 Acquisition of land, not limited to Sec 9 CA 141, alienable and disposable lands of

within the age of majority public domain are

o Acquisition of land by
1. Agricultural
succession
2. Residential, commercial, industrial, or
o Sec 22 CA 141- head of family,
for similar purposes
not of legal age, acquire lands
3. Educational, charitable, or other similar
 Allowable land area
purposes
o Lands of public domain
4. Reservation for townsites or for public
 1986 Consti and the
and quasi-public uses
Public Land Act
 Not more than Those who acquire lands thru provisions of CA
12 has by 141 shall be given a patent
purchase,
Patent
homestead, or
grant  contract conveying a land subject to the
o Private lands conditions
 BP 185 and RA 7042,  between grantor (govt) and the grantee
former filipino citizens; (private individual)
 Residential
lands CA 141 Acquisitions of lands;
o 1000sq 1. Homestead Patent
m max 2. Free Patent (agri land)
(urban) 3. Free Patent (residential land) RA 10023
o 1 ha 4. Sales Patent
(rural)
 Commercial Jurisdiction over land disposition and
lands acquisition
o 5000 1. Sec 89 CA 141- Bureau of lands over
sqm lands registered under the Public Land
(urban) Act
o 3 has 2. Sec 14 DENR Charter- LMB director
(rural) shall assist the DENR secretary as
 Juridical Persons (Art 44 Civil Code) Executive officer (have direct control of
o The state and its political the survey, classification, lease, sale, or
subdivisions any other form of concessions/
o Other corporations, institutions, disposition and management of the
and entities for public interest/ lands of public domain
purpose, created by law (govt
owned and controlled Homestead Patent
corporations) 1. Be a citizen of the Ph.
o Corporations, partnerships, and 2. Over 18 years of age or head of the
associations for private family
interest/ purpose
 3. Does not own > 12 has of land or has
not had the benefit of any gratuitous
allotment of more than 12 has of land.
Applicants must do: Before issuance of
homestead patent
1. Reside continuously for at least 1 year
in the municipality where the land lies
or municipality adjacent
2. Cultivate at least 1/5 of the land
continuously since the approval of
application
3. Affidavit- no part of the land has been
alienated or encumbered
4. Comply with the req. of the law
5. Pay fees for application
Free Patent
1. natural born ph. Citizen
2. not owner of < 12 ha
3. continuous occupation and cultivation,
by himself or thru his predecessors in
interest, of land (not less than 30 years)
4. payment of real estate tax
5. application shall not be beyond Dec 31,
2020 (RA 9176)
6. publication of notice in the municipality
and barrio where the and lies
7. …and opportunity of adverse claimants
to present their claim
RA 10023 Free Patent for Residential Land
Qualifications
1. Filipino citizen
2. Land classified as residential by LGU
3. Area applied not to exceed
a. 200 sqm (highly urbanized
cities)
b. 500 sqm other cities
c. 750 sqm (1st and 2nd class
muni.)
1
Conveyance- legal process, transferring property
from one owner to
d. 1000 sqm (all other muni)
Prohibition against alienation or encumbrance
 Land acquired under free patent/
homestead shall not be subject to
encumbrance/ alienation
o from the date of approval of
the application
o and for a term of five years
from and after the date of
issuance of the patent
 nor shall they become liable to the
satisfaction of any debt
 improvement or crops on the land may
be mortgaged or pledged to qualified
persons, associations, or corporations.
