D.

Definition of Agricultural, Forest, Mineral and

LAND TITLE AND DEEDS under Atty. Erwin L. Tiamson
National Parks

1. Classification describes the legal nature not the

natural state of the land
Contents
a) Executive Department determines what are
I. COURSE OUTLINE -LAND CLASSIFICATION ........... 1
agricultural lands
II. ARTICLE XII SECTION 2-5 CONSTITUTION
(MEMORIZE SEC.2 PAR 1 AND WHOLE OF 3)................... 2
III. CA 141 SECTION 1-5 (MEMORIZE 6-10) ....... 3 On Land Classification.
IV. PD 705 CHAPTER 2 (UNDERSTAND; READ
THE REST IF YOU HAVE SPARE TIME) ............................. 4 In classifying lands, the state considers the physical features of the
V. DENR VS YAP; SACAY VS DENR .................................. 5 lands and the possible best use and utilization of the same as a
VI. RA 7942 MINING ACT OF 1995 .............................. 12 natural resources. So the physical features of the land is an
VII. RA 7586 NIPAS ......................................................... 12 important consideration, PD No. 705 provides the criteria.
VIII. RA 8391 IPRA ........................................................... 12 However, once the land has been classified, it becomes a "legal
IX. DOJ OPINION REGARDING CLASSIFICATION object". Its categorization as agricultural land or forest land ceases
AND RECLASSIFICATION................................................... 13 to be a physical description of its features but a legal description of
X. ART 419-425 CIVIL CODE (MEMORIZE 419-422).... 13 its "status" for purposes of disposition. The changes that will
XI. DISCUSSION GUIDE ON THE DIFFERENT TITLES TO LAND happen to the natural features of the land does not affect the land's
AND APPLICATION PROCESSES ................................................. 13 status as a "legal object" and will remain as such until re-classified
XII. Discussion Guide on Land Registration and the again (transferred from one class to another) by the State. The
Torrens System ...................................................................... 18 function of classifying lands is an executive function (through the
XIII. FREE PATENT AMENDMENT ............................... 23 provisions of the public land act and the forestry code), however,
XIV. RESIDENTIAL FREE PATENT ........................... 24 re-classification function was reserved by congress (under sec. 4 of
XV. PD 2004 REMOVING RESTRICTIONS TO RA 730 CARL).
24
XVI. CORPORATION AND TITLING .......................... 25
b) Cases
2. DIR OF LAND VS IAC, ACME GR 73002 ........... 26
XVII. REP. VS TAN......................................................... 33 (1) Director of Forestry vs. Villareal
NOTE: STUDY MODES OF DISPOSITION OF PUBLIC LANDS, (G.R. No. L-32266 February 27, 1989)
REGISTRABLE PRIVATE RIGHTS AND PROCESSES AND PROCEDURES (2) DENR vs Yap (G.R. No. 167707,
END NOTES: (IMPT LAWS; ADDITIONAL READINGS) October 08, 2008)
1.CA 141-------------------------------------------------------39 c) Relate to Constitutional provision regarding the final
2.PD 705------------------------------------------------------51 forest line by Congress
3. RA 7942----------------------------------------------------53
4. RA 7586----------------------------------------------------65 2. Agricultural Lands
5. RA 8391----------------------------------------------------68
6.PD 1529-----------------------------------------------------77 1) Early rulings
7.RECONSTITUTION AND RE-ISSUANCE OF TITLE-97 (1) Suitability for agricultural use is the
8. MALABANAN VS REP-----------------------------------99 criteria
(2) Court can make a determination
(3) Cases
(a) Jones vs. Insular Government (6
I. COURSE OUTLINE -LAND Phil.122)
(b) Mapa vs. Insular Government (10
CLASSIFICATION Phil.,1753, 1908)
(c) Government of the Philippine
Islands vs. Abella (49 Phil. 49)
I. Land Classification (d) Cornelio Ramos vs. Director of
A. Definition Lands, G.R. No. 13298 November19,
Land classification pertains to classification of lands of 1918)
the public domain as a natural resources in relation to (e) Ankron vs. Government of the
the tenurial arrangements that the state gives to Philippine Islands (G.R. No.14213.
grantees, holders and possessors of such land. August 23, 1919)
2) Clarification in Director of Forestry vs.
B. Distinguished from land use classification and zoning Villareal (G.R. No. L-32266 February 27,
1989). En Banc
Land use classification is focus more on the regulation of 3) Sub-Classification of Agricultural Lands
the actual use of the land, it does not provide for the rules (i) Section 9 of the Public Land Act (CA
regarding tenure on the land. No. 141)
(ii) Cases
C. Constitutional provision 1. de Aldecoa vs Insular Government
(G.R. No. 3894. March 12, 1909)
1) 1987 Constitution Article XII, Sections 2 and 3 (2) Krivenko vs. Register of Deeds of Manila (18
2) Classes of lands of the public domain - in general G.R. No. L-630. November 15, 1947)
a) Agricultural (CA No. 141) 3. Forest Land
b) Forest or Timber (PD No. 705) a) Concept of Forest Zone/Reserves and Public Forest
c) Mineral (RA No. 7942) (1) Royal Decree of February 13, 1894
d) National Park (RA No. 7586) (2) Forest Act
3) Constitutional Limit on area for disposition (3) Public Forest - difference between the Forest Act
4) Land Classification in previous Constitutions and PD No. 750
b) Criteria in the PD No. (Revised Forestry Code) Section 15

