Land Titles and Deeds Part III. Discussion Guide on Land Registration and the Torrens System Atty.

Erwin L. Tiamson

I. General Concepts in Land Registration A. Importance of Land Registration 1. Provide order and stability in society by creating security in property ownership not only for landowners but also for investors, bankers, government, etc. 2. The systems of land registration are frequently directed at protecting the interests of individual landowners but they are also instruments of national land policy and mechanisms to support economic development. B. Function of Land Registration 1. Every land administration system should include some form of land registration, which is a process for recording, and in some countries guaranteeing, information about the ownership of land. 2. Land registration is a process of ofcial recording of rights in land through deeds or as title on properties. It means that there is an ofcial record (land register) of rights on land or of deeds concerning changes in the legal situation of dened units of land. It gives an answer to the questions who and how. In some countrys, this information regarding ownership of identiable parcel units are contained in a cadastre 3. The function of land registration is to provide a safe and certain foundation for the acquisition, enjoyment and disposal of such rights in land. C. Meaning of Registration 1. In general, registration means any entry made in the books of the registry including the cancellation, annotation and even the marginal notes. 2. In its strict sense, it is the entry made in the registry which record solemnly and permanently the rights of ownership and other real rights. 3. The mere presentation of a document is not equivalent to registration. D. Title and Deed System Distinguished 1. Deed Registration - the deed itself, being a document which describes an isolated transaction, is registered. This deed is evidence that a particular transaction took place, but it is in principle not in itself proof of the legal rights of the involved parties and, consequently, it is not evidence of its legality. Thus before any dealing can be safely effected, the ostensible owner must trace his ownership back to a good root of title. 2. Title Registration - it is not the deed describing the transfer of rights but the legal consequence of the transaction or the right itself that is registered. With this registration the title or right is created. This system shifts the balance signicantly towards facility of transfer. It provides a public register of interests in land and enables a purchaser who complies with the system to acquire ownership free of a prior interest which is not recorded in the register.

Land Titles and Deeds Part III. Discussion Guide on Land Registration and the Torrens System Atty. Erwin L. Tiamson

3. Deed registration is concerned with the registration of the legal fact and while title registration is concerned with the legal consequence of that fact. In other words, the relation between deed and title registration is similar to the relation between legal facts and legal consequences. E. Land Adjudication and Land Registration (Registration of Title) 1. Adjudication is the rst function that the system of land registration has to fulll. It is the most common form of rst or original registration. In most cases it is called land titling. It deals with the initial compilation of land titles in the registers through the determination of tenurial right holder to the land. F. Subsequent Transactions and Transfers of Right (Registration of Deeds) 1. Takes place when a deed or instrument affecting land is made of public record after the date of its original registration. 2. Simple transfer of rights - a person takes the interest of person in a property unit as the same well-dened parcel. 3. Transfers of rights with property changes - The transaction caused the formation of a new property unit. In this kind of transfer the property as a unit and not only the interest on the property changes as a result of the transfer. This means that the existing registers have to be updated due to subsequent changes in the boundaries of the parcel by reason of subdivision or consolidation of the property. This changes are caused by subdivision or consolidation of land and involves an elaborate procedure of delineation of the new property unit/s. The new owner or his interest will have to be connected to the newly formed parcels. G. General Legal Principles in Land Registration 1. The Booking - a change in real rights on an immovable property, especially by transfer, is not legally effected until the change or the expected right is booked or registered in the land register; 2.The Consent - the real entitled person who is booked as such in the register must give his consent for a change of the inscription in the land register; 3.The Publicity - the legal registers are open for public inspection, the published facts can be upheld as being correct by third parties in good faith and can be protected by law; and 4.The Specialty - the concerned subject (owners and rights holders) and object (real property dened as a parcel) is unambiguously and clearly identied. H. Effect of Registration in the Torrens System 1. The Mirror Principle - the register is supposed to reect the correct legal situation on the parcel; 2. The Curtain Principle - no further historical investigation on the title beyond what is stated register is necessary; and

