Chapter 1
Regalian Doctrine
Regalian Doctrine
- Under the Regalian Doctrine, all lands not otherwise
appearing to be clearly within private ownership are
presumed to belong to the state.
- The state is the source of any asserted right to
ownership in land and charged with the conservation
of patrimony.
- First introduce by the Spaniards to the Philippines
through the Laws of the Indies and Royal Cedulas.
- All lands that were not acquired from the
government, either by purchase or by grant, belong to
the public domain.
- All natural wealth including, agricultural, forest,
timber, mineral lands of the public domain and all
other natural resources belong to the state. Thus,
even if a private person owns the property where
minerals are discovered, his ownership does not give
him the right to extract or utilize said minerals
without permission from the state to which the
minerals belong.
Public Land Act
- Passed in pursuance of the provision of the
Philippine Bill of 1902
- It governed the disposition of lands of the public
domain.
- It prescribes Rules and Regulations for the
homesteading, Selling, and Leasing of the lands of the
public domain and prescribe the Terms and
Conditions to enable a person to perfect their title to
public lands.2
- Provides for the issuance of patents to certain native
settlers upon public land, for the establishment of
town sites and sales of lots therein, for the completion
of imperfect titles, and for the cancellation or
confirmation of Spanish concessions and grants in the
island.
- torrens system is judicial proceeding, but it involves
- The term public land refers to all lands of the public
domain whose title still remained in the government
and are thrown open to private appropriation and
settlement, and excluded the patrimonial property of
the government and the friar lands.
- 1987 Constitution Article XII Sec. 2.-All lands of the
public domain, waters, minerals, coal, petroleum, and
other mineral oils, all forces of potential energy,
fisheries, forests or timber, wildlife, flora and fauna,
and other natural resources are owned by the State.
With the exception of agricultural lands, all other
natural resources shall not be alienated. The
exploration, development and utilization of natural
resources shall be under the full control and
supervision of the State. The State may directly
undertake such activities or it may enter into co-
production, joint venture, or production-sharing
agreements with Filipino citizens, or corporations or
associations at least sixty per centum of whose capital
is owned by such citizens.
Power of Public Dominium
- It is the power of the state to acquire property.
Proof
- The burden of proof to overcome the presumption
of ownership of lands of public domain, rest upon the
person applying for registration. Unless the public
land is shown to have been reclassified and alienated
by the state to a private person, it remains part of the
inalienable public domain.
IPRA Law
- It declares ancestral lands and domain held by native
title as never to have been a public land or land of
public domain. Hence, land held by native title are,
therefore, indisputably presumed to have never been
public lands and are private.
Torren System
- The Torren System is not a means of acquiring title
to lands; it is merely a system of registration of titles
to land.
- The real purpose of that system is to quiet title to
land; to put a stop forever to any question of the
legality of the title, except claims which were noted at
the time of registration, in the certificate, or which
may arise subsequent thereto. That being the purpose
of the law, it would seem that once a title is registered
the owner may rest secure, without the necessity of
waiting in the portals of the court, or sitting in the
"mirador de su casa," to avoid the possibility of losing
his land. Of course, it cannot be denied that the
proceeding for the registration of land under the
more in its consequences than does an ordinary
action. (Legarda v. Saleeby)
- It was adopted in this country because it was the
most effective measure to guarantee the integrity of
land titles and to protect their indefeasibility once the
claim of ownership is established and recognized.
- The registration under this system and the issuance
of a certificate of title do not give the owner any
better title than he had. He does not obtain title by
virtue of the certificate. He secures his certificate by
virtue of the fact that he has a fee simple title. The
certificate once issued, is the evidence of the title
which the owner has. The certificate should not be
altered, changed, modified, enlarged or diminished
except to correct errors, in some proceedings
permitted by law.
- The law, even before the Torrens Law, provided
means by which title to land might be quited "by
notice by publication to all persons.The states had the
power and right to provide a procedure for the
adjudication of title to real estate. The state had
control over real property within its limits. (Roxas v.
Enriquez)
Chapter 2
Related Laws Governing Land Registration
- The state possesses not only the right to determine
how title to real estate may be acquired and proved,
but it is also with in its legislative capacity to establish
the method of procedure. (Roxas v. Enriquez)
- The governing law is the Land Registration Act as
amended by Property Registration Decree (Act 496 as
amended by PD 1529)
A. Act No. 3344 (Dealings with Unregistered Land)