1
4. Mineral Lands
a) Definition of Minerals
Minerals, for legal purposes, refers to all
naturally occurring inorganic substance in solid,
gas, liquid or any intermediate state excluding
energy materials such as coal, petroleum, natural
gas, radioactive materials and geothermal
energy.
b) Definition of Mineral Lands under the old
Mining Act (CA No. 137)
those lands in which minerals exist in sufficient
quantity or quality to justify the necessary
expenditures to be incurred in extracting and
utilizing such minerals
c) Definition of Mineral Lands under the Philippine
Mining Act of 1995 (RA No.7932)
any area where mineral resources are found
d) In relation to land titles
A certificate of title is considered void when it covers
property of public domain classified as mineral lands
because possession of mineral lands, no matter how
long does not confer possessory rights.
Cases:
(a) Lepanto Consolidated Mining Co. vs.
Dumyung (GR No. L-31666, April 20, 1929)
(b) Republic vs. Court of Appeals and dela Rosa
(GR No. L-43938, April 15, 1988)
5. National Parks
A. New Class
It was introduced only in the 1987 Constitution as a
distinct and separate class of lands. National parks as a
classification is implemented under Republic Act No.
7586 or the NIPAS law (An Act Providing for the
Establishment and Management of National Integrated
Protected Areas System, Defining its Scope and Coverage
for other Purposes)
B. Definition
a forest reservation essentially of natural wilderness
character which has been withdrawn from settlement,
occupancy or any form of exploitation except in
conformity with approved management plan and set aside
as such exclusively to conserve the area or preserve the
scenery, the natural and historic objects, wild animals and
plants therein and to provide enjoyment of these features
in such areas. It is a relatively large area not materially
altered by human activity where extractive resource uses
are not allowed and maintained to protect outstanding
natural and scenic areas of national or international
significance for scientific, educational and recreational
use. (Section 4 par. (a) of RA No. 7586)
6. Exceptions to Land Classification
A. Ancestral Domain (RA No. 8371) "The Indigenous
Peoples Rights Act of 1997."
a. Cases:
(a) Mateo Cario vs. Insular Government (212
US 449)
(b) Cruz vs. DENR Secretary (G.R. No. 135385.
December 6, 2000)
b) Lands declared by the courts as agricultural lands
prior to the introduction of land classification
(1) Cases:
(a) Sta. Monica Industrial and Development
Corporation vs. Court of Appeals (189 SCRA
792)
2
(b) Republic of the Philippines vs. Court of
Appeals, En Banc (G.R. No. 127245.January
30, 2001)
c) Lands already registered by the Court as Private
Lands
(1) Case:
(a) Republic vs. Court of Appeals (G.R. No.
155450, August 6, 2008)
d) Judicial Notice on Bureaucratic Constraints in
Land Classification
(1) Case:
(a) Republic of the Philippines vs. Court of
Appeals, En Banc (G.R.
(b) No. 127245.January 30, 2001)
II. Institutional and Implementation Arrangements
a) Under the Public Land Act
The present system of classification of lands was
introduced in 1919 through Act No. 2874 or the
Second Public Land Act. This classification of
lands was carried over to our present Public
Land Act (Commonwealth Act No. 141) after Act
No. 2874 was re-enacted, with some
modification, under the Commonwealth
Government. At present, the same is still
retained under the same section and heading on
classification, delimitation and survey of lands
with the President through the Secretary of the
Natural Resources Department classifying lands
of the public domain for purposes of disposition.
b) Classification of land as an executive function
The determination of what is considered
agricultural lands and forest lands are made by
the natural resources department of the
executive branch, in particular, its forestry arm,
i.e. Bureau of Forestry, Forest Management
Bureau.
c) Section 4(a) of CARP (RA No. 6657)
The power of the executive department to
transfer lands from one class to the other under
has been removed by Congress. The power to re-
classify lands from agricultural to some other
class now is with the legislative branch providing
that no reclassification of forest or mineral lands
to agricultural lands shall be undertaken after
until Congress, taking into account ecological,
developmental and equity considerations, shall
have determined by law, the specific limits of the
public domain. DENR limited now to the
classification of public forest.
ARTICLE XII SECTION 2-5
II.
CONSTITUTION (MEMORIZE SEC.2 PAR 1
AND WHOLE OF 3)
Section 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 60 per centum of whose capital is owned by
such citizens. Such agreements may be for a period not exceeding
twenty-five years, renewable for not more than twenty-five years,
and under such terms and conditions as may provided by law. In
cases of water rights for irrigation, water supply, fisheries, or
industrial uses other than the development of waterpower,
beneficial use may be the measure and limit of the grant.
The State shall protect the nations marine wealth in its archipelagic
waters, territorial sea, and exclusive economic zone, and reserve its
use and enjoyment exclusively to Filipino citizens.
The Congress may, by law, allow small-scale utilization of natural
resources by Filipino citizens, as well as cooperative fish farming,
with priority to subsistence fishermen and fish workers in rivers,
lakes, bays, and lagoons.
The President may enter into agreements with foreign-owned
corporations involving either technical or financial assistance for
large-scale exploration, development, and utilization of minerals,
petroleum, and other mineral oils according to the general terms
and conditions provided by law, based on real contributions to the
economic growth and general welfare of the country. In such
agreements, the State shall promote the development and use of
local scientific and technical resources.
The President shall notify the Congress of every contract entered
into in accordance with this provision, within thirty days from its
execution.
Section 3. Lands of the public domain are classified into
agricultural, forest or timber, mineral lands and national parks.
Agricultural lands of the public domain may be further classified
by law according to the uses to which they may be devoted.
Alienable lands of the public domain shall be limited to
agricultural lands. Private corporations or associations may not
hold such alienable lands of the public domain except by lease, for
a period not exceeding twenty-five years, renewable for not more
than twenty-five years, and not to exceed one thousand hectares
in area. Citizens of the Philippines may lease not more than five
hundred hectares, or acquire not more than twelve hectares
thereof, by purchase, homestead, or grant. Taking into account
the requirements of conservation, ecology, and development, and
subject to the requirements of agrarian reform, the Congress shall
determine, by law, the size of lands of the public domain which
may be acquired, developed, held, or leased and the conditions
therefor.
Section 4. The Congress shall, as soon as possible, determine, by
law, the specific limits of forest lands and national parks, marking
clearly their boundaries on the ground. Thereafter, such forest
lands and national parks shall be conserved and may not be
increased nor diminished, except by law. The Congress shall
provide for such period as it may determine, measures to prohibit
logging in endangered forests and watershed areas.
Section 5. The State, subject to the provisions of this Constitution
and national development policies and programs, shall protect the
rights of indigenous cultural communities to their ancestral lands
to ensure their economic, social, and cultural well-being.
The Congress may provide for the applicability of customary laws
governing property rights or relations in determining the
ownership and extent of ancestral domain.
III. CA 141 SECTION 1-5
(MEMORIZE 6-10)
COMMONWEALTH ACT NO. 141i
AN ACT TO AMEND AND COMPILE THE LAWS RELATIVE TO
LANDS OF THE PUBLIC DOMAIN
TITLE I
TITLE AND APPLICATION OF THE ACT, LANDS TO WHICH IT
REFERS, AND CLASSIFICATION, DELIMITATION, AND
SURVEY THEREOF FOR CONCESSION
3
CHAPTER I
SHORT TITLE OF THE ACT, LANDS TO WHICH IT APPLIES,
AND OFFICERS CHARGED WITH ITS EXECUTION
Section 1. The short title of this Act shall be "The Public Land Act.
Section2. The provisions of this Act shall apply to the lands of the
public domain; but timber and mineral lands shall be governed by
special laws and nothing in this Act provided shall be understood
or construed to change or modify the administration and
disposition of the lands commonly called "friar lands'' and those
which, being privately owned, have reverted to or become the
property of the Commonwealth of the Philippines, which
administration and disposition shall be governed by the laws at
present in force or which may hereafter be enacted.
Section3. The Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce shall be the
executive officer charged with carrying out the provisions of this
Act through the Director of Lands, who shall act under his
immediate control.
Section4. Subject to said control, the Director of Lands shall have
direct executive control of the survey, classification, lease, sale or
any other form of concession or disposition and management of
the lands of the public domain, and his decisions as to questions of
fact shall be conclusive when approved by the Secretary of
Agriculture and Commerce.
Section5. The Director of Lands, with the approval of the Secretary
of Agriculture and Commerce shall prepare and issue such 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.
CHAPTER II
CLASSIFICATION, DELIMITATION, AND SURVEY OF
LANDS OF THE PUBLIC DOMAIN, FOR THE
CONCESSION THEREOF
Section6. The President, upon the recommendation of the
Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce, shall from time to time
classify the lands of the public domain into
(a) Alienable or disposable;
(b) Timber, and
(c) Mineral lands,
and may at any time and in a like manner transfer such lands
from one class to another, for the purposes of their administration
and disposition.
Section7. For the purposes of the administration and disposition
of alienable or disposable public lands, the President, upon
recommendation by the Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce,
shall from time to time declare what lands are open to disposition
or concession under this Act.
Section8. Only those lands shall be declared open to disposition
or concession which have been officially delimited and classified
and, when practicable, surveyed, and which have not been
reserved for public or quasi-public uses, nor appropriated by the
Government, nor in any manner become private property, nor
those on which a private right authorized and recognized by this
Act or any other valid law may be claimed, or which, having been
reserved or appropriated, have ceased to be so However, the
President may, for reasons of public interest, declare lands of the
public domain open to disposition before the same have had their
boundaries established or been surveyed, or may, for the same
reason, suspend their concession or disposition until they are
again declared open to concession or disposition by proclamation
duly published or by Act of the National Assembly.
Section9. For the purpose of their administration and
disposition, the lands of the public domain alienable or open to
disposition shall be classified, according to the use or purposes to
which such lands are destined, as follows:
(a) Agricultural
(b) Residential commercial industrial or for similar productive
purposes
(c) Educational, charitable, or other similar purposes
(d) Reservations for town sites and for public and quasi-public
uses.
The President, upon recommendation by the Secretary of
Agriculture and Commerce, shall from time to time make the
classifications provided for in this section, and may, at any time
and in a similar manner, transfer lands from one class to another.
Section10. The words "alienation, "'disposition, or "concession"
as used in this Act, shall mean any of the methods authorized by
this Act for the acquisition, lease, use, or benefit of the lands of the
public domain other than timber or mineral lands.
PD 705 CHAPTER 2
IV.
(UNDERSTAND; READ THE REST IF YOU
HAVE SPARE TIME)
PRESIDENTIAL DECREE No. 705ii
May 19, 1975
REVISING PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 389, OTHERWISE
KNOWN AS THE
FORESTRY REFORM CODE OF THE PHILIPPINES
CHAPTER II CLASSIFICATION AND SURVEY
Section 13. System of Land Classification. The Department Head
shall study, devise, determine and prescribe the criteria, guidelines
and methods for the proper and accurate classification and survey
of all lands of the public domain into agricultural, industrial or
commercial, residential, resettlement, mineral, timber or forest,
and grazing lands, and into such other classes as now or may
hereafter be provided by law, rules and regulations.
In the meantime, the Department Head shall simplify through
inter-bureau action the present system of determining which of the
unclassified lands of the public domain are needed for forest
purposes and declare them as permanent forest to form part of the
forest reserves. He shall decree those classified and determined not
to be needed for forest purposes as alienable and disposable lands,
the administrative jurisdiction and management of which shall be
transferred to the Bureau of Lands: Provided, That mangrove and
other swamps not needed for shore protection and suitable for
fishpond purposes shall be released to, and be placed under the
administrative jurisdiction and management of, the Bureau of
Fisheries and Aquatic Resources. Those still to be classified under
the Present system shall continue to remain as part of the public
forest.
Section 14. Existing Pasture Leases and Permits in Forest Lands.
Forest lands which have been the subject of pasture leases and
permits shall remain classified as forest lands until classified as
grazing lands under the criteria, guidelines and methods of
classification to be prescribed by the Department Head: Provided,
That the administration, management and disposition of grazing
lands shall remain under the Bureau.
Section 15. Topography. No land of the public domain eighteen per
cent (18%) in slope or over shall be classified as alienable and
disposable, nor any forest land fifty per cent (50%) in slope or over,
as grazing land.
Lands eighteen per cent (18%) in slope or over which have already
been declared as alienable and disposable shall be reverted to the
classification of forest lands by the Department Head, to form part
4
of the forest reserves, unless they are already covered by existing
titles or approved public land application, or actually occupied
openly, continuously, adversely and publicly for a period of not less
than thirty (30) years as of the effectivity of this Code, where the
occupant is qualified for a free patent under the Public Land Act:
Provided, That said lands, which are not yet part of a well-
established communities, shall be kept in a vegetative condition
sufficient to prevent erosion and adverse effects on the lowlands
and streams: Provided, further, That when public interest so
requires, steps shall be taken to expropriate, cancel defective titles,
reject public land application, or eject occupants thereof.
Section 16. Areas needed for forest purposes. The following lands,
even if they are below eighteen per cent (18%) in slope, are needed
for forest purposes, and may not, therefore, be classified as
alienable and disposable land, to wit:
1. Areas less than 250 hectares which are far from, or are not
contiguous with, any certified alienable and disposable land;
2. Isolated patches of forest of at least five (5) hectares with rocky
terrain, or which protect a spring for communal use;
3. Areas which have already been reforested;
4. Areas within forest concessions which are timbered or have good
residual stocking to support an existing, or approved to be
established, wood processing plant;
5. Ridge tops and plateaus regardless of size found within, or
surrounded wholly or partly by, forest lands where headwaters
emanate;
6. Appropriately located road-rights-or-way;
7. Twenty-meter strips of land along the edge of the normal high
waterline of rivers and streams with channels of at least five (5)
meters wide;
8. Strips of mangrove or swamplands at least twenty (20) meters
wide, along shorelines facing oceans, lakes, and other bodies of
water, and strips of land at least twenty (20) meters wide facing
lakes;
9. Areas needed for other purposes, such as national parks,
national historical sites, game refuges and wildlife sanctuaries,
forest station sites, and others of public interest; and
10. Areas previously proclaimed by the President as forest reserves,
national parks, game refuge, bird sanctuaries, national shrines,
national historic sites:
Provided, That in case an area falling under any of the foregoing
categories shall have been titled in favor of any person, steps shall
be taken, if public interest so requires, to have said title cancelled
or amended, or the titled area expropriated.
Section 17. Establishment of boundaries of forest lands. All
boundaries between permanent forests and alienable and
disposable lands shall be clearly marked and maintained on the
ground, with infrastructure or roads, or concrete monuments at
intervals of not more than five hundred (500) meters in accordance
with established procedures and standards, or any other visible
and practicable signs to insure protection of the forest.
Section 18. Reservations in forest lands and off-shore areas. The
President of the Philippines may establish within any lands of the
public domain, forest reserve and forest reservation for the
national park system, for preservation as critical watersheds, or for
any other purpose, and modify boundaries of existing ones. The
Department Head may reserve and establish any portion of the
public forest or forest reserve as site or experimental forest for use
of the Forest Research Institute.
When public interest so requires, any off-shore area needed for the
preservation and protection of its educational, scientific, historical,
ecological and recreational values including the marine life found
therein, shall be established as marine parks.
V. DENR VS YAP; SACAY VS DENR
G.R. No. 167707 October 8, 2008
THE SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT
AND NATURAL RESOURCES, THE REGIONAL EXECUTIVE
DIRECTOR, DENR-REGION VI, REGIONAL TECHNICAL
DIRECTOR FOR LANDS, LANDS MANAGEMENT BUREAU,
REGION VI PROVINCIAL ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL
RESOURCES OFFICER OF KALIBO, AKLAN, REGISTER OF
DEEDS, DIRECTOR OF LAND REGISTRATION AUTHORITY,
DEPARTMENT OF TOURISM SECRETARY, DIRECTOR OF
PHILIPPINE TOURISM AUTHORITY, petitioners,
vs.
MAYOR JOSE S. YAP, LIBERTAD TALAPIAN, MILA Y.
SUMNDAD, and ANICETO YAP, in their behalf and in behalf of all
those similarly situated, respondents.
x-----------------------------------------------
---x
G.R. No. G.R. No. 173775 October 8, 2008
DR. ORLANDO SACAY and WILFREDO GELITO, joined by THE
LANDOWNERS OF BORACAY SIMILARLY SITUATED NAMED
IN A LIST, ANNEX "A" OF THIS PETITION, petitioners,
vs.
THE SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT
AND NATURAL RESOURCES, THE REGIONAL TECHNICAL
DIRECTOR FOR LANDS, LANDS MANAGEMENT BUREAU,
REGION VI, PROVINCIAL ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL
RESOURCES OFFICER, KALIBO, AKLAN, respondents.
DECISION
REYES, R.T., J.:
AT stake in these consolidated cases is the right of the present
occupants of Boracay Island to secure titles over their occupied
lands.
There are two consolidated petitions. The first is G.R. No. 167707, a
petition for review on certiorari of the Decision1 of the Court of
Appeals (CA) affirming that2 of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) in
Kalibo, Aklan, which granted the petition for declaratory relief filed
by respondents-claimants Mayor Jose Yap, et al. and ordered the
survey of Boracay for titling purposes. The second is G.R. No.
173775, a petition for prohibition, mandamus, and nullification of
Proclamation No. 10645">[3] issued by President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo classifying Boracay into reserved forest and
agricultural land.
The Antecedents
G.R. No. 167707
Boracay Island in the Municipality of Malay, Aklan, with its
powdery white sand beaches and warm crystalline waters, is
reputedly a premier Philippine tourist destination. The island is
also home to 12,003 inhabitants4 who live in the bone-shaped
islands three barangays.5
On April 14, 1976, the Department of Environment and Natural
Resources (DENR) approved the National Reservation Survey of
Boracay
Island,6 which identified several lots as being occupied or claimed
by named persons.7
5
On November 10, 1978, then President Ferdinand Marcos issued
Proclamation No. 18018 declaring Boracay Island, among other
islands, caves and peninsulas in the Philippines, as tourist zones
and marine reserves under the administration of the Philippine
Tourism Authority (PTA). President Marcos later approved the
issuance of PTA Circular 3-829 dated September 3, 1982, to
implement Proclamation No. 1801.
Claiming that Proclamation No. 1801 and PTA Circular No 3-82
precluded them from filing an application for judicial confirmation
of imperfect title or survey of land for titling purposes,
respondents-claimants
Mayor Jose S. Yap, Jr., Libertad Talapian, Mila Y. Sumndad, and
Aniceto Yap filed a petition for declaratory relief with the RTC in
Kalibo, Aklan.
In their petition, respondents-claimants alleged that Proclamation
No. 1801 and PTA Circular No. 3-82 raised doubts on their right to
secure titles over their occupied lands. They declared that they
themselves, or through their predecessors-in-interest, had been in
open, continuous, exclusive, and notorious possession and
occupation in Boracay since June 12, 1945, or earlier since time
immemorial. They declared their lands for tax purposes and paid
realty taxes on them.10
Respondents-claimants posited that Proclamation No. 1801 and its
implementing Circular did not place Boracay beyond the
commerce of man. Since the Island was classified as a tourist zone,
it was susceptible of private ownership. Under Section 48(b) of
Commonwealth Act (CA) No. 141, otherwise known as the Public
Land Act, they had the right to have the lots registered in their
names through judicial confirmation of imperfect titles.
The Republic, through the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG),
opposed the petition for declaratory relief. The OSG countered that
Boracay Island was an unclassified land of the public domain. It
formed part of the mass of lands classified as "public forest," which
was not available for disposition pursuant to Section 3(a) of
Presidential Decree (PD) No. 705 or the Revised Forestry Code,11
as amended.
The OSG maintained that respondents-claimants reliance on PD
No. 1801 and PTA Circular No. 3-82 was misplaced. Their right to
judicial confirmation of title was governed by CA No. 141 and PD
No. 705. Since Boracay Island had not been classified as alienable
and disposable, whatever possession they had cannot ripen into
ownership.
During pre-trial, respondents-claimants and the OSG stipulated on
the following facts: (1) respondents-claimants were presently in
possession of parcels of land in Boracay Island; (2) these parcels of
land were planted with coconut trees and other natural growing
trees; (3) the coconut trees had heights of more or less twenty (20)
meters and were planted more or less fifty (50) years ago; and (4)
respondents-claimants declared the land they were occupying for
tax purposes.12
The parties also agreed that the principal issue for resolution was
purely legal: whether Proclamation No. 1801 posed any legal
hindrance or impediment to the titling of the lands in Boracay.
They decided to forego with the trial and to submit the case for
resolution upon submission of their respective memoranda.13
The RTC took judicial notice14 that certain parcels of land in
Boracay Island, more particularly Lots 1 and 30, Plan PSU-5344,
were covered by Original Certificate of Title No. 19502 (RO 2222)
in the name of the Heirs of Ciriaco S. Tirol. These lots were
involved in Civil Case Nos. 5222 and 5262 filed before the RTC of
Kalibo, Aklan.15 The titles were issued on
August 7, 1933.16
RTC and CA Dispositions
On July 14, 1999, the RTC rendered a decision in favor of
respondents-claimants, with a fallo reading:
WHEREFORE, in view of the foregoing, the Court declares that
Proclamation No. 1801 and PTA Circular No. 3-82 pose no legal
obstacle to the petitioners and those similarly situated to acquire
title to their lands in Boracay, in accordance with the applicable
laws and in the manner prescribed therein; and to have their lands
surveyed and approved by respondent Regional Technical Director
of Lands as the approved survey does not in itself constitute a title
to the land.
SO ORDERED.17
The RTC upheld respondents-claimants right to have their
occupied lands titled in their name. It ruled that neither
Proclamation No. 1801 nor PTA Circular No. 3-82 mentioned that
lands in Boracay were inalienable or could not be the subject of
disposition.18 The Circular itself recognized private ownership of
lands.19 The trial court cited Sections 8720 and 5321 of the Public
Land Act as basis for acknowledging private ownership of lands in
Boracay and that only those forested areas in public lands were
declared as part of the forest reserve.22
The OSG moved for reconsideration but its motion was denied.23
The Republic then appealed to the CA.
On December 9, 2004, the appellate court affirmed in toto the RTC
decision, disposing as follows:
WHEREFORE, in view of the foregoing premises, judgment is
hereby rendered by us DENYING the appeal filed in this case and
AFFIRMING the decision of the lower court.24
The CA held that respondents-claimants could not be prejudiced by
a declaration that the lands they occupied since time immemorial
were part of a forest reserve.
Again, the OSG sought reconsideration but it was similarly
denied.25 Hence, the present petition under Rule 45.
G.R. No. 173775
On May 22, 2006, during the pendency of G.R. No. 167707,
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo issued Proclamation No.
106426 classifying Boracay Island into four hundred (400)
hectares of reserved forest land (protection purposes) and six
hundred twenty-eight and 96/100 (628.96) hectares of agricultural
land (alienable and disposable). The Proclamation likewise
provided for a fifteen-meter buffer zone on each side of the
centerline of roads and trails, reserved for right-of-way and which
shall form part of the area reserved for forest land protection
purposes.
On August 10, 2006, petitioners-claimants Dr. Orlando Sacay,27
Wilfredo Gelito,28 and other landowners29 in Boracay filed with
this Court an original petition for prohibition, mandamus, and
nullification of Proclamation No. 1064.30 They allege that the
Proclamation infringed on their "prior vested rights" over portions
of Boracay. They have been in continued possession of their
respective lots in Boracay since time immemorial. They have also
invested billions of pesos in developing their lands and building
internationally renowned first class resorts on their lots.31
Petitioners-claimants contended that there is no need for a
proclamation reclassifying Boracay into agricultural land. Being
classified as neither mineral nor timber land, the island is deemed
agricultural pursuant to the Philippine Bill of 1902 and Act No.
926, known as the first Public Land Act.32 Thus, their possession
in the concept of owner for the required period entitled them to
judicial confirmation of imperfect title.
Opposing the petition, the OSG argued that petitioners-claimants
do not have a vested right over their occupied portions in the
island. Boracay is an unclassified public forest land pursuant to
Section 3(a) of PD No. 705. Being public forest, the claimed
portions of the island are inalienable and cannot be the subject of
judicial confirmation of imperfect title. It is only the executive
department, not the courts, which has authority to reclassify lands
of the public domain into alienable and disposable lands. There is a
need for a positive government act in order to release the lots for
disposition.
On November 21, 2006, this Court ordered the consolidation of the
two petitions as they principally involve the same issues on the
land classification of Boracay Island.33
Issues
G.R. No. 167707
6
The OSG raises the lone issue of whether Proclamation No. 1801
and PTA Circular No. 3-82 pose any legal obstacle for respondents,
and all those similarly situated, to acquire title to their occupied
lands in Boracay Island.34
G.R. No. 173775
Petitioners-claimants hoist five (5) issues, namely:
I.
AT THE TIME OF THE ESTABLISHED POSSESSION OF
PETITIONERS IN CONCEPT OF OWNER OVER THEIR
RESPECTIVE AREAS IN BORACAY, SINCE TIME IMMEMORIAL
OR AT THE LATEST SINCE 30 YRS. PRIOR TO THE FILING OF
THE PETITION FOR DECLARATORY RELIEF ON NOV. 19, 1997,
WERE THE AREAS OCCUPIED BY THEM PUBLIC
AGRICULTURAL LANDS AS DEFINED BY LAWS THEN ON
JUDICIAL CONFIRMATION OF IMPERFECT TITLES OR
PUBLIC FOREST AS DEFINED BY SEC. 3a, PD 705?
II.
HAVE PETITIONERS OCCUPANTS ACQUIRED PRIOR VESTED
RIGHT OF PRIVATE OWNERSHIP OVER THEIR OCCUPIED
PORTIONS OF BORACAY LAND, DESPITE THE FACT THAT
THEY HAVE NOT APPLIED YET FOR JUDICIAL
CONFIRMATION OF IMPERFECT TITLE?
III.
IS THE EXECUTIVE DECLARATION OF THEIR AREAS AS
ALIENABLE AND DISPOSABLE UNDER SEC 6, CA 141 [AN]
INDISPENSABLE PRE-REQUISITE FOR PETITIONERS TO
OBTAIN TITLE UNDER THE TORRENS SYSTEM?
IV.
IS THE ISSUANCE OF PROCLAMATION 1064 ON MAY 22, 2006,
VIOLATIVE OF THE PRIOR VESTED RIGHTS TO PRIVATE
OWNERSHIP OF PETITIONERS OVER THEIR LANDS IN
BORACAY, PROTECTED BY THE DUE PROCESS CLAUSE OF
THE CONSTITUTION OR IS PROCLAMATION 1064 CONTRARY
TO SEC. 8, CA 141, OR SEC. 4(a) OF RA 6657.
V.
CAN RESPONDENTS BE COMPELLED BY MANDAMUS TO
ALLOW THE SURVEY AND TO APPROVE THE SURVEY PLANS
FOR PURPOSES OF THE APPLICATION FOR TITLING OF THE
LANDS OF PETITIONERS IN BORACAY?35 (Underscoring
supplied)
In capsule, the main issue is whether private claimants
(respondents-claimants in G.R. No. 167707 and petitioners-
claimants in G.R. No. 173775) have a right to secure titles over their
occupied portions in Boracay. The twin petitions pertain to their
right, if any, to judicial confirmation of imperfect title under CA
No. 141, as amended. They do not involve their right to secure title
under other pertinent laws.
Our Ruling
Regalian Doctrine and power of the executive
to reclassify lands of the public domain
Private claimants rely on three (3) laws and executive acts in their
bid for judicial confirmation of imperfect title, namely: (a)
Philippine Bill of 190236 in relation to Act No. 926, later amended
and/or superseded by Act No. 2874 and CA No. 141;37 (b)
Proclamation No. 180138 issued by then President Marcos; and (c)
Proclamation No. 106439 issued by President Gloria Macapagal-
Arroyo. We shall proceed to determine their rights to apply for
judicial confirmation of imperfect title under these laws and
executive acts.
But first, a peek at the Regalian principle and the power of the
executive to reclassify lands of the public domain.
The 1935 Constitution classified lands of the public domain into
agricultural, forest or timber.40 Meanwhile, the 1973 Constitution
provided the following divisions: agricultural, industrial or
commercial, residential, resettlement, mineral, timber or forest
and grazing lands, and such other classes as may be provided by
law,41 giving the government great leeway for classification.42
Then the 1987 Constitution reverted to the 1935 Constitution
classification with one addition: national parks.43 Of these, only
agricultural lands may be alienated.44 Prior to Proclamation No.
1064 of May 22, 2006, Boracay Island had never been expressly
and administratively classified under any of these grand divisions.
Boracay was an unclassified land of the public domain.
The Regalian Doctrine dictates that all lands of the public domain
belong to the State, that the State is the source of any asserted right
to ownership of land and charged with the conservation of such
patrimony.45 The doctrine has been consistently adopted under
the 1935, 1973, and 1987 Constitutions.46
All lands not otherwise appearing to be clearly within private
ownership are presumed to belong to the State.47 Thus, all lands
that have not been acquired from the government, either by
purchase or by grant, belong to the State as part of the inalienable
public domain.48 Necessarily, it is up to the State to determine if
lands of the public domain will be disposed of for private
ownership. The government, as the agent of th
e state, is possessed of the plenary power as the persona in law to
determine who shall be the favored recipients of public lands, as
well as under what terms they may be granted such privilege, not
excluding the placing of obstacles in the way of their exercise of
what otherwise would be ordinary acts of ownership.49
Our present land law traces its roots to the Regalian Doctrine.
Upon the Spanish conquest of the Philippines, ownership of all
lands, territories and possessions in the Philippines passed to the
Spanish Crown.50 The Regalian doctrine was first introduced in
the Philippines through the Laws of the Indies and the Royal
Cedulas, which laid the foundation that "all lands that were not
acquired from the Government, either by purchase or by grant,
belong to the public domain."51
The Laws of the Indies was followed by the Ley Hipotecaria or the
Mortgage Law of 1893. The Spanish Mortgage Law provided for the
systematic registration of titles and deeds as well as possessory
claims.52
The Royal Decree of 1894 or the Maura Law53 partly amended the
Spanish Mortgage Law and the Laws of the Indies. It established
possessory information as the method of legalizing possession of
vacant Crown land, under certain conditions which were set forth
in said decree.54 Under Section 393 of the Maura Law, an
informacion posesoria or possessory information title,55 when
duly inscribed in the Registry of Property, is converted into a title
of ownership only after the lapse of twenty (20) years of
uninterrupted possession which must be actual, public, and
adverse,56 from the date of its inscription.57 However, possessory
information title had to be perfected one year after the
promulgation of the Maura Law, or until April 17, 1895. Otherwise,
the lands would revert to the State.58
In sum, private ownership of land under the Spanish regime could
only be founded on royal concessions which took various forms,
namely: (1) titulo real or royal grant; (2) concesion especial or
special grant; (3) composicion con el estado or adjustment title; (4)
titulo de compra or title by purchase; and (5) informacion
posesoria or possessory information title.59>
The first law governing the disposition of public lands in the
Philippines under American rule was embodied in the Philippine
Bill of 1902.60 By this law, lands of the public domain in the
Philippine Islands were classified into three (3) grand divisions, to
wit: agricultural, mineral, and timber or forest lands.61 The act
provided for, among others, the disposal of mineral lands by means
of absolute grant (freehold system) and by lease (leasehold
system).62 It also provided the definition by exclusion of
"agricultural public lands."63 Interpreting the meaning of
"agricultural lands" under the Philippine Bill of 1902, the Court
declared in Mapa v. Insular Government:64
x x x In other words, that the phrase "agricultural land" as used in
Act No. 926 means those public lands acquired from Spain which
are not timber or mineral lands. x x x65 (Emphasis Ours)
On February 1, 1903, the Philippine Legislature passed Act No.
496, otherwise known as the Land Registration Act. The act
established a system of registration by which recorded title
7
becomes absolute, indefeasible, and imprescriptible. This is known
as the Torrens system.66
Concurrently, on October 7, 1903, the Philippine Commission
passed Act No. 926, which was the first Public Land Act. The Act
introduced the homestead system and made provisions for judicial
and administrative confirmation of imperfect titles and for the sale
or lease of public lands. It permitted corporations regardless of the
nationality of persons owning the controlling stock to lease or
purchase lands of the public domain.67 Under the Act, open,
continuous, exclusive, and notorious possession and occupation of
agricultural lands for the next ten (10) years preceding July 26,
1904 was sufficient for judicial confirmation of imperfect title.68
On November 29, 1919, Act No. 926 was superseded by Act No.
2874, otherwise known as the second Public Land Act. This new,
more comprehensive law limited the exploitation of agricultural
lands to Filipinos and Americans and citizens of other countries
which gave Filipinos the same privileges. For judicial confirmation
of title, possession and occupation en concepto dueo since time
immemorial, or since July 26, 1894, was required.69
After the passage of the 1935 Constitution, CA No. 141 amended
Act No. 2874 on December 1, 1936. To this day, CA No. 141, as
amended, remains as the existing general law governing the
classification and disposition of lands of the public domain other
than timber and mineral lands,70 and privately owned lands which
reverted to the State.71
Section 48(b) of CA No. 141 retained the requirement under Act
No. 2874 of possession and occupation of lands of the public
domain since time immemorial or since July 26, 1894. However,
this provision was superseded by Republic Act (RA) No. 1942,72
which provided for a simple thirty-year prescriptive period for
judicial confirmation of imperfect title. The provision was last
amended by PD No. 1073,73 which now provides for possession
and occupation of the land applied for since June 12, 1945, or
earlier.74
The issuance of PD No. 89275 on February 16, 1976 discontinued
the use of Spanish titles as evidence in land registration
proceedings.76 Under the decree, all holders of Spanish titles or
grants should apply for registration of their lands under Act No.
496 within six (6) months from the effectivity of the decree on
February 16, 1976. Thereafter, the recording of all unregistered
lands77 shall be governed by Section 194 of the Revised
Administrative Code, as amended by Act No. 3344.
On June 11, 1978, Act No. 496 was amended and updated by PD
No. 1529, known as the Property Registration Decree. It was
enacted to codify the various laws relative to registration of
property.78 It governs registration of lands under the Torrens
system as well as unregistered lands, including chattel
mortgages.79
A positive act declaring land as alienable and disposable is
required. In keeping with the presumption of State ownership, the
Court has time and again emphasized that there must be a positive
act of the government, such as an official proclamation,80
declassifying inalienable public land into disposable land for
agricultural or other purposes.81 In fact, Section 8 of CA No. 141
limits alienable or disposable lands only to those lands which have
been "officially delimited and classified."82
The burden of proof in overcoming the presumption of State
ownership of the lands of the public domain is on the person
applying for registration (or claiming ownership), who must prove
that the land subject of the application is alienable or disposable.83
To overcome this presumption, incontrovertible evidence must be
established that the land subject of the application (or claim) is
alienable or disposable.84 There must still be a positive act
declaring land of the public domain as alienable and disposable. To
prove that the land subject of an application for registration is
alienable, the applicant must establish the existence of a positive
act of the government such as a presidential proclamation or an
executive order; an administrative action; investigation reports of
Bureau of Lands investigators; and a legislative act or a statute.85
The applicant may also secure a certification from the government
that the land claimed to have been possessed for the required
number of years is alienable and disposable.86
In the case at bar, no such proclamation, executive order,
administrative action, report, statute, or certification was
presented to the Court. The records are bereft of evidence showing
that, prior to 2006, the portions of Boracay occupied by private
claimants were subject of a government proclamation that the land
is alienable and disposable. Absent such well-nigh incontrovertible
evidence, the Court cannot accept the submission that lands
occupied by private claimants were already open to disposition
before 2006. Matters of land classification or reclassification
cannot be assumed. They call for proof.87
Ankron and De Aldecoa did not make the whole of Boracay Island,
or portions of it, agricultural lands. Private claimants posit that
