D. Original Registration

E. Original Registration

• Who May Apply – P.D. No. 1529, secs. 14, as amended by R.A. No. 11573; C.A. No. 141, as amended; R.A. No. 8371, sec. 12
• Decree of Registration – P.D. No. 1529, sec. 31
• Review of Decree of Registration – P.D. No. 1529, sec. 32
• Innocent Purchaser for Value; Rights – P.D. No. 1529, sec. 32

> Former Sec. 14 of P.D. No. 1529 (before R.A. No. 11573)

SEC. 14. Who may apply.—The following persons may file in the proper Court of First Instance an application for registration of title to land, whether personally or through their duly authorized representatives:

• Those who by themselves or through their predecessors-in-interest have been in open, continuous, exclusive and notorious possession and occupation of alienable and disposable lands of the public domain under a bona fide claim of ownership since June 12, 1945, or earlier.
• Those who have acquired ownership of private lands by prescription under the provisions of existing laws.
• Those who have acquired ownership of private lands or abandoned river beds by right of accession or accretion under the existing laws.
• Those who have acquired ownership of land in any other manner provided for by law.

Where the land is owned in common, all the co-owners shall file the application jointly.

Where the land has been sold under pacto de retro, the vendor a retro may file an application for the original registration of the land, provided, however, that should the period for redemption expire during the pendency of the registration proceedings and ownership to the property consolidated in the vendee a retro, the latter shall be substituted for the applicant and may continue the proceedings.

A trustee on behalf of his principal may apply for original registration of any land held in trust by him, unless prohibited by the instrument creating the trust.

Sec. 14 of P.D. No. 1529 as amended by R.A. No. 11573

“SECTION 14. Who may apply. The following persons may file at any time, in the proper Regional Trial Court in the province where the land is located, an application for registration of title to land, not exceeding twelve (12) hectares, whether personally or through their duly authorized representatives:

“(1) Those who by themselves or through their predecessors-in-interest have been in open, continuous, exclusive and notorious possession and occupation of alienable and disposable lands of the public domain not covered by existing certificates of title or patents under a bona fide claim of ownership for at least twenty (20) years immediately preceding the filing of the application for confirmation of title except when prevented by war or force majeure. They shall be conclusively presumed to have performed all the conditions essential to a Government grant and shall be entitled to a certificate of title under this section.

“(2) Those who have acquired ownership of private lands or abandoned riverbeds by right of accession or accretion under the provisions of existing laws.

“(3) Those who have acquired ownership of land in any other manner provided for by law.

“Where the land is owned in common, all the co-owners shall file the application jointly.

“Where the land has been sold under pacto de retro, the vendor a retro may file an application for the original registration of the land: Provided, however, That should the period for redemption expire during the pendency of the registration proceedings and ownership to the property consolidated in the vendee a retro, the latter shall be substituted for the applicant and may continue the proceedings.

“A trustee on behalf of the principal may apply for original registration of any land held in trust by the trustee, unless prohibited by the instrument creating the trust.”

R.A. No. 8371, sec. 12

Section 12. Option to Secure Certificate of Title under Commonwealth Act 141, as amended, or the Land Registration Act 496. - Individual members of cultural communities, with respect to individually-owned ancestral lands who, by themselves or through their predecessors-in -interest, have been in continuous possession and occupation of the same in the concept of owner since time immemorial or for a period of not less than thirty (30) years immediately preceding the approval of this Act and uncontested by the members of the same ICCs/IPs shall have the option to secure title to their ancestral lands under the provisions of Commonwealth Act 141, as amended, or the Land Registration Act 496.

For this purpose, said individually-owned ancestral lands, which are agricultural in character and actually used for agricultural, residential, pasture, and tree farming purposes, including those with a slope of eighteen percent (18%) or more, are hereby classified as alienable and disposable agricultural lands.

The option granted under this Section shall be exercised within twenty (20) years from the approval of this Act.

> P.D. No. 1529, sec. 31

SEC. 31. Decree of registration.—Every decree of registration issued by the Commissioner shall bear the date, hour and minute of its entry, and shall be signed by him. It shall state whether the owner is married or unmarried, and if married, the name of the husband or wife: Provided, however, that if the land adjudicated by the court is conjugal property, the decree shall be issued in the name of both spouses. If the owner is under disability, it shall state the nature of disability, and if a minor, his age. It shall contain a description of the land as finally determined by the court, and shall set forth the estate of the owner, and also, in such manner as to show their relative priorities, all particular estates, mortgages, easements, liens, attachments, and other encumbrances, including rights of tenant-farmers, if any, to which the land or owner's estate is subject, as well as any other matters properly to be determined in pursuance of this Decree.

The Decree of registration shall bind the land and quiet title thereto, subject only to such exceptions or liens as may be provided by law. It shall be conclusive upon and against all persons, including the National Government and all branches thereof, whether mentioned by name in the application or notice, the same being included in the general description "To all whom it may concern".

