a certificate of title are issued only after the applicants prove that they are entitled to the claimed lots, all parties are heard, and evidence is considered.
What actions are taken after the trial in a cadastral case?
The first adjudicates ownership in favor of one of the claimants. - decision, judgment, decree of court
The second action is the declaration by the court that the decree is final and its order for the issuance of the certificates of title by the Chief of the Land Registration Office. - such order is made if within 30 days from the date of receipt of a copy of the decision no appeal is taken from the decision.
The third and last action devolves upon the General Land Registration Office. An official, known as the chief surveyor, has one of his duties “to prepare final decrees in all adjudicated cases.”
What is the General Land Registration Office?
This office has been instituted “for the due effectuation and accomplishment of the laws relative to the registration of land.”
What is the effect of issuance of cadastral decree or Act No. 2259?
A certificate of title issued pursuant to Act No. 2259, after the lapse of 1 year, becomes incontrovertible.
Constitutional basis of the CARPER Law (RA 6657 as amended by RA 9700)
Article 2, Sec. 21: the State shall promote the comprehensive rural development and agrarian reform
Article 13, Sec. 4: an agrarian reform program shall be carried out in the country
What does agrarian reform mean?
It means redistribution of lands, regardless of crops or fruits produced, to farmers and regular farmworkers who are landless, irrespective of tenurial arrangement, to include the totality of factors and support services designed to lift the economic status of the beneficiaries and all other arrangements alternative to the physical redistribution of lands, such as production or profit-sharing, labor administration, and the distribution of shares of stocks, which will allow beneficiaries to receive a just share of the fruits of the lands they work.
What is CARPER Law or RA 9700?
It is the amendatory law that extends again the deadline of distributing agricultural lands to farmers for five years.
What is the coverage of the CARP?
- all alienable and disposable lands of the public domain devoted to or suitable for agriculture
- all lands of the public domain exceeding the total area of 5 hectares and below to be retained by the landowner
- all government-owned lands that are devoted to or suitable for agriculture
- all private lands devoted to or suitable for agriculture, regardless of the agricultural products raised or can be raised on these lands
What are exemptions and exclusions of the CARP?
- Lands actually, directly and exclusively used and found to be necessary for parks, wildlife, forest reserves, reforestation, fish sanctuaries and breeding grounds, watersheds, and mangroves
- National defense, school sites and campuses including experimental farm stations operated by public or private schools for educational purposes
- Seeds and seedlings research and pilot production centers
- Church sites and convents appurtenant thereto, mosque sites and Islamic centers appurtenant thereto, communal burial grounds and cemeteries
- Penal colonies and penal farms actually worked by the inmates, government and private research and quarantine centers; and
- All lands with 18% slope and over, except those already developed shall be exempt from the coverage of the Act.
What are agricultural lands?
Lands which are arable and suitable.
What conditions must be satisfied in order for homestead grantees or their direct compulsory heirs to retain or keep their homestead?
a. they must still be the owners of the original homestead at the time of the CARL’s effectivity
b. they must continue to cultivate the homestead land
What is the jurisdiction of the Department of Agrarian Reform ?
Sec. 50, RA 6657
Jurisdiction is two-fold:
1. Essentially executive and pertains to the enforcement and administration of the laws, carrying them into practical operation and enforcing their due observance
2. Judicial and involves the determination of rights and obligation of the parties
Department of Agrarian Reform Adjudication Board
It has exclusive original jurisdiction over cases involving the rights and obligations of persons engaged in the management, cultivation and use of all agricultural lands covered by the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law.
What is original jurisdiction?
It means jurisdiction to take cognizance of a cause at its inception, try it and pass judgment upon the law and facts.
What is exclusive jurisdiction?
It precludes the idea of coexistence and refers to jurisdiction possessed to the exclusion of others.
Qualified beneficiaries?
- agricultural lessees and share tenants
- regular farm workers
- seasonal farm workers
- other farm workers
- actual tillers or occupants of public lands
- collective or cooperatives of the above
- beneficiaries
- others directly working on the land
What is social justice?
Social justice in the land reform program also applies to landowners, not merely to farmers and farmworkers. This is precisely why the law - RA 6657 - and the applicable rules provide for the procedure for determining the proper beneficiaries and grantees or awardees of the lands covered or to be covered under the CARP.
These procedures ensure that only the qualified, identified, and registered farmers and/or farmworkers-beneficiaries acquire the covered lands which they themselves actually till.
Conversely, these procedures likewise ensure that landowners do not lose their lands to usurpers and other illegal settlers who wish to take advantage of the agrarian reform program to acquire lands to which they are not entitled.
What are the requisites for a particular land and its farmers, farmworkers, tillers, etc. to be covered under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program?