Boracay was already an agricultural land pursuant to the old cases
Ankron v. Government of the Philippine Islands (1919)88 and De
Aldecoa v. The Insular Government (1909).89 These cases were
decided under the provisions of the Philippine Bill of 1902 and Act
No. 926. There is a statement in these old cases that "in the
absence of evidence to the contrary, that in each case the lands are
agricultural lands until the contrary is shown."90
Private claimants reliance on Ankron and De Aldecoa is misplaced.
These cases did not have the effect of converting the whole of
Boracay Island or portions of it into agricultural lands. It should be
stressed that the Philippine Bill of 1902 and Act No. 926 merely
provided the manner through which land registration courts would
classify lands of the public domain. Whether the land would be
classified as timber, mineral, or agricultural depended on proof
presented in each case.
Ankron and De Aldecoa were decided at a time when the President
of the Philippines had no power to classify lands of the public
domain into mineral, timber, and agricultural. At that time, the
courts were free to make corresponding classifications in
justiciable cases, or were vested with implicit power to do so,
depending upon the preponderance of the evidence.91 This was the
Courts ruling in Heirs of the Late Spouses Pedro S. Palanca and
Soterranea Rafols Vda. De Palanca v. Republic,92 in which it
stated, through Justice Adolfo Azcuna, viz.:
x x x Petitioners furthermore insist that a particular land need not
be formally released by an act of the Executive before it can be
deemed open to private ownership, citing the cases of Ramos v.
Director of Lands and Ankron v. Government of the Philippine
Islands.
xxxx
Petitioners reliance upon Ramos v. Director of Lands and Ankron
v. Government is misplaced. These cases were decided under the
Philippine Bill of 1902 and the first Public Land Act No. 926
enacted by the Philippine Commission on October 7, 1926, under
which there was no legal provision vesting in the Chief Executive or
President of the Philippines the power to classify lands of the
public domain into mineral, timber and agricultural so that the
courts then were free to make corresponding classifications in
justiciable cases, or were vested with implicit power to do so,
depending upon the preponderance of the evidence.93
To aid the courts in resolving land registration cases under Act No.
926, it was then necessary to devise a presumption on land
classification. Thus evolved the dictum in Ankron that "the courts
have a right to presume, in the absence of evidence to the contrary,
that in each case the lands are agricultural lands until the contrary
is shown."94
But We cannot unduly expand the presumption in Ankron and De
Aldecoa to an argument that all lands of the public domain had
been automatically reclassified as disposable and alienable
agricultural lands. By no stretch of imagination did the
presumption convert all lands of the public domain into
agricultural lands.
If We accept the position of private claimants, the Philippine Bill of
1902 and Act No. 926 would have automatically made all lands in
the Philippines, except those already classified as timber or mineral
land, alienable and disposable lands. That would take these lands
out of State ownership and worse, would be utterly inconsistent
with and totally repugnant to the long-entrenched Regalian
doctrine.
The presumption in Ankron and De Aldecoa attaches only to land
registration cases brought under the provisions of Act No. 926, or
8
more specifically those cases dealing with judicial and
administrative confirmation of imperfect titles. The presumption
applies to an applicant for judicial or administrative conformation
of imperfect title under Act No. 926. It certainly cannot apply to
landowners, such as private claimants or their predecessors-in-
interest, who failed to avail themselves of the benefits of Act No.
926. As to them, their land remained unclassified and, by virtue of
the Regalian doctrine, continued to be owned by the State.
In any case, the assumption in Ankron and De Aldecoa was not
absolute. Land classification was, in the end, dependent on proof.
If there was proof that the land was better suited for non-
agricultural uses, the courts could adjudge it as a mineral or timber
land despite the presumption. In Ankron, this Court stated:
In the case of Jocson vs. Director of Forestry (supra), the Attorney-
General admitted in effect that whether the particular land in
question belongs to one class or another is a question of fact. The
mere fact that a tract of land has trees upon it or has mineral
within it is not of itself sufficient to declare that one is forestry land
and the other, mineral land. There must be some proof of the
extent and present or future value of the forestry and of the
minerals. While, as we have just said, many definitions have been
given for "agriculture," "forestry," and "mineral" lands, and that in
each case it is a question of fact, we think it is safe to say that in
order to be forestry or mineral land the proof must show that it is
more valuable for the forestry or the mineral which it contains than
it is for agricultural purposes. (Sec. 7, Act No. 1148.) It is not
sufficient to show that there exists some trees upon the land or that
it bears some mineral. Land may be classified as forestry or
mineral today, and, by reason of the exhaustion of the timber or
mineral, be classified as agricultural land tomorrow. And vice-
versa, by reason of the rapid growth of timber or the discovery of
valuable minerals, lands classified as agricultural today may be
differently classified tomorrow. Each case must be decided upon
the proof in that particular case, having regard for its present or
future value for one or the other purposes. We believe, however,
considering the fact that it is a matter of public knowledge that a
majority of the lands in the Philippine Islands are agricultural
lands that the courts have a right to presume, in the absence of
evidence to the contrary, that in each case the lands are
agricultural lands until the contrary is shown. Whatever the land
involved in a particular land registration case is forestry or mineral
land must, therefore, be a matter of proof. Its superior value for
one purpose or the other is a question of fact to be settled by the
proof in each particular case. The fact that the land is a manglar
[mangrove swamp] is not sufficient for the courts to decide
whether it is agricultural, forestry, or mineral land. It may
perchance belong to one or the other of said classes of land. The
Government, in the first instance, under the provisions of Act No.
1148, may, by reservation, decide for itself what portions of public
land shall be considered forestry land, unless private interests have
intervened before such reservation is made. In the latter case,
whether the land is agricultural, forestry, or mineral, is a question
of proof. Until private interests have intervened, the Government,
by virtue of the terms of said Act (No. 1148), may decide for itself
what portions of the "public domain" shall be set aside and
reserved as forestry or mineral land. (Ramos vs. Director of Lands,
39 Phil. 175; Jocson vs. Director of Forestry, supra)95 (Emphasis
ours)
Since 1919, courts were no longer free to determine the
classification of lands from the facts of each case, except those that
have already became private lands.96 Act No. 2874, promulgated
in 1919 and reproduced in Section 6 of CA No. 141, gave the
Executive Department, through the President, the exclusive
prerogative to classify or reclassify public lands into alienable or
disposable, mineral or forest.96-a Since then, courts no longer had
the authority, whether express or implied, to determine the
classification of lands of the public domain.97
Here, private claimants, unlike the Heirs of Ciriaco Tirol who were
issued their title in 1933,98 did not present a justiciable case for
determination by the land registration court of the propertys land
classification. Simply put, there was no opportunity for the courts
then to resolve if the land the Boracay occupants are now claiming
were agricultural lands. When Act No. 926 was supplanted by Act
No. 2874 in 1919, without an application for judicial confirmation
having been filed by private claimants or their predecessors-in-
interest, the courts were no longer authorized to determine the
propertys land classification. Hence, private claimants cannot
bank on Act No. 926.
We note that the RTC decision99 in G.R. No. 167707 mentioned
Krivenko v. Register of Deeds of Manila,100 which was decided in
1947 when CA No. 141, vesting the Executive with the sole power to
classify lands of the public domain was already in effect. Krivenko
cited the old cases Mapa v. Insular Government,101 De Aldecoa v.
The Insular Government,102 and Ankron v. Government of the
Philippine Islands.103
Krivenko, however, is not controlling here because it involved a
totally different issue. The pertinent issue in Krivenko was whether
residential lots were included in the general classification of
agricultural lands; and if so, whether an alien could acquire a
residential lot. This Court ruled that as an alien, Krivenko was
prohibited by the 1935 Constitution104 from acquiring agricultural
land, which included residential lots. Here, the issue is whether
unclassified lands of the public domain are automatically deemed
agricultural.
Notably, the definition of "agricultural public lands" mentioned in
Krivenko relied on the old cases decided prior to the enactment of
Act No. 2874, including Ankron and De Aldecoa.105 As We have
already stated, those cases cannot apply here, since they were
decided when the Executive did not have the authority to classify
lands as agricultural, timber, or mineral.
Private claimants continued possession under Act No. 926 does
not create a presumption that the land is alienable. Private
claimants also contend that their continued possession of portions
of Boracay Island for the requisite period of ten (10) years under
Act No. 926106 ipso facto converted the island into private
ownership. Hence, they may apply for a title in their name.
A similar argument was squarely rejected by the Court in Collado v.
Court of Appeals.107 Collado, citing the separate opinion of now
Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno in Cruz v. Secretary of Environment
and Natural Resources,107-a ruled:
"Act No. 926, the first Public Land Act, was passed in pursuance of
the provisions of the Philippine Bill of 1902. The law governed the
disposition of lands of the public domain. It prescribed rules and
regulations for the homesteading, selling and leasing of portions of
the public domain of the Philippine Islands, and prescribed the
terms and conditions to enable persons to perfect their titles to
public lands in the Islands. It also provided for the "issuance of
patents to certain native settlers upon public lands," for the
establishment of town sites and sale of lots therein, for the
completion of imperfect titles, and for the cancellation or
confirmation of Spanish concessions and grants in the Islands." In
short, the Public Land Act operated on the assumption that title to
public lands in the Philippine Islands remained in the government;
and that the governments title to public land sprung from the
Treaty of Paris and other subsequent treaties between Spain and
the United States. The term "public land" referred 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."
Thus, it is plain error for petitioners to argue that under the
Philippine Bill of 1902 and Public Land Act No. 926, mere
possession by private individuals of lands creates the legal
presumption that the lands are alienable and disposable.108
(Emphasis Ours)
Except for lands already covered by existing titles, Boracay was an
unclassified land of the public domain prior to Proclamation No.
1064. Such unclassified lands are considered public forest under
PD No. 705. The DENR109 and the National Mapping and
Resource Information Authority110 certify that Boracay Island is
an unclassified land of the public domain.
PD No. 705 issued by President Marcos categorized all unclassified
lands of the public domain as public forest. Section 3(a) of PD No.
705 defines a public forest as "a mass of lands of the public domain
which has not been the subject of the present system of
classification for the determination of which lands are needed for
forest purpose and which are not." Applying PD No. 705, all
unclassified lands, including those in Boracay Island, are ipso facto
considered public forests. PD No. 705, however, respects titles
already existing prior to its effectivity.
The Court notes that the classification of Boracay as a forest land
under PD No. 705 may seem to be out of touch with the present
9
realities in the island. Boracay, no doubt, has been partly stripped
of its forest cover to pave the way for commercial developments. As
a premier tourist destination for local and foreign tourists, Boracay
appears more of a commercial island resort, rather than a forest
land.
Nevertheless, that the occupants of Boracay have built multi-
million peso beach resorts on the island;111 that the island has
already been stripped of its forest cover; or that the
implementation of Proclamation No. 1064 will destroy the islands
tourism industry, do not negate its character as public forest.
Forests, in the context of both the Public Land Act and the
Constitution112 classifying lands of the public domain into
"agricultural, forest or timber, mineral lands, and national parks,"
do not necessarily refer to large tracts of wooded land or expanses
covered by dense growths of trees and underbrushes.113 The
discussion in Heirs of Amunategui v. Director of Forestry114 is
particularly instructive:
A forested area classified as forest land of the public domain does
not lose such classification simply because loggers or settlers may
have stripped it of its forest cover. Parcels of land classified as
forest land may actually be covered with grass or planted to crops
by kaingin cultivators or other farmers. "Forest lands" do not have
to be on mountains or in out of the way places. Swampy areas
covered by mangrove trees, nipa palms, and other trees growing in
brackish or sea water may also be classified as forest land. The
classification is descriptive of its legal nature or status and does not
have to be descriptive of what the land actually looks like. Unless
and until the land classified as "forest" is released in an official
proclamation to that effect so that it may form part of the
disposable agricultural lands of the public domain, the rules on
confirmation of imperfect title do not apply.115 (Emphasis
supplied)
There is a big difference between "forest" as defined in a dictionary
and "forest or timber land" as a classification of lands of the public
domain as appearing in our statutes. One is descriptive of what
appears on the land while the other is a legal status, a classification
for legal purposes.116 At any rate, the Court is tasked to determine
the legal status of Boracay Island, and not look into its physical
layout. Hence, even if its forest cover has been replaced by beach
resorts, restaurants and other commercial establishments, it has
not been automatically converted from public forest to alienable
agricultural land.
Private claimants cannot rely on Proclamation No. 1801 as basis for
judicial confirmation of imperfect title. The proclamation did not
convert Boracay into an agricultural land. However, private
claimants argue that Proclamation No. 1801 issued by then
President Marcos in 1978 entitles them to judicial confirmation of
imperfect title. The Proclamation classified Boracay, among other
islands, as a tourist zone. Private claimants assert that, as a tourist
spot, the island is susceptible of private ownership.
Proclamation No. 1801 or PTA Circular No. 3-82 did not convert
the whole of Boracay into an agricultural land. There is nothing in
the law or the Circular which made Boracay Island an agricultural
land. The reference in Circular No. 3-82 to "private lands"117 and
"areas declared as alienable and disposable"118 does not by itself
classify the entire island as agricultural. Notably, Circular No. 3-82
makes reference not only to private lands and areas but also to
public forested lands. Rule VIII, Section 3 provides:
No trees in forested private lands may be cut without prior
authority from the PTA. All forested areas in public lands are
declared forest reserves. (Emphasis supplied)
Clearly, the reference in the Circular to both private and public
lands merely recognizes that the island can be classified by the
Executive department pursuant to its powers under CA No. 141. In
fact, Section 5 of the Circular recognizes the then Bureau of Forest
Developments authority to declare areas in the island as alienable
and disposable when it provides:
Subsistence farming, in areas declared as alienable and disposable
by the Bureau of Forest Development.
Therefore, Proclamation No. 1801 cannot be deemed the positive
act needed to classify Boracay Island as alienable and disposable
land. If President Marcos intended to classify the island as
alienable and disposable or forest, or both, he would have
identified the specific limits of each, as President Arroyo did in
Proclamation No. 1064. This was not done in Proclamation No.
1801.
The Whereas clauses of Proclamation No. 1801 also explain the
rationale behind the declaration of Boracay Island, together with
other islands, caves and peninsulas in the Philippines, as a tourist
zone and marine reserve to be administered by the PTA to ensure
the concentrated efforts of the public and private sectors in the
development of the areas tourism potential with due regard for
ecological balance in the marine environment. Simply put, the
proclamation is aimed at administering the islands for tourism and
ecological purposes. It does not address the areas alienability.119
More importantly, Proclamation No. 1801 covers not only Boracay
Island, but sixty-four (64) other islands, coves, and peninsulas in
the Philippines, such as Fortune and Verde Islands in Batangas,
Port Galera in Oriental Mindoro, Panglao and Balicasag Islands in
Bohol, Coron Island, Puerto Princesa and surrounding areas in
Palawan, Camiguin Island in Cagayan de Oro, and Misamis
Oriental, to name a few. If the designation of Boracay Island as
tourist zone makes it alienable and disposable by virtue of
Proclamation No. 1801, all the other areas mentioned would
likewise be declared wide open for private disposition. That could
not have been, and is clearly beyond, the intent of the
proclamation.
It was Proclamation No. 1064 of 2006 which positively declared
part of Boracay as alienable and opened the same to private
ownership. Sections 6 and 7 of CA No. 141120 provide that it is only
the President, upon the recommendation of the proper department
head, who has the authority to classify the lands of the public
domain into alienable or disposable, timber and mineral lands.121
In issuing Proclamation No. 1064, President Gloria Macapagal-
Arroyo merely exercised the authority granted to her to classify
lands of the public domain, presumably subject to existing vested
rights. Classification of public lands is the exclusive prerogative of
the Executive Department, through the Office of the President.
Courts have no authority to do so.122 Absent such classification,
the land remains unclassified until released and rendered open to
disposition.123
Proclamation No. 1064 classifies Boracay into 400 hectares of
reserved forest land and 628.96 hectares of agricultural land. The
Proclamation likewise provides for a 15-meter buffer zone on each
side of the center line of roads and trails, which are reserved for
right of way and which shall form part of the area reserved for
forest land protection purposes.
Contrary to private claimants argument, there was nothing invalid
or irregular, much less unconstitutional, about the classification of
Boracay Island made by the President through Proclamation No.
1064. It was within her authority to make such classification,
subject to existing vested rights.
Proclamation No. 1064 does not violate the Comprehensive
Agrarian Reform Law. Private claimants further assert that
Proclamation No. 1064 violates the provision of the
Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARL) or RA No. 6657
barring conversion of public forests into agricultural lands. They
claim that since Boracay is a public forest under PD No. 705,
President Arroyo can no longer convert it into an agricultural land
without running afoul of Section 4(a) of RA No. 6657, thus:
SEC. 4. Scope. The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law of 1988
shall cover, regardless of tenurial arrangement and commodity
produced, all public and private agricultural lands as provided in
Proclamation No. 131 and Executive Order No. 229, including
other lands of the public domain suitable for agriculture.
More specifically, the following lands are covered by the
Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program:
(a) All alienable and disposable lands of the public domain devoted
to or suitable for agriculture. No reclassification of forest or
mineral lands to agricultural lands shall be undertaken after the
approval of this Act until Congress, taking into account ecological,
developmental and equity considerations, shall have determined by
law, the specific limits of the public domain.
10
That Boracay Island was classified as a public forest under PD No.
705 did not bar the Executive from later converting it into
agricultural land. Boracay Island still remained an unclassified
land of the public domain despite PD No. 705.
In Heirs of the Late Spouses Pedro S. Palanca and Soterranea
Rafols v. Republic,124 the Court stated that unclassified lands are
public forests.
While it is true that the land classification map does not
categorically state that the islands are public forests, the fact that
they were unclassified lands leads to the same result. In the
absence of the classification as mineral or timber land, the land
remains unclassified land until released and rendered open to
disposition.125 (Emphasis supplied)
Moreover, the prohibition under the CARL applies only to a
"reclassification" of land. If the land had never been previously
classified, as in the case of Boracay, there can be no prohibited
reclassification under the agrarian law. We agree with the opinion
of the Department of Justice126 on this point:
Indeed, the key word to the correct application of the prohibition
in Section 4(a) is the word "reclassification." Where there has been
no previous classification of public forest [referring, we repeat, to
the mass of the public domain which has not been the subject of
the present system of classification for purposes of determining
which are needed for forest purposes and which are not] into
permanent forest or forest reserves or some other forest uses under
the Revised Forestry Code, there can be no "reclassification of
forest lands" to speak of within the meaning of Section 4(a).
Thus, obviously, the prohibition in Section 4(a) of the CARL
against the reclassification of forest lands to agricultural lands
without a prior law delimiting the limits of the public domain, does
not, and cannot, apply to those lands of the public domain,
denominated as "public forest" under the Revised Forestry Code,
which have not been previously determined, or classified, as
needed for forest purposes in accordance with the provisions of the
Revised Forestry Code.127
Private claimants are not entitled to apply for judicial confirmation
of imperfect title under CA No. 141. Neither do they have vested
rights over the occupied lands under the said law. There are two
requisites for judicial confirmation of imperfect or incomplete title
under CA No. 141, namely: (1) open, continuous, exclusive, and
notorious possession and occupation of the subject land by himself
or through his predecessors-in-interest under a bona fide claim of
ownership since time immemorial or from June 12, 1945; and (2)
the classification of the land as alienable and disposable land of the
public domain.128
As discussed, the Philippine Bill of 1902, Act No. 926, and
Proclamation No. 1801 did not convert portions of Boracay Island
into an agricultural land. The island remained an unclassified land
of the public domain and, applying the Regalian doctrine, is
considered State property.
Private claimants bid for judicial confirmation of imperfect title,
relying on the Philippine Bill of 1902, Act No. 926, and
Proclamation No. 1801, must fail because of the absence of the
second element of alienable and disposable land. Their entitlement
to a government grant under our present Public Land Act
presupposes that the land possessed and applied for is already
alienable and disposable. This is clear from the wording of the law
itself.129 Where the land is not alienable and disposable,
possession of the land, no matter how long, cannot confer
ownership or possessory rights.130
Neither may private claimants apply for judicial confirmation of
imperfect title under Proclamation No. 1064, with respect to those
lands which were classified as agricultural lands. Private claimants
failed to prove the first element of open, continuous, exclusive, and
notorious possession of their lands in Boracay since June 12, 1945.
We cannot sustain the CA and RTC conclusion in the petition for
declaratory relief that private claimants complied with the requisite
period of possession.
The tax declarations in the name of private claimants are
insufficient to prove the first element of possession. We note that
the earliest of the tax declarations in the name of private claimants
were issued in 1993. Being of recent dates, the tax declarations are
not sufficient to convince this Court that the period of possession
and occupation commenced on June 12, 1945.
Private claimants insist that they have a vested right in Boracay,
having been in possession of the island for a long time. They have
invested millions of pesos in developing the island into a tourist
spot. They say their continued possession and investments give
them a vested right which cannot be unilaterally rescinded by
Proclamation No. 1064.
The continued possession and considerable investment of private
claimants do not automatically give them a vested right in Boracay.
Nor do these give them a right to apply for a title to the land they
are presently occupying. This Court is constitutionally bound to
decide cases based on the evidence presented and the laws
applicable. As the law and jurisprudence stand, private claimants
are ineligible to apply for a judicial confirmation of title over their
occupied portions in Boracay even with their continued possession
and considerable investment in the island.
One Last Note
The Court is aware that millions of pesos have been invested for
the development of Boracay Island, making it a by-word in the
local and international tourism industry. The Court also notes that
for a number of years, thousands of people have called the island
their home. While the Court commiserates with private claimants
plight, We are bound to apply the law strictly and judiciously. This
is the law and it should prevail. Ito ang batas at ito ang dapat
umiral.
All is not lost, however, for private claimants. While they may not
be eligible to apply for judicial confirmation of imperfect title
under Section 48(b) of CA No. 141, as amended, this does not
denote their automatic ouster from the residential, commercial,
and other areas they possess now classified as agricultural. Neither
will this mean the loss of their substantial investments on their
occupied alienable lands. Lack of title does not necessarily mean
lack of right to possess.
For one thing, those with lawful possession may claim good faith as
builders of improvements. They can take steps to preserve or
protect their possession. For another, they may look into other
modes of applying for original registration of title, such as by
homestead131 or sales patent,132 subject to the conditions
imposed by law.
More realistically, Congress may enact a law to entitle private
claimants to acquire title to their occupied lots or to exempt them
from certain requirements under the present land laws. There is
one such bill133 now pending in the House of Representatives.
Whether that bill or a similar bill will become a law is for Congress
to decide.
In issuing Proclamation No. 1064, the government has taken the
step necessary to open up the island to private ownership. This
gesture may not be sufficient to appease some sectors which view
the classification of the island partially into a forest reserve as
absurd. That the island is no longer overrun by trees, however,
does not becloud the vision to protect its remaining forest cover
and to strike a healthy balance between progress and ecology.
Ecological conservation is as important as economic progress.
To be sure, forest lands are fundamental to our nations survival.
Their promotion and protection are not just fancy rhetoric for
politicians and activists. These are needs that become more urgent
as destruction of our environment gets prevalent and difficult to
control. As aptly observed by Justice Conrado Sanchez in 1968 in
Director of Forestry v. Munoz:134
The view this Court takes of the cases at bar is but in adherence to
public policy that should be followed with respect to forest lands.
Many have written much, and many more have spoken, and quite
often, about the pressing need for forest preservation,
conservation, protection, development and reforestation. Not
without justification. For, forests constitute a vital segment of any
country's natural resources. It is of common knowledge by now
that absence of the necessary green cover on our lands produces a
number of adverse or ill effects of serious proportions. Without the
trees, watersheds dry up; rivers and lakes which they supply are
emptied of their contents. The fish disappear. Denuded areas
become dust bowls. As waterfalls cease to function, so will
hydroelectric plants. With the rains, the fertile topsoil is washed
11
away; geological erosion results. With erosion come the dreaded
floods that wreak havoc and destruction to property crops,
livestock, houses, and highways not to mention precious human
lives. Indeed, the foregoing observations should be written down in
a lumbermans decalogue.135
WHEREFORE, judgment is rendered as follows:
1. The petition for certiorari in G.R. No. 167707 is GRANTED and
the Court of Appeals Decision in CA-G.R. CV No. 71118 REVERSED
AND SET ASIDE.
2. The petition for certiorari in G.R. No. 173775 is DISMISSED for
lack of merit.
SO ORDERED.
19 Id.; PTA Circular No. 3-82, Rule VIII, Sec. 1(3) states:
No trees in forested private lands may be cut without prior
authority from the PTA. All forested areas in public lands are
declared forest reserves.
20 Sec. 87. If all the lands included in the proclamation of the
President are not registered under the Land Registration Act, the
Solicitor-General, if requested to do so by the Secretary of
Agriculture and Natural Resources, shall proceed in accordance
with the provisions of section fifty-three of this Act.
21 Sec. 53. It shall be lawful for the Director of Lands, whenever in
the opinion of the President the public interests shall require it, to
cause to be filed in the proper Court of First Instance, through the
Solicitor General or the officer acting in his stead, a petition against
the holder, claimant, possessor, or occupant of any land who shall
not have voluntarily come in under the provisions of this chapter or
of the Land Registration Act, stating in substance that the title of
such holder, claimant, possessor, or occupant is open to
discussion; or that the boundaries of any such land which has not
been brought into court as aforesaid are open to question; or that it
is advisable that the title to such land be settled and adjudicated,
and praying that the title to any such land or the boundaries
thereof or the right to occupancy thereof be settled and
adjudicated. The judicial proceedings under this section shall be in
accordance with the laws on adjudication of title in cadastral
proceedings.
63 The provisions relevant to the definition are:
Sec. 13. That the Government of the Philippine Islands, subject to
the provisions of this Act and except as herein provided, shall
classify according to its agricultural character and productiveness,
and shall immediately make rules and regulations for the lease,
sale, or other disposition of the public lands other than timber or
mineral lands, but such rules and regulations shall not go into
effect or have the force of law until they have received the approval
of the President, and when approved by the President they shall be
submitted by him to Congress at the beginning of the next ensuing
session thereof and unless disapproved or amended by Congress at
said session they shall at the close of such period have the force
and effect of law in the Philippine Islands: Provided, That a single
homestead entry shall not exceed sixteen hectares in extent.
Sec. 14. That the Government of the Philippine Islands is hereby
authorized and empowered to enact rules and regulations and to
prescribe terms and conditions to enable persons to perfect their
title to public lands in said Islands, who, prior to the transfer of
sovereignty from Spain to the United States, had fulfilled all or
some of the conditions required by the Spanish laws and royal
decrees of the Kingdom of Spain for the acquisition of legal title
thereto, yet failed to secure conveyance of title; and the Philippine
Commission is authorized to issue patents, without compensation,
to any native of said Islands, conveying title to any tract of land not
more than sixteen hectares in extent, which were public lands and
had been actually occupied by such native or his ancestors prior to
and on the thirteenth of August, eighteen hundred and ninety-
eight.
Sec. 15. That the Government of the Philippine Islands is hereby
authorized and empowered, on such terms as it may prescribe, by
general legislation, to provide for the granting or sale and
conveyance to actual occupants and settlers and other citizens of
said Islands such parts and portions of the public domain, other
than timber and mineral lands, of the United States in said Islands
as it may deem wise, not exceeding sixteen hectares to any one
person and for the sale and conveyance of not more than one
thousand and twenty-four hectares to any corporation or
association of persons: Provided, That the grant or sale of such
lands, whether the purchase price be paid at once or in partial
payments, shall be conditioned upon actual and continued
occupancy, improvement, and cultivation of the premises sold for a
period of not less than five years, during which time the purchaser
or grantee can not alienate or encumber said land or the title
thereto; but such restriction shall not apply to transfers of rights
and title of inheritance under the laws for the distribution of the
estates of decedents.
106 Act No. 926, Sec. 54, par. 6 states:
SEC. 54. The following described persons or their legal successors
in right, occupying lands in the Philippines, or claiming to own any
such land or interest therein but whose titles to such land have not
been perfected may apply to the Court of Land Registration of the
Philippine Islands for confirmation of their claims and the issuance
of a certificate of title therefor to wit
xxxx
(6) All persons who by themselves or their predecessors in interest
have been in the open, continuous exclusive, and notorious
possession and occupation of agricultural public lands, as defined
by said Act of Congress of July first, nineteen hundred and two,
under a bona fide claim of ownership except as against the
Government, for a period of ten years next preceding the taking
effect of this act, except when prevented by war, or force majeure,
shall be conclusively presumed to have performed all the
conditions essential to a Government grant and to have received
the same, and shall be entitled to a certificate of title to such land
under the provisions of this chapter.
VI. RA 7942 MINING ACT OF 1995 iii
SEE END NOTES
VII. RA 7586 NIPAS iv
SEE END NOTES
National Integrated Protected Areas System
Republic Act 7586 otherwise known as the National Integrated
Protected Areas System (NIPAS) Act of 1992 provides the legal
framework for the establishment and management of protected
areas in the Philippines. The Law defines protected areas as the
identified portions of land and/or water set aside by reason of their
unique physical and biological significance, managed to enhance
biological diversity and protected against destructive human
exploration. The establishment and management of protected
areas are part of the international commitments signed by the
Philippine Government such Convention on Biological Diversity,
Ramsar Convention, World Heritage Convention, Convention on
Migratory Species, and the ASEAN Agreement on the Conservation
of Nature and Natural Resources.
The implementation of the NIPAS Act is currently on its 19th year.
It is implemented originally through DENR Administrative Order
No. 25, Series of 1992. The said DENR Administrative Order was
amended pursuant to DAO 2008-26 dated 24 December 2008.
This Administrative Order sets the procedures for the
establishment, administration, management and development of
the System.
The NIPAS Act identified 202 initial components comprising of
proclaimed national parks, game refuge and wildlife sanctuaries,
12
nature reserves, wilderness areas, mangrove reserves, watershed
reservations, fish sanctuaries, protected landscapes and seascapes,
among others prior to the effectivity of the NIPAS Act. The
identified initial components of NIPAS cover an approximate area
of 2.57 million hectares. These areas will be maintained as part of
the NIPAS until such time that they are finally assessed as to their
suitability for inclusion to the System. There are one hundred
twelve (112) protected areas formally proclaimed by the President
under the System covering 3.54 million hectares. Seventy (70) out
of the 112 are initial components with an area of 1.97 million
hectares and forty-two (42) additional areas with an area of 1.57
million hectares. Of the 112 proclaimed protected areas, 29 are
marine protected areas with a total area of 1.37 million hectares
while 83 are terrestrial protected areas covering an area of 2.17
million hectares.
Nine (9) of the initial components and four (4) additional areas
have specific laws for their establishment under the System. These
are Batanes Island Protected Landscape and Seascape-R2,
Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park-R2, Mts. Banahaw-San
Cristobal Protected Landscape-R4A, Tubbataha Reefs Natural
Park-R4B, Mt. Kanla-on Natural Park-R6, Sagay Marine Reserve-
R6, Central Cebu Protected Landscape-R7, Mimbilisan Protected
Landscape-R10, Mt. Kitanglad Range Protected Area-R10, Mt.
Malindang Natural Park-R10, Mt. Apo Natural Park-R11, Mt.
Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary-R11 and Bangan Hill
Natural Park-R2.
In terms of administration, the NIPAS Act requires the creation of
respective Protected Area Management Board (PAMB) which is a
multi-sectoral and decision making body for each of the protected
area established under the NIPAS. As of June 2011, there are one
hundred seventy-eight (178) protected areas with
organized/appointed Management Boards: 97 PAs with PAMB are
proclaimed under the NIPAS (65 PAs are initial components and
32 PAs are additional areas). Out of the 97 proclaimed PAs with
PAMB, 2 are under the management of Palawan Council for
Sustainable Development (PCSD) and City Government of Puerto
Princesa, 1 is under the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau
(PAWB). On the other hand, out of the 178 protected areas with
PAMB, 73 protected areas are unproclaimed initial components
and 8 are proposed areas for proclamation under the NIPAS.
With regard to the financing of the System, there are one hundred
and forty-nine (149) protected areas with established Integrated
Protected Area Fund (IPAF), of which 95 protected areas have
active IPAF collections and utilization. As of June 2011, a total
income of Php 204,824,951.22 has been generated by the System.
On the same period, a total amount of Php 127,212,987.51 was
utilized.
Furthermore, there were sixty-eight (68) support policies issued by
the DENR including the newly approved Revised IRR of the NIPAS
Act.
In recognition of the importance of the biological diversity of the
Philippines, several protected areas have been designated as World
Heritage Sites (Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park and Puerto Princesa
Subterranean River National Park), Ramsar Sites (Olango Island
Wildlife Sanctuary, Agusan Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary, Naujan Lake
National Park, and Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park), Transboundary
Protected Areas (Turtle Islands Wildlife Sanctuary) and the ASEAN
Heritage Parks (Mt. Apo Natural Park, Mts. Iglit-Baco National
Park and Mt. Kitanglad Range Natural Park).
VIII. RA 8391 IPRA v
READ END NOTES