- It provides the recording of transactions over
unregistered real estate without prejudice to a third
party with a better right. (MCIAA v. Tirol)
- Sec. 194 of Act No. 2711 or the Administrative Code
as amended by Act 2837:
SEC. 194. Recording of instruments or deeds relating
to real estate not registered under Act Numbered
Four hundred and ninety-six.—No instrument or deed
establishing, transmitting, acknowledging, modifying
or extinguishing rights with respect to real estate not
registered under the provisions of Act Numbered Four
hundred and ninety-six, entitled "The Land
Registration Act," and its amendments, shall be valid,
except as between the parties thereto, until such
instrument or deed has been registered, in the
manner hereinafter prescribed, in the office of the
register of deeds for the province or city where the
real estate lies.
- If a parcel of land covered by Torrens title is sold, but
the sale is registered under Act No. 3344 and not
under the Land Registration Act, the sale is not
considered registered and the registration of the deed
does not operate as constructive notice to the whole
world. (MCIAA v. Tirol)
- A sale that is not correctly registered is binding only
between the seller and the buyer, but it does not
affect the innocent 3rd persons (Revilla and Fajardo v.
Galindez)
PD 1529
- Sec. 113 allows the recording of instruments relating
to unregistered lands.
(a) The Register of Deeds for each province or city
shall keep a Primary Entry Book and a Registration
Book. The Primary Entry Book shall contain, among
other particulars, the entry number, the names of the
parties, the nature of the document, the date, hour
and minute it was presented and received. The
recording of the deed and other instruments relating
to unregistered lands shall be effected by any of
annotation on the space provided therefor in the
Registration Book, after the same shall have been
entered in the Primary Entry Book.
- Registration of instruments must be done in the
proper registry in order to affect and bind the land
and, thus, operate as constructive notice to the world.
(Secs. 50 & 51, Act 496) (Soriano v. Heirs of Magali)
- Sec. 113. No deed, conveyance, mortgage, lease, or
other voluntary instrument affecting land not
registered under the Torrens system shall be valid,
except as between the parties thereto, unless such
instrument shall have been recorded in the manner
herein prescribed in the office of the Register of
Deeds for the province or city where the land lies.
(b) If, on the face of the instrument, it appears that it
is sufficient in law, the Register of Deeds shall
forthwith record the instrument in the manner
provided herein. In case the Register of Deeds refuses
its administration to record, said official shall advise
the party in interest in writing of the ground or
grounds for his refusal, and the latter may appeal the
matter to the Commissioner of Land Registration in
accordance with the provisions of Section 117 of this
Decree. It shall be understood that any recording
made under this section shall be without prejudice to
a third party with a better right.
B. Public Land Act or Commonwealth Act No. 141
- It governs the judicial confirmation of imperfect or
incomplete titles on the basis of possession and
occupation of alienable portions of the public domain
in the manner and for the length of time required by
law.
- Section 5. The Director of Lands, with the approval of
the Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources,
shall prepare and issue forms, instructions, rules and
regulations consistent with this Act, as may be
necessary and proper to carry into effect the
provisions thereof and for the conduct of proceedings
arising under such provisions.
- The Public Land Act, as amended, governs lands of
the public domain, except timber and mineral lands,
friar lands, and privately-owned lands which reverted
to the State.36 It explicitly enumerates the means by
which public lands may be disposed, as follows:
(1) For homestead settlement;
(2) By sale;
(3) By lease;
(4) By confirmation of imperfect or incomplete titles;
(a) By judicial legalization; or
(b) By administrative legalization (free patent)
- It is use to seek judicial confirmation or legalization
of an imperfect or incomplete title of a land.
- Private ownership of a land is not affected by the
issuance of a free patent over the same land, because
the Public Land Law applies only to lands of the public
domain.
- Title to the 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 U.S.
- It merely prescribes the rules and regulations for the
homesteading, selling, and leasing of portions of the
public domain and prescribes the terms and
conditions to enable a person to perfect their titles to
public lands.
-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.
The President signed the Agricultural Free Patent
Reform Act, or Republic Act 11231, on February 22.
Under RA 11231, agricultural public lands alienated or
disposed in favor of qualified public land applicants
shall not be subject to restrictions imposed on the
registration, acquisition, encumbrance, transfer and
conveyance of land covered by free patents under the
Public Land Act.
C. Cadastral Act (Act No. 2259)
- The salient provisions of Act No. 2259 have now
been carried over in PD 1529.
- PD 1529, Section 35. Cadastral Survey preparatory to
filing of petition.
(a) When in the opinion of the President of the