- The land should be covered by the corresponding Notice of Coverage
- The beneficiaries must be qualified and registered by the Department of Agrarian Reform, in coordination with the Barangay Agrarian Reform Committee (BARC). Copy of the BARC list or registry must be posted in accordance with the guidelines established by the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC).
What is the emancipation patent?
Title of absolute ownership over the land transferred to the tiller.
Rules governing the correction and cancellation of registered/unregistered emancipation patents and certificates of land ownership award
p. 51
Who is a landless beneficiary?
One who owns less than 3 hectares of agricultural land
Rule on transferability of awarded lands under CARP
Lands awarded to beneficiaries under the CARP may not be sold, transferred or conveyed for a period of 10 years.
What are the exceptions on the rule of transferability of awarded lands under CARP?
Through
- hereditary succession
- to the government
- to the Land Bank of the Philippines
- to other qualified beneficiaries.
Provided, however, that the children or the spouse of the transferor shall have a right to repurchase the land from the government or LBP within a period of 2 years.
Why is the IPRA considered valid?
The ownership given is the indigenous concept of ownership under the customary law which traces its origin to native title.
Who are ICC’s/IP’s?
Indigenous Cultural Communities or Indigenous Peoples refer to a group of people or homogenous societies who have continuously lived as an organized community on communally bounded and defined territory.
Jurisdiction of NCIP
The National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP) is the primary government agency responsible for the formulation and implementation of policies, plans and programs to protect and promote the rights and well-being of indigenous cultural communities/indigenous peoples (ICCs/IPs) and the recognition of their ancestral domains as well as their rights thereto.
It is vested with jurisdiction over all claims and disputes involving the rights of ICCs and IPs.
What is the limitation of the right of holders of a Certificate of Ancestral Land Claim (CALC)?
The right of holders of a Certificate of Ancestral Land Claim (CALC) to possess the subject land is limited to occupation in relation to cultivation–they do not have the right to build permanent structures on ancestral lands.
What are the salient features of RA 10023 or the New Residential Free Patent Act?
- Reduces the period of eligibility for titling from 30 years to 10 years. Only alienable land not needed for public service or public use may be given a free patent.
p. 62
What is a residential free patent?
It is issued on all land that are zoned as residential areas, including town sites as defined under the Public Land Act, provided that none of the provisions of PD 705 shall be violated.
Who are eligible to apply for a residential free patent?
Any Filipino citizen who is in actual occupation of the residential land for at least 10 years may apply for residential patent. The applicant must be at least 18 years old or be represented by their guardian, if a minor.
Where to file an application for a residential free patent?
It shall be filed at the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (DENR - CENRO) which has jurisdiction over the area being applied for.
Nature of the Torrens System
a. judicial in character
b. proceeding is in rem
c. as to the manner of initiating the proceeding, it is voluntary
d. it is administrative and compulsory under Sec. 103 of PD 1529; conclusive against the whole world including the government; the title issues is indefeasible and it cannot be lost by prescription.
What is the Torrens Title?
It does not create or vest title. It only confirms and records title already existing and vested.
Advantages of the Torrens System
p. 65
Which court has general jurisdiction over land registration?
The Regional Trial Court, formerly called the Court of First Instance.
Sec. 2, PD 1529:
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. Certify two copies to Land Registration Commission.
What is the jurisdiction of Metropolitan Trial Court under Sec. 34 of Batas Pambansa Bilang 129 (Judiciary Reorganization Act) as amended by Section 4 of R.A. No. 7691?
It was given delegated jurisdiction to hear ordinary and cadastral land registration where there is no controversy or opposition to the application or where the assessed value of the land does not exceed 100,000 pesos. And then appeal shall be filed directly with the Court of Appeals.
The Regional Trial Court now has the authority to act not only on the applications for original registration, but also on petitions filed after the original registration of title, and coupled with this authority is the power to hear and determine all questions arising upon such applications or petitions. True or False.
True.
Can land registration courts or RTC now hear and decide even controversial and contentious cases, as well as those involving substantial issues?
Yes.
What is a writ of possession?
A writ of possession is a writ of execution employed to enforce a judgment to recover the possession of land. It commands the sheriff to enter the land and give possession of it to the person entitled under the judgment.
In a land registration case, when may a writ of possession be issued?
Only pursuant to a decree of registration in an original land registration proceedings “not only against the person who has been defeated in a registration case but also against anyone adversely occupying the land or any portion thereof during the proceedings up to the issuance of the decree.
It cannot be issued in a petition for reconstitution of an allegedly lost or destroyed certificate of title.
Where to file an application for land registration?
with the RTC of the province or city where the land lies
Requisites for a land to be covered within the Metropolitan Trial Court’s jurisdiction?
- no controversy or opposition
2. the contested land’s value does not exceed 100,000 pesos
Where was the Torrens Land Registration System introduced?
in South Australia by Sir Robert Torrens in 1857
What is the main principle of the Torrens Land Registration System?
to make registered titles indefeasible
*proceeding is always against the whole world
What are the benefits of the system of registration of titles?