Right of repurchase
 land acquired under free patent/
homestead
o subject to repurchase by the
applicant, his widow, or legal
heirs within a period of five
years from the date of
conveyance1
Sales Patent- may be applied for by;
1. ph. Citizen, legal age
2. head of the family
3. a corporation or association at least
60% of capital stock of which belongs
wholly to filipinos, and corp./ or assoc.
must be organized under Phil Laws
 Procedural reqs
o Appraisal by the LMB of the
land sold
o Publication of notice of sale
once a week for 6 weeks in OG
and in 2 newspaper (Manila and
province/ muni where land lies)
 o Posting (not < 30 days of notice
of sale in bulletin board of LM
provincial bldg., muni bldg.,
brgy hall)
o Submission of bids to lmb with
enclosed cash/ check/ treasury
warrant
Marshy Land
 Marshy lands2 are disposed of to
private parties by lease only and not
otherwise
o Amended Sec 61 CA 141
 Already improved and
have been utilized for
farming, fishpond,
other similar purposes
for at least 5 yrs
 May be sold to lessees3
 As soons as president
declare
 Upon recommendation
of the DENR secretary
(not necessary for
public service)
Foreshore, submerged, and reclaimed lands
 Disposed of to private parties by lease
and not otherwise
 Property of public dominion,
inalienable, outside the commerce of
man4
 To alienate submerged lands or
foreshore, may do so by means of
reclamation
 PEA needs authorization from DENR
before reclamation projects
Entities which may undertake reclamation
2 4
A marsh is a type of wetland, an area of land where
water covers ground for long periods of time.
3 5
tenant
The Phil Reclamation Authority (formerly PEA)-
created to reclaim land including foreshore and
submerged areas by dredging, filing, or other
means.
The Public Estate Authority- primarily
responsible for integrating, directing, and
coordinating all reclamation proj. for and on
behalf of the nat’l govt.
Requisites of valid reclamation project
1. Approval by the president
2. Favorable recommendation of PEA
3. Undertaken by any;
a. pea
b. any person/ entity pursuant to
a contract it executed with the
PEA
c. national gov’t agency
authorized under its charter to
reclaim lands subject to
consultation with PEA
Phil Reclamation Authority
 primarily5 responsible
 does not mention that it has exclusive
and sole power and authority to reclaim
ands of the public domain
Disposition of reclaimed lands
1. shall be surveyed
2. declaration of president that reclaimed
land is not necessary for public service
and open to disposition or by passage
of a law authorizing the sale
3. proclamation by the president, upon
recommendation of the DENR,
classifying the lands as alienable or
disposable lands of the public domain
4. issuance of sales patent
not capable of being owned, possessed, acquired,
and transferred
Mainly, principally, mostly, generally
Who can purchase reclaimed lands?
 Only natural person and not a private
corporation
 1987 consti, lands of public domain can
be acquired by private corp only by
lease
 Barred from acquiring any kind of
alienable land of public domain
Registration of Patents
 The patent of conveyance from the govt
to the grantee shall not take effect as a
conveyance or bind the land but shall
operate only as a contract between
them as evidence of authority to the
register of deeds to make registration
Limitations on land acquired under the public
land act
1. No land to be granted when such grant
will affect injuriously the use of
adjoining land or of waters, rivers,
foreshore, roads
2. Minerals, excluded from the grant
3. Grants of land subject to public
servitudes
4. Land subject to right of way, not > 20 m
in width for public highways, railroads,
irrigations, ditches, etc.
5. Reservation of right to regulate use of
waters
6. Reservation for power purposes of flow
of waters
7. Prohibition against conveyance,
alienation, or encumbrance except to
qualified person
Registration under PD 1529
6
In rem jurisdiction ("power about or against 'the
thing'") is a legal term describing the power a court
may exercise over property (either real or personal)
 Not to create/ vest title but to confirm
and register title already created and
vested
 Protects only the holders of a title in
good faith
 Does not permit its provisions to be
used as a shield for the commission of
fraud
In rem proceedings
 Judicial proceedings for the land
registration in the phils
o shall be in rem6
o shall be based on the generally
acceptable principle underlying
the Torrens system
Jurisdiction
 defined as power to hear and decide
cases
 power with which courts are invested
with the power of administering justice
 in order for the court to have authority
to dispose of a case on the merits, it
must acquire jurisdiction over the
subject matter and the parties
which court has jurisdiction over land
registration cases?