DOJ OPINION REGARDING
IX.
CLASSIFICATION AND RECLASSIFICATION
OPINION NO. 023, Series of 1995
March 17, 1995
Assistant Secretary Romulo D. San Juan
Department of Environment and Natural Resources
Visayas Avenue, Diliman
Quezon City
Sir:
This has reference to your request for reconsideration of this
Department's Opinion No. 169, s. 1993 which answered in the
affirmative the query raised by that Department as to whether the
prohibition in Section 4(a) of R.A. No. 6657 ("Comprehensive
Agrarian Reform Law [CARL] of 1988") against the reclassification
of forest lands applies to "unclassified public forest".
This Department's aforesaid opinion is based on the premise that
since the CARL made reference to "forest lands" without any
qualification and considering that "forest lands" under the Revised
Forestry Code (P.D. No. 705, as amended) include public forest,
forest reserves and permanent forest, the prohibition against the
reclassification of "forest lands" under the CARL should apply to
unclassified public forest.
By way of reconsideration, however, you request us to take a
second look stating that under the Revised Forestry Code, the term
"public forest" refers to the mass of the public domain which has
not been the subject of the present system of classification for the
determination of which lands are needed for forest purposes and
which are not, and that our Opinion No. 169, s. 1993 could not have
obviously treated unclassified public forest "as being included in
the prohibition under the CARL" which is a prohibition against a
reclassification of forest lands, and not against a classification in
the first instance". We find your observations well-taken. The
broad sweep of Opinion No. 169, s. 1993 needs to be clarified to
obviate any misunderstanding as to its applicability.
Section 4(a) of the CARL provides:
"Sec. 4(a) . . . No reclassification of forest or mineral lands to
agricultural lands shall be undertaken after the approval of this Act
until Congress, taking into account ecological, developmental and
equity considerations, shall have determined by law, the specific
limits of the public domain." 1
The above quoted provision prohibits the reclassification of forest
lands (or mineral lands) to agricultural lands until after Congress
shall have, by law, determined the specific limits of the public
domain.
Indeed, the key word to the correct application of the prohibition
in Section 4(a) is the word "reclassification". Where there has been
no previous classification of public forest [referring, we repeat, to
the mass of the public domain which has not been the subject of
the present system of classification for purposes of determining
which are needed for forest purposes and which are not] into
permanent forest or forest reserves or some other forest uses under
the Revised Forestry Code, there can be no "reclassification of
forest lands" to speak of within the meaning of Section 4(a). Thus,
obviously, the prohibition in Section 4(a) of the CARL against the
reclassification of forest lands to agricultural lands without a prior
law delimiting the limits of the public domain, does not, and
cannot, apply to those lands of the public domain, denominated as
"public forest" under the Revised Forestry Code, which have not
been previously determined, or classified, as needed for forest
purposes in accordance with the provisions of the Revised Forestry
Code.
Based on the foregoing consideration, Opinion No. 169, s. 1993 is
hereby clarified accordingly.
13
Very truly yours,
DEMETRIO G. DEMETRIA
Acting Secretary
X. ART 419-425 CIVIL CODE
(MEMORIZE 419-422)
CHAPTER 3
PROPERTY IN RELATION TO THE PERSON TO WHOM IT
BELONGS
Art. 419. Property is either of public dominion or of
private ownership. (338)
Art. 420. The following things are property of public
dominion:
(1) Those intended for public use, such as roads, canals,
rivers, torrents, ports and bridges constructed by the
State, banks, shores, roadsteads, and others of similar
character;
(2) Those which belong to the State, without being for
public use, and are intended for some public service or
for the development of the national wealth. (339a)
Art. 421. All other property of the State, which is not of
the character stated in the preceding article, is
patrimonial property. (340a)
Art. 422. Property of public dominion, when no longer
intended for public use or for public service, shall form
part of the patrimonial property of the State. (341a)
Art. 423. The property of provinces, cities, and municipalities is
divided into property for public use and patrimonial property.
(343)
Art. 424. Property for public use, in the provinces, cities, and
municipalities, consist of the provincial roads, city streets,
municipal streets, the squares, fountains, public waters,
promenades, and public works for public service paid for by said
provinces, cities, or municipalities.
All other property possessed by any of them is patrimonial and
shall be governed by this Code, without prejudice to the provisions
of special laws. (344a)
Art. 425. Property of private ownership, besides the patrimonial
property of the State, provinces, cities, and municipalities, consists
of all property belonging to private persons, either individually or
collectively.
XI. DISCUSSION GUIDE ON THE DIFFERENT
TITLES TO LAND AND APPLICATION PROCESSES
Discussion Guide
I. Modes of Acquiring Title to Public Lands
A. Ownership of land must be traced to a government
land grant
1. Direct Grants (Homestead, Sales, Free Patent) - land is
considered as public land; applicant is qualified; applicant must
comply with the condition before the grant is awarded by the State
and caused its registration.
2. Indirect Grants (Possession, Prescription, Accretion and
Accession) land becomes ipso facto, by operation of law, private
lands; the state merely confirms the title during the proceedings
where it is determined, during a court hearing that applicant has
qualification and has complied with all the conditions necessary for
confirmation of title
B. General Conditions Necessary for a Land Grant
1. Alienable and Disposable Lands