Land Titles and Deeds Part III. Discussion Guide on Land Registration and the Torrens System Atty. Erwin L. Tiamson

3. The Insurance or Guarantee Principle - the State guarantees that what is registered is true for third parties in good faith and that a bona de rightful claimant who is contradicted by the register is reimbursed from an insurance fund of the state. II. Torrens System A. Background B. Purpose of the Torrens System in General 1. One is to provide security of ownership, that is, it should protect an owner against being deprived of ownership except by his or her own act or by specic operation of a legal process such as expropriation or debt collection. 2.Provide facility of transfer, that is, it should enable anyone, particularly a purchaser, to acquire ownership easily, quickly, cheaply and safely. Unfortunately, the measure designed to achieve one of these purposes is likely to militate against achieving the othe C. Aims of the Torrens System 1. Title to land should be acquired by registration; 2. Title to land should be, as far as possible, secure and indefeasible; 3. A purchaser should not need to go behind the register to investigate the root of the title; 4. The register should reect as accurately as possible the true state of title to land so that persons who propose to deal with land can discover all the facts relative to the tile; 5. The system for the transfer of land should be efcient, effective and simple; and 6. There should be an adequate compensation where an innocent purchase owner has suffered loss due to the operation of the system. D. Torrens System in the Philippines 1. Mirror Principles a) Original Registration (1) Through Court Registration Proceedings Conrming Title to Land (a) Ordinary (Chapter III, Part 1) - Voluntary (b) Cadastral (Chapter III, Part 2) - Compulsory (2) Through Registration of Patents Issued by the Government (Section 103, PD 1529) b) Identication of Owners and Tenure Holders

Land Titles and Deeds Part III. Discussion Guide on Land Registration and the Torrens System Atty. Erwin L. Tiamson

(1) Statement of personal circumstances in the certicate. (Section 45 of PD No. 1529) c) Identify of the Land (1) Survey of the land before registration (Section 15 for original voluntary registration and Section 35 and 36 for Cadastral) (2) Approval of the subdivision survey of the land before issuance of new derivative titles; (Section 50, PD No. 1529) 2. Curtain Principle a) Every registered owner receiving a certicate of title in pursuance of a decree of registration and every subsequent purchaser of registered land taking a certicate of title for value and in good faith holds the same free form all encumbrance except those noted in the certicate. (Section 44, PD No. 1529); b) No title to registered land in derogation of the title of the registered owner shall be acquire by prescription. (Section 47, PD No. 1529) c) A certicate of title shall not be subject to collateral attack. It cannot be altered, modied or cancelled except in a direct proceeding in accordance with law (Section 48, PD No. 1529) d) Case Law: Where innocent third persons relying on the correctness of the certicate of title issued, acquire rights over the property, the court cannot disregard such rights and order the total cancellation of the certicate for that would impair the public condence in the torrens system. (Soliven v. Francisco, GR No. 51450, Feb. 10, 1989; Duran v. IAC, GR No. L-64159, Sep. 10, 1985) e) Exceptions: (1) Statutory Liens and Restrictions (a) Liens, claims or rights under the law which are not required to appear of record in the Registry of Deeds (b) Unpaid real estate taxes levied and assessed within 2 years (c) Public high ways/canals or private way if the title does not state that the boundaries of such highway have been determined (d) Disposition pursuant to agrarian reform law (e) Registered land are subject to burdens and incident as any arise by operation of law. (f) Registered owners not relieved of the following incident on land. i) Rights incident to marital relation; ii) Landlord and tenant

