LTD

Title – is the lawful cause or ground of possessing a property.

Agricultural land – land used for agricultural activities.
Alienable and Disposable Land of the Public Domain (AND) – The allowed to be acquired by the private
individual.
How will you know that a land is considered as A and D? Through President Proclamation, Executive Order,
and Administrative Action
If the title of the land is acquired without the State declaring the said land as AND, the title is void regardless of
the good faith of the owner.
Government-Owned Land (GOL)
Cases:
Director of Lands vs IAC
Republic vs Lao
What are the properties that cannot be subject to reclassification? 1. Ancestral lands 2. National Park 3.
Forest land 4. Mineral lands
Agricultural lands that cannot be converted into non-agricultural lands: a) lands under NIPAS Act b)
irrigated lands or irrigable lands c) Environmental critical (inclined) lands declared by DENR
Properties of the Public Domain: Roads, canals, rivers, torrents, bridges, river banks, shores, roadsteads and
properties that are intended for public use.
NIPAS Act (National Integrated Protected Areas System) -created to protect the areas of land where are
biologically important or habitats of endangered plants and animals, biographic zone, and related ecosystem.
1. Strict nature reserve
2. Natural park
3. Natural monument
4. Wildlife sanctuary
5. Protected landscape and seascape
6. Resource reserve
7. Natural biotic areas, and
8. Other categories (by law or international agreement)
Condominium Act (to read)
Collateral attack vis a vis direct attack (to read)
Sec. 52 of PD 1529
Torrens Certificate of title (sec 45 of PD 1529), sec 25, sec 48
- Serve as a constructive notice
Advantages: a torrens title as rule is imprescriptible, indefeasible. When is an attack is considered a direct attack
when the subject is to annul the title, the attack is indirect when a plaintiff filed an action to recover possession
(accion publiciana) over a land and also assert to cancel the title.
Cadastral system. (Proceeding) sec 35(a) of Pd 1529, sec 36 (procedure),
1. President order the director of lands to survey the lands in municipality.
2. The director of lands filed a petition at the RTC to settle and adjudicate the titles of such lands.
3. The petition shall contain the description of the lands and the plan thereof
4. Any claimant of the land shall appear in court
5. The court shall send notice of decisions to interested parties before a final judgment be rendered.
Cadastral Registration Proceedings: Principal Aim. The principal aim is to settle as much as possible all
disputes over land. and to remove all clouds over land titles, as far as practicable in a community.
PD 1529 (Property Registration Decree) provides that the system of registration under the Spanish Mortgage
Law is hereby discontinued and all lands recorded under the said system which are not yet covered by Torrens
title shall be considered as unregistered lands. It also provided that all instruments affecting lands originally
registered under the Spanish Mortgage Law may be recorded under Sec. 113 of P.D. 1529, until the land shall
have been brought under the operation of the Torrens system.
Homestead Patent is a mode of acquiring alienable and disposable lands of the public domain for agricultural
purposes conditioned upon actual cultivation and residence. (DENR, applayan)
Requisites:
1. That the property in question is AND
2. That the applicants in interest must be a Filippino citizen, over 18 years of age, head of the family and
does not own more than 24 hectares of land or the property in question is not over 24 hectares
3. Such possession shall have improved and cultivated at least ¼ of the property for more than 1 year and
less than 5 years in order for a patent to be issued
Sale within 5 years from the issuance of patent is void “ab initio”
Tax declaration, Republic vs Santoa, is not a sufficient evidence of ownership over the property. But in court,
it constitutes a proof that the holder is the owner of the property.
Property Registration Decree sec 14-18 (to read)
Free patent is a mode of disposition of public agricultural land whereby an incomplete or imperfect title over a
parcel of land is administratively legalized.
Sales Patent is a patent issued for the type of application covering lands of the public domain for agricultural
purposes and sold at public auction thru sealed bidding.
Art. 1544 of NCC (gustillo vs maravilla) - When there are 2 buyers over an immovable property, should it be
immovable property, the ownership shall belong to the person acquiring it who in good faith first recorded it in
the Registry of Property. If there is no registration, it shall belong to the person who took first possession. If
absent, the person who had the oldest title in good faith.
Rule: First in time, stronger in right.
Purchaser in good faith is one who buys a property of another without notice that some other person has right
to or interest in the same property.
When can 2nd buyer displaced the 1st buyer if the 2nd buyer is in good faith.
Spouses villamil vs villarosa (2009)
Requirements of mirror principle:
1. The property is registered in favor of another
2. Title of the property is stolen by the another
3. The one who stole the title is it appear that the property is sold to him
4. The said person sells the property to an innocent purchaser for value
Principle of equitable estoppel (to read)
Rules governing builders, planters, and sower of the land of another:
If both the owner and the builder, planter or sower are in good faith, the owner has the following options: either
to appropriate what was built or planted as his own after paying the BPS the amount of indemnity or to compel
the builder, planter or sower to pay the price of the land (if building or plant) or to rent (if sow). The BPS has
still owner of what was built or planted and has right over the fruits from it. The BPS also have a right of
retention.
If the owner is in bad faith, and the BPS is in good faith: the owner shall pay the improvements or materials
used, and is entitled for reimbursement or removal of materials without damaging it. Also the owner of
materials has right to remove its materials even if the property will be damage or not.
The owner is in good faith, and the BPS is in bad faith:
In essence, the landowner is entitled to damages, plus he may:
 Appropriate what was built without need of indemnity to the BPS;
 Demand the demolition of the thing built or restoration of the land at the expense of the BPS;
 Compel the BPS to pay the land or the sower the proper rent.
Notwithstanding the bad faith on the part of BPS, he still:
 Is entitled to reimbursement for the necessary expenses of preservation of land; and,
 Has the right to remove to remove the materials as long as there will be no damage to the land.
If both are in bad faith, the same with the effects if both are in good faith or bears resemblance with the in pare
delicto rule.
IPRA Law - Indigenous Peoples Rights Act 1997, Republic Act No. 8371 of 1997. An Act to recognize, protect
and promote the rights of Indigenous Cultural Communities/Indigenous Peoples, creating a National
Commission on Indigenous Peoples, establishing implementing mechanisms, appropriating funds therefor, and
for other purposes.