> P.D. No. 1529, sec. 32

SEC. 32. Review of decree of registration; Innocent purchaser for value.—The decree of registration shall not be reopened or revised by reason of absence, minority, or other disability of any person adversely affected thereby, nor by any proceeding in any court for reversing judgments, subject, however, to the right of any person, including the government and the branches thereof, deprived of land or of any estate or interest therein by such adjudication or confirmation of title obtained by actual fraud, to file in the proper Court of First Instance a petition for reopening and review of the decree of registration not later than one year from and after the date of the entry of such decree of registration, but in no case shall such petition be entertained by the court where an innocent purchaser for value has acquired the land or an interest therein, whose rights may be prejudiced. Whenever the phrase "innocent purchaser for value" or an equivalent phrase occurs in this Decree, it shall be deemed to include an innocent lessee, mortgagee, or other encumbrancer for value.

Upon the expiration of said period of one year, the decree of registration and the certificate of title 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.

Updated: A claim to register land by river accretion requires proof that the parcel formed along the bank of the applicant’s property; an uncertain source of accretion does not establish private ownership (Republic v. Asuncion, G.R. No. 200772, 17 February 2021).

Judicial registration and judicial confirmation of title after R.A. No. 11573

Other grounds under the amended Sec. 14 of P.D. No. 1529 are ownership of private lands or abandoned riverbeds acquired by accession or accretion, and ownership acquired in any other manner provided by law. Acquisition by prescription is no longer listed as a separate ground. (P.D. No. 1529, Sec. 14, and C.A. No. 141, Sec. 48, both as amended by R.A. No. 11573)

Effects

• A successful applicant for judicial confirmation is entitled to a certificate of title (P.D. No. 1529, Secs. 31–32; Commonwealth Act No. 141, Sec. 48, as amended by R.A. No. 11573). For a government patent, registration with the Register of Deeds is the operative act that conveys title to the grantee.
• Land ceases to be part of public domain & ownership vests to the grantee.
• Any further grant by Government on the same land is null and void.
• A decree of registration becomes incontrovertible one year after entry of the decree. A person deprived of an interest by actual fraud may petition for review within that year, subject to the rights of an innocent purchaser for value (P.D. No. 1529, Sec. 32). Well-settled is the doctrine that the registration of a patent under the Torrens System does not by itself vest title; it merely confirms the registrant’s already existing one.

Original Registration under P.D. 1529

A proceeding brought before the RTC (as a land registration court) to determine title or ownership of land on the basis of an application for registration or answer by a claimant in a cadastral registration.

An Original Certificate of Title (OCT) is the first title issued in the name of the registered owner by virtue of judicial/voluntary or administrative/ involuntary proceedings.

Procedure in Ordinary Land Registration Proceedings

Under P.D. 1529 and C.A. 141, the following requisites should all be satisfied:

• Survey of land by the Bureau of Lands or a duly licensed private surveyor
• Survey plan must be duly approved by the Director of Lands.
• Filing of Application for registration by the applicant together with all the muniments of titles and copies thereof with a survey plan approved by 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 application and all annexes.

Where to File?

• MTC
• An MTC may exercise delegated jurisdiction over an uncontested lot, or a contested lot whose value does not exceed ₱500,000, under B.P. Blg. 129, Sec. 34, as amended by R.A. No. 11573, Sec. 6.
• In cases of delegated jurisdiction to the MTC (Appeal is directed to the CA).
• RTC
• If there are several parcels of land situated in different provinces/cities but belong to one owner, he must file in the RTC of each province where different parcels of land are located for registration purposes.
• When the boundaries are not defined with the RTC of the place where it is declared for taxation purposes.
• When boundaries are defined, a separate plan for each portion must be made by a separate application for each lot must be filed with the appropriate RTC.
• Setting of the Date of Initial hearing of application by the RTC
• Within five days from filing, the court shall issue an order setting the initial hearing, which shall be held not earlier than 45 days nor later than 90 days from the date of the order, under P.D. No. 1529, Sec. 23.
• Transmittal of the application and the date of the initial hearing, with all the documents or other evidence attached thereto, by the Clerk of Court to the LRA
• Publication of notice of initial hearing (mandatory)
• Once in the Official Gazette (OG) (this confers jurisdiction upon the court)
• Once in a newspaper of general circulationPurpose and effects of publication
• To confer jurisdiction over the land applied for upon the court
• To charge the whole world with knowledge of the application of the land involved, and invite them to take part in the case and assert and prove their rights over the subject land

Effect of defective publication

A defective publication of the notice of initial hearing deprives the court of jurisdiction.