Land Titles and Deeds Part III. Discussion Guide on Land Registration and the Torrens System Atty. Erwin L. Tiamson

iii) Liability to attachment or levy on execution iv) Liability to any lien of any description established by law on the land and the buildings v) Change the laws of descent vi) Rights of partition between co- owners vii) Right to take the same by eminent domain viii) Liability to be recovered by an assignee in insolvency or trustee in bankruptcy under the laws relative to preferences ix) Change or affect in any way other rights or liabilities created by law and applicable to unregistered land, except as otherwise provided in this Decree. (g) Restrictions on Patentsi) In General - free patents and homestead patents issued by the government are subject to restrictions regarding transfer and mortgage under Sections 118, 119, 120, 121 and 122 of the present Public Land Act. Sales patents on the other hand are covered by Sections 121 and 122. A qualied restrictions on all patents sold be national cultural minorities are covered by Section 120. Republic Act No. 730 that provides for the direct sale of residential lands has restrictions on transfer and encumbrance of 15 years, however, the same was removed by Presidential Decree No. 2004 in 1985 declaring that paragraph 2 of the said law is too onerous and prevents utilization of the land. Republic Act No. 10023 altogether removed the restrictions that are attached to Free Patents under Section 5. The policy of the government recently is to encourage he development of formal land market by making the titles to the land tradable. ii) All public land patents issued to applicants does not convey title to all kinds of mineral resources as the same remain to be property of the State. (Section 110, PLA) iii) The land patented shall likewise be subject to public servitudes that exist upon lands owned by private persons, including those with reference to the littoral of the sea and the banks of navigable rivers (Section 111, PLA). iv) The state likewise reserves a right of way not exceeding sixty (60) meters for public highways, railroads, irrigation, ditches, aqueducts, telegraph and telephone lines and similar works as the government or any public or quasi-public service or enterprise including mining or forest concessionaires, may reasonably require for carrying on its business, with damages to improvements only.

Land Titles and Deeds Part III. Discussion Guide on Land Registration and the Torrens System Atty. Erwin L. Tiamson

v) Republic Act No. 1273 amended Section 90 of the PLA and provided that a strip forty (40) meters wide starting from the bank on each side of any river or stream that may be found on the land patented shall be demarcated and preserved as permanent timberland to be planted exclusively to trees of known economic value, and that the grantee shall not make any clearing thereon or utilize the same for ordinary farming purposes even after patent shall have been issued to him or a contract of lease shall have been executed in his favor. (2) Deferred indefeasibility (a) In Decree - the case cannot be reopened except if such decree was obtained by actual fraud, action should be led within 1 year after the issuance of decree. (Section 32) (b) In Patents - the date of the issuance of patents corresponds to the date of the issue of the decree in ordinary registration cases, because the decree nally awards the land applied for registration to the party entitle to it and the patent issued by the Director of Lands equally and nally grants, awards and conveys the land applied for to the applicant. The purpose and effect of both the decree and the paten is the same (Case Law: Sumail vs. Judge CFI of Cotobato, GR No. L-8278, April 30, 1955) (c) Exception to the exception - If the property was acquired by an innocent purchaser for value, then the one year period will not apply. (3) Reconveyance (a) A legal and equitable remedy granted to the rightful land owner of land which has been wrongfully or erroneously registered in the name of another for purpose of compelling the latter to transfer or reconvey the land to him. (b) Prescription of Action for Reconveyance i) Action base on Fraud - 10 years from the issuance of title or date of registration of deed. (Caro v. CA, GR No. 76148, Dec. 201989; Leyson v. Bontuyan, GR No. 156357, Feb. 18, 2005; Casipit v. CA, GR No. 96829, Dec. 9, 1991) ii) Action base on implied trust - 10 years after issuance of title or date of registration (Villagonzalo v. IAC, GR No. 71110, Nov. 22, 1988; Amerol v. Bagumbaran) iii) Action base on void contract - Imprescriptible (Solid State Multi-Products Corp. v. CA GR No. 8338, May 6, 1991) iv) Action based on ctitious deed - imprescriptible (Lacsamana vs. CA, GR No. 121658, March 27, 1988)