Philippines public interest so requires that title to any
unregistered lands be settled and adjudicated, he may
to this end direct and order the Director of Lands to
cause to be made a cadastral survey of the lands
involved and the plans and technical description
thereof prepared in due form.
- Section 36. Petition for registration. When the lands
have been surveyed or plotted, the Director of Lands,
represented by the Solicitor General, shall institute
original registration proceedings by filing the
necessary petition in the Court of First Instance of the
place where the land is situated against the holders,
claimants, possessors, or occupants of such lands or
any part thereof, stating in substance that public
interest requires that the title to such lands be settled
and adjudicated and praying that such titles be so
settled and adjudicated:
1. Purpose of Cadastral System
-Under the cadastral system, the government through
the Director of Lands initiates the proceedings by
filing a petition in court after which all owners or
claimants are compelled to act and present their
answers otherwise they lose their right to their own
property. The purpose is to serve the public interests
by requiring that the titles to any lands "be settled
and adjudicated."
2. Cadastral Proceedings are In Rem.
- It shall be conducted in the same manner as ordinary
trials and proceedings in the Court of First Instance
and shall be governed by the same rules (Sec. 11 of
Act No. 2259)
- It is in the nature of the proceeding in rem,
promoted by the Director of Lands, somewhat akin to
a judicial inquiry and investigation leading to a judicial
decree. In one sense, there is no plaintiff and
defendant. In another sense, the government is the
plaintiff and all the claimants are the defendant. (Sec.
10 of Act No. 2259)
- Shall conform as near as may be, to the practice in
special proceeding in courts of first instance. (Sec. 2 of
Act No. 2259)
- Under the cadastral system, the government
through the Director of Lands initiates the
proceedings by filing a petition in court after which all
owners or claimants are compelled to act and present
their answers otherwise they lose their right to their
own property. The purpose is to serve the public
interests by requiring that the titles to any lands "be
settled and adjudicated."
- Governed by the usual rules of practice, procedure,
and evidence. Cadastral Decree and Certificate of
Title is issued only after the applicants prove that they
are entitled to the claimed lots, all parties are heard
and evidence considered.
- Due publication is required to give notice to all
interested parties of the claim and identity of the
property that will be surveyed. And any additional
territory or change in the area of the claim cannot be
included by amendment of the plan or application
without new publication, otherwise the cadastral
court does not acquire jurisdiction over the additional
or amended claim. But where the identity and area of
the claimed property are not the subjects of
amendment but other collateral matters, a new
publication is not needed.
3. After Trial in a cadastral Case 3 actions are taken
a. The first adjudicates ownership in favor of one of
the claimants. This constitutes the decision - the
judgment - the decree of the court, and speaks in a
judicial manner.
b. 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 thirty
days from the date of receipt of a copy of the decision
no appeal is taken from the decision. This again is
judicial action, although to a less degree than the first.
c. The third and last action devolves upon 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." (Administrative Code of 1917,
Sec. 174.) This latter decree contains the technical
description of the land and may not be issued until a
considerable time after the promulgation of the
judgment.
4. Only land not previously brought under the
operation of the Torrens System may be the subject
of Cadastral Proceedings.
- We hold that in cadastral case the jurisdiction of the
court over lands already registered is limited to the
necessary correction of technical errors in the
description of the lands, provided, such corrections,
do not impair the substantial rights of the registered
owner, and that such jurisdiction cannot operate to
deprive a registered owner of his title. (Pamintuan v.
San Agustin)
5. Jurisprudence teaches us that the Decision and
Orders of administrative agencies such as the Bureau
of Lands have the force and binding effect of a final
judgement within the purview of the doctrine of res
judicata
-The foundation principle upon which the doctrine
rests is that the parties ought not to be permitted to
litigate the same issue more than once and that when
a right or fact that has been judicially tried and
determined by a tribunal or court of competent
jurisdiction, should be conclusive upon the parties and
those in privity with them in law or estate, so long as
it remains unreversed.
6. Effects of Issuance of Cadastral Decree,
Indefeasibility of Title
- Under the law, a certificate of title issued pursuant
to any grant or patent involving public land is as
conclusive and indefeasible as any other certificate of
title issued to private lands in the ordinary or
cadastral registration proceeding. The effect of the
registration of a patent and the issuance of a
certificate of title to the patentee is to vest in him an
incontestable title to the land, in the same manner as
if ownership had been determined by final decree of