a) Under Act No. 928 (1903) - Confirmation of Imperfect Titles
applied under Spain, Possession, deemed private lands, not subject
to classification; public land disposition on lands suitable for
agriculture
b) Under Act No. 2874 (1919) - Land classification of public land
was introduced; classification of land as a legal object; private
lands not subject to classification, land registration court makes
determination
c) Under Republic Act No. 3872 (1964) - Cultural minorities can
have titles to Non A and D Lands
d) Under Presidential Decree No. 1073 (1977) - Confirmation of
Titles Limited in A and D Lands only), Section 4.
e) Under Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997 - Ancestral
Domain as private property of IP.
f) Executive Department - mandate to classify (DENR)
g) Congress - re-classify under Section 4 of CARL
h) Final forest line by Congress under 1987 Constitution
i) DENR vs. Yap (G.R. No. 167707, October 08, 2008) extensively
discussed landclassification in relation to land disposition
2. Surveyed and Delineated
a) No survey No title
(1) Survey approval of the Director of Lands before title is issued -
Section 107,CA No. 141
(2) Survey approval of the Director of Lands of complex
subdivision under Presidential Decree No. 957 (Subdivision and
Condominium Buyers Protection Decree); National Housing
Authority also has to approved; now LGU has to approve under the
Local Government Code (RA No. 7160); implementation
arrangement under EO No. 71, S. 1993 (LGU-HLURB)
b) DENR as the agency exercising direct control and supervision
over survey of lands in the Philippines (Section 4, CA No. 141)
(1) Survey Standards - Issues manuals and technical bulletins
(2) Direct supervision - Inspection; verification; and approval of
surveys
c) LRAs concurrent jurisdiction to approve simple subdivision of
registered lands - Section 44, Act No. 496 (Land Registration Act)
in relation to P.D. No. 957
SECTION44. A registered owner holding one duplicate certificate
for several distinct parcels of land may surrender it, with the
approval of the court, and take out several certificates for
portions thereof. So a registered owner holding separate
certificates for several distinct parcels may surrender them, and,
with like approval, take out a single duplicate certificate for the
whole land, or several certificates for the different portions
thereof. Any owner subdividing a tract of registered land into lots
shall file with the clerk a plan of such land, when applying for a
new certificate or certificates, and the court, before issuing the
same, shall cause the plan to be verified and require that all
boundaries, streets, and passageways shall be distinctly and
accurately delineated thereon. certain period (latest amendment
under Republic Act No. 6940; possession of 30 years prior to
1990); filing of application up to 2020 only (Republic Act No.
9176, Extending Free Patents)
d) Cadastral Surveys - Director of Lands surveys entire
municipality before institution of cadastral proceedings under Act
No. 2259 (presently incorporatedunder PD No. 1529); involuntary
e) Isolated Surveys - not cadastral, piecemeal, for land disposition
and registration
3. Not for Public or Quasi-Public Use or Appropriated by
the Government
4. Area limitation under the Constitution and the law
a) Under the Philippine Bill of 1902 - 16 hectares
14
b) Under 1936 Constitution - 24 hectares
c) Under 1973 Constitution - 24 hectares
d) Under 1987 Constitution - 12 hectares
5. Qualification of Applicant
a) On Public Land
(1) Citizenship - Non-Citizen cannot own land; Free Patent requires
that the applicant is natural born
(2) Age - Homestead Head of Family
(3) Corporations not allowed since 1973 to acquire public lands
b) Confirmations of Private Lands
(1) Citizenship - Non Citizen cannot register
(2) Corporations - the land must be unregistered private lands
when it was
acquired;
C. Public Land Grants in Agricultural Lands
1.Homestead - Title II, Chapter III, Sections 12 to 21 of
Commonwealth Act No. 141; Conditioned upon entry, occupation,
improvement, cultivation (1/5 of the land), residency (1 year) and
final proof within 5 years
a) Homesteader cannot use share tenancy in complying with the
conditions (1973) under Presidential Decree No. 152
b) Original homestead grantees or direct compulsory heirs who still
own the original homestead at the time of the approval of CARL
keeps to retain the same areas as long as they continue to cultivate
the homestead under Section 6 of RA No. 6657 as amended.
2. Sales - Title II, Chapter IV, Sections 22 to 32 of Commonwealth
Act No. 141; conditioned upon appraisal, bidding, entry, cultivation
and payment.
3. Lease - Title II, Chapter V, Sections 33 to 43 of Commonwealth
Act No. 141; corporations can lease up to 1,000 hectares, private
individuals up to 500 hectares; appraisal, bidding, entry, payment
4. Free Patent - Title II, Chapter VI, Sections 44 to 46 of
Commonwealth Act No. 141. Conditioned upon
occupation/possession and payment of real property taxes for a
certain period (latest amendment under Republic Act No. 6940;
possession of 30 years prior to 1990); filing of application up to
2020 only (Republic Act No. 9176, Extending Free Patents)
D. Public Land Grants In Residential, Commercial,
Industrial Lands
1. Sales - under Title III, Chapter VIII, Sections 60 to 68 of
Commonwealth Act No. 141; appraisal; bidding; entry;
introduction of improvements; and payment
2. Republic Act No. 730 (1952) as amended by Presidential
Decree No. 2004 any citizen of legal age, not the owner of a home
lot in the municipality or cit; in good faith established his residence
on a parcel; not needed for the public service; private or direct sale
(appraisal but no bidding); not more than one thousand square
meters; occupants has constructed his house on the land and
actually resided therein. 10% payment upon approval balance may
be paid in full, or in ten equal annual installments; restriction on
transfer 15 years; removed under PD No. 2004 (1985)
3. Batas Pambansa Bilang 223 (1982) - any citizen, not a
registered owner of a residential land in a municipality, has been
actually residing on, and continuously possessing and occupying,
under a bona fide claim of acquisition of ownership, paid all the
real estate taxes thereon since June 12, 1945, and not to exceed
3,000 sqm; not in cities, in capitals of provinces, in first class,
second class third class, and fourth class municipalities, and in
townsite reservations; (law expires in 1987)
4. Republic Act No. 10023 (2010) - any citizen; actual
occupant, resided under a bonafide claim of ownership for 10
years; land not needed for public service and/or public use; all
lands zoned as residential; townsites included; delisted military
reservation or abandoned military camp included; actual survey;
two supporting affidavits of disinterested person(residents)
E. Restrictions
1. Commonwealth Act No. 141 (Sections 118, 119, 120, 121 and 123)
2. Presidential Decree No. 2004 (Section 2)33
3. Republic Act No. 10023 (Section 5)
F. Under Presidential Decree No. 1521
1. General consideration: Title was obtained not by registration
but by operations of law under the assumption that the occupant of
the land is qualified and has complied with the conditions set forth.
The title is vested to the ipso facto but it has to be confirmed by the
State and registered.
2. Section 14, Paragraph (a) - 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; in 1976 all holders of Spanish titles
or grants should apply for registration of their lands under Act No.
496 within six (6) months afterwards Spanish titles cannot be used
as evidence of land ownership in any registration proceedings
under the Torrens system P.D. No. 892; In 1977 lands that are not
declared alienable and disposable are no longer included however
long the possession; judicial confirmation of incomplete titles to
public land based on unperfected Spanish under the laws and royal
decrees in force prior to the transfer or sovereignty from Spain to
the United States are disallowed (Presidential Decree No. 1073);
3. Section 14, Paragraph (b) 2 - Those who have acquired
ownership of private lands by prescription under the provision of
existing laws; prescription of thirty (30) years begins from the
moment the State expressly declares that the public dominion
property is no longer intended for public service or the
development of the national wealth or that the property has been
converted into patrimonial; (Heirs of Malabanan v. Republic of the
Philippines, G.R. No. 179987, April 29, 2009; Heirs of Rizalino, 2
Section 14(2) is patrimonial property as defined in Article 421 in
relation to Articles 420 and 422 of the Civil Code. G.R. No. 172011,
March 7, 2011; Republic of the Philippines vs. East Silverland
Realty Development Corporation; G.R. No. 186961, February 20,
2012; Tan, et al. vs. Republic of the Philippines, G.R. No. 193443,
April 16, 2012). In Malabanan, period of possession before
declaration of A and D is tacked in counting prescription but the
land is A and D at the time of application.
4. Section 14, Paragraph (c) - Right of accession or accretion;
a) Ownership over the accretion received by the land adjoining a
river is governed by the Civil Code; but land has to be registered
otherwise it can be lost by reason of prescription and/or
occupation of others (Ignacio Grande vs. Court of Appeals, G.R.
No. L-17652, June 30, 1962);
b) Article 457 of Civil Code to the owners of lands adjoining the
banks of rivers belong the accretion which they gradually receive
from the effects of the current of the waters; Law Of The Waters -
the accretion resulting from the gradual deposit by or
sedimentation from the waters belongs to the owners of the land
bordering on streams, torrents, lakes, or rivers; (Maximo Cortes vs.
City Of Manila, G.R. No. L-4012, March 25, 1908);
c) By law, accretion - the gradual and imperceptible deposit made
through the effects of the current of the water belongs to the owner
of the land adjacent to the banks of rivers where it forms. The
drying up of the river is not accretion. Hence, the dried-up river
bed belongs to the State as property of public dominion, not to
the riparian owner; they are not open to registration under the
Land Registration Act. The adjudication of the lands in as private
property is null and void (Republic vs. C.A. and Tancinco, et al.,
G.R. No. L-61647 October 12, 1984; Republic vs. Santos III and
Santos, Jr., November 12, 2012, 2012G.R. No. 160453)
5. Section 14, Paragraph (d) - Those who have acquired ownership
of land in any other manner provided for by law.
G. Under IPRA Law
1. Identification and delineation of Ancestral Domain
2. Issuance of Ancestral Domain Certificate of Title
3. Ancestral Domain and the Regalian Doctrine (Cruz vs. DENR
Secretary)
H. Under CARP Law (UPAL)
1. Coverage (Section 4 of of Republic Act No. 6657, as
amended by Section 3 of Republic Act No. 9700)
15
a) All alienable and disposable lands of the public domain devoted
to or suitable for
agriculture. All other lands owned by the Government devoted to
or suitable for
agriculture; and All private lands devoted to or suitable for
agriculture regardless
of the agricultural products raised or that can be raised thereon.
2. Retention Limits Land Area - Retention by the landowner
exceed five (5) hectares.
(1) 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 (2) that he is actually tilling the land or directly managing the
farm.
(2) Landowners whose lands have been covered by Presidential
Decree No. 27
shall be allowed to keep the area originally retained by them
thereunder;
(3) Original homestead grantees or 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.
3. Ceiling Beneficiaries Land Area - Not exceeding three (3)
hectares, which may cover a contiguous tract of land or several
parcels of land cumulated up to the prescribed award limits. A
landless beneficiary is one who owns less than three (3) hectares of
agricultural land.
4. Transferability of Awarded Lands - Cannot be sold,
transferred or conveyed for ten (10) years; except:
a) Hereditary succession;
b) To the government
c) To the Land Bank
d) Other qualified beneficiaries through the DAR for a period of ten
(10) years:
5. Repurchase - Children or the spouse of the transferor within a
period of two (2) years (Sold to the Government and Land Bank)
6. Collective Title - Option provided that the total area that may
be awarded shall not exceed the total award limit of all beneficiary.
Title to the property shall be issued in the name of the co-owners
or the cooperative or collective organization as the case may be. If
the certificates of land ownership award are given to cooperatives
then the names of the beneficiaries must also be listed in the same
certificate of land ownership award.
7. Exemptions and Exclusions. (Section 10, RA No. 6657)
a) Lands actually, directly and exclusively used for parks, wildlife,
forest reserves, reforestation, fish sanctuaries and breeding
grounds, watersheds and mangroves; private lands used for prawn
farms and fishponds; lands used and necessary for national
defense, school sites and campuses, public or private schools for
educational purposes, seeds and seedlings research and pilot
production center, church sites and convents appurtenant, mosque
sites and Islamic centers, communal burial grounds and
cemeteries, penal colonies and penal farms actually worked by the
inmates, government and private research and quarantine centers
and all lands with eighteen percent (18%) slope and over, except
those already developed.
II. Jurisdiction, Procedure, Process
A. Patents
1. The power to dispose public lands is under the DENR as
provided by
Commonwealth Act No. 141 in relation to Executive Order No. 192.
2. DENR provides for the rules and regulations regarding the
disposition of public lands
including the procedures for the processing of public land
applications. (Section 5,
PLA; Geukeko vs. Araneta (G.R. No. L-10182, December 24, 1957;
102 Phil 706)
 shall be the duty of the official issuing the instrument of
3.The Authority to Determine the Conflicting Claims of Applicants alienation, grant, patent or conveyance in behalf of the
and Occupants Government to cause such instrument to be filed with the Register
(Section 102, PLA) of Deeds of the province or city where the
land lies, and to be there registered like other deeds and
4. DENR a quasi-judicial tribunal; has exclusive jurisdiction over conveyance, whereupon a certificate of title shall be
the disposition of entered as in other cases of registered land, and an owner's
lands of the public domain in the absence of specific legislation to duplicate issued to the grantee. The deed, grant,
the contrary. ; patent or instrument of conveyance from the Government to the
subject to judicial review in case of fraud, imposition or mistake, grantee shall not take effect as a conveyance or
other than error of bind the land but shall operate only as a contract between the
judgment in estimating the value or effect of evidence (see Ortua Government and the grantee and as evidence of
vs. Encarnacion, authority to the Register of Deeds to make registration. It is the
G.R. No. 39919, January 30, 1934; Custodio Mari vs. Secretary of act of registration that shall be the operative act
Agriculture and to affect and convey the land, and in all cases under this Decree,
Natural Resources (G.R. No. L-5622, December 29, 1952; Mauleon registration shall be made in the office of the
vs. Court of Register of Deeds of the province or city where the land lies. The
Appeals, G.R. No. L-27762, August 7, 1975) fees for registration shall be paid by the
grantee. After due registration and issuance of the certificate of
5. Authority to Sign Patents - General Rule President as Chief title, such land shall be deemed to be registered
Executive; under E.O. land to all intents and purposes under this Decree.
No. 192 (1987) reorganizing and the integration of the different
Bureaus under the in B. Confirmation/Registration Proceedings
the Regional/Field Office Set-up, the Secretary of the newly
organized DENR was 1. Judicial proceedings for the registration of lands throughout the
given a general mandate to implement public land laws, with Philippines shall be in rem and shall be based on the generally
powers to delegate accepted principles underlying the Torrens system.
includes the power to sign patents and to delegate the same to such
officers as he 2. Power LRA
may deem fit. At present, up to 5 hectares (PENRO), more than 5
but not exceeding a) See Section 6 of PD 1529
10 (RED), in excess of 10 (Secretary) b) Register of Deeds, see Section 10 of PD 1529

6. Processes and procedure are governed by administrative orders, 3. Ordinary vs. Cadastral Proceedings
circulars and
manuals; but in general: a) Ordinary is isolated and voluntary
b) Cadastral is mass and compulsory
a) Survey of the Land (Check A and D; Check if Titled; Check other
claims); if land 4. Procedure is provided under PD No. 1529, voluntary registration
is already surveyed; check survey record DENR (See Section 14 to
30 PD No. 1529); in brief
b) Filing of Application (CENRO)
(1) Examination of the Applicant for Personal Qualification to own a) Filing of the application (Regional Trial Court, BP No. 129)
public land b) Order setting the date and hour of the Initial hearing
(Check nationality; check total landholding public grant) which shall not be earlier than forty-five days nor later than ninety
(2) Examination and Inspection of the Land - Check land allocation days from the date of the order.
record book;
Check use and purpose; agricultural, residential, etc. (land patents) c) Publication

(3) Prepare Inspection report - Public Land Inspector; approval of (1) Publication;
Land (2) Mailing; and
Management Officer; (3) Posting.

(4) Approval of application - (CENRO Approves application
(a) If FP Patent is prepared at the CENRO for signing of the
PENRO
(b) If Homestead - entry permit
i) Final Proof
ii) Re-investigation and preparation of Re-investigation report,
(Cultivation, residency, etc)
iii) Patent is prepared and transmitted to PENRO for approval and
signing
(c) If Sales - appraisal and bidding
i) Payment
ii) Investigation report (Improvements, cultivation, full-payment,
etc)
iii) Patent is prepared and transmitted to PENRO for approval and
signing
(5) Approval and signing of Patents
(6) Transmission to the Register of Deeds (See Section 103, PD No.
1529)4
Section 103. Certificates of title pursuant to patents. Whenever
public land is by the Government alienated,
granted or conveyed to any person, the same shall be brought
forthwith under the operation of this Decree. It
d) Filing of Opposition - Any person claiming an interest may
appear and file an
opposition on or before the date of initial hearing or anytime as
may be allowed by
the court. The opposition shall state all the objections to the
application and shall
set forth the interest claimed by the party; the remedy desired;
signed and sworn;
e) Default - If no person appears and answers, upon motion of the
applicant the
court may order a default to be recorded and require the applicant
to present
evidence. But when an appearance has been entered and an answer
filed, a
default order shall be entered against persons who did not appear
and answer.
f)Referee/Commisioner - The court may refer the case or any
part to a referee;
hearing at any place within the province; submit his report thereon
to the court
within fifteen days after the termination of such hearing. Court
may adopt the
report or set it aside for further proceedings;
g) Partial Judgement - All conflicting claims of ownership and
interest in the land
subject of the application determined by the court but the court
may render partial

16
judgement where only a portion of the land is contested. punished by a fine of not more than one thousand pesos or by
imprisonment for
h) Judgement - Within ninety (90) days from the date the case is not more than one year, or both.
submitted for
decision. The Court, after considering the evidence and the reports 6. Cadastral Court Proceedings:
of the
Commissioner of Land Registration and the Director of Lands, a) Petition - After the survey the DENR thorough the Solicitor
finds that the General shall
applicant or the oppositor has sufficient title proper for institute original registration proceedings by filing a petition in
registration, judgment shall Regional Trial Court
be rendered confirming the title of the applicant, or the oppositor, of the place where the land is situated against the holders,
to the land. claimants, possessors,
Becomes final upon the expiration of thirty (30) days to be counted or occupants of such lands stating that such titles to the land be
from the data settled and
of receipt of notice of the judgment. An appeal may be taken from adjudicated.
the judgment of
the court as in ordinary civil cases. b) Contents:

i) Issuance of Decree - After judgment has become final and
executory, the court
issue an order to LRA for the issuance of the decree of registration
and the
corresponding certificate of title in favor of the person adjudged
entitled to
registration.
5. Cadastral Registration Proceedings
a) Survey of the Land
(1) Purpose: For adjudication and settlement of title to any
unregistered lands
direct;
(2) Order the Director of Lands to cause a cadastral survey of the
lands and the
plans and technical description be prepared.
b) First Notice - Notice to persons claiming any interest in the
lands as well as to the general public of the survey, giving as fully
and accurately as possible the description of the lands
(1) By Publication once in the Official Gazette
(2) Posting in a conspicuous place on the bulletin board of the
municipal
building of the municipality in which the lands or any portion
thereof is situated.
(3) Notice to the mayor of such municipality as well as to the
barangay captain
and likewise to the Sangguniang Panlalawigan and the
Sangguniang Bayan concerned.
c) Second Notice - Notice of the date on which the survey of any
portion of such
lands by posting in the bulletin board of the municipal building of
the municipality
or barrio in which the lands are situated by the GE or DENR.
(1) A description of the lands and shall be accompanied by a plan;
and
(2) May contain such other data as may serve to furnish full notice
to the
occupants of the lands and to all persons who may claim any right
or interest
therein.
(3) Where the land consists of two or more parcels held or
occupied by different
persons, the plan shall indicate the boundaries of the parcels
(4) The parcels shall be known as "lots" and shall on the plan filed
in the case
be given separate numbers by the Director of Lands, which
numbers shall be
known as "cadastral lot numbers".
(5) The lots situated within each municipality shall be numbered
consecutively
beginning with number one and only one series of numbers shall
be used.
However in cities or townsites, a designation of the landholdings
by blocks and lot numbers may be employed instead of the
designation by cadastral lot
numbers.
(6) The cadastral number of a lot shall not be changed after final
decision has
been entered decreasing the registration thereof, except by order of
court.
Future subdivisions of any lot shall be designated by a letter or
letters of the
alphabet added to the cadastral number of the lot to which the
respective
subdivisions pertain. The letter with which a subdivision is
designated shall be
known as its "cadastral letter": Provided, however, that the
subdivisions of
cities or townsites may be designated by blocks and lot numbers.

d) Duty of the G.E. 7. Answer - Any claimant in cadastral proceedings, whether

(1)To enter upon the lands for the purpose of the survey; and named in the notice or
(2)To mark the boundaries of the lands by monuments set up in not, shall appear before the court and shall file an answer on or
proper places before the date of
thereon. initial hearing or within such further time as may be allowed by the
court and shall
e) Duty of the claimant/s - communicate with the Geodetic state:
Engineer upon his
request for all information possessed by such person concerning a)Marital status;
the boundary b)Name of the spouse and the date of marriage,
lines of any lands to which he claims title or in which he claims any c)Nationality
interest. d)Residence and postal address, and
e)The age
f)Penalty: Any person who shall wilfully obstruct the making of f)The cadastral number of the lot or lots claimed
any survey g)The name of the barrio and municipality in which the lots are
undertaken by the Bureau of Lands or by a licensed Geodetic situated;
Engineer duly h)The names and addresses of the owners of the adjoining lots so
authorized to conduct the survey under this Section, or shall far as known to
maliciously interfere the claimant;
with the placing of any monument or remove such monument, or i) If the claimant is in possession of the lots claimed and can show
shall destroy or no express grant
remove any notice of survey posted on the land pursuant to law, of the land by the government, the answer shall state the length of
shall be time he has
held such possession and the manner in which it has been acquired

17
j) If the claimant is not in possession or occupation of the land, the 1. Deed Registration - the deed itself, being a document which
answer shall fully describes an isolated transaction, is registered. This deed is
set forth the interest claimed by him and the time and manner of evidence that a particular transaction took place, but it is in
his acquisition; principle not in itself proof of the legal rights of the involved
k)If the lots have been assessed for taxation, their last assessed parties and, consequently, it is not evidence of its legality. Thus
value; and before any dealing can be safely effected, the ostensible owner
l) The encumbrances, if any, affecting the lots and the names of must trace his ownership back to a good root of title.
adverse claimants,
as far as known. 2. Title Registration - it is not the deed describing the transfer of
rights but the legal consequence of the transaction or the right
8. Hearing - The trial of the case in a place within the province in itself that is registered. With this registration the title or right is
which the lands are created. This system shifts the balance significantly towards facility
situated; of transfer. It provides a public register of interests in land and
enables a purchaser who complies with the system to acquire
a) Orders for default and confessions entered, in the same manner ownership free of a prior interest which is not recorded in the
as in ordinary register.
land registration proceedings and shall be governed by the same
rules. 3. Deed registration is concerned with the registration of the legal
fact and while title registration is concerned with the legal
b) All conflicting interests shall be adjudicated by the court and consequence of that fact. In other words, the relation between deed
decrees awarded in and title registration is similar to the relation between legal facts
favor of the persons entitled to the lands or to parts thereof and and legal consequences.
such decrees
shall be the basis for issuance of original certificates of title in favor E. Land Adjudication and Land Registration (Registration
of said of Title)
persons
1. Adjudication is the first function that the system of land
c) Same effect as certificates of title granted on application for registration has to fulfill. It is the most common form of first or
registration of land original registration. In most cases it is called land titling. It deals
under ordinary land registration proceedings. 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

Discussion Guide on Land
XII. (Registration of Deeds)