Land Titles and Deeds Part III. Discussion Guide on Land Registration and the Torrens System Atty. Erwin L. Tiamson

v) Action to quiet title - imprescriptible when in possession (Sapto v. Fabiana, GR No. L-11285, May 16, 1958; Caragay-Layno v. CA GR No. 52064, Dec. 26, 1984; Leyson vs. Buntuyan) vi) Laches - is one of estoppel because it prevents people who have slept on their rights from prejudicing the rights of third parties who have placed reliance on the inaction of the original patentee and his successors in interest (Lucas vs. Gamponia, GR No. L-9335, Oct. 31, 1956) vii) Res Judicata - Court cancels the title (Roxas v. Court of Appeals, GR No. 138660, Feb. 5, 2004) viii) State not bound by prescription (Republic v. Ruiz, GR No. L-23712, April 29, 1968) (4) Laches - There is no statutory limit for recovery of a registered land. Since 1961, in the case of Edralin vs. Edralin (January 28, 1961, 1 SCRA 22), a long list of cases were decided upholding the doctrine. A word of caution, however, is necessary because the Supreme Court has decided on a case by case basis and it has not categorically set a specic time which could serve as a precedent. (5) Reversion - restoration of public land fraudulently awarded or disposed of to the mass of the public domain (a) Section 101 of the Public Land Act in relation to Section 35, Chapter XII, Title III of the Administrative Code of 1987 (EO No. 292); Action for reversion is instituted by the Solicitor General. (b) Grounds: Violation of the Constitution (6) Caveat Emptor - Although it is a recognized principle that a person dealing with registered land need not go beyond its certicate of Title, it is expected from the purchaser of a valued property to inquire rst into the status or nature of possession of the occupant, whether or not the occupants possess the land en concepto de dueo, in concept of an owner. (a) The rule of caveat emptor requires the purchasers to be aware of the supposed title of the vendor and one who buys without checking the vendors title takes all the risks and losses consequent to such failure. Possession by people other than the vendor wihtout making inquiry, cannot be regarded as bona de purchaser in good faith. (Dacasin v. Court of Appeals, GR No. L-32723, Oct 28, 1977, Roxas v. Court of Appeals, GR No. 138660, February 5, 2004). (b) Generally, circumstances which would have reasonably require the purchaser to investigate defects in title (Caram v. Laureta, GR No. L-28740, Feb. 24, 1981) (c) Rule applies to mortgages of real property (Crisostomo v. Court of Appeals, GR No. 91383, May 31, 1991)

Land Titles and Deeds Part III. Discussion Guide on Land Registration and the Torrens System Atty. Erwin L. Tiamson

(7) Faulty Registration (a) A certicate of title is not conclusive where it is a product of a faulty registration. (Widows and Orphans Associations, Inc. v. Court of Appeals, GR No. 919797) 3. Insurance Principle - Section 93 to 102 of PD No. 1529 The Assurance Fund is an indemnity fund created for the purpose of compensating a person who sustains loss or damage, or is deprived of land or any interest therein in consequence of the bringing of the land under the operation of the Torrens system or arising after original registration of the land, through fraud or in consequence of any error, omission, mistake or misdescription in any certicate of title or in any entry or memorandum in the registration book. The Fund is sourced from the amount collected by the register of deeds upon the entry of a certicate of title in the name of registered owner, as well as upon the original registration on the certicate of title of a building or other improvement on the land covered by said certicate equivalent to one-fourth of one per cent of the assessed value of the real estate on the basis of the last assessment for taxation purposes. All the money received by the register of deeds shall be paid to the National Treasurer who shall keep the same in an Assurance Fund which may be invested in the manner and form authorized by law. 4. Booking Principle a) The act of registration from the time of such registering, ling or entering before the register of deeds is the constructive notice and operative act to affect land that affects third persons (Sections 51-52). b) Presentation of owners duplicate necessary to transact voluntary registration (Section 54). c) Registration of the transaction in the primary entry book (Section 53). 5. Publicity a) Notice Requirement in Original and Cadastral proceedings - publication, mailing and posting. b) Certied copies of all instruments led and registered may also be obtained from the Register of Deeds upon payment of the prescribed fees. (Section 56) III. Registration of Title - See Discussion on Procedure (Administrative and Judicial) IV. Registration of Deeds A. Meaning - Registration of Deeds and other Instruments or subsequent registration takes place when a deed or instrument affecting land is made of public record after the date of its original registration. Thus, the registration of a sale, mortgage, lease, attachment, notice of levy or other encumbrances falls within the purview of subsequent registration. B. Kinds of Deed Registration - deed registration is either voluntary of involuntary registration of instruments.