 Regional trial court-
o Have exclusive jurisdiction over
all applications for original
registration of title to lands
with power to hear and
determine all questions arising
upon such applications or
petitions
 Metropolitan trial courts, municipal
trial courts, and municipal circuit trial
courts
or a "status" against a person over whom the court
does not have in personam jurisdiction
 o May hear and determine
cadastral/ land registration
cases covering lots where there
is no controversy or opposition
or contested lots where the
value of which does not exceed
P 100, 000.00.
How is the value of land determined?
1. Affidavit of the claimant
2. Agreement of the respective claimants
3. Tax declaration of real property
Who may file application of registration over
the land?
1. Those who by themselves
a. Or through their predecessors
in interest have been in open,
continuous. Exclusive, and
notorious possession and
occupation of a&d lands of the
public domain under a bonafide
claim of ownership since June
12 1945
2. … who have acquired ownership of
private lands by prescriptions
3. …who have acquired ownership of
private/ abandoned river beds by right
of accession/ accretion
4. …who have acquired ownership of land
in any other manner provided by law
Requisites of judicial confirmation of
incomplete or imperfect title
1. The property in question
a. A&D land of the public domain
2. The applicants by themselves/ through
their predecessors in interest have
been in open7, continuous8, exclusive,
7 9
When it is visible and apparent (obvious) to a
common observer
8
Consists of uninterrupted acts of non-permissive
possession of property by the current occupants and
their predecessor
and notorious9 possession and
occupation
3. The possession is under a bona fide
claim of ownership since June 12, 1945
or earlier.
When should an applicant’s possession be
reckoned?
 As long as at the time of the application
for registration, the land has already
been declared part of the a&d
agricultural public lands
Are tax declaration evidence or proof of
ownership?
 Proof that real property taxes are paid
for.
 Not sufficient evidence of ownership
 Prima facie evidence of possession or
claim of ownership
Prescription on Sec 14
 One acquires and other real rights
through lapse of time in the manner
and under conditions laid down by law.
 Acquisitive prescription
o Ordinary - requires possession
in good faith and with just title
for ten years
o Extraordinary – without good
faith and just title which
requires uninterrupted adverse
possession for 30 yrs
Elements of ordinary acquisitive prescription
1. Possession of things in good faith
2. With just title
3. For the time fixed by law
Conspicuous that it is generally known and talked
of by the public or at least by the people in the
vicinity of the premises
 4. Possession in concept of an owner,
public, peaceful, and uninterrupted
Good faith, just title
 Possession is in good faith = reasonable
belief
o The person (whom the thing is
received) has been the owner
thereof and could thereby
transmit his ownership
 Just a title
o Adverse claimant comes into
possession of the property
through any of the modes
recognized by law
o But the grantor is neither the
owner nor in a position to
transmit the right
Requirements of ordinary acquisitive
prescription
1. Uninterrupted adverse possession for
30 yrs
2. Without need of title or good faith
3. It the concept of an owner
Coverage of section 14(2) PD 1529
 Applies only to private lands or
patrimonial lands
 Does not apply to alienable and
disposable lands (owned by the state)
of public domain
Accretion on Sec 14(3) – is the process whereby
the soil is deposited along the banks of rivers.
 Gradual and imperceptible10
 Made through the effects of the current
of water and
10
unnoticeable
11
Consists of water, a bed, and banks. It is a
compound idea; it cannot exist without all its parts.
Evaporate the water, and you have a dry hollow. If
 Taking place on land adjacent to the
river banks
Laws on Ownership of Accretion
1. The accretion belongs to the owners of
lands adjoining the bank or rivers
2. River beds which are abandoned
through the natural change in the
course of the water
o belong to the owners whose
lands are occupied by the new
course in the proportion to the
area lost
o shall have the right to acquire
the same by paying the value of
the area occupied by the new
be
3. Islands formed thru successive
accumulation of alluvial deposits are
formed in non-navigable and non-
floatable rivers11 belong
o to the owners of the margins
nearest to each of them
o to the owners of both margins
if the island is in the middle of
the river, divided longitudinally
in halves
4. single island formed, the owner of the
nearer margin shall be the sole owner
thereof
*When formed by actions of man, not by
nature, it is part of the public domain
Effects of accretion
1. to vest on the riparian12 owners the
automatic ownerships over lands
2. lands bordering on streams are
exposed to floods and other damages
you could sink the bed, instead of a river, you would
have a fathomless gulf. Remove the banks and you
have a boundless flood. (from slide)
12
relating to or situated on the banks of a river.
 due to the destructive force of the
waters,
a. it is only just that such risks or
damages as may prejudice the
owners thereof should in some
way be compensated by the
right of accretion.
