Registration; Governing Law (2007)

No.IV. Bedrock Land & Property Development Corp. is a development company engaged in developing
and selling subdivisions, condominium units and industrial estates. In order to replenish its inventories, it
embarked on an aggressive land banking program. It employed "scouts"

who roam all over the Philippines to look for

and conduct investigations on prospective

sites for acquisition and development,

whether developed, semi-developed or raw

land. The management of Bedrock asks you

as the company counsel to prepare a

manual containing a summary of the

pertinent laws and regulations relating to land registration and acquisition of title to

land. The manual should include the

following items:

(A). What is the governing law? (5%)

SUGGESTED ANSWER:

The governing law is the Land

Registration Act as amended by Property

Registration Decree (Act 496 as amended

by PD 1529).

[Note: It is respectfully recommended

that full credit be given to examinees

who did not give the exact title or

number of the law but merely stated a

description of the law.]

ALTERNATIVE ANSWER:

In general, the governing law relating to

registration and acquisition of title to

land is Act 496 of 1902 as amended by

PD 1529, otherwise known as Property

Registration Decree of June 11, 1978.

(1.) Chapter III-I governs original

registration of land title under the

Torrens System by voluntary ordinary

judicial proceedings.

(2.) Chapter II-II governs compulsory

registration of lands through cadastral

proceedings.

(3.) Section 103 governs registration of

homestead, sales, free patent under CA

No. 141, as amended, otherwise known

as the Public Land Act.

(4.) Section 104 governs registration of

certificates of land transfers,

emancipation patents and Certificates of

Land Ownership Award (CLOA) under

Comprehensive Land Reform Law.

(5.) Chapter V governs the registration of

land dealings on registered land like

conveyances, transfers, mortgages,

leases, powers of attorney, trusts and

similar contracts inter vivos.

(6.) Chapter V-II governs the registration

of involuntary dealings on registered

land like attachments, adverse claims,

enforcement of liens on registered land,

notices of lis pendens. (7.) Chapter VI

governs the registration of judgments,

orders and partitions, condemnation in

eminent domain proceedings, judicial

and extra-judicial settlement of estates.

(8.) Sections 107, 108 and 109 govern

petitions and actions after original

registration like: (a).Compulsory

surrender of withheld owner's duplicate

certificate of title;

(b) Amendment and alteration of

certificate of title;

(c) Replacement of lost or destroyed

owner's duplicate certificate of title.

(9.) R.A. No. 26 governs judicial

reconstitution of lost or destroyed

originals of the certificate of title.

(10.) R.A. No. 6732 governs

administrative reconstitution of lost or

destroyed original certificates of title.

(11.) Section 113 governs the

registration of instruments affecting

unregistered private lands.

(12.) Section 117 governs "consultas,"

where the Register of Deeds refuses to

register a deed or when he is in doubt as

to what action to take on an instrument

presented for registration.

Non-Registrable Properties (2007)

No.IV. (B). What properties are not

registrable? (5%)

Supply this information.

SUGGESTED ANSWER:

The following properties are not

registrable:

(1.) Properties of the Public dominion;

(2.) Properties for public use or public

service;

(3.) Inalienable lands of the public

domain;

(4.) Military installations, civil and quasipublic lands; and

(5.) All lands not classified as alienable

and disposable.

ALTERNATIVE ANSWER:

(1). Properties of public dominium

intended for public use, like roads,

canals, rivers, torrents, ports and bridges

constructed by the State, banks, shores,

roadsteads, and the like, are incapable of

private appropriation, much less

registration (Art. 420 NCC). This includes

public markets, public plazas, municipal

streets and public building

Municipality of Antipolo v. Zapanta, 133

SCRA 820, 1986; Martinez v. CA, 56

SCRA 647, 1974; Navera v. Quicho, 5

SCRA 454, 1962).

(2.) Lands proclaimed or classified as

forest, timberlands, mineral lands and

national parks. Under Sec 2, Art XII,

Constitution of the Philippines, these

lands are inalienable.

(3.) Lands that are reserved by law or

Presidential proclamation for military,

civic or quasi-public purpose, Under Sec

88, Chapter XII of the Public Land Act,

such lands shall be inalienable and shall

not be subject to occupation, entry, sale,

lease or other disposition.

(4.) In general, all lands of the public

domain that has not been classified as

alienable and disposable under the Public

Land Act.

(5.) Lands that form part of the seabed,

riverbed or lakebed. These lands are not

susceptible to private appropriation.

(6.) Foreshore lands is that strip of land

that lies between the high and low water

marks and alternately wet and dry

according to the flow of the tide belong

to the public domain, and can only be

acquired by lease if not needed by the

government for public or quasi-public

purposes.

(7.) Lands reclaimed by the government

from the sea, lakes, or other bodies of

water are disposed or acquisible only by

lease and not otherwise, under the

Public Land Act.