Land Titles and Deeds Part III. Discussion Guide on Land Registration and the Torrens System Atty. Erwin L. Tiamson

1. Voluntary - are contracts or agreements willfully executed by the land owner or his duly authorized representative such as sales, leases, mortgages, donations, exchanges, trusts or variations thereof affecting real estate. 2. Involuntary - refers to those executed against the will or without the consent of the landowner contrary to his interest or will affect him adversely such as attachments, levy on execution, adverse claim, lis pendens and other liens. C. Registration of Voluntary Transactions 1. Compliance with the essential requisites of a contract a) Consent - meeting of the minds; b) Object Certain - subject of the contract; within the commerce of man and lawful; and c) Cause - consideration; prestation, services, benets, pure benecence or liberality. 2. Observance of the Formal requirements of a public instrument a) When the law requires that some contracts be in some form in order for it to be valid or enforceable, i.e. must be in writing (agreements in marriage, lease of more than one year, agency to sell real property, donations inter-vivos, etc.) b) The contract must be executed in the form of a public instrument; c) Signed by the person/s executing the same; d) In the presence of two witnesses who shall likewise sign and acknowledge to be their free act and deed of the parties; e) Before a notary public or other public ofcer authorized by law to take acknowledgement. f) All pages of the deed must be signed. g) The documents presented shall contain the full name, nationality, residence and postal address of the grantee or other person acquiring or claiming interest; and h) Must state marital status and name of wife/husband if married. 3. Submission of supporting documents for certain transactions before registration as provided by special laws a) Certied true copy of the Tax Declaration in transaction involving transfer of ownership; b) Certicate Authorizing Registration (CAR) or Certicate of Exemption from the BIR in case of sale, exchange or other disposition of real property; c) Certication from the BIR that the documentary stamp tax has been paid;

Land Titles and Deeds Part III. Discussion Guide on Land Registration and the Torrens System Atty. Erwin L. Tiamson

d) Certication from the LGU Treasurer that the property is not delinquent in the payment of real estate taxes in case of alienation, transfer or encumbrance of real property (Sec. 209, RA 7160, LGC1991); e) Certication for the LGU Treasurer that the land transfer tax due on the transaction has been paid in case of sale, donation, barter or any other mode of transferring ownership or title of real property (Sec. 135, LGC 1991); f) Clearance from Department of Agrarian Reform and Afdavit of Total Landholdings by the vendee in case of sale of agricultural lands; g) An Order fro the DAR Regional Director approving the sale in case the property sold is covered by an EP; h) Duly approved subdivision plan and its corresponding Technical Description where the property to be titled by virtue of the transaction is a resulting lot of a subdivision; i) Special Power of Attorney - if the transaction is through an agent; j) Court Order - if made through a guardians or administrators; and k) For Corporations - Secretary Certicate or a copy of the Board Resolution authorizing the transaction (sale, purchase, exchange) designating the ofcer authorize to sign the deed. 4. Performance of the jurisdictional requisites for registration a) Entry of the document in the primary entry book b) Payment of entry and registration fees c) Production of the owners duplicate of title D. Registration Procedure in Voluntary Registration in General 1. Entry of the document in the primary entry or day book, accompanied by all supporting documents applicable to the transaction; a) Section 56 of PD 1529 require each register of deeds to keep a primary entry book where all instruments relating to registered land shall be entered in the order of their reception. Entry in the day book is the preliminary step in registration. The annotation of memorandum or the issuance of a new certicate of title is the nal step to accomplish registration. While the preliminary step and the nal step may not be accomplished in the same day, this however, is of no consequence because if actual registration is accomplished its effect retroacts to the date of entry in the day book. Thus, it has been held that when a sale is registered in the name of the purchase registration takes effect on the date when the deed was noted in the entry book and not when nal registration was accomplished. b) To be noted in this book is the date, hour and minute of reception of all instrument in the order they were received.