Accretion if favor of the state
 Art 462: river, changing its course by
natural cause, opens a new bed through
a private state, this bed shall become of
public dominion
 Art 464: islands formed on the seas
within the jurisdiction of the
Philippines, on lakes, and on navigable
or floatable rivers belong to the state.
Other modes of acquisition Sec 14(4)
1. Donation
2. Succession
3. Sale
Donation- an act of liberty, a person disposes
gratuitously of a thing or right in favor of
another who accepts it.
 Requisites of valid donation
(immovable)
1. Must be made in a public
document
2. Acceptance must be made by
donee13 in the same deed of
donation, or in separate
document, during the lifetime
of the donor
Succession- by virtue of which the property,
rights, and obligations to the extent of value of
the inheritance of a person are transmitted
13
Person who receives gift
14
A person who has died
15
the change in intention of one having legal
possession of real or personal property whereby the
through his death to another or others either
by his will or by operation of law.
Right to the succession are transmitted from
the moment of death of the decedent14
Contract of sale- one of the parties obligates
himself to transfer the ownership and to deliver
a determine thing and the other to pay, a price
certain in money or its equivalent.
Elements of sale
 Subject matter
 Price certain
 Terms of payment of the price
Subject matter of sale of land
 What defines the land is not area but
the boundaries laid down as enclosing
the land and indicating its limits.
 Important: there is in fact an object
which is determinate or at least
determinable
Price certain
1. Parties have fixed/ agreed upon a
definite amount
2. It be certain with reference to another
thing certain
3. Determination of the price; left to the
judgment of a specified person
Delivery, how made
1. By the execution of a public document
2. By symbolic delivery of keys along with
the recording of the sale with the
register of deeds
3. Tradicion constitutum possessorium15
which the vendor remains in actual
possession of the property in so other
original possessor of the property remains in control
but transfers the legal possession to another
 concept such as lessee or tradicion
brevi manu16 which the possessor
changes the character of his possession,
from lessee to owner
STEPS IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER FOR THE
REFISTRATION OF TITLE TO LAND UNDER 1529
1. Survey of the land
2. Preparation and filing of the
application
3. Setting of the date for the hearing of
the application by the court
4. Transmittal by the clerk of court to the
land registration authority (lra) the
duplicate of the application and the
date of initial hearing together with all
the documents attached thereto
5. Publication of notice of the filing of the
application and the date and place of
hearing once in a newspaper of general
circulation and once in the official
gazette
6. Service of notice upon contiguous
owners, occupants, and those known to
have interest in the property by the
sheriff
7. Filing of the answer to the application
by any person whether named in the
notice or not
8. Hearing of the case by the court and
the presentation of evidence
9. Promulgation17 of the judgment by the
court
10. Issuance of an order by the court
declaring the judgment final and
instructing the LRA to issue the decree
of registration
11. Entry of the decree of registration in
the LRA
12. Sending copy of the decree of
registration by the LRA to the
corresponding Registrar of Deeds
16
who is already in possession of the item but not as
the owner of the item.