Registration and the Torrens System 1. Takes place when a deed or instrument affecting land is made of
public record after the date of its original registration.
I. General Concepts in Land Registration
2. Simple transfer of rights - a person takes the interest of
person in a property unit as the same well-defined parcel.
A. Importance of Land Registration
3. Transfers of rights with property changes - The
1. Provide order and stability in society by creating security in
transaction caused the formation of a new property unit. In this
property ownership not only for landowners but also for investors,
kind of transfer the property as a unit and not only the interest on
bankers, government, etc.
the property changes as a result of the transfer. This means that the
existing registers have to be updated due to subsequent changesin
2. The systems of land registration are frequently directed at
the boundaries of the parcel by reason of subdivision or
protecting the interests of individual landowners but they are also
consolidation of the property. This changes are caused by
instruments of national land policy and mechanisms to support
subdivision or consolidation of land and involves an elaborate
economic development.
procedure of delineation of the new property unit/s. The new
owner or his interest will have to be connected to the newly formed
B. Function of Land Registration
parcels.
1. Every land administration system should include some form of
G. General Legal Principles in Land Registration
land registration, which is a process for recording, and in some
countries guaranteeing, information about the ownership of land.
1. The Booking - a change in real rights on an immovable
property, especially by transfer, is not legally effected until the
2. Land registration is a process of official recording of rights in
change or the expected right is booked or registered in the land
land through deed or as title on properties. It means that there is
register;
an official record (land register) of rights on land or of deeds
concerning changes in the legal situation of defined units of land. It
2.The Consent - the real entitled person who is booked as such in
gives an answer to the questions who and how. In some countrys,
the register must give his consent for a change of the inscription in
this information regarding ownership of identifiable parcel units
the land register;
are contained in a cadastre
3.The Publicity - the legal registers are open for public
3. The function of land registration is to provide a safe and certain
inspection, the published facts can be upheld as being correct by
foundation for the acquisition, enjoyment and disposal of such
third parties in good faith and can be protected by law; and
rights in land.
4.The Specialty - the concerned subject (owners and rights
C. Meaning of Registration
holders) and object (real property defined as a parcel) is
unambiguously and clearly identified.
1. In general, registration means any entry made in the books of the
registry including the cancellation, annotation and even the
H. Effect of Registration in the Torrens System
marginal notes.
1. The Mirror Principle - the register is supposed to reflect the
2. In its strict sense, it is the entry made in the registry which
correct legal situation on the parcel;
record solemnly and permanently the rights of ownership and
other real rights.
2. The Curtain Principle - no further historical investigation on
the title beyond what is stated register is necessary; and
3. The mere presentation of a document is not equivalent to
registration.
3. The Insurance or Guarantee Principle - the State
guarantees that what is registered is true for third parties in good
D. Title and Deed System Distinguished

18
faith and that a bona fide 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 specific 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 reflect 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 efficient, 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 Confirming 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) Identification of Owners and Tenure Holders
(1) Statement of personal circumstances in the certificate. (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 certificate of title in
pursuance of a decree of registration and every subsequent
purchaser of registered land taking a certificate of title for value
and in good faith holds the same free form all encumbrance except
those noted in the certificate. (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)
19
c) A certificate of title shall not be subject to collateral attack. It
cannot be altered, modified 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 certificate of title issued, acquire rights over the
property, the court cannot disregard such rights and order the total
cancellation of the certificate for that
would impair the public confidence 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
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 qualified 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.
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 filed 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 finally awards the land applied for registration
to the party entitle to it and the patent issued by the Director of
Lands equally and finally 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 fictitious deed - imprescriptible
(Lacsamana vs. CA, GR No. 121658, March 27, 1988)
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 specific time which could serve as a precedent.
20
(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
certificate of Title, it is expected from the purchaser of a valued
property to inquire first 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 thevendors 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 fide 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
ofAppeals, GR No. 91383, May 31, 1991)
(7) Faulty Registration
(a) A certificate 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 certificate 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
certificate of title in the name of registered owner, as well as upon
the original registration on the certificate of title of a building or
other improvement on the land covered by said certificate
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, filing 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) Certified copies of all instruments filed 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.
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, benefits, pure
beneficence 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 officer 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) Certified true copy of the Tax Declaration in transaction
involving transfer of
ownership;
b) Certificate Authorizing Registration (CAR) or Certificate of
Exemption from the
BIR in case of sale, exchange or other disposition of real property;
c) Certification from the BIR that the documentary stamp tax has
been paid;
21
d) Certification 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) Certification 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 Affidavit 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 Certificate or a copy of the Board
Resolution
authorizing the transaction (sale, purchase, exchange) designating
the officer
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
certificate of title is the final step to accomplish registration. While
the
preliminary step and the final 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 final 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.
c) Documents executed in a foreign country should be
acknowledged before a
Philippine diplomatic or consular official. If acknowledged before a barter and other conveyances, the register of deeds shall make out
foreign in the
notary public, it should be authenticated by the Philippine registration book a new certificate of title to the grantee and shall
diplomatic or prepared and
consular official before it can be registered. deliver to him as owner an owners certificate, noting the original
and owners
d) All supporting documents applicable to the transaction should duplicate certificate the date of transfer, the volume and page of
also be the
submitted together with the basic instruments. registration book in which the new certificate is registered and a
2. Payment of the entry and registration fee reference by
number to the last preceding certificate. The original and owners
a) Upon entry of the document, the corresponding entry and duplicate of
registration fees the grantors certificate shall be stamped cancelled.
should be paid. In default of payment, the entry in the primary
entry book will c) In case the instrument does not divest the ownership or title
ipso fact become null and void. from the owner or
from the transferee of the registered owner, now new certificate of
3. Surrender of the owners duplicate certificate and al co-owners title shall be
duplicate if any issued. The instrument creating such interests less than ownership
had been issued. shall be
registered by a brief memorandum thereof made by the register of
a) No voluntary instrument shall be registered by the registry of deeds upon
deeds, unless the certificate of title and signed by him. The cancellation or
the owners duplicate certificate is presented with such extinguishment of
instruments, except in such interests shall be registered by a brief memorandum thereof
cases expressly provided for in PD 1529 or upon order of the court, made the
for cause the register of deeds upon the certificate of the title and signed by
shown. him. The
cancellation or extinguishment of such interests shall be registered
b) If co-owners duplicate certificates has been issued, all in the
outstanding same manner. In case the conveyance affects only a portion of the
certificates so issued shall be surrendered whenever the register of land
deeds described in the certificate of title, no new certificate shall also be
shall register any subsequent voluntary transaction affecting the issued until a
whole land or plan of the land showing all the portions or lots into which it has
part thereof or any interest therein been
subdivided and the corresponding technical descriptions shall have
4. Examination of the document, certificate of title and supporting been
papers by the verified and approve. The instrument shall only be registered by
deeds examiner. annotation on
the grantors title and its owners duplicate. Pending approval of
a) Registrability of an instrument is initially determined by the the plan, no
deeds examiner of further registration or annotation of any subsequent deed or other
the registry. If the document is found to comply with all voluntary
requirements the instrument involving the unsegregated portion conveyed shall be
examiner recommends its registration to the register of deeds. affected,
Otherwise, he except where such unsegregated portion was purchase from the
recommends denial of registration. government
or any of its instrumentalities.
b) The deeds examiner, on his own, is generally not allowed to
register or deny d) Should there be subsisting encumbrance or annotation on the
registration. grantors title,
they shall be carried over and stated in the new certificate of title
5. Review by the Register of Deeds of the action taken by the deeds except so far
examiner. as they may be simultaneously released or discharged.1

a) The authority to register or deny registration being lodge with E. Involuntary Registration
the register of
deeds, he is required to review the action taken by the deeds 1. Attachment and Execution
examiner.
a) Nature, Concept and Purpose - a juridical institution which
b) He may either adopt, alter, modify or reverse such action has for its
depending upon his purpose to secure the outcome of the trial; the chief purpose is to
own appraisal of registrability of the instrument filed for secure a
registration. contingent lien on defendants property until plaintiff can, by
appropriate
6. Registration of the document or denial of registration by the proceedings, obtain a judgment and have a property applied to tis
register of deeds. satisfaction
or to make some provision for unsecured debts in case where the
a) If the register of deeds finds that the document presented means of
complies with all satisfaction thereof are liable to be removed beyond the
the requisites for registration, it is his duty to immediately register jurisdiction or
the same. If improperly disposed of or concealed or otherwise placed beyond he
the instrument is not registrable, he shall forthwith deny reach of
registration thereof creditors.
and inform the presentor of such denial in writing, stating the
ground or reason b) Kinds of Attachments
therefor, and advising him of his right to appeal by consulta in
accordance with (1) Preliminary Attachment - issued at the institution or the
Section 117 of P.D. 1529 during the
progress of an action commanding the sheriff or other proper
b) Where the documents conveys the simple title, such as in sales, officer to
donations,

22
attach property rights, credits or effects of defendant to satisfy the granted by the 1936 Constitution are respected.
demand
of plaintiff; an auxiliary remedy and cannot have an independent B. Two (2) laws were enacted to implement the rules regarding
existence exceptions of former
apart form the main claim natural born citizens to own land.
1. Batas Pambansa Bilang 185 on residential lands; and
(2) Garnishment - attachment for credits belonging to the 2. Republic Act No. 8179 on commercial and industrial lands,
judgement debtor amending certain
and owing to him from a stranger to the litigation; does not usually provisions of the Foreign Investment Act of 1991.
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 final and executory. XIII. FREE PATENT AMENDMENT
2. Registration of Attachments and Execution Republic Act No. 6940 March 28, 1990
a) Statutory Provisions - Section 69 of PD 1529 and Section 7,
Rule 57 of the AN ACT GRANTING A PERIOD ENDING ON DECEMBER 31,
Rules of Court 2000 FOR FILING APPLICATIONS FOR FREE PATENT AND
JUDICIAL CONFIRMATION OF IMPERFECT TITLE TO
b) Documents to be Registered ALIENABLE AND DISPOSABLE LANDS OF THE PUBLIC
(1) Writ of Attachment or Execution; DOMAIN UNDER CHAPTERS VII AND VIII OF THE PUBLIC
(2)Notice of Attachment or levy on the execution; and LAND ACT (CA 141, AS AMENDED)
(3) Description of the Property;
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
c) Forms and Contents Philippines in Congress assembled::
(1) The Notice of Attachment or levy on execution should contain a
reference Section 1. Paragraph 1, Section 44, Chapter VII of Commonwealth
to the number of the Certificate of Title, the volume and page of the Act No. 141, as amended, is hereby amended to read as follows:
registration book where the certificate is registered and the name
of the "Sec. 44. Any natural-born citizen of the Philippines who is not the
registered owner; not applicable in case of unregistered lanD. owner of more than twelve (12) hectares and who, for at least thirty
(2) If the attachment is not claimed on all the land, a description (30) years prior to the effectivity of this amendatory Act, has
sufficiently continuously occupied and cultivated, either by himself or through
accurate for the identification of the land or interest must be made his predecessors-in-interest a tract or tracts of agricultural public
lands subject to disposition, who shall have paid the real estate tax
3. Registration Procedure thereon while the same has not been occupied by any person shall
a) Entry in the Day Book or Primary Entry Book; be entitled, under the provisions of this Chapter, to have a free
b) Payment of entry and registration fee; patent issued to him for such tract or tracts of such land not to
c) A memorandum of the attachment shall be made on the Original exceed twelve (12) hectares."
of the
Certificate of Title; Section 2. Section 45, Chapter VII of Commonwealth Act No. 141,
d) Indexing - the Register of deeds shall index attachments in the as amended, is hereby, further amended to read as follows:
name of the
applicant, the adverse party, and the person by whom the property "Sec. 45. The President of the Philippines, upon recommendation
is held or in of the Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources, shall from
whose name it stands in the records. time to time fix by proclamation the period within which
applications for free patents may be filed in the Community
4. Effects of Registration Environment and Natural Resources Office or region specified in
a) Notice of the attachment is a notice that the property is taken in such proclamation, and upon the expiration of the period so
the custody of designated, unless the same be extended by the President, all the
the law as security for the satisfaction of any judgement; land comprised within such district, chartered city, province,
b) Title still be subject to subsequent transaction but subject to the municipality or region subject thereto under the provisions of this
attachment Chapter may be disposed of as agricultural public land without
lien prejudice to the prior right of the occupant and cultivator to
acquire such land under this Act by means other than free patent.
V. Foreign Ownership The time to be fixed in the entire Archipelago for the filing of
applications under this Chapter shall not extend beyond December
A. In general- only Filipino citizens may own land in the 31, 2000, except in the Provinces of Agusan del Norte, Agusan del
Philippines except if the Sur, Cotabato, South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Bukidnon, Lanao
acquisition of the land was through hereditary succession. This is a del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, Davao
constitutional Oriental, Sulu, Mt. Province, Benguet, Kalinga-Apayao, Ifugao,
restriction that was placed under the 1935 Constitution. However, Maguindanao, Tawi-Tawi, and Basilan where the President of the
property rights of Philippines, upon the recommendation of the Secretary of
American citizens existing prior to the 1935 Constitution are Environment and Natural Resources, shall determine or fix the
respected. The time beyond which the filing of applications under this Chapter
provisions was modified in the 1987 Constitution to exempt shall not extend: provided, that the period shall apply only when
natural-born citizens who the area applied for does not exceed twelve (12) hectares. The
had lost his citizenship subject to certain conditions. The 1973 period fixed for any district, chartered city, province or
Constitution did not municipality shall begin to run thirty (30) days after the
explicitly allows former natural born citizens to own land, publication of the proclamation in one (1) newspaper of general
nonetheless, Batas circulation in the city, province or municipality concerned. A
Pambansa Bilang 185 allows concession to former Filipinos under certified copy of said proclamation shall be furnished by the
the general power Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources within thirty (30)
of the Prime Minister under Section 15 of Article XIII. The present days counted from the date of the presidential proclamation to the
Constitution only Community Environment and Natural Resources Office and to the
allows two exception to the prohibition against foreign ownership: provincial board, and municipal board or city council and barangay
(1) hereditary council affected, and copies thereof shall be posted on the bulletin
succession; and (2) former natural born-citizens. However, board of the Community Environment and Natural Resources
property rights of alien Office and at conspicuous places in the provincial building and at
prior to the 1936 Constitution and the special privileges given to the municipal building and barangay halls or meeting place.t shall
American citizens

23
moreover be announced by government radio whenever available
in each of the barrios of the municipality."
Section 3. Section 47, Chapter VIII of Commonwealth Act No. 141,
as amended, is hereby further amended to read as follows:
"Sec. 47. The persons specified in the next following section are
hereby granted time, not to extend beyond December 31, 2000
within which to take advantage of the benefit of this Chapter:
provided, that this period shall apply only where the area applied
for does not exceed twelve (12) hectares: provided, further, that the
several periods of time designated by the President in accordance
with Section Forty-five of this Act shall apply also to the lands
comprised in the provisions of this Chapter, but this section shall
not be construed as prohibiting any of said persons from acting
under this Chapter at any time prior to the period fixed by the
President."
Section 4. Any law or executive order or part thereof contrary to or
inconsistent with this Act is hereby deemed repealed accordingly.
Section 5. If any provision of this Act or the applicability of such
provision to any person or circumstances shall be held invalid, the
validity of the remainder of this Act and the applicability of such
provision to the persons or circumstances shall not be affected
thereby.
Section 6. This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its
publication in two (2) national newspapers of general circulation.
Approved: March 28, 1990
XIV. RESIDENTIAL FREE PATENT
REPUBLIC ACT No. 10023
AN ACT AUTHORIZING THE ISSUANCE OF FREE PATENTS TO
RESIDENTAL LANDS
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
Philippines in Congress assembled:
Section 1. Qualifications. - Any Filipino citizen who is an actual
occupant of a residential land may apply for a Free Patent Title
under this Act: Provided; That in highly urbanized cities, the land
should not exceed two hundred (200) square meters; in other
cities, it should not exceed five hundred (500) square meters; in
first class and second class municipalities, it should not exceed
seven hundred fifty (750) square meters; and in all other
municipalities, it should not exceed one thousand (1,000) square
meters; Provided, further, That the land applied for is not needed
for public service and/or public use.
Section 2. Coverage. - This Act shall cover all lands that are zoned
as residential areas, including townsites as defined under the
Public Land Act; Provided, That none of the provisions of
Presidential Decree No. 705 shall be violated.
Zoned residential areas located inside a delisted military
reservation or abandoned military camp, and those of local
government units (LGUs) or townsites which preceded Republic
Act No. 7586 or the National Integrated Protected Areas System
(NIPAS) law, shall also be covered by this Act.
Section 3. Application. - The application on the land applied for
shall be supported by a map based on an actual survey conducted
by a licensed geodetic engineer and approved by the Department of
Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and a technical
description of the land applied for together with supporting
affidavit of two (2) disinterested persons who are residing in the
barangay of the city or municipality where the land is located,
attesting to the truth of the facts contained in the application to the
effect that the applicant thereof has, either by himself or through
his predecessor-in-interest, actually resided on and continuously
possessed and occupied, under a bona fide claim of acquisition of
ownership, the land applied for at least ten (10) years and has
complied with the requirements prescribed in Section 1 hereof.
Section 4. Special Patents. - Notwithstanding any provision of law
to the contrary and subject to private rights, if any, public land
24
actually occupied and used for public schools, municipal halls,
public plazas or parks and other government institutions for public
use or purpose may be issued special patents under the name of the
national agency or LGU concerned: Provided, That all lands titled
under this section shall not be disposed of unless sanctioned by
Congress if owned by the national agency or sanctioned by the
sanggunian concerned through an approved ordinance if owned by
the LGU.
Section 5. Removal of Restrictions. - The restrictions regarding
encumbrances, conveyances, transfers or dispositions imposed in
Sections 118, 119,121, 122 and 123 of Chapter XII, Title VI of
Commonwealth Act No. 141 as amended, shall not apply to patents
issued under this Act.
Section 6. Period for Application. - All applications shall be filed
immediately after the effectivity of this Act before the Community
Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) of the DENR.
The CENRO is mandated to process the application within one
hundred and twenty (120) days to include compliance with the
required notices and other legal requirements, and forward this
recommendation to the Provincial Environment and Natural
Resources Office (PENRO), who shall have five (5) days to approve
or disapprove the patent. In case of approval, patent shall be
issued; in case of conflicting claims among different claimants, the
parties may seek the proper judicial remedies.1avvphi1
Section 7. Implementing Rules and Regulations. - The Director of
the Land Management Bureau of the Department of Environment
and Natural Resources (DENR) shall promulgate rules and
regulations to carry out the provisions of this Act, and shall see to it
that such are gender responsive.
Section 8. Repealing Clause. - All laws, decrees, executive order,
executive issuance's or letters of instruction, rules and regulations
or any part thereof inconsistent with or contrary to the provisions
of this Act are hereby deemed repealed, amended or modified
accordingly.
Section 9. Separability Clause. - If, for any reason or reasons, any
part or parts of this Act shall be declared unconstitutional or
invalid by any competent court, other parts of this Act shall be
thereby shall continue to be in full force and effect.
Section 10. Effectivity Clause. - This Act shall take effect fifteen
days (15) after its publication in two (2) national newspapers of
general education.
XV. PD 2004 REMOVING RESTRICTIONS
TO RA 730
PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 2004 - AMENDING Section TWO
OR REPUBLIC ACT NUMBERED SEVEN HUNDRED AND
THIRTY RELATIVE TO THE SALE WITHOUT PUBLIC AUCTION
OF PUBLIC LANDS OF THE REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES
FOR RESIDENTIAL PURPOSES TO QUALIFIED APPLICANTS
UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS
WHEREAS, Republic Act No. 730 permits the sale without public
auction of public lands of the Republic of the Philippines for
residential purposes to qualified applicants under certain
conditions;
WHEREAS, land required thereunder are subject to onerous
restrictions against encumbrance or alienation; and
WHEREAS, it is necessary to remove these onerous restrictions to
allow the effective utilization of these lands.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of
the Philippines, pursuant to the powers vested in me by the
Constitution, do hereby decree:
Section 1. Section Two of Republic Act Numbered Seven Hundred
and Thirty is hereby amended to read as follows:
"Sec. 2. Lands acquired under the provisions of this Act shall not be
subject to any restrictions against encumbrance or alienation
before and after the issuance of the patents thereon."