Land Titles and Deeds Part III. Discussion Guide on Land Registration and the Torrens System Atty. Erwin L. Tiamson

c) Documents executed in a foreign country should be acknowledged before a Philippine diplomatic or consular ofcial. If acknowledged before a foreign notary public, it should be authenticated by the Philippine diplomatic or consular ofcial before it can be registered. d) All supporting documents applicable to the transaction should also be submitted together with the basic instruments. 2. Payment of the entry and registration fee a) Upon entry of the document, the corresponding entry and registration fees should be paid. In default of payment, the entry in the primary entry book will ipso fact become null and void. 3. Surrender of the owners duplicate certicate and al co-owners duplicate if any had been issued. a) No voluntary instrument shall be registered by the registry of deeds, unless the owners duplicate certicate is presented with such instruments, except in cases expressly provided for in PD 1529 or upon order of the court, for cause shown. b) If co-owners duplicate certicates has been issued, all outstanding certicates so issued shall be surrendered whenever the register of deeds shall register any subsequent voluntary transaction affecting the whole land or part thereof or any interest therein 4. Examination of the document, certicate of title and supporting papers by the deeds examiner. a) Registrability of an instrument is initially determined by the deeds examiner of the registry. If the document is found to comply with all requirements the examiner recommends its registration to the register of deeds. Otherwise, he recommends denial of registration. b) The deeds examiner, on his own, is generally not allowed to register or deny registration. 5. Review by the Register of Deeds of the action taken by the deeds examiner. a) The authority to register or deny registration being lodge with the register of deeds, he is required to review the action taken by the deeds examiner. b) He may either adopt, alter, modify or reverse such action depending upon his own appraisal of registrability of the instrument led for registration. 6. Registration of the document or denial of registration by the register of deeds. a) If the register of deeds nds that the document presented complies with all the requisites for registration, it is his duty to immediately register the same. If the instrument is not registrable, he shall forthwith deny registration thereof and inform the presentor of such denial in writing, stating the ground or reason therefor, and advising him of his right to appeal by consulta in accordance with Section 117 of P.D. 1529

Land Titles and Deeds Part III. Discussion Guide on Land Registration and the Torrens System Atty. Erwin L. Tiamson

b) Where the documents conveys the simple title, such as in sales, donations, barter and other conveyances, the register of deeds shall make out in the registration book a new certicate of title to the grantee and shall prepared and deliver to him as owner an owners certicate, noting the original and owners duplicate certicate the date of transfer, the volume and page of the registration book in which the new certicate is registered and a reference by number to the last preceding certicate. The original and owners duplicate of the grantors certicate shall be stamped cancelled. c) In case the instrument does not divest the ownership or title from the owner or from the transferee of the registered owner, now new certicate of title shall be issued. The instrument creating such interests less than ownership shall be registered by a brief memorandum thereof made by the register of deeds upon the certicate of title and signed by him. The cancellation or extinguishment of such interests shall be registered by a brief memorandum thereof made the the register of deeds upon the certicate of the title and signed by him. The cancellation or extinguishment of such interests shall be registered in the same manner. In case the conveyance affects only a portion of the land described in the certicate of title, no new certicate shall also be issued until a plan of the land showing all the portions or lots into which it has been subdivided and the corresponding technical descriptions shall have been veried and approve. The instrument shall only be registered by annotation on the grantors title and its owners duplicate. Pending approval of the plan, no further registration or annotation of any subsequent deed or other voluntary instrument involving the unsegregated portion conveyed shall be affected, except where such unsegregated portion was purchase from the government or any of its instrumentalities. d) Should there be subsisting encumbrance or annotation on the grantors title, they shall be carried over and stated in the new certicate of title except so far as they may be simultaneously released or discharged.1 E. Involuntary Registration 1. Attachment and Execution a) Nature, Concept and Purpose - a juridical institution which has for its purpose to secure the outcome of the trial; the chief purpose is to secure a contingent lien on defendants property until plaintiff can, by appropriate proceedings, obtain a judgment and have a property applied to tis satisfaction or to make some provision for unsecured debts in case where the means of satisfaction thereof are liable to be removed beyond the jurisdiction or improperly disposed of or concealed or otherwise placed beyond he reach of creditors. b) Kinds of Attachments (1) Preliminary Attachment - issued at the institution or the during the progress of an action commanding the sheriff or other proper ofcer to attach property rights, credits or effects of defendant to satisfy the demand