- It has substituted security for insecurity
- It has reduced the cost of conveyances from pounds to shillings, and the time occupied from months to days
- It has exchanged brevity and clearness for obscurity and verbiage
- It has simplified ordinary dealings that he who has mastered the 3 R’s can transact his own conveyancing
- Affords protection against fraud
- It has restored to their just value many estates held under good holding titles
p. 76
What is the Land Registration Authority?
Under PD 1529, Section 4:
It was created to have a more efficient execution of the laws relative to the registration of lands
Functions of Land Registration Authority?
p. 78
T or F. Land Registration Authority to issue the decree is purely ministerial.
True. It is ministerial in the sense that they act under the orders of the court and the decree must be in conformity with the decision of the court and with the data found in the record, and they have no discretion in the matter.
Why is the issuance of final decree not considered a ministerial duty?
The Chief of the General Land Registration Office acts not an administrative officer but as an officer of the court.
Functions of the LRA Administrator
p. 80
What is the exception to the general rule that ministerial functions can be compelled by mandamus?
The LRA cannot be compelled by Mandamus to issue decree.
Does the SC have the power to investigate the LRA Administrator?
No. LRA Administrators are executive officers with a judicial rank.
Is the Office of the Register of Deeds mandated to investigate further than necessary the documents presented before it? That they shall be authentic?
No.
The Register of Deeds may suspend registration of a voluntary transaction on the ground that the subject property is involved in litigation. T or F.
True. It may be suspended to await the outcome of a suit to determine the validity of the different conveyances. They may also not issue a decree in cases where they find that such would result to the double titling of the same parcel of land.
Can the Registrar of Deeds be cited in Contempt of Court if in the exercise of his quasi-judicial functions?
No. This Court finds that contempt is not the proper remedy. The said applicant may appeal by consulta to the Commissioner of the Land Registration Authority.
Instances where the Register of Deeds may dent registration.
p. 90
What is registration?
Any entry made in the books of registry, including both registration in its ordinary and strict sense, and cancellation, annotation, and even marginal notes.
It is the entry made in the registry which records solemnly and permanently the right of ownership and other real rights.
Kinds of registration
1) Under the Property Registration Decree
2) Judicial Confirmation of Imperfect Title
3) Under the Indigenous People’s Rights Act
Registration under the Property Registration Decree
When the title to land is made of public record for the first time in the name of its lawful owner.
Who may apply under the Property Registration Decree?
Under Sec. 14 of PD1529,
1) OCENA (those who have been in an open, continuous, exclusive, 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 land by prescription
3) those who have acquired rights by right of accretion or accession
4) those who have acquired ownership of land in any other manner provided for by law.
What is an alienable and disposable land?
Lands of the public domain which have not been declared as needed for forest purposes.
a. Patrimonial lands
B. Lands of the public domain
A property classified as alienable and disposable land of the public domain still remains to be property of public dominion. T or F.
T. There must be an express declaration by the State that the public dominion property is no longer intended for public service or development.
Conversion of a land from public dominion to patrimonial shall be declared through?
A law by Congress or Presidential
Poclamation.
Classification of public lands according to its alienability
a. agricultural
b. forest
c. timber
d. mineral
e. national parks
Disposition of public lands
Sec. 11 of Public Land Act (CA141)
a. homestead settlement
b. sale
c. lease
d. by confirmation of imperfect or incomplete titles
e. judicial legalization
f. administrative legalization
How to establish land subject as alienable and disposable?
1) CENRO or PENRO certification
2) certified true copy of the original classification made by the DENR secretary
Modes of acquisition of possession of property according to the Civil Code
1) occupation
2) intellectual creation
3) law
4) donation
5) succession
6) tradition in consequence of certain contracts
7) prescription
Essential requisites to acquire property by accretion under Art. 457
1) that the accumulation of soil or sediment be gradual and imperfeptible
2) that it be the result of the action of the waters of the river
3) that the land where the accretion takes place is adjacentt to the bank of the river
An accretion does not automatically become registered land, it may be subject to acquisition through prescription by third persons. T or F.
True.
Lands formed by action of the sea as accretion form part of the public domain. T or F.
True.
Confirmation of imperfect or incomplete titles
1) judicial confirmation
2) administrative legalization
2 concepts of possession
1) owner
2) holder
Requirements for application of free patents
1) applicant must be a natural-born Filipino citizen
2) applicant must own more than 12has. of land
3) applicant must have continuously occupied and cultivated the land
4) occupation and cultivation must be for at least 30 years before April 15, 1990 (effectivity of RA 6940)
5. Payment of taxes
According to Sec. 45, Chapter 7 of CA141, the time to file applications for confirmation shall not extend beyond Dec 31, 2020.