Section 2. This Decree shall take effect immediately.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused
the seal of the Republic of the Philippines to be affixed.
DONE in the City of Manila, this 30th day of December, in the year
of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and eighty-five.
XVI. CORPORATION AND TITLING
READ THIS IN CONNECTION WITH QUALIFICATIONS OF
NATURAL PERSONS TO OWN PUBLIC LANDS. SPECIALLY
DISSENT OF J. TEEHANKEE AND CONCURRING OPINION AS
CHIEF J. IN LATER CASE OF ACME
a) REP.V CA AND INC GR L-59447
G.R. No. L-59447 December 27, 1982
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES, represented by the Director of
Lands and the Director of Forest Development, petitioner,
vs.
HONORABLE COURT OF APPEALS and IGLESIA NI CRISTO,
represented by its Executive Minister ERANO G. MANALO,
respondents.
G.R. No. L-60188 December 27, 1982
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES, represented by the Director of
Lands, petitioner,
vs.
JUDGE DOMINADOR S. CENDAA of CFI-La Union, Branch II
and IGLESIA NI CRISTO, respondents.
Solicitor General for petitioner.
Eliseo M. Cruz for respondents.
PLANA, J.:
These are two land registration cases instituted by the Iglesia Ni
Cristo (INC), a corporation sole, under Section 48 (b) of the Public
Land Act which reads:
Sec 48. The following described citizens of the Philippines
occupying lands of the public domain or claiming to own any such
lands or an interest therein, but whose titles have not been
perfected or completed, may apply to the Court of First Instance of
the province where the land is located for confirmation of their
claims and the issuance of a certificate of title therefor, under the
Land Registration Act, to wit . . .
xxx xxx xxx
(b) Those who by themselves or through their predecessors-in-
interest have been in open, continuous, exclusive and notorious
possession and occupation of agricultural lands of the public
domain, under a bona fide claim of acquisition or ownership, for at
least thirty years immediately preceding the filing of the
application for confirmation of title except when prevented by war
or force majeure. These 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 the provisions of this
chapter. ...
In both cases, the applications for land registration were granted
by the lower courts, impelling the Republic to elevate the cases to
this forum on this basic legal issue: whether the lands applied for
may be registered in the name of INC. in the light of the
Constitutional provision that "no private corporation or association
may hold alienable lands of the public domain except by lease."
(Article XIV, Section 11). An ancillary question refers to the nature
of the lands subject to registration proceedings whether they are
private or public.
The issues are not new. In at least two decisions, (Meralco vs.
Judge Castro Bartolome et al 114 SCRA 799; Republic vs. Judge
25
Candido P. Villanueva, 114 SCRA 875), this court has ruled on the
questions. Specifically, in Republic vs. Judge Villanueva, this court,
speaking thru Justice Ramon C. Aquino, said:
As correctly contended by the Solicitor General, the Iglesia Ni
Cristo, as a corporation sole or a juridical person, is disqualified to
acquire or hold alienable lands of the public domain, like the two
lots in question, because of the constitutional prohibition already
mentioned and because the said church is not entitled to avail itself
of the benefits of section 48 (b) which applies only to Filipino
citizens or natural persons. A corporation sole (an "unhappy freak
of English law") has no nationality (Roman Catholic Apostolic
Adm. of Davao, Inc. vs. Land Registration Commission, 102 Phil.
596. See Register of Deeds vs. Ung Siu Si Temple 97 Phil. 58 and
sec. 49 of the Public Land Law).
The contention in the comments of the Iglesia Ni Cristo (its lawyer
did not file any brief) that the two lots are private lands, following
the rule laid down in Susi vs. Razon and Director of Lands, 48 Phil.
424, is not correct. What was considered private land in the Susi
case was a parcel of land possessed by a Filipino citizen since time
immemorial, as in Carifio vs. Insular Government, 212 U.S. 449,
531 L. ed. 594, 41 Phil. 935 and 7 Phil. 132. The lots sought to be
registered in this case do not fall within that category. They are still
public lands. A land registration proceeding under section 48 (b)
"presupposes that the land is public" (Mindanao vs. Director of
Lands, L-19535, July 10, 1967, 20 SCRA 641, 644).
As held in Oh Cho vs. Director of Lands, 75 Phil. 890, "all lands
that were not acquired from the Government, either by purchase or
by grant, belong to the public domain. An exception to the rule
would be any land that should have been in the possession of an
occupant and of his predecessors-in-interest since time
immemorial, for such possession would justify the presumption
that the land had never been part of the public domain or that it
had been a private property even before the Spanish conquest. "
In Uy Un vs. Perez, 71 Phil. 508, it was noted that the right of an
occupant of public agricultural land to obtain a confirmation of his
title under section 48 (b) of the Public Land Law is a "derecho
dominical incoativo" and that before the issuance of the certificate
of title the occupant is not in the juridical sense the true owner of
the land since it still pertains to the State. (114 SCRA 881-882)
Following the above cases, this court sustains the stand of the
Republic, without need to inquire into the veracity of the allegation
in G.R. L-59447 that the evidence presented therein do not prove
INC. continuity of possession of the land for the period prescribed
by law. The appealed decisions of the lower courts are hereby set
aside and the INC. applications for registration are hereby
dismissed. No costs.
SO ORDERED.
Melencio-Herrera, Vasquez, Relova and Gutierrez, Jr., JJ., concur.
Separate Opinions
TEEHANKEE, J, dissenting:
I am constrained to dissent from the majority decision which
applies the precedent set forth in the case of Republic vs.
Villanueva and Iglesia ni Cristo 1 and the companion case of
MERALCO vs. Castro-Bartolome 2, both decided on June 29, 1982,
for the same grounds and considerations stated in my joint
dissenting opinion therein which I herewith reproduce by reference
for brevity's sake 3, as well as in my dissenting opinion in Republic
vs. Gonong and Iglesia ni Cristo. 4
I just wish to add that it is premature to apply the Villanueva case
as a precedent since the same as well as the Gonong case are not
yet final and the Court en banc is up to now considering the Iglesia
ni Cristo's pending motion for reconsideration filed in the
Villanueva case which raises a number of serious constitutional
issues, among them the constitutional guaranty of free exercise of
religion which as stressed in Basa vs. Federacion Obrero 5 is a
fundamental personal right and liberty and has a preferred
position in the constitutional system and hierarchy of values, and
the Iglesia ni Cristo's constitutional right to equal protection of law
in the light of the precedent in Roman Catholic Apostolic
Administrator of Davao, Inc. vs. Land Registration Commission 6
which recognizes the right of therein petitioner Roman Catholic
Apostolic Administrator as a corporation sole to register lands
purchased from Filipino citizens. As contended by respondent
Iglesia ni Cristo in the case at bar, to "require (it) to establish its
chapels on properties already titled is an emasculation of its right
to equal treatment before the law." 7 Such serious constitutional
issues should be referred to the Court en banc for proper
determination, since our Division is incompetent to rule thereon.
What was held by the Court in the above-cited case of Roman
Catholic Apostolic Administrator is equally applicable to the Iglesia
ni Cristo in the case at bar, mutatis mutandis, as follows: The
provisions of the Corporation Law (section 157 of the old
Corporation Law and section 112 of the new Corporation Law)
"leave(s) no room for doubt that the bishops or archbishops, as the
case may be, as corporations sole are merely administrators of the
church properties that come to their possession, and which they
hold in trust for the church. It can also be said that while it is true
that properties cannot be avoided to rise upon his death. Through
this legal fiction, however, church properties acquired by the
incumbent of a corporation sole pass, by operation of law, upon his
death not to his personal heirs but to his successor in office. It
could be seen, therefore, that a corporation sole is created not only
to administer the temporalities of the church or religious society
where he belongs but also to hold and transmit the same to his
successor in said office. If the ownership or title to the properties
do not pass to the administrators, who are the owners of church
properties? ... Considering that nowhere can We find any provision
conferring ownership of church properties on the Pope although he
appears to be the supreme administrator or guardian of his flock,
nor on the corporations sole or heads of dioceses as they are
admittedly mere administrators of said properties, ownership of
these temporalities logically fall and devolve upon the church,
diocese or congregation acquiring the same," and "indeed it is
absurd to conceive that while the corporations sole that might be in
need of acquiring lands for the erection of temples where the
faithful can pray, or schools and cemeteries which they are
expressly authorized by law to acquire in connection with the
propagation of the Roman Catholic Apostolic faith or in
furtherance of their freedom of religion, they could not register
said properties in their name. As professor Javier J. Nepomuceno
very well says 'Man in his search for the immortal and
imponderable, has, even before the dawn of recorded history,
erected temples to the Unknown God, and there is no doubt that he
will continue to do so for all time to come, as long as he continues
'imploring the aid of Divine Providence' (Nepomuceno's
Corporation Sole, VI Ateneo Law Journal, No. 1, p. 41, September,
1956)."
There appears no justification, therefore, to consider religious
corporations sole such as the Iglesia ni Cristo as disqualified from
filing the corresponding applications for registration of the parcels
of land acquired by them from private persons on the ground that
they are not natural persons when the real owners and
beneficiaries of such lands are in fact the members of the said
church and congregation who are natural persons. I therefore vote
for the denial of the two petitions at bar and to uphold the
questioned decisions granting the Iglesia ni Cristo applications for
land registration and upholding its title to the lands involved.
Separate Opinions
TEEHANKEE, J, dissenting:
I am constrained to dissent from the majority decision which
applies the precedent set forth in the case of Republic vs.
Villanueva and Iglesia ni Cristo 1 and the companion case of
MERALCO vs. Castro-Bartolome 2, both decided on June 29, 1982,
for the same grounds and considerations stated in my joint
dissenting opinion therein which I herewith reproduce by reference
for brevity's sake 3, as well as in my dissenting opinion in Republic
vs. Gonong and Iglesia ni Cristo. 4
I just wish to add that it is premature to apply the Villanueva case
as a precedent since the same as well as the Gonong case are not
26
yet final and the Court en banc is up to now considering the Iglesia
ni Cristo's pending motion for reconsideration filed in the
Villanueva case which raises a number of serious constitutional
issues, among them the constitutional guaranty of free exercise of
religion which as stressed in Basa vs. Federacion Obrero 5 is a
fundamental personal right and liberty and has a preferred
position in the constitutional system and hierarchy of values, and
the Iglesia ni Cristo's constitutional right to equal protection of law
in the light of the precedent in Roman Catholic Apostolic
Administrator of Davao, Inc. vs. Land Registration Commission 6
which recognizes the right of therein petitioner Roman Catholic
Apostolic Administrator as a corporation sole to register lands
purchased from Filipino citizens. As contended by respondent
Iglesia ni Cristo in the case at bar, to "require (it) to establish its
chapels on properties already titled is an emasculation of its right
to equal treatment before the law." 7 Such serious constitutional
issues should be referred to the Court en banc for proper
determination, since our Division is incompetent to rule thereon.
What was held by the Court in the above-cited case of Roman
Catholic Apostolic Administrator is equally applicable to the Iglesia
ni Cristo in the case at bar, mutatis mutandis, as follows: The
provisions of the Corporation Law (section 157 of the old
Corporation Law and section 112 of the new Corporation Law)
"leave(s) no room for doubt that the bishops or archbishops, as the
case may be, as corporations sole are merely administrators of the
church properties that come to their possession, and which they
hold in trust for the church. It can also be said that while it is true
that properties cannot be avoided to rise upon his death. Through
this legal fiction, however, church properties acquired by the
incumbent of a corporation sole pass, by operation of law, upon his
death not to his personal heirs but to his successor in office. It
could be seen, therefore, that a corporation sole is created not only
to administer the temporalities of the church or religious society
where he belongs but also to hold and transmit the same to his
successor in said office. If the ownership or title to the properties
do not pass to the administrators, who are the owners of church
properties? ... Considering that nowhere can We find any provision
conferring ownership of church properties on the Pope although he
appears to be the supreme administrator or guardian of his flock,
nor on the corporations sole or heads of dioceses as they are
admittedly mere administrators of said properties, ownership of
these temporalities logically fall and devolve upon the church,
diocese or congregation acquiring the same," and "indeed it is
absurd to conceive that while the corporations sole that might be in
need of acquiring lands for the erection of temples where the
faithful can pray, or schools and cemeteries which they are
expressly authorized by law to acquire in connection with the
propagation of the Roman Catholic Apostolic faith or in
furtherance of their freedom of religion, they could not register
said properties in their name. As professor Javier J. Nepomuceno
very well says 'Man in his search for the immortal and
imponderable, has, even before the dawn of recorded history,
erected temples to the Unknown God, and there is no doubt that he
will continue to do so for all time to come, as long as he continues
'imploring the aid of Divine Providence' (Nepomuceno's
Corporation Sole, VI Ateneo Law Journal, No. 1, p. 41, September,
1956)."
There appears no justification, therefore, to consider religious
corporations sole such as the Iglesia ni Cristo as disqualified from
filing the corresponding applications for registration of the parcels
of land acquired by them from private persons on the ground that
they are not natural persons when the real owners and
beneficiaries of such lands are in fact the members of the said
church and congregation who are natural persons. I therefore vote
for the denial of the two petitions at bar and to uphold the
questioned decisions granting the Iglesia ni Cristo applications for
land registration and upholding its title to the lands involved.
2. DIR OF LAND VS IAC, ACME GR 73002
G.R. No. 73002 December 29, 1986
THE DIRECTOR OF LANDS, petitioner,
vs.
INTERMEDIATE APPELLATE COURT and ACME PLYWOOD &
VENEER CO. INC., ETC., respondents.
D. Nacion Law Office for private respondent.
NARVASA, J.:
The Director of Lands has brought this appeal by certiorari from a
judgment of the Intermediate Appellate Court affirming a decision
of the Court of First Instance of Isabela, which ordered registration
in favor of Acme Plywood & Veneer Co., Inc. of five parcels of land
measuring 481, 390 square meters, more or less, acquired by it
from Mariano and Acer Infiel, members of the Dumagat tribe.
The registration proceedings were for confirmation of title under
Section 48 of Commonwealth Act No. 141 (The Public Land Act). as
amended: and the appealed judgment sums up the findings of the
trial court in said proceedings in this wise:
1. That Acme Plywood & Veneer Co. Inc., represented by Mr.
Rodolfo Nazario is a corporation duly organized in accordance with
the laws of the Republic of the Philippines and registered with the
Securities and Exchange Commission on December 23, 1959;
2. That Acme Plywood & Veneer Co. Inc., represented by Mr.
Rodolfo Nazario can acquire real properties pursuant to the
provisions of the Articles of Incorporation particularly on the
provision of its secondary purposes (paragraph (9), Exhibit 'M-l');
3. That the land subject of the Land Registration proceeding was
ancestrally acquired by Acme Plywood & Veneer Co., Inc., on
October 29, 1962, from Mariano Infiel and Acer Infiel, both
members of the Dumagat tribe and as such are cultural minorities;
4. That the constitution of the Republic of the Philippines of 1935 is
applicable as the sale took place on October 29, 1962;
5. That the possession of the Infiels over the land relinquished or
sold to Acme Plywood & Veneer Co., Inc., dates back before the
Philippines was discovered by Magellan as the ancestors of the
Infiels have possessed and occupied the land from generation to
generation until the same came into the possession of Mariano
Infiel and Acer Infiel;
6. That the possession of the applicant Acme Plywood & Veneer
Co., Inc., is continuous, adverse and public from 1962 to the
present and tacking the possession of the Infiels who were granted
from whom the applicant bought said land on October 29, 1962,
hence the possession is already considered from time immemorial.
7. That the land sought to be registered is a private land pursuant
to the provisions of Republic Act No. 3872 granting absolute
ownership to members of the non-Christian Tribes on land
occupied by them or their ancestral lands, whether with the
alienable or disposable public land or within the public domain;
8. That applicant Acme Plywood & Veneer Co. Inc., has introduced
more than Forty-Five Million (P45,000,000.00) Pesos worth of
improvements, said improvements were seen by the Court during
its ocular investigation of the land sought to be registered on
September 18, 1982;
9. That the ownership and possession of the land sought to be
registered by the applicant was duly recognized by the government
when the Municipal Officials of Maconacon, Isabela, have
negotiated for the donation of the townsite from Acme Plywood &
Veneer Co., Inc., and this negotiation came to reality when the
Board of Directors of the Acme Plywood & Veneer Co., Inc., had
donated a part of the land bought by the Company from the Infiels
for the townsite of Maconacon Isabela (Exh. 'N') on November 15,
1979, and which donation was accepted by the Municipal
Government of Maconacon, Isabela (Exh. 'N-l'), during their
special session on November 22, 1979.
The Director of Lands takes no issue with any of these findings
except as to the applicability of the 1935 Constitution to the matter
at hand. Concerning this, he asserts that, the registration
proceedings have been commenced only on July 17, 1981, or long
after the 1973 Constitution had gone into effect, the latter is the
correctly applicable law; and since section 11 of its Article XIV
prohibits private corporations or associations from holding
alienable lands of the public domain, except by lease not to exceed
1,000 hectares (a prohibition not found in the 1935 Constitution
which was in force in 1962 when Acme purchased the lands in
question from the Infiels), it was reversible error to decree
registration in favor of Acme Section 48, paragraphs (b) and (c), of
Commonwealth Act No. 141, as amended, reads:
27
SEC. 48. The following described citizens of the Philippines,
occupying lands of the public domain or claiming to own any such
lands or an interest therein, but whose titles have not been
perfected or completed, may apply to the Court of First Instance of
the province where the land is located for confirmation of their
claims, and the issuance of a certificate of title therefor, under the
Land Registration Act, to wit:
xxx xxx xxx
(b) Those who by themselves or through their predecessors-in-
interest have been in open, continuous, exclusive and notorious
possession and occupation of agricultural lands of the public
domain, under a bona fide claim of acquisition or ownership, for at
least thirty years immediately preceding the filing of the
application for confirmation of title except when prevented by war
or force majeure. These 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 the provisions of this
chapter.
(c) Members of the National Cultural minorities who by themselves
or through their predecessors-in-interest have been in open.
continuous, exclusive and notorious possession and occupation of
lands of the public domain suitable to agriculture, whether
disposable or not, under a bona fide claim of ownership for at least
30 years shall be entitled to the rights granted in subsection (b)
hereof.
The Petition for Review does not dispute-indeed, in view of the
quoted findings of the trial court which were cited and affirmed by
the Intermediate Appellate Court, it can no longer controvert
before this Court-the fact that Mariano and Acer Infiel, from whom
Acme purchased the lands in question on October 29, 1962, are
members of the national cultural minorities who had, by
themselves and through their progenitors, possessed and occupied
those lands since time immemorial, or for more than the required
30-year period and were, by reason thereof, entitled to exercise the
right granted in Section 48 of the Public Land Act to have their title
judicially confirmed. Nor is there any pretension that Acme, as the
successor-in-interest of the Infiels, is disqualified to acquire and
register ownership of said lands under any provisions of the 1973
Constitution other than Section 11 of its Article XIV already
referred to.
Given the foregoing, the question before this Court is whether or
not the title that the Infiels had transferred to Acme in 1962 could
be confirmed in favor of the latter in proceedings instituted by it in
1981 when the 1973 Constitution was already in effect, having in
mind the prohibition therein against private corporations holding
lands of the public domain except in lease not exceeding 1,000
hectares.
The question turns upon a determination of the character of the
lands at the time of institution of the registration proceedings in
1981. If they were then still part of the public domain, it must be
answered in the negative. If, on the other hand, they were then
already private lands, the constitutional prohibition against their
acquisition by private corporations or associations obviously does
not apply.
In this regard, attention has been invited to Manila Electric
Company vs. Castro-Bartolome, et al, 1 where a similar set of facts
prevailed. In that case, Manila Electric Company, a domestic
corporation more than 60% of the capital stock of which is
Filipino-owned, had purchased in 1947 two lots in Tanay, Rizal
from the Piguing spouses. The lots had been possessed by the
vendors and, before them, by their predecessor-in-interest,
Olimpia Ramos, since prior to the outbreak of the Pacific War in
1941. On December 1, 1976, Meralco applied to the Court of First
Instance of Rizal, Makati Branch, for confirmation of title to said
lots. The court, assuming that the lots were public land, dismissed
the application on the ground that Meralco, a juridical person, was
not qualified to apply for registration under Section 48(b) of the
Public Land Act which allows only Filipino citizens or natural
persons to apply for judicial confirmation of imperfect titles to
public land. Meralco appealed, and a majority of this Court upheld
the dismissal. It was held that:
..., the said land is still public land. It would cease to be public land
only upon the issuance of the certificate of title to any Filipino
citizen claiming it under section 48(b). Because it is still public
land and the Meralco, as a juridical person, is disqualified to apply
for its registration under section 48(b), Meralco's application
cannot be given due course or has to be dismissed.
Finally, it may be observed that the constitutional prohibition
makes no distinction between (on the one hand) alienable
agricultural public lands as to which no occupant has an imperfect
title and (on the other hand) alienable lands of the public domain
as to which an occupant has on imperfect title subject to judicial
confirmation.
Since section 11 of Article XIV does not distinguish, we should not
make any distinction or qualification. The prohibition applies to
alienable public lands as to which a Torrens title may be secured
under section 48(b). The proceeding under section 48(b)
'presupposes that the land is public' (Mindanao vs. Director of
Lands, L-19535, July 30, 1967, 20 SCRA 641, 644).
The present Chief Justice entered a vigorous dissent, tracing the
line of cases beginning with Carino in 1909 2 thru Susi in 1925 3
down to Herico in 1980, 4 which developed, affirmed and
reaffirmed the doctrine that open, exclusive and undisputed
possession of alienable public land for the period prescribed by law
creates the legal fiction whereby the land, upon completion of the
requisite period ipso jure and without the need of judicial or other
sanction, ceases to be public land and becomes private property.
That said dissent expressed what is the better and, indeed, the
correct, view-becomes evident from a consideration of some of the
principal rulings cited therein,
The main theme was given birth, so to speak, in Carino involving
the Decree/Regulations of June 25, 1880 for adjustment of royal
lands wrongfully occupied by private individuals in the Philippine
Islands. It was ruled that:
It is true that the language of articles 4 and 5 5 attributes title to
those 'who may prove' possession for the necessary time and we do
not overlook the argument that this means may prove in
registration proceedings. It may be that an English conveyancer
would have recommended an application under the foregoing
decree, but certainly it was not calculated to convey to the mind of
an Igorot chief the notion that ancient family possessions were in
danger, if he had read every word of it. The words 'may prove'
(acrediten) as well or better, in view of the other provisions, might
be taken to mean when called upon to do so in any litigation. There
are indications that registration was expected from all but none
sufficient to show that, for want of it, ownership actually gained
would be lost. The effect of the proof, wherever made, was not to
confer title, but simply to establish it, as already conferred by the
decree, if not by earlier law. ...
That ruling assumed a more doctrinal character because expressed
in more categorical language, in Susi:
.... In favor of Valentin Susi, there is, moreover, the presumption
juris et de jure established in paragraph (b) of section 45 of Act No.
2874, amending Act No. 926, that all the necessary requirements
for a grant by the Government were complied with, for he has been
in actual and physical possession, personally and through his
predecessors, of an agricultural land of the public domain openly,
continuously, exclusively and publicly since July 26, 1984, with a
right to a certificate of title to said land under the provisions of
Chapter VIII of said Act. So that when Angela Razon applied for
the grant in her favor, Valentin Susi had already acquired, by
operation of law not only a right to a grant, but a grant of the
Government, for it is not necessary that a certificate of title should
be issued in order that said grant may be sanctioned by the courts,
an application therefore is sufficient, under the provisions of
section 47 of Act No. 2874. If by a legal fiction, Valentin Susi had
acquired the land in question by a grant of the State, it had already
ceased to be of the public domain and had become private
property, at least by presumption, of Valentin Susi, beyond the
control of the Director of Lands. Consequently, in selling the land
in question of Angela Razon, the Director of Lands disposed of a
land over which he had no longer any title or control, and the sale
thus made was void and of no effect, and Angela Razon did not
thereby acquire any right. 6
Succeeding cases, of which only some need be mentioned, likeof
Lacaste vs. Director of Lands, 7 Mesina vs. Vda. de Sonza, 8
Manarpac vs. Cabanatuan, 9 Miguel vs. Court of Appeals 10 and
Herico vs. Dar, supra, by invoking and affirming the Susi doctrine
have firmly rooted it in jurisprudence.
28
Herico, in particular, appears to be squarely affirmative: 11
.... Secondly, under the provisions of Republic Act No. 1942, which
the respondent Court held to be inapplicable to the petitioner's
case, with the latter's proven occupation and cultivation for more
than 30 years since 1914, by himself and by his predecessors-in-
interest, title over the land has vested on petitioner so as to
segregate the land from the mass of public land. Thereafter, it is no
longer disposable under the Public Land Act as by free patent. ....
xxx xxx xxx
As interpreted in several cases, when the conditions as specified in
the foregoing provision are complied with, the possessor is deemed
to have acquired, by operation of law, a right to a grant, a
government grant, without the necessity of a certificate of title
being issued. The land, therefore, ceases to be of the public domain
and beyond the authority of the Director of Lands to dispose of.
The application for confirmation is mere formality, the lack of
which does not affect the legal sufficiency of the title as would be
evidenced by the patent and the Torrens title to be issued upon the
strength of said patent. 12
Nothing can more clearly demonstrate the logical inevitability of
considering possession of public land which is of the character and
duration prescribed by statute as the equivalent of an express grant
from the State than the dictum of the statute itself 13 that the
possessor(s) "... shall be conclusively presumed to have performed
all the conditions essential to a Government grant and shall be
entitled to a certificate of title .... " No proof being admissible to
overcome a conclusive presumption, confirmation proceedings
would, in truth be little more than a formality, at the most limited
to ascertaining whether the possession claimed is of the required
character and length of time; and registration thereunder would
not confer title, but simply recognize a title already vested. The
proceedings would not originally convert the land from public to
private land, but only confirm such a conversion already affected
by operation of law from the moment the required period of
possession became complete. As was so well put in Carino, "...
(T)here are indications that registration was expected from all, but
none sufficient to show that, for want of it, ownership actually
gained would be lost. The effect of the proof, wherever made, was
not to confer title, but simply to establish it, as already conferred
by the decree, if not by earlier law."
If it is accepted-as it must be-that the land was already private land
to which the Infiels had a legally sufficient and transferable title on
October 29, 1962 when Acme acquired it from said owners, it must
also be conceded that Acme had a perfect right to make such
acquisition, there being nothing in the 1935 Constitution then in
force (or, for that matter, in the 1973 Constitution which came into
effect later) prohibiting corporations from acquiring and owning
private lands.
Even on the proposition that the land remained technically
"public" land, despite immemorial possession of the Infiels and
their ancestors, until title in their favor was actually confirmed in
appropriate proceedings under the Public Land Act, there can be
no serious question of Acmes right to acquire the land at the time it
did, there also being nothing in the 1935 Constitution that might be
construed to prohibit corporations from purchasing or acquiring
interests in public land to which the vendor had already acquired
that type of so-called "incomplete" or "imperfect" title. The only
limitation then extant was that corporations could not acquire,
hold or lease public agricultural lands in excess of 1,024 hectares.
The purely accidental circumstance that confirmation proceedings
were brought under the aegis of the 1973 Constitution which
forbids corporations from owning lands of the public domain
cannot defeat a right already vested before that law came into
effect, or invalidate transactions then perfectly valid and proper.
This Court has already held, in analogous circumstances, that the
Constitution cannot impair vested rights.
We hold that the said constitutional prohibition 14 has no
retroactive application to the sales application of Binan
Development Co., Inc. because it had already acquired a vested
right to the land applied for at the time the 1973 Constitution took
effect.
That vested right has to be respected. It could not be abrogated by
the new Constitution. Section 2, Article XIII of the 1935
Constitution allows private corporations to purchase public
agricultural lands not exceeding one thousand and twenty-four
hectares. Petitioner' prohibition action is barred by the doctrine of
vested rights in constitutional law.
xxx xxx xxx
The due process clause prohibits the annihilation of vested rights.
'A state may not impair vested rights by legislative enactment, by
the enactment or by the subsequent repeal of a municipal
ordinance, or by a change in the constitution of the State, except in
a legitimate exercise of the police power'(16 C.J.S. 1177-78).
xxx xxx xxx
In the instant case, it is incontestable that prior to the effectivity of
the 1973 Constitution the right of the corporation to purchase the
land in question had become fixed and established and was no
longer open to doubt or controversy.
Its compliance with the requirements of the Public Land Law for
the issuance of a patent had the effect of segregating the said land
from the public domain. The corporation's right to obtain a patent
for the land is protected by law. It cannot be deprived of that right
without due process (Director of Lands vs. CA, 123 Phil.
919).<re||an1w> 15
The fact, therefore, that the confirmation proceedings were
instituted by Acme in its own name must be regarded as simply
another accidental circumstance, productive of a defect hardly
more than procedural and in nowise affecting the substance and
merits of the right of ownership sought to be confirmed in said
proceedings, there being no doubt of Acme's entitlement to the
land. As it is unquestionable that in the light of the undisputed
facts, the Infiels, under either the 1935 or the 1973 Constitution,
could have had title in themselves confirmed and registered, only a
rigid subservience to the letter of the law would deny the same
benefit to their lawful successor-in-interest by valid conveyance
which violates no constitutional mandate.
The Court, in the light of the foregoing, is of the view, and so holds,
that the majority ruling in Meralco must be reconsidered and no
longer deemed to be binding precedent. The correct rule, as
enunciated in the line of cases already referred to, is that alienable
public land held by a possessor, personally or through his
predecessors-in-interest, openly, continuously and exclusively for
the prescribed statutory period (30 years under The Public Land
Act, as amended) is converted to private property by the mere lapse
or completion of said period, ipso jure. Following that rule and on
the basis of the undisputed facts, the land subject of this appeal
was already private property at the time it was acquired from the
Infiels by Acme. Acme thereby acquired a registrable title, there
being at the time no prohibition against said corporation's holding
or owning private land. The objection that, as a juridical person,
Acme is not qualified to apply for judicial confirmation of title
under section 48(b) of the Public Land Act is technical, rather than
substantial and, again, finds its answer in the dissent in Meralco:
6. To uphold respondent judge's denial of Meralco's application on
the technicality that the Public Land Act allows only citizens of the
Philippines who are natural persons to apply for confirmation of
their title would be impractical and would just give rise to
multiplicity of court actions. Assuming that there was a technical
error not having filed the application for registration in the name
of the Piguing spouses as the original owners and vendors, still it is
conceded that there is no prohibition against their sale of the land
to the applicant Meralco and neither is there any prohibition
against the application being refiled with retroactive effect in the
name of the original owners and vendors (as such natural persons)
with the end result of their application being granted, because of
their indisputable acquisition of ownership by operation of law and
the conclusive presumption therein provided in their favor. It
should not be necessary to go through all the rituals at the great
cost of refiling of all such applications in their names and adding to
the overcrowded court dockets when the Court can after all these
years dispose of it here and now. (See Francisco vs. City of Davao)
The ends of justice would best be served, therefore, by considering
the applications for confirmation as amended to conform to the
evidence, i.e. as filed in the names of the original persons who as
natural persons are duly qualified to apply for formal confirmation
of the title that they had acquired by conclusive presumption and
mandate of the Public Land Act and who thereafter duly sold to the
herein corporations (both admittedly Filipino corporations duly
29
qualified to hold and own private lands) and granting the
applications for confirmation of title to the private lands so
acquired and sold or exchanged.
There is also nothing to prevent Acme from reconveying the lands
to the Infiels and the latter from themselves applying for
confirmation of title and, after issuance of the certificate/s of title
in their names, deeding the lands back to Acme. But this would be
merely indulging in empty charades, whereas the same result is
more efficaciously and speedily obtained, with no prejudice to
anyone, by a liberal application of the rule on amendment to
conform to the evidence suggested in the dissent in Meralco.
While this opinion seemingly reverses an earlier ruling of
comparatively recent vintage, in a real sense, it breaks no
precedent, but only reaffirms and re-established, as it were,
doctrines the soundness of which has passed the test of searching
examination and inquiry in many past cases. Indeed, it is worth
noting that the majority opinion, as well as the concurring opinions
of Chief Justice Fernando and Justice Abad Santos, in Meralco
rested chiefly on the proposition that the petitioner therein, a
juridical person, was disqualified from applying for confirmation of
an imperfect title to public land under Section 48(b) of the Public
Land Act. Reference to the 1973 Constitution and its Article XIV,
Section 11, was only tangential limited to a brief paragraph in the
main opinion, and may, in that context, be considered as
essentially obiter. Meralco, in short, decided no constitutional
question.
WHEREFORE, there being no reversible error in the appealed
judgment of the Intermediate Appellate Court, the same is hereby
affirmed, without costs in this instance.
SO ORDERED.
Feria, Yap, Fernan, Alampay, Cruz, Paras and Feliciano, JJ.,
concur.
Separate Opinions
GUTIERREZ, JR., J., concurring:
I reiterate my concurrence in Meralco v. Castro-Bartolome, and,
therefore, dissent here.
TEEHANKEE, C.J., concurring:
I am honored by my brethren's judgment at bar that my dissenting
opinion in the June, 1982 Meralco and Iglesia ni Cristo cases, 1
which is herein upheld, "expressed what is the better. . . . and
indeed the correct view." My dissent was anchored on the
landmark 1909 case of Carino 2 through the 1925 case of Susi 3
and the long line of cases cited therein to the latest 1980 case of
Herico 4 that "it is established doctrine....... that an open,
continuous, adverse and public possession of a land of the public
domain for the period provided in the Public Land Act provision in
force at the time (from July 26, 1894 in Susi under the old law [this
period was reduced to 'at least thirty years immediately preceding
the filing of the application for confirmation of title' by amendment
of Commonwealth Act No. 141, equivalent to the period of
acquisitive prescription 5 ]) by a private individual personally and
through his predecessors confers an effective title on said
possessor, whereby the land ceases to be land of the public domain
and becomes private property." I hereby reproduce the same by
reference for brevity's sake. But since we are reverting to the old
above-cited established doctrine and precedents and discarding the
Meralco and Iglesia ni Cristo cases which departed therefrom in
the recent past, I feel constrained to write this concurrence in
amplification of my views and ratio decidendi.
Under the express text and mandate of the cited Act, such
possessors "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 the provisions of this chapter.
"
The Court thus held in Susi that under the presumption juris et de
jure established in the Act, the rightful possessor of the public land
for the statutory period "already acquired, by operation of law, not
only a right to a grant, but a grant of the Government, for it is not
necessary that certificate of title should be issued an order that said
grant may be sanctioned by the courts, an application therefore is
sufficient . . . . If by a legal fiction, Valentin Susi had acquired the
land in question by a grant of the State, it had already ceased to be
of the public domain and had become private property, at least by
presumption, of Valentin Susi, beyond the control of the Director
of Lands [and beyond his authority to sell to any other person]. " 6
The root of the doctrine goes back to the pronouncement of Justice
Oliver Wendell Holmes for the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1909
case of Carino (the Igorot chief who would have been deprived of
ancestral family lands by the dismissal of his application for
registration) which reversed the dismissal of the registration court
(as affirmed by the Supreme Court) and adopted the liberal view
that under the decree and regulations of June 25, 1880, "The words
'may prove' (acrediten), as well, or better, in view of the other
provisions, might be taken to mean when called upon to do so in
any litigation. There are indications that registration was expected
from all, but none sufficient to show that, for want of it, ownership
actually gained would be lost. The effect of the proof, whenever
made, was not to confer title, but simply to establish it, as already
conferred by the decree, if not by earlier law."
The Court's decision at bar now expressly overturns the Meralco
and related cases subsequent thereto which failed to adhere to the
aforecited established doctrine dating back to 1909 and was
consistently applied up to June 29, 1982 (when the Meralco
decision was promulgated). We reaffirm the established doctrine
that such acquisitive prescription of alienable public lands takes
place ipso jure or by operation of law without the necessity of a
prior issuance of a certificate of title. The land ipso jure ceases to
be of the public domain and becomes private property, which may
be lawfully sold to and acquired by qualified corporations such as
respondent corporation. (As stressed in Herico supra, "the
application for confirmation is a mere formality, the lack of which
does not affect the legal sufficiency of the title.")
Such ipso jure conversion into private property of public lands
publicly held under a bona fide claim of acquisition or ownership is
the public policy of the Act and is so expressly stated therein. By
virtue of such conversion into private property, qualified
corporations may lawfully acquire them and there is no "alteration
or defeating" of the 1973 Constitution's prohibition against
corporations holding or acquiring title to lands of the public
domain, as claimed in the dissenting opinion, for the simple reason
that no public lands are involved.
It should be noted that respondent corporation purchased the land
from the Infiels on October 16, 1962 under the aegis of the 1935
Constitution which contained no prohibition against corporations
holding public lands (except a limit of 1,024 hectares) unlike the
later 1973 Constitution which imposed an absolute prohibition.
Even on the erroneous assumption that the land remained public
land despite the Infiels' open possession thereof as owners from
time immemorial, respondent corporation's lawful purchase from
them of the land in 1962 and P 45million investments redounding
presumably to the welfare and progress of the community,
particularly the municipality of Maconacon, Isabela to which it
donated part of the land for the townsite created a vested right
which could not be impaired by the prohibition adopted eleven
years later. But as sufficiently stressed, the land of the Infiels had
been ipso jure converted into private land and they had a legally
sufficient and transferable title conferred by the conclusive
presumption of the Public Land Act (which needed only to be
established in confirmation of title proceedings for formalization
and issuance of the certificate of title) which they lawfully and
validly transferred to respondent corporation.
In fact, the many amendments to the Act extending the period for
the filing of such applications for judicial confirmation of imperfect
and incomplete titles to alienable and disposable public lands
expressly reiterate that it has always been the "policy of the State to
hasten the settlement, adjudication and quieting of titles to [such]
unregistered lands," i.e. to recognize that such lands publicly and
notoriously occupied and cultivated under bona fide claim of
acquisition or ownership have ipso jure been converted into private
property and grant the possessors the opportunity to establish and
record such fact. Thus, the deadline for the filing of such
application which would have originally expired first on December
30
31, 1938 was successively extended to December 31, 1941, then
extended to December 31, 1957, then to December 31, 1968, further
extended to December 31, 1976 and lastly extended to December
31, 1987. 7
The cited Act's provision that only natural persons may apply
thereunder for confirmation of title is in effect a technicality of
procedure and not of substance. My submittal in Meralco, mutatis
mutandis, is properly applicable: "The ends of justice would best be
served, therefore, by considering the applications for confirmation
as amended to conform to the evidence, i.e. as filed in the names of
the original persons who as natural persons are duly qualified to
apply for formal confirmation of the title that they had acquired by
conclusive presumption and mandate of the Public Land Act and
who thereafter duly sold to the herein corporations (both
admittedly Filipino corporations duly qualified to hold and own
private lands) and granting the applications for confirmation of
title to the private lands so acquired and sold or exchanged." 8
Indeed, then Chief Justice Enrique M. Fernando likewise dissented
along the same line from the majority ruling therein and held: "I
dissent insofar as the opinion of the Court would characterize such
jurisdictional defect that the applicant was Meralco, a juridical
person rather than the natural persons-transferors, under the
particular circumstances of this case, as an insurmountable
obstacle to the relief sought. I would apply by analogy, although the
facts could be distinguished, the approach followed by us in
Francisco v. City of Davao, where the legal question raised, instead
of being deferred and possibly taken up in another case, was
resolved. By legal fiction and in the exercise of our equitable
jurisdiction, I feel that the realistic solution would be to decide the
matter as if the application under Section 48(b) were filed by the
Piguing spouses, who I assume suffer from no such disability." 9
Justice Vicente Abad Santos, now retired, while concurring in the
procedural result, likewise, in effect dissented from the therein
majority ruling on the question of substance, and stated his
opinion that "the lots which are sought to be registered have ceased
to be lands of the public domain at the time they were acquired by
the petitioner corporation. They are already private lands because
of acquisitive prescription by the predecessors of the petitioner and
all that is needed is the confirmation of the title. Accordingly, the
constitutional provision that no private corporation or association
may hold alienable lands of the public domain is inapplicable. " 10
To my mind, the reason why the Act limits the filing of such
applications to natural citizens who may prove their undisputed
and open possession of public lands for the required statutory
thirty-year period, tacking on their predecessors'-in-interest
possession is that only natural persons, to the exclusion of juridical
persons such as corporations, can actually, physically and in reality
possess public lands for the required statutory 30-year period. That
juridical persons or corporations cannot do so is obvious. But when
the natural persons have fulfilled the required statutory period of
possession, the Act confers on them a legally sufficient and
transferable title. It is preferable to follow the letter of the law that
they file the applications for confirmation of their title, although
they have lawfully transferred their title to the land. But such
procedural failure cannot and should not defeat the substance of
the law, as stressed in the above-cited opinions, that the lands are
already private lands because of acquisitive prescription by the
corporation's predecessors and the realistic solution would be to
consider the application for confirmation as filed by the natural
persons-transferors, and in accordance with the evidence, confirm
their title to the private lands so converted by operation of law and
lawfully transferred by them to the corporation. The law, after all,
recognizes the validity of the transfer and sale of the private land to