13. Transcription of the decree of
registration in the registration book and
the issuance of the owner’s copy of the
original certificate of title
Section 17 PD 1529- What and where to file
 Filed with the Court of First Instance
(RTC) (prov. Or city) where lands is
situated
 File together with the application all
original muniments of titles
 Copies
 Survey plan of the land approved by the
bureau of lands
 The clerk of court shall not accept any
application unless it is shown that the
applicant has furnished the Director of
Lands with a copy of the application
and all annexes
Form of application
1. Shall be in writing
2. Signed by the applicant or the person
duly authorized in his behalf
3. Sworn to before any officer authorized
to administer oaths for the province or
city where the application was actually
signed
Contents of the Application
1. Contain a description (land)
2. Citizenship and civil status of the
applicant (single/married)
a. If the marriage has been legally
dissolved;
b. When and how the marriage
relation terminated
3. Full name and addresses of all
occupants (land) and those of the
adjoining owners
a. If known, and if not known;
17
to make known by open declaration
 b. Shall state the extent of the
search made to find them
Notice of application
 the public, notice of initial hearing of
the application for land reg. by means
of
1. publication
2. mailing
3. posting
 LRA is responsible for the compliance
with the notice reqs. Of PD 1529
PUBLICATION
 LRA shall cause notice of initial hearing
to be published once in the official
gazette and once in a newspaper of
general circulation in the Ph.
 The publication in OG shall be sufficient
to confer18 jurisdiction upon court
MAILING
 LRA shall within 7 days after publication
of notice in the OG cause a copy of the
notice of initial hearing to be mailed to
every person named in the notice
whose address is known
 Other persons/offices to be notified by
mail
1. Dept of Public Works and
Highways
2. Provincial governor and
city/municipal mayor
3. Dept of Agrarian Reform
4. Office of the Solicitor General
5. Lands Management Bureau
6. Bureau of Forestry
7. Director of Mines
8. Director of Fisheries and
Aquatic Resources
18
grant
POSTING
 LRA shall cause a duly attested
copy of the notice of initial
hearing to be posted by the
sheriff (prov or city) or by his
deputy
o in a conspicuous place
on the bulletin board
(municipal or city)
o at least 14 days before
the date of initial
hearing
 it is the right of any person
claiming an interest where
named in the notice or not,
o to appear and file an
opposition
o on or before the date of
initial hearing
o or within such further
time as may be allowed
by the court
Opposition- oppositor shall
1. State all the objections
2. Set forth the interest claimed
3. Apply for the remedy desired
4. Swear by himself/ someone on his
behalf the opposition
Trial and Judgment
 Either conducted by court or through a
commissioner19
 All conflicting claims of ownership and
interest in the subject land shall be
determined by the court
 If court fins that the applicant/
oppositor has sufficient title proper for
registration
19
a representative of the supreme authority in an
area.
  Judgment shall be rendered20
confirming the title of the applicant/
oppositor to the land/ portions thereof
Finality of Judgment
 Judgment rendered in a land
registration proceeding becomes final
upon the expiration of 30 days to be
counted from the date of receipt of
notice of the judgment
 After judgment has become final and
executory, it shall devolve upon the
court to forthwith21 issue an order to
the commissioner (LRA)
 for the issuance of the decree of
registration and the corresponding
certificate of title in favor of the person
adjudged entitled to registration
Certificate of Finality
 The clerk of court shall send
o certified copies of judgment
and
o of the order of the court
directing the LRA
 to issue the
o decree of registration
o and certificate of title,
o and certificate stating that the
decision has not been
 amended,
reconsidered, nor
appealed, and has
become final.
Issuance and entry of decree
 the LRA shall cause to be prepared
o the decree of registration
o as well as the original and
duplicate of the corresponding
original certificate of title
20
Provide/give/deliver
 the oct shall be a true copy of the
decree of registration
 the original and duplicate copies of the
OCT shall be sent to the Register of
Deeds (ROD) of the city/ province
where the land lies for entry in the
registration book
 ROD, send notice by mail to the
registered owner and shall be delivered
to him upon payment of legal fees
Lapse of one year from issuance of decree
 Before the expiration of one year, the
decree of registration may be reopened
only by reason of actual fraud
 Decree shall not be reopened or revised
by reason of absence, minority, or
other disability of any person adversely
affected thereby
 Or where an innocent purchaser for
value has acquired the land or an
interest therein, whose rights may be
prejudiced,
 After a year, the decree and the COT
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
21
immediately; without delay.