True.
Administrative registration of title
- DENR
a. Free patent
b. Homestead patent
c. Sales patent
d. Miscellaneous sales application
e. Residential free patent
f. Special patent by virtue of a presidential proclamation - DAR
a. emancipation patent
b. certificate of land ownership award - National Commission of Indigenous People
a. Certificate of Ancestral Domain of Title
b. Certificate of Ancestral Land Title
(mere recognition of a native title, not a part of torrens system)
Homestead patent v. Free patent
HP: issued to any citizen of this country, over the age of 18 or head of the family who does not own more than 24 hectares of land in the Philippines or has not had the benefit of any gratuitous allotment of more than 24 hectares of land since the occupation of the Philippines by the US. 1yr residency and cultivation of 1/5th of land
FP: 12 hectares naman tapos for at least 30 years prior to the effectivity of RA6940
Registration
Any entry made in the books of general registry including the cancellation, annotation, and even marginal notes.
Kinds of Deed Registrations
- Voluntary
2. Involuntary
Registration Procedure in General
- Entry of Document
- Payment of fees
- Surrender of Owner’s and Co-owner’s Duplicate Certificates
- Examination by Deeds Examiner
- Review of Register of Deeds
- Registration or Denial Thereof by Register of Deeds
Every person dealing with registered land may safely rely on the correctness of the certificate of title issued therefore and the law will not oblige him to go beyond the certificate to determine the condition of the property. T or F.
True.
Attachment
A writ issued at the institution or during the progress of an action, commanding the sheriff or other public officer to attach the property, rights, credits, or effects of the defendant to satisfy the demands of the plaintiff.
Preliminary attachment v. garnishment
PA: involves actual seizure of the property, specific lien is acquired
G: property remains with garnishee with no specific lien acquired
Levy of an execution
Act or acts by which an officer sets apart or appropriates for the purpose of satisfying the command of the writ, a part or the whole of the judgment debtor’s property. Shall be filed with the office of the register of deeds.
Requisites of an adverse claim
a. alleged right or interest
b. how and under whom such alleged right or interest is acquired
c. description of the land in which the right or interest is claimed
d. certificate of title number
Adverse claims remains valid even after the lapse of the 30-day period. T or F.
True.
Lis Pendens
An announcement to the whole world that a particular real property is in litigation.
Instances where notice of lis pendens is proper
a. an action to recover possession of real estate
b. an action to quiet title thereto
c. an action to remove clouds thereon
d. an action for partition
e. any other proceedings of any kind in Court directly affecting the title to the land or the use or occupation thereof or the buildings thereon
The doctrine of lis pendens also applies to recovery of money judgment. T or F.
False.
Breach of trust is a ground to claim against the Assurance Fund claim. T or F.
False.
Prescription of the claim for assurance fund
6 years
An action for reconveyance may be filed against an innocent purchaser. T or F.
False.
What is the assurance fund?
It is set aside by law to pay those who lose their land and suffer damages as a consequence of the operation of the Torrens system.
Requisites for incomplete/imperfect title or claim to a land to be originally registered under Act No. 496
- Survey of land by the Bureau of Lands or a duly licensed private surveyor
- Filing an application for registration by the applicant
- Setting of the date for the initial hearing of the application by the Court
- Transmittal of the application and the date of the initial hearing together with all the documents or other pieces of evidence attached thereto by the Clerk of Court to the Land Registration Commission
- Publication of a notice of the filing of the application and the date and place of the hearing in the Official Gazette
- Service of notice upon contiguous owners, occupants and those known to have interests in the property by the sheriff
- Filing of answer to the application by any person whether named in the notice or not
- Hearing of the case by the court
- Promulgation of judgment by the court
- Issuance of the decree by the court declaring the decision final and instructing the Land Registration Commission to issue a decree of confirmation and registration
- Entry of the decree of registration in the Land Registration Commission
- Sending of copy of the decree of registration to the corresponding Register of Deeds
- Transcription of the decree of registration in the registration book and the issuance of the owner’s duplicate original certificate of title to the applicant by the Register of Deeds, upon payment of the prescribed fees.
Survey
Process by which a parcel of land is measured and its boundaries and contests ascertained; also a map, plat or statement of the result of such survey, with the courses and distances and the quantity of the land.
No plan or survey may be admitted in land registration proceedings until approved by the Director of Lands. T or F.
True.
The court shall, within 5 days from filing of the application, issue an order setting the date and hour of the initial hearing which shall not be earlier than 45 days nor later than 90 days from the date of the order. T or F.
True.
Means to give the public notice of the initial hearing
- publication
- mailing; and
- posting
If a claimant fails to present his answer or objection within a period of one year after the certificate of title had been issued, he has forever lost his right in said land. T or F
True.