Note: If it is shown that the decree of registration had included lands not included in the original application as published, then the registration proceedings are null and void insofar as the land not included in the publication is concerned. (Benin v. Tuason, G.R. No. L-26127, Jun. 28,1974)

• Mailing and posting of notice of initial hearing

Mailing Within 7 days after publication of said notice in the OG, the LRA shall mail notice to:

• Persons named in the notice
• Sec. of Public Highways, Provincial Governor, and Mayor, if the applicant requests to have the line of a public way or road determined
• Sec. of Agrarian Reform, Solicitor General, Director of Lands, Director of Fisheries, and Director of Mines, if the land borders on a river, navigable stream, or shore, or on an arm of the sea where a river or harbor lies
• Other persons as the court may deem proper

Nature of land registration proceedings under P.D. 1529

• Judicial in character and not merely administrative
• A proceeding in rem

What is the definition of Original Mode?

There being no previous or pre-existing or preceding title or right of another

What is the definition of Original Mode?

There being no previous or pre-existing or preceding title or right of another

How to prove:

• Certification from City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) or Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO)
• If land is less than 50 hectares – CENRO Certification
• If land is 50 hectares or more – PENRO Certification; and
• Copy of the original classification of land as alienable and disposable approved by the DENR Secretary and certified as a true copy by the legal custodian of the official records. (Republic of the Philippines v. Santos, G.R. No. 191516, Jun. 4, 2014.)

Note: It is not enough for the PENRO or CENRO to certify that a land is alienable and disposable. The applicant for land registration must prove that the DENR Secretary had approved the land classification and released the land of the public domain as alienable and disposable, and that the land subject of the application for registration falls within the approved area per verification through survey by the PENRO or CENRO. (Espiritu v. Republic, G.R. No. 219070, Jun. 21, 2017 & Republic v. Raneses, G.R. No. 189970, June 2, 2014.)

In addition, the applicant for land registration must present a copy of the original classification approved by the DENR Secretary and certified as a true copy by the legal custodian of the official records. These fact must be established to prove that the land is alienable and disposable. (Republic v. T.A.N Properties, Inc., G.R. No. 154953, Jun. 26, 2008)

A CENRO or PENRO certification alone is insufficient to prove the alienable and disposable nature of the land sought to be registered. It is the original classification by the DENR Secretary or the President which is essential to prove that the land is indeed alienable and disposable.

This rule embodies a requirement of twin certifications, consisting of: (a) a copy of the original classification approved by the DENR Secretary or the President and certified as a true copy by the legal custodian of the official records; and (b) a certificate of land classification status issued by the CENRO or PENRO and approved by the DENR Secretary.

Current law: The foregoing twin-documentary-proof discussion states pre–R.A. No. 11573 doctrine, not the exclusive current method of proof. For applications governed by the amendment, P.D. No. 1529, Sec. 48, as inserted by R.A. No. 11573, Sec. 7, provides a sufficient-proof rule for establishing that land is alienable and disposable.

However, despite the stringent rule held in Republic v. T.A.N Properties, Inc. that the absence of the twin certifications justifies the denial of an application for registration, subsequent rulings of the Supreme Court in Republic v. Vega and Republic v. Serrano allowed the approval of the application based on substantial compliance. Even so Vega and Serrano were mere pro hac vice rulings and did not in any way abandon nor modify the rule on strict compliance pronounced in T.A.N Properties (Republic v. Herederos De Ciriaco Chunaco Disteleria Incorporadia, G.R. No. 200863, Oct. 14, 2020)

In the cited pre-amendment case, applicants had to present a copy of the original classification approved by the DENR Secretary and certified as a true copy by the legal custodian of the official records. For applications governed by R.A. No. 11573, apply the sufficient-proof rule in P.D. No. 1529, Sec. 48, as inserted by R.A. No. 11573, Sec. 7. Absent the DENR Secretary's issuance declaring the land alienable and disposable, the land remains part of the public domain. Even if X adversely possessed the land, he cannot register the land since he failed to prove the land is alienable. (Republic v. MalijanJavier, G.R. No. 214367, Apr. 4, 2018.)

Notation in a geodetic survey that the survey was inside alienable and disposable land does not constitute a positive government act validly changing the classification of the land. A surveyor has no authority to reclassify lands of public domain. Land of the public domain, to be the subject of appropriation, must be declared alienable and disposable either by the President or the DENR Secretary. The applicant for land registration has the burden of overcoming the presumption of State ownership by establishing through incontrovertible evidence that the land sought to be registered is alienable or disposable based on a positive act of the government. (Republic vs. De Guzman Vda. de Joson, G.R. No. 163767, Mar. 10, 2014.)

The property subject of the application for registration need not be classified as alienable and disposable agricultural land of the public domain for the entire duration of the requisite period of possession. Alienable public land held by a possessor openly, continuously and exclusively during the prescribed statutory period is converted to private property by the mere lapse of such period. The requirement that the land should have been classified as alienable and disposable agricultural land at the time of the application for registration is necessary only to dispute the presumption that the land is inalienable. (Malabanan v. Republic, G.R. No. 179987, Sept. 3, 2013.)