Land Titles and Deeds Part III. Discussion Guide on Land Registration and the Torrens System Atty. Erwin L. Tiamson

of plaintiff; an auxiliary remedy and cannot have an independent existence apart form the main claim (2) Garnishment - attachment for credits belonging to the judgement debtor and owing to him from a stranger to the litigation; does not usually involve actual seizure of the property; (3) Levy on execution - is the attachment issued to enforce the writ of execution of a judgment which has become nal and executory. 2. Registration of Attachments and Execution a) Statutory Provisions - Section 69 of PD 1529 and Section 7, Rule 57 of the Rules of Court b) Documents to be Registered (1) Writ of Attachment or Execution; (2)Notice of Attachment or levy on the execution; and (3) Description of the Property; c) Forms and Contents (1) The Notice of Attachment or levy on execution should contain a reference to the number of the Certicate of Title, the volume and page of the registration book where the certicate is registered and the name of the registered owner; not applicable in case of unregistered lanD. (2) If the attachment is not claimed on all the land, a description sufciently accurate for the identication of the land or interest must be made 3. Registration Procedure a) Entry in the Day Book or Primary Entry Book; b) Payment of entry and registration fee; c) A memorandum of the attachment shall be made on the Original of the Certicate of Title; d) Indexing - the Register of deeds shall index attachments in the name of the applicant, the adverse party, and the person by whom the property is held or in whose name it stands in the records. 4. Effects of Registration a) Notice of the attachment is a notice that the property is taken in the custody of the law as security for the satisfaction of any judgement; b) Title still be subject to subsequent transaction but subject to the attachment lien V. Foreign Ownership

Land Titles and Deeds Part III. Discussion Guide on Land Registration and the Torrens System Atty. Erwin L. Tiamson

A. In general- only Filipino citizens may own land in the Philippines except if the acquisition of the land was through hereditary succession. This is a constitutional restriction that was placed under the 1935 Constitution. However, property rights of American citizens existing prior to the 1935 Constitution are respected. The provisions was modied in the 1987 Constitution to exempt natural-born citizens who had lost his citizenship subject to certain conditions. The 1973 Constitution did not explicitly allows former natural born citizens to own land, nonetheless, Batas Pambansa Bilang 185 allows concession to former Filipinos under the general power of the Prime Minister under Section 15 of Article XIII. The present Constitution only allows two exception to the prohibition against foreign ownership: (1) hereditary succession; and (2) former natural born-citizens. However, property rights of alien prior to the 1936 Constitution and the special privileges given to American citizens granted by the 1936 Constitution are respected. B. Two (2) laws were enacted to implement the rules regarding exceptions of former natural born citizens to own land. 1. Batas Pambansa Bilang 185 on residential lands; and 2. Republic Act No. 8179 on commercial and industrial lands, amending certain provisions of the Foreign Investment Act of 1991.