the court, and the title so issued is absolutely
conclusive and indisputable, and is not subject to
collateral attack.
- A Certificate of Title issued in pursuant to Act. No.
2259, after the lapse of 1 yr. becomes
incontrovertible.
D. CARPER Law (RA 6657 as amended by RA 9700)
-Article XIII, Section 4 provides that an agrarian reform
program shall be carried out in the country:
Section 4. The State shall, by law, undertake an
agrarian reform program founded on the rights of
farmers and regular farmworkers, who are landless, to
own directly or collectively the lands they till or, in the
case of other farmworkers, to receive a just share of
the fruits thereof. To this end, the State shall
encourage and undertake the just distribution of all
agricultural lands, subject to such priorities and
reasonable retention limits as the Congress may
prescribe, talcing into account ecological,
developmental, or equity considerations, and subject
to the payment of just compensation. In determining
retention limits, the State shall respect the right of
small landowners. The State shall further provide
incentives for voluntary land-sharing.
1. Definition of Agrarian Reform
- Sec. 3-(a) Agrarian Reform 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.
2. CARPER LAW
- It is an amendatory law that extends again the
deadline of distributing agricultural lands to farmers
for 5 years. It also amends other provisions stated in
CARP.
3. Coverage
- The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program covers
the following lands:
(1) all alienable and disposable lands of the public
domain devoted to or suitable for agriculture;
(2) all lands of the public domain exceeding the total
area of five hectares and below to be retained by the
landowner;
(3) all government-owned lands that are devoted to
or suitable for agriculture; and
(4) all private lands devoted to or suitable for
agriculture, regardless of the agricultural products
raised or can be raised on these lands. (Hiers of
Augusto Salas, Jr. v. Cabungcal)
4. Exception and Exclusions
- RA 6657 (CARL), Section 10. Exemptions and
Exclusions. —
a. 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,
b. national defense, school sites and campuses
including experimental farm stations operated by
public or private schools for educational purposes,
c.seeds and seedlings research and pilot production
centers,
d. church sites and convents appurtenant thereto,
mosque sites and Islamic centers appurtenant
thereto, communal burial grounds and cemeteries,
e. penal colonies and penal farms actually worked by
the inmates, government and private research and
quarantine centers and
f. all lands with eighteen percent (18%) slope and
over, except those already developed shall be exempt
from the coverage of the Act.
5. Exclusive Jurisdiction of the Department of
Agrarian Reform
-
CARP, Section 50. Quasi-Judicial Powers of the DAR.
— The DAR is hereby vested with the primary
jurisdiction to determine and adjudicate agrarian
reform matters and shall have exclusive original
jurisdiction over all matters involving the
implementation of agrarian reform except those
falling under the exclusive jurisdiction of the
Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Department
of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
6. Retention Limits of Land Area
- Section 6. Retention Limits. — Except as otherwise
provided in this Act, no person may own or retain,
directly or indirectly, any public or private agricultural
land, the size of which shall vary according to factors
governing a viable family-size farm, such as
commodity produced, terrain, infrastructure, and soil
fertility as determined by the Presidential Agrarian
Reform Council (PARC) created hereunder, but in no
case shall retention by the landowner exceed five (5)
hectares. Three (3) hectares may be awarded to each
child of the landowner, subject to the following
qualifications:
(1) that he is at least fifteen (15) years of age; and
8. Social Justice
- Social justice in the land reform program also applies
to landowners, not merely to farmers and
farmworkers. These procedures ensure that only the
qualified, identified, and registered farmers and/or
farmworkers-beneficiaries acquire the covered lands
which they themselves actually till (subject to the
landowners retention rights as protected by the law).
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.

(2) that he is actually tilling the land or directly

managing the farm.

Provided, that landowners whose lands have been

covered by Presidential Decree No. 27 shall be
allowed to keep the areas originally retained by them
thereunder: provided, further, that original
homestead grantees or their direct compulsory heirs
who still own the original homestead at the time of
the approval of this Act shall retain the same areas as
long as they continue to cultivate said homestead.

7. Qualified Beneficiaries
- Section 22. Qualified Beneficiaries. — The lands
covered by the CARP shall be distributed as much as
possible to landless residents of the same barangay,
or in the absence thereof, landless residents of the
same municipality in the following order of priority:

(a) agricultural lessees and share tenants;

(b) regular farmworkers;

(c) seasonal farmworkers;

(d) other farmworkers;

(e) actual tillers or occupants of public lands;

(f) collectives or cooperatives of the above

beneficiaries; and

(g) others directly working on the land.