The period of possession prior to the declaration that land is alienable and disposable agricultural land is included in the computation of possession for purposes of acquiring registration rights over a property if the land has already been declared as such at the time of the application for registration. What is important in computing the period of possession is that the land has already been declared alienable and disposable at the time of the application for registration. Upon satisfaction of this requirement, the computation of the period may include the period of adverse possession prior to the declaration that land is alienable and disposable. (AFP Retirement and Separation Benefits System v. Republic of the Philippines, G.R. No. 180086, Jul. 2, 2014.)

Although Corporation A was able to submit a CENRO/PENRO certification certifying the classification of the land as alienable and disposable, a certification of land classification approved by the DENR Secretary, and a Land Classification Map, it should be noted that those documents pertain to a different lot. It was not shown that the lot acquired by Corporation A were included in the certifications presented. Certainly, in the absence of sufficient and convincing proof that such realty is alienable and disposable land of public domain, the possessor thereof could not acquire ownership of the same, much less, have the right to seek registration of title thereto under Section 14(1) of the Property Registration Decree. (Ususan Development Corporation v. Republic, G.R. No. 209462, July 15, 2020)

Current law: Ususan states a historical case holding. P.D. No. 1529, Sec. 14(1), as amended by R.A. No. 11573, Sec. 5, now requires qualifying possession and occupation for at least 20 years immediately preceding the filing of the application, rather than possession since June 12, 1945, or earlier.

Mere notations appearing in survey plans are inadequate proof of the covered properties' alienable and disposable character. These notations, at the very least, only establish that the land subject of the application for registration falls within the approved alienable and disposable area per verification through survey by the proper government office. In the cited pre-amendment case, the Court also required a copy of the original classification of the land into alienable and disposable land, as declared by the DENR Secretary or as proclaimed by the President. For applications governed by R.A. No. 11573, apply the sufficient-proof rule in P.D. No. 1529, Sec. 48, as inserted by R.A. No. 11573, Sec. 7. Unfortunately, in this case, the OSG has not been required to make the necessary verification and has not submitted the two documents that it submitted in Victoria. The invocation by X of Victoria in this case is, thus, misplaced. (D.M. Consunji, Inc. v. Republic, G.R. No. 233339 (Resolution), February 13, 2019)

Functions of the LRA: (SAC)

• Extend Speedy and effective assistance to the Dept. of Agrarian Reform, the Land Bank, and other agencies in the implementation of the land reform program of the government;
• Extend Assistance to courts in ordinary and cadastral land registration proceedings; and
• Be the Central repository of records relative to original registration of lands titled under the Torrens system, including the subdivision and consolidation plans of titled lands. (P.D. 1529, § 6(2))

Sufficient Proof (R.A. No. 11573, Sec. 7)

A duly signed certification by a duly designated DENR geodetic engineer is sufficient proof that the land is part of the alienable and disposable agricultural lands of the public domain if the certification is imprinted on the approved survey plan submitted by the applicant in the land registration court and cites the applicable land-classification map number and the issuance releasing the land as alienable and disposable.

Where to file application

This is applicable for both PD 1529 and CA 141.

General rule: RTC of the province or city where the land is situated.

Note: File together with the application all original muniments of titles or copies thereof and a survey plan of the land as approved by the Bureau of Lands.

Under LRA Circular 05-2000, the original tracing cloth plan is no longer forwarded to the LRA; only a certified copy thereof needs to be forwarded.

P.D. 1529 has eliminated the distinction between the general jurisdiction vested in the RTC and the limited jurisdiction conferred upon it by the former law when acting merely as land registration court. Aimed at avoiding multiplicity of suits, the change has simplified registration proceedings by conferring upon the RTCs the authority to act not only on original applications but also those filed after original registration, with the power to hear and determine all questions arising upon such applications or petitions. (Averia v. Caguioa, G.R. No. L-65129, Dec. 29, 1986)

Exception: Delegated jurisdiction of the MTC to hear and determine cadastral or land registration cases covering:

• Lots where there is no controversy or opposition, or
• Contested lots, the value of which does not exceed ₱400,000, whether inside or outside Metro Manila (B.P. Blg. 129, Sec. 34, as amended by R.A. No. 11576).

If there are several parcels of land situated in different provinces/cities belonging to one owner, he must file in the RTC of each province/city where the different parcels of land are located for registration purposes.

If land is situated between boundaries of 2 provinces, application must be filed:

• If land lies partly in two or more provinces, the application may be filed in the RTC of any province in which a portion of the land is situated (P.D. No. 1529, Sec. 15).

In cases of delegated jurisdiction to the MTC, appeal is directed to the CA.