the corporation. It should not be necessary to go in a round-about
way and have the corporation reassign its rights to the private land
to natural persons-(as I understand), was done after the decision in
the Meralco and Iglesia ni Cristo cases) just for the purpose of
complying on paper with the technicality of having natural persons
file the application for confirmation of title to the private land.
MELENCIO-HERRERA, J., dissenting:
Section 48 of the Public Land Act, in part, provides:
SEC. 48. The following described citizens of the Philippines,
occupying lands of the public domain or claiming to own any such
lands or an interest therein, but whose titles have not been
perfected or completed, may apply to the Court of First Instance of
the province where the land is located for confirmation of their
claims and the issuance of a certificate of title therefor, under the
Land Registration Act, to wit:
(a) ...
(b) Those who by themselves or through their predecessors in
interest have been in open, continuous, exclusive, and notorious
possession and occupation of agricultural lands of the public
domain, under a bona fide claim of acquisition of ownership, for at
least thirty years immediately preceding the filing of the
application for confirmation of title except when prevented by war
or force majeure. These shall be conclusively presumed to have
performed are the conditions essential to a Government grant and
shall be entitled to a certificate of title under the provisions of this
chapter.
(c) ...
Article XIV, Section 11, of the 1973 Constitution, in part, provides:
SEC. 11. .... No private corporation or association may hold
alienable lands of the public domain except by lease not to exceed
one thousand hectares in area; nor may any citizen hold such lands
by lease in excess of five hundred hectares ....
It has to be conceded that, literally, statutory law and
constitutional provision prevent a corporation from directly
applying to the Courts for the issuance of Original Certificates of
Title to lands of the public domain (Manila Electric Company vs.
Castro-Bartolome, 114 SCRA 799; Republic vs. Villanueva, 114
SCRA 875; Republic vs. Court of Appeals, 119 SCRA 449; Iglesia ni
Cristo vs. Hon. Judge, CFI of Nueva Ecija, Br. 1). It is my opinion
that the literalism should be adhered to in this case.
The reasoning of the majority can be restated in simple terms as
follows:
(a) The INFIELS can successfully file an application for a certificate
of title over the land involved in the case.
(b) After the INFIELS secure a certificate of title, they can sell the
land to ACME.
(c) As ACME can eventually own the certificate of title, it should be
allowed to directly apply to the Courts for the Certificate of Title,
thus avoiding the circuituous "literal" requirement that the
INFIELS should first apply to the courts for the titles, and
afterwards transfer the title to ACME.
The majority opinion, in effect, adopted the following excerpt from
a dissent in Manila Electric Company vs. Castro-Bartolome (114
SCRA 799, 823 [1982]).
To uphold respondent judge's denial of Meralco's application on
the technicality that the Public Land Act allows only citizens of the
Philippines who are natural persons to apply for confirmation of
their title would be impractical and would just give rise to
multiplicity of court actions. Assuming that there was a technical
error in not having filed the application for registration in the
name of the Piguing spouses as the original owners and vendors,
still it is conceded that there is no prohibition against their sale of
the land to the applicant Meralco
and neither is there any prohibition against the application being
refiled with retroactive effect in the name of the original owners
and vendors (as such natural persons) with the end result of their
application being granted, because of their indisputable acquisition
of ownership by operation of law and the conclusive presumption
therein provided in their favor.
It should not be necessary to go through all the rituals at the great
cost of refiling of all such applications in their names and adding to
the overcrowded court dockets when the Court can after all these
years dispose of it here and now." (Paragraphing supplied)
The effect is that the majority opinion now nullifies the statutory
provision that only citizens (natural persons) can apply for
certificates of title under Section 48(b) of the Public Land Act, as
well as the constitutional provision (Article XIV, Section 11) which
prohibits corporations from acquiring title to lands of the public
domain. That interpretation or construction adopted by the
majority cannot be justified. "A construction adopted should not be
31
such as to nullify, destroy or defeat the intention of the legislature"
(New York State Dept. of Social Services v. Dublino [UST 37 L. Ed
2d 688, 93 S Ct 2507; United States v. Alpers 338 US 680, 94 L Ed
457, 70 S Ct 352; cited in 73 Am Jur. 2nd., p. 351).
It has also been said that:
In the construction of statutes, the courts start with the assumption
that the legislature intended to enact an effective law, and the
legislature is not to be presumed to have done a vain thing in the
enactment of a statute. Hence, it is a general principle that the
courts should, if reasonably possible to do so interpret the statute,
or the provision being construed, so as to give it efficient operation
and effect as a whole. An interpretation should, if possible, be
avoided, under which the statute or provision being construed is
defeated, or as otherwise expressed, nullified, destroyed,
emasculated, repealed, explained away, or rendered insignificant,
meaningless, inoperative, or nugatory. If a statute is fairly
susceptible of two constructions, one of which will give effect to the
act, while the other will defeat it, the former construction is
preferred. One part of a statute may not be construed so as to
render another part nugatory or of no effect. Moreover,
notwithstanding the general rule against the enlargement of
extension of a statute by construction, the meaning of a statute
may be extended beyond the precise words used in the law, and
words or phrases may be altered or supplied, where this is
necessary to prevent a law from becoming a nullity. Wherever the
provision of a statute is general everything which is necessary to
make such provision effectual is supplied by implication. (Pliakos
vs. Illinois Liquor Control Com. 11 III 2d 456, 143 NE2d 47; cited in
73 AM Jur. 2d pp. 422-423)
The statutory provision and the constitutional prohibition express
a public policy. The proper course for the Court to take is to
promote in the fullest manner the policy thus laid down and to
avoid a construction which would alter or defeat that policy.
In fine, I confirm my adherence to the ruling of this Court in
Meralco vs. Hon. Castro-Bartolome, 114 SCRA 799 [1982] and
related cases.
Separate Opinions
GUTIERREZ, JR., J., concurring:
I reiterate my concurrence in Meralco v. Castro-Bartolome, and,
therefore, dissent here.
TEEHANKEE, C.J., concurring:
I am honored by my brethren's judgment at bar that my dissenting
opinion in the June, 1982 Meralco and Iglesia ni Cristo cases, 1
which is herein upheld, "expressed what is the better. . . . and
indeed the correct view." My dissent was anchored on the
landmark 1909 case of Carino 2 through the 1925 case of Susi 3
and the long line of cases cited therein to the latest 1980 case of
Herico 4 that "it is established doctrine....... that an open,
continuous, adverse and public possession of a land of the public
domain for the period provided in the Public Land Act provision in
force at the time (from July 26, 1894 in Susi under the old law [this
period was reduced to 'at least thirty years immediately preceding
the filing of the application for confirmation of title' by amendment
of Commonwealth Act No. 141, equivalent to the period of
acquisitive prescription 5 ]) by a private individual personally and
through his predecessors confers an effective title on said
possessor, whereby the land ceases to be land of the public domain
and becomes private property." I hereby reproduce the same by
reference for brevity's sake. But since we are reverting to the old
above-cited established doctrine and precedents and discarding the
Meralco and Iglesia ni Cristo cases which departed therefrom in
the recent past, I feel constrained to write this concurrence in
amplification of my views and ratio decidendi.
Under the express text and mandate of the cited Act, such
possessors "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 the provisions of this chapter.
" record such fact. Thus, the deadline for the filing of such
The Court thus held in Susi that under the presumption juris et de
jure established in the Act, the rightful possessor of the public land
for the statutory period "already acquired, by operation of law, not
only a right to a grant, but a grant of the Government, for it is not
necessary that certificate of title should be issued an order that said
grant may be sanctioned by the courts, an application therefore is
sufficient . . . . If by a legal fiction, Valentin Susi had acquired the
land in question by a grant of the State, it had already ceased to be
of the public domain and had become private property, at least by
presumption, of Valentin Susi, beyond the control of the Director
of Lands [and beyond his authority to sell to any other person]. " 6
The root of the doctrine goes back to the pronouncement of Justice
Oliver Wendell Holmes for the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1909
case of Carino (the Igorot chief who would have been deprived of
ancestral family lands by the dismissal of his application for
registration) which reversed the dismissal of the registration court
(as affirmed by the Supreme Court) and adopted the liberal view
that under the decree and regulations of June 25, 1880, "The words
'may prove' (acrediten), as well, or better, in view of the other
provisions, might be taken to mean when called upon to do so in
any litigation. There are indications that registration was expected
from all, but none sufficient to show that, for want of it, ownership
actually gained would be lost. The effect of the proof, whenever
made, was not to confer title, but simply to establish it, as already
conferred by the decree, if not by earlier law."
The Court's decision at bar now expressly overturns the Meralco
and related cases subsequent thereto which failed to adhere to the
aforecited established doctrine dating back to 1909 and was
consistently applied up to June 29, 1982 (when the Meralco
decision was promulgated).<re||an1w> We reaffirm the
established doctrine that such acquisitive prescription of alienable
public lands takes place ipso jure or by operation of law without the
necessity of a prior issuance of a certificate of title. The land ipso
jure ceases to be of the public domain and becomes private
property, which may be lawfully sold to and acquired by qualified
corporations such as respondent corporation. (As stressed in
Herico supra, "the application for confirmation is a mere formality,
the lack of which does not affect the legal sufficiency of the title.")
Such ipso jure conversion into private property of public lands
publicly held under a bona fide claim of acquisition or ownership is
the public policy of the Act and is so expressly stated therein. By
virtue of such conversion into private property, qualified
corporations may lawfully acquire them and there is no "alteration
or defeating" of the 1973 Constitution's prohibition against
corporations holding or acquiring title to lands of the public
domain, as claimed in the dissenting opinion, for the simple reason
that no public lands are involved.
It should be noted that respondent corporation purchased the land
from the Infiels on October 16, 1962 under the aegis of the 1935
Constitution which contained no prohibition against corporations
holding public lands (except a limit of 1,024 hectares) unlike the
later 1973 Constitution which imposed an absolute prohibition.
Even on the erroneous assumption that the land remained public
land despite the Infiels' open possession thereof as owners from
time immemorial, respondent corporation's lawful purchase from
them of the land in 1962 and P 45million investments redounding
presumably to the welfare and progress of the community,
particularly the municipality of Maconacon, Isabela to which it
donated part of the land for the townsite created a vested right
which could not be impaired by the prohibition adopted eleven
years later. But as sufficiently stressed, the land of the Infiels had
been ipso jure converted into private land and they had a legally
sufficient and transferable title conferred by the conclusive
presumption of the Public Land Act (which needed only to be
established in confirmation of title proceedings for formalization
and issuance of the certificate of title) which they lawfully and
validly transferred to respondent corporation.
In fact, the many amendments to the Act extending the period for
the filing of such applications for judicial confirmation of imperfect
and incomplete titles to alienable and disposable public lands
expressly reiterate that it has always been the "policy of the State to
hasten the settlement, adjudication and quieting of titles to [such]
unregistered lands," i.e. to recognize that such lands publicly and
notoriously occupied and cultivated under bona fide claim of
acquisition or ownership have ipso jure been converted into private
32
property and grant the possessors the opportunity to establish and
application which would have originally expired first on December
31, 1938 was successively extended to December 31, 1941, then
extended to December 31, 1957, then to December 31, 1968, further
extended to December 31, 1976 and lastly extended to December
31, 1987. 7
The cited Act's provision that only natural persons may apply
thereunder for confirmation of title is in effect a technicality of
procedure and not of substance. My submittal in Meralco, mutatis
mutandis, is properly applicable: "The ends of justice would best be
served, therefore, by considering the applications for confirmation
as amended to conform to the evidence, i.e. as filed in the names of
the original persons who as natural persons are duly qualified to
apply for formal confirmation of the title that they had acquired by
conclusive presumption and mandate of the Public Land Act and
who thereafter duly sold to the herein corporations (both
admittedly Filipino corporations duly qualified to hold and own
private lands) and granting the applications for confirmation of
title to the private lands so acquired and sold or exchanged." 8
Indeed, then Chief Justice Enrique M. Fernando likewise dissented
along the same line from the majority ruling therein and held: "I
dissent insofar as the opinion of the Court would characterize such
jurisdictional defect that the applicant was Meralco, a juridical
person rather than the natural persons-transferors, under the
particular circumstances of this case, as an insurmountable
obstacle to the relief sought. I would apply by analogy, although the
facts could be distinguished, the approach followed by us in
Francisco v. City of Davao, where the legal question raised, instead
of being deferred and possibly taken up in another case, was
resolved. By legal fiction and in the exercise of our equitable
jurisdiction, I feel that the realistic solution would be to decide the
matter as if the application under Section 48(b) were filed by the
Piguing spouses, who I assume suffer from no such disability." 9
Justice Vicente Abad Santos, now retired, while concurring in the
procedural result, likewise, in effect dissented from the therein
majority ruling on the question of substance, and stated his
opinion that "the lots which are sought to be registered have ceased
to be lands of the public domain at the time they were acquired by
the petitioner corporation. They are already private lands because
of acquisitive prescription by the predecessors of the petitioner and
all that is needed is the confirmation of the title. Accordingly, the
constitutional provision that no private corporation or association
may hold alienable lands of the public domain is inapplicable. " 10
To my mind, the reason why the Act limits the filing of such
applications to natural citizens who may prove their undisputed
and open possession of public lands for the required statutory
thirty-year period, tacking on their predecessors'-in-interest
possession is that only natural persons, to the exclusion of juridical
persons such as corporations, can actually, physically and in reality
possess public lands for the required statutory 30-year period. That
juridical persons or corporations cannot do so is obvious. But when
the natural persons have fulfilled the required statutory period of
possession, the Act confers on them a legally sufficient and
transferable title. It is preferable to follow the letter of the law that
they file the applications for confirmation of their title, although
they have lawfully transferred their title to the land. But such
procedural failure cannot and should not defeat the substance of
the law, as stressed in the above-cited opinions, that the lands are
already private lands because of acquisitive prescription by the
corporation's predecessors and the realistic solution would be to
consider the application for confirmation as filed by the natural
persons-transferors, and in accordance with the evidence, confirm
their title to the private lands so converted by operation of law and
lawfully transferred by them to the corporation. The law, after all,
recognizes the validity of the transfer and sale of the private land to
the corporation. It should not be necessary to go in a round-about
way and have the corporation reassign its rights to the private land
to natural persons-(as I understand), was done after the decision in
the Meralco and Iglesia ni Cristo cases) just for the purpose of
complying on paper with the technicality of having natural persons
file the application for confirmation of title to the private land.
MELENCIO-HERRERA, J., dissenting:
Section 48 of the Public Land Act, in part, provides:
SEC. 48. The following described citizens of the Philippines,
occupying lands of the public domain or claiming to own any such
lands or an interest therein, but whose titles have not been
perfected or completed, may apply to the Court of First Instance of
the province where the land is located for confirmation of their
claims and the issuance of a certificate of title therefor, under the
Land Registration Act, to wit:
(a) ...
(b) Those who by themselves or through their predecessors in
interest have been in open, continuous, exclusive, and notorious
possession and occupation of agricultural lands of the public
domain, under a bona fide claim of acquisition of ownership, for at
least thirty years immediately preceding the filing of the
application for confirmation of title except when prevented by war
or force majeure. These shall be conclusively presumed to have
performed are the conditions essential to a Government grant and
shall be entitled to a certificate of title under the provisions of this
chapter.
(c) ...
Article XIV, Section 11, of the 1973 Constitution, in part, provides:
SEC. 11. .... No private corporation or association may hold
alienable lands of the public domain except by lease not to exceed
one thousand hectares in area; nor may any citizen hold such lands
by lease in excess of five hundred hectares ....
It has to be conceded that, literally, statutory law and
constitutional provision prevent a corporation from directly
applying to the Courts for the issuance of Original Certificates of
Title to lands of the public domain (Manila Electric Company vs.
Castro-Bartolome, 114 SCRA 799; Republic vs. Villanueva, 114
SCRA 875; Republic vs. Court of Appeals, 119 SCRA 449; Iglesia ni
Cristo vs. Hon. Judge, CFI of Nueva Ecija, Br. 1). It is my opinion
that the literalism should be adhered to in this case.
The reasoning of the majority can be restated in simple terms as
follows:
(a) The INFIELS can successfully file an application for a certificate
of title over the land involved in the case.
(b) After the INFIELS secure a certificate of title, they can sell the
land to ACME.
(c) As ACME can eventually own the certificate of title, it should be
allowed to directly apply to the Courts for the Certificate of Title,
thus avoiding the circuituous "literal" requirement that the
INFIELS should first apply to the courts for the titles, and
afterwards transfer the title to ACME.
The majority opinion, in effect, adopted the following excerpt from
a dissent in Manila Electric Company vs. Castro-Bartolome (114
SCRA 799, 823 [1982]).
To uphold respondent judge's denial of Meralco's application on
the technicality that the Public Land Act allows only citizens of the
Philippines who are natural persons to apply for confirmation of
their title would be impractical and would just give rise to
multiplicity of court actions. Assuming that there was a technical
error in not having filed the application for registration in the
name of the Piguing spouses as the original owners and vendors,
still it is conceded that there is no prohibition against their sale of
the land to the applicant Meralco
and neither is there any prohibition against the application being
refiled with retroactive effect in the name of the original owners
and vendors (as such natural persons) with the end result of their
application being granted, because of their indisputable acquisition
of ownership by operation of law and the conclusive presumption
therein provided in their favor.
It should not be necessary to go through all the rituals at the great
cost of refiling of all such applications in their names and adding to
the overcrowded court dockets when the Court can after all these
years dispose of it here and now." (Emphasis supplied)
The effect is that the majority opinion now nullifies the statutory
provision that only citizens (natural persons) can apply for
certificates of title under Section 48(b) of the Public Land Act, as
well as the constitutional provision (Article XIV, Section 11) which
33
prohibits corporations from acquiring title to lands of the public
domain. That interpretation or construction adopted by the
majority cannot be justified. "A construction adopted should not be
such as to nullify, destroy or defeat the intention of the legislature"
(New York State Dept. of Social Services v. Dublino [UST 37 L. Ed
2d 688, 93 S Ct 2507; United States v. Alpers 338 US 680, 94 L Ed
457, 70 S Ct 352; cited in 73 Am Jur. 2nd., p. 351).
It has also been said that:
In the construction of statutes, the courts start with the assumption
that the legislature intended to enact an effective law, and the
legislature is not to be presumed to have done a vain thing in the
enactment of a statute. Hence, it is a general principle that the
courts should, if reasonably possible to do so interpret the statute,
or the provision being construed, so as to give it efficient operation
and effect as a whole. An interpretation should, if possible, be
avoided, under which the statute or provision being construed is
defeated, or as otherwise expressed, nullified, destroyed,
emasculated, repealed, explained away, or rendered insignificant,
meaningless, inoperative, or nugatory. If a statute is fairly
susceptible of two constructions, one of which will give effect to the
act, while the other will defeat it, the former construction is
preferred. One part of a statute may not be construed so as to
render another part nugatory or of no effect. Moreover,
notwithstanding the general rule against the enlargement of
extension of a statute by construction, the meaning of a statute
may be extended beyond the precise words used in the law, and
words or phrases may be altered or supplied, where this is
necessary to prevent a law from becoming a nullity. Wherever the
provision of a statute is general everything which is necessary to
make such provision effectual is supplied by implication. (Pliakos
vs. Illinois Liquor Control Com. 11 III 2d 456, 143 NE2d 47; cited in
73 AM Jur. 2d pp. 422-423)
The statutory provision and the constitutional prohibition express
a public policy. The proper course for the Court to take is to
promote in the fullest manner the policy thus laid down and to
avoid a construction which would alter or defeat that policy.
In fine, I confirm my adherence to the ruling of this Court in
Meralco vs. Hon. Castro-Bartolome, 114 SCRA 799 [1982] and
related cases.
XVII. REP. VS TAN
FIRST DIVISION
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES, G.R. No. 154953
Petitioner,
Present:
PUNO, C.J., Chairperson,
CARPIO,
- versus - CORONA,
AZCUNA, and
LEONARDO-DE CASTRO, JJ.
T.A.N. PROPERTIES, INC., Promulgated:
Respondent. June 26,
2008
x- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
----x
DECISION
CARPIO, J.:
The Case
Before the Court is a petition for review1[1] assailing the 21
1[1]
Under Rule 45 of the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure.
August 2002 Decision2[2] of the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. CV
No. 66658. The Court of Appeals affirmed in toto the 16 December
1999 Decision3[3] of the Regional Trial Court of Tanauan, Batangas,
Branch 6 (trial court) in Land Registration Case No. T-635.
The Antecedent Facts
This case originated from an Application for Original
Registration of Title filed by T.A.N. Properties, Inc. covering Lot
10705-B of the subdivision plan Csd-04-019741 which is a portion
of the consolidated Lot 10705, Cad-424, Sto. Tomas Cadastre. The
land, with an area of 564,007 square meters, or 56.4007 hectares,
is located at San Bartolome, Sto. Tomas, Batangas.
On 31 August 1999, the trial court set the case for initial
hearing at 9:30 a.m. on 11 November 1999. The Notice of Initial
Hearing was published in the Official Gazette, 20 September 1999
issue, Volume 95, No. 38, pages 6793 to 6794,4[4] and in the 18
October 1999 issue of Peoples Journal Taliba,5[5] a newspaper of
general circulation in the Philippines. The Notice of Initial Hearing
was also posted in a conspicuous place on the bulletin board of the
Municipal Building of Sto. Tomas, Batangas, as well as in a
conspicuous place on the land.6[6] All adjoining owners and all
government agencies and offices concerned were notified of the
initial hearing.7[7]
On 11 November 1999, when the trial court called the case
for initial hearing, there was no oppositor other than the
Opposition dated 7 October 1999 of the Republic of the Philippines
represented by the Director of Lands (petitioner). On 15 November
1999, the trial court issued an Order8[8] of General Default against
the whole world except as against petitioner.
During the hearing on 19 November 1999, Ceferino
Carandang (Carandang) appeared as oppositor. The trial court
gave Carandang until 29 November 1999 within which to file his
written opposition.9[9] Carandang failed to file his written
opposition and to appear in the succeeding hearings. In an
Order10[10] dated 13 December 1999, the trial court reinstated the
Order of General Default.
During the hearings conducted on 13 and 14 December
1999, respondent presented three witnesses: Anthony Dimayuga
Torres (Torres), respondents Operations Manager and its
authorized representative in the case; Primitivo Evangelista
(Evangelista), a 72-year old resident of San Bartolome, Sto. Tomas,
Batangas since birth; and Regalado Marquez, Records Officer II of
the Land Registration Authority (LRA), Quezon City.
The testimonies of respondents witnesses showed that
Prospero Dimayuga (Kabesang Puroy) had peaceful, adverse, open,
and continuous possession of the land in the concept of an owner
since 1942. Upon his death, Kabesang Puroy was succeeded by his
son Antonio Dimayuga (Antonio). On 27 September 1960, Antonio
executed a Deed of Donation covering the land in favor of one of
his children, Fortunato Dimayuga (Fortunato). Later, however,
Antonio gave Fortunato another piece of land. Hence, on 26 April
1961, Antonio executed a Partial Revocation of Donation, and the
land was adjudicated to one of Antonios children, Prospero
Dimayuga (Porting).11[11] On 8 August 1997, Porting sold the land to
respondent.
2[2]
Rollo, pp. 63-70. Penned by Associate Justice
Buenaventura J. Guerrero with Associate Justices Rodrigo V.
Cosico and Perlita J. Tria Tirona, concurring.
3[3]
Id. at 56-61. Penned by Judge Flordelis Ozaeta Navarro.
4[4]
Records, p. 78.
5[5]
Id. at 81.
6[6]
Id. at 66.
7[7]
Id. at 69.
8[8]
Id. at 99.
9[9]
Id. at 101.
10[10]
Id. at 111.
11[11]
Also referred to as Forting.
34
The Ruling of the Trial Court
In its 16 December 1999 Decision, the trial court
adjudicated the land in favor of respondent.
The trial court ruled that a juridical person or a
corporation could apply for registration of land provided such
entity and its predecessors-in-interest have possessed the land for
30 years or more. The trial court ruled that the facts showed that
respondents predecessors-in-interest possessed the land in the
concept of an owner prior to 12 June 1945, which possession
converted the land to private property.
The dispositive portion of the trial courts Decision reads:
WHEREFORE, and upon previous confirmation
of the Order of General Default, the Court hereby
adjudicates and decrees Lot 10705-B, identical to
Lot 13637, Cad-424, Sto. Tomas Cadastre, on
plan Csd-04-019741, situated in Barangay of San
Bartolome, Municipality of Sto. Tomas, Province
of Batangas, with an area of 564,007 square
meters, in favor of and in the name of T.A.N.
Properties, Inc., a domestic corporation duly
organized and existing under Philippine laws
with principal office at 19th Floor, PDCP Bank
Building, 8737 Paseo de Roxas, Makati City.
Once this Decision shall have become final, let
the corresponding decree of registration be
issued.
SO ORDERED.12[12]
Petitioner appealed from the trial courts Decision.
Petitioner alleged that the trial court erred in granting the
application for registration absent clear evidence that the applicant
and its predecessors-in-interest have complied with the period of
possession and occupation as required by law. Petitioner alleged
that the testimonies of Evangelista and Torres are general in
nature. Considering the area involved, petitioner argued that
additional witnesses should have been presented to corroborate
Evangelistas testimony.
The Ruling of the Court of Appeals
In its 21 August 2002 Decision, the Court of Appeals
affirmed in toto the trial courts Decision.
The Court of Appeals ruled that Evangelistas knowledge
of the possession and occupation of the land stemmed not only
from the fact that he worked there for three years but also because
he and Kabesang Puroy were practically neighbors. On
Evangelistas failure to mention the name of his uncle who
continuously worked on the land, the Court of Appeals ruled that
Evangelista should not be faulted as he was not asked to name his
uncle when he testified. The Court of Appeals also ruled that at the
outset, Evangelista disclaimed knowledge of Fortunatos relation to
Kabesang Puroy, but this did not affect Evangelistas statement
that Fortunato took over the possession and cultivation of the land
after Kabesang Puroys death. The Court of Appeals further ruled
that the events regarding the acquisition and disposition of the
land became public knowledge because San Bartolome was a small
community. On the matter of additional witnesses, the Court of
Appeals ruled that petitioner failed to cite any law requiring the
corroboration of the sole witness testimony.
The Court of Appeals further ruled that Torres was a
competent witness since he was only testifying on the fact that he
had caused the filing of the application for registration and that
respondent acquired the land from Porting.
Petitioner comes to this Court assailing the Court of
Appeals Decision. Petitioner raises the following grounds in its
Memorandum:
The Court of Appeals erred on a
question of law in allowing the grant of title to
12[12]
Rollo, pp. 60-61.
 applicant corporation despite the following:
1. Absence of showing that it or its
predecessors-in-interest had open,
continuous, exclusive, and notorious
possession and occupation in the
concept of an owner since 12 June
1945 or earlier; and
2. Disqualification of applicant
corporation to acquire the subject
tract of land.13[13]
The Issues
The issues may be summarized as follows:
1. Whether the land is alienable and disposable;
2. Whether respondent or its predecessors-in-interest
had open, continuous, exclusive, and notorious
possession and occupation of the land in the concept
of an owner since June 1945 or earlier; and
3. Whether respondent is qualified to apply for
registration of the land under the Public Land Act.
The Ruling of this Court
The petition has merit.
Respondent Failed to Prove
that the Land is Alienable and Disposable
Petitioner argues that anyone who applies for registration
has the burden of overcoming the presumption that the land forms
part of the public domain. Petitioner insists that respondent failed
to prove that the land is no longer part of the public domain.
The well-entrenched rule is that all lands not appearing to
be clearly of private dominion presumably belong to the State.14[14]
The onus to overturn, by incontrovertible evidence, the
presumption that the land subject of an application for registration
is alienable and disposable rests with the applicant.15[15]
In this case, respondent submitted two certifications
issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources
(DENR). The 3 June 1997 Certification by the Community
Environment and Natural Resources Offices (CENRO), Batangas
City,16[16] certified that lot 10705, Cad-424, Sto. Tomas Cadastre
situated at Barangay San Bartolome, Sto. Tomas, Batangas with an
area of 596,116 square meters falls within the ALIENABLE AND
DISPOSABLE ZONE under Project No. 30, Land Classification
Map No. 582 certified [on] 31 December 1925. The second
certification17[17] in the form of a memorandum to the trial court,
which was issued by the Regional Technical Director, Forest
Management Services of the DENR (FMS-DENR), stated that the
subject area falls within an alienable and disposable land, Project
No. 30 of Sto. Tomas, Batangas certified on Dec. 31, 1925 per LC
No. 582.
The certifications are not sufficient. DENR Administrative
Order (DAO) No. 20,18[18] dated 30 May 1988, delineated the
functions and authorities of the offices within the DENR. Under
DAO No. 20, series of 1988, the CENRO issues certificates of land
classification status for areas below 50 hectares. The Provincial
Environment and Natural Resources Offices (PENRO) issues
13[13]
Id. at 173-174.
14[14]
Republic v. Naguiat, G.R. No. 134209, 24 January 2006,
479 SCRA 585.
15[15]
Id.
16[16]
Records, p. 143. Signed by CENR Officer Pancrasio M.
Alcantara.
17[17]
Id. at 91. Signed by Wilfredo M. Ria.
18[18]
Delineation of Regulatory Functions and Authorities.
35
certificate of land classification status for lands covering over 50
hectares. DAO No. 38,19[19] dated 19 April 1990, amended DAO No.
20, series of 1988. DAO No. 38, series of 1990 retained the
authority of the CENRO to issue certificates of land classification
status for areas below 50 hectares, as well as the authority of the
PENRO to issue certificates of land classification status for lands
covering over 50 hectares.20[20] In this case, respondent applied for
registration of Lot 10705-B. The area covered by Lot 10705-B is
over 50 hectares (564,007 square meters). The CENRO certificate
covered the entire Lot 10705 with an area of 596,116 square meters
which, as per DAO No. 38, series of 1990, is beyond the authority
of the CENRO to certify as alienable and disposable.
The Regional Technical Director, FMS-DENR, has no
authority under DAO Nos. 20 and 38 to issue certificates of land
classification. Under DAO No. 20, the Regional Technical Director,
FMS-DENR:
1. Issues original and renewal of ordinary minor
products (OM) permits except rattan;
2. Approves renewal of resaw/mini-sawmill permits;
3. Approves renewal of special use permits covering over
five hectares for public infrastructure projects; and
4. Issues renewal of certificates of registration for logs,
poles, piles, and lumber dealers.
Under DAO No. 38, the Regional Technical Director, FMS-DENR:
1. Issues original and renewal of ordinary minor [products]
(OM) permits except rattan;
2. Issues renewal of certificate of registration for logs,
poles, and piles and lumber dealers;
3. Approves renewal of resaw/mini-sawmill permits;
4. Issues public gratuitous permits for 20 to 50 cubic
meters within calamity declared areas for public
infrastructure projects; and
5. Approves original and renewal of special use permits
covering over five hectares for public infrastructure
projects.
Hence, the certification issued by the Regional Technical Director,
FMS-DENR, in the form of a memorandum to the trial court, has
no probative value.
Further, 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. 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 facts must be established to prove that the land is alienable
and disposable. Respondent failed to do so because the
certifications presented by respondent do not, by themselves,
prove that the land is alienable and disposable.
Only Torres, respondents Operations Manager, identified
the certifications submitted by respondent. The government
officials who issued the certifications were not presented before the
trial court to testify on their contents. The trial court should not
19[19]
Revised Regulations on the Delineation of Functions and
Delineation of Authorities.
20[20]
On 2 June 1998, DAO No. 98-24 was issued, adopting a
DENR Manual of Approvals delegating authorities and
delineating functions in the DENR Central and Field
Offices. DAO No. 98-24 superseded DAO Nos. 38 and 38-
A and all inconsistent orders and circulars involving
delegated authority. DAO No. 98-24 is silent on the
authority to issue certificates of land classification
status, whether for areas below 50 hectares or for lands
covering over 50 hectares. The CENRO certification in
this case was issued prior to the adoption of the DENR
Manual of Approvals.
have accepted the contents of the certifications as proof of the facts
stated therein. Even if the certifications are presumed duly issued
and admissible in evidence, they have no probative value in
establishing that the land is alienable and disposable.
Public documents are defined under Section 19, Rule 132
of the Revised Rules on Evidence as follows:
(a) The written official acts, or records
of the official acts of the sovereign authority,
official bodies and tribunals, and public officers,
whether of the Philippines, or of a foreign
country;
(b) Documents acknowledged before a
notary public except last wills and testaments;
and
(c) Public records, kept in the
Philippines, of private documents required by
law to be entered therein.
Applying Section 24 of Rule 132, the record of public documents
referred to in Section 19(a), when admissible for any purpose, may
be evidenced by an official publication thereof or by a copy
attested by the officer having legal custody of the record,
or by his deputy x x x. The CENRO is not the official repository
or legal custodian of the issuances of the DENR Secretary declaring
public lands as alienable and disposable. The CENRO should have
attached an official publication21[21] of the DENR Secretarys
issuance declaring the land alienable and disposable.
Section 23, Rule 132 of the Revised Rules on Evidence
provides:
Sec. 23. Public documents as evidence.
Documents consisting of entries in public
records made in the performance of a duty by a
public officer are prima facie evidence of the
facts stated therein. All other public documents
are evidence, even against a third person, of the
fact which gave rise to their execution and of the
date of the latter.
The CENRO and Regional Technical Director, FMS-DENR,
certifications do not fall within the class of public documents
contemplated in the first sentence of Section 23 of Rule 132. The
certifications do not reflect entries in public records made in the
performance of a duty by a public officer, such as entries made by
the Civil Registrar22[22] in the books of registries, or by a ship
captain in the ships logbook.23[23] The certifications are not the
certified copies or authenticated reproductions of original official
records in the legal custody of a government office. The
certifications are not even records of public documents.24[24] The
certifications are conclusions unsupported by adequate proof, and
thus have no probative value.25[25] Certainly, the certifications
cannot be considered prima facie evidence of the facts stated
therein.
The CENRO and Regional Technical Director, FMS-
DENR, certifications do not prove that Lot 10705-B falls within the
alienable and disposable land as proclaimed by the DENR
Secretary. Such government certifications do not, by their mere
issuance, prove the facts stated therein.26[26] Such government
certifications may fall under the class of documents contemplated
in the second sentence of Section 23 of Rule 132. As such, the
certifications are prima facie evidence of their due execution and
date of issuance but they do not constitute prima facie evidence of
the facts stated therein.
21[21]
Salic v. Comelec, 469 Phil. 775 (2004).
22[22]
Article 410, Civil Code.
23[23]
Haverton Shipping Ltd. v. NLRC, 220 Phil. 356 (1985).
24[24]
Delfin v. Billones, G.R. No. 146550, 17 March 2006, 485
SCRA 38.
25[25]
Ambayec v. Court of Appeals, G.R. No. 162780, 21June
2005, 460 SCRA 537.
26[26]
Supra note 23.
36
The Court has also ruled that a document or writing
admitted as part of the testimony of a witness does not constitute
proof of the facts stated therein.27[27] Here, Torres, a private
individual and respondents representative, identified the
certifications but the government officials who issued the
certifications did not testify on the contents of the certifications. As
such, the certifications cannot be given probative value.28[28] The
contents of the certifications are hearsay because Torres was
incompetent to testify on the veracity of the contents of the
certifications.29[29] Torres did not prepare the certifications, he was
not an officer of CENRO or FMS-DENR, and he did not conduct
any verification survey whether the land falls within the area
classified by the DENR Secretary as alienable and disposable.
Petitioner also points out the discrepancy as to when the
land allegedly became alienable and disposable. The DENR
Secretary certified that based on Land Classification Map No. 582,
the land became alienable and disposable on 31 December 1925.
However, the certificate on the blue print plan states that it became
alienable and disposable on 31 December 1985.
We agree with petitioner that while the certifications
submitted by respondent show that under the Land Classification
Map No. 582, the land became alienable and disposable on 31
December 1925, the blue print plan states that it became alienable
and disposable on 31 December 1985. Respondent alleged that the
blue print plan merely serves to prove the precise location and the
metes and bounds of the land described therein x x x and does not
in any way certify the nature and classification of the land
involved.30[30] It is true that the notation by a surveyor-geodetic
engineer on the survey plan that the land formed part of the
alienable and disposable land of the public domain is not sufficient
proof of the lands classification.31[31] However, respondent should
have at least presented proof that would explain the discrepancy in
the dates of classification. Marquez, LRA Records Officer II,
testified that the documents submitted to the court consisting of
the tracing cloth plan, the technical description of Lot 10705-B, the
approved subdivision plan, and the Geodetic Engineers
certification were faithful reproductions of the original documents
in the LRA office. He did not explain the discrepancy in the dates.
Neither was the Geodetic Engineer presented to explain why the
date of classification on the blue print plan was different from the
other certifications submitted by respondent.
There was No Open, Continuous, Exclusive, and
Notorious
Possession and Occupation in the Concept of an Owner
Petitioner alleges that the trial courts reliance on the
testimonies of Evangelista and Torres was misplaced. Petitioner
alleges that Evangelistas statement that the possession of
respondents predecessors-in-interest was open, public,
continuous, peaceful, and adverse to the whole world was a general
conclusion of law rather than factual evidence of possession of title.
Petitioner alleges that respondent failed to establish that its
predecessors-in-interest had held the land openly, continuously,
and exclusively for at least 30 years after it was declared alienable
and disposable.
We agree with petitioner.
Evangelista testified that Kabesang Puroy had been in
possession of the land before 1945. Yet, Evangelista only worked on
the land for three years. Evangelista testified that his family owned
a lot near Kabesang Puroys land. The Court of Appeals took note of
this and ruled that Evangelistas knowledge of Kabesang Puroys
possession of the land stemmed not only from the fact that he had
worked thereat but more so that they were practically
neighbors.32[32] The Court of Appeals observed:
In a small community such as that of
San Bartolome, Sto. Tomas, Batangas, it is not
difficult to understand that people in the said
27[27]
Id.
28[28]
Id.
29[29]
People v. Patamama, 321 Phil. 193 (1995).
30[30]
Rollo, p. 152.
31[31]
Menguito v. Republic, 401 Phil. 274 (2000).
32[32]
Rollo, p. 67.
 community knows each and everyone. And,
because of such familiarity with each other, news
or events regarding the acquisition or disposition
for that matter, of a vast tract of land spreads like
wildfire, thus, the reason why such an event
became of public knowledge to them.33[33]
Evangelista testified that Kabesang Puroy was succeeded by
Fortunato. However, he admitted that he did not know the exact
relationship between Kabesang Puroy and Fortunato, which is
rather unusual for neighbors in a small community. He did not also
know the relationship between Fortunato and Porting. In fact,
Evangelistas testimony is contrary to the factual finding of the trial
court that Kabesang Puroy was succeeded by his son Antonio, not
by Fortunato who was one of Antonios children. Antonio was not
even mentioned in Evangelistas testimony.
The Court of Appeals ruled that there is no law that
requires that the testimony of a single witness needs corroboration.
However, in this case, we find Evangelistas uncorroborated
testimony insufficient to prove that respondents predecessors-in-
interest had been in possession of the land in the concept of an
owner for more than 30 years. We cannot consider the testimony of
Torres as sufficient corroboration. Torres testified primarily on the
fact of respondents acquisition of the land. While he claimed to be
related to the Dimayugas, his knowledge of their possession of the
land was hearsay. He did not even tell the trial court where he
obtained his information.
The tax declarations presented were only for the years
starting 1955. While tax declarations are not conclusive evidence of
ownership, they constitute proof of claim of ownership.34[34]
Respondent did not present any credible explanation why the
realty taxes were only paid starting 1955 considering the claim that
the Dimayugas were allegedly in possession of the land before
1945. The payment of the realty taxes starting 1955 gives rise to the
presumption that the Dimayugas claimed ownership or possession
of the land only in that year.
Land Application by a Corporation
Petitioner asserts that respondent, a private corporation,
cannot apply for registration of the land of the public domain in
this case.
We agree with petitioner.
Section 3, Article XII of the 1987 Constitution provides:
Sec. 3. Lands of the public domain are
classified into agricultural, forest or timber,
mineral lands, and national parks. Agricultural
lands of the public domain may be further
classified by law according to the uses to which
they may be devoted. Alienable lands of the
public domain shall be limited to agricultural
lands. Private corporations or associations may
not hold such alienable lands of the public
domain except by lease, for a period not
exceeding twenty-five years, renewable for not
more than twenty-five years, and not to exceed
one thousand hectares in area. Citizens of the
Philippines may lease not more than five
hundred hectares, or acquire not more than
twelve hectares thereof by purchase, homestead
or grant.
Taking into account the requirements
of conservation, ecology, and development, and
subject to the requirements of agrarian reform,
the Congress shall determine, by law, the size of
lands of the public domain which may be
acquired, developed, held, or leased and the
33[33]
Id. at 68.
34[34]
Ganila v. Court of Appeals, G.R. No. 150755, 28 June
2005, 461 SCRA 435.
37
conditions therefor.
The 1987 Constitution absolutely prohibits private corporations
from acquiring any kind of alienable land of the public domain. In
Chavez v. Public Estates Authority,35[35] the Court traced the law
on disposition of lands of the public domain. Under the 1935
Constitution, there was no prohibition against private corporations
from acquiring agricultural land. The 1973 Constitution limited the
alienation of lands of the public domain to individuals who were
citizens of the Philippines. Under the 1973 Constitution, private
corporations, even if wholly owned by Filipino citizens, were no
longer allowed to acquire alienable lands of the public domain. The
present 1987 Constitution continues the prohibition against
private corporations from acquiring any kind of alienable land of
the public domain.36[36] The Court explained in Chavez:
The 1987 Constitution continues the
State policy in the 1973 Constitution banning
private corporations from acquiring any kind
of alienable land of the public domain.
Like the 1973 Constitution, the 1987
Constitution allows private corporations to hold
alienable lands of the public domain only
through lease. x x x x
[I]f the constitutional intent is to prevent huge
landholdings, the Constitution could have simply
limited the size of alienable lands of the public
domain that corporations could acquire. The
Constitution could have followed the limitations
on individuals, who could acquire not more than
24 hectares of alienable lands of the public
domain under the 1973 Constitution, and not
more than 12 hectares under the 1987
Constitution.
If the constitutional intent is to encourage
economic family-size farms, placing the land in
the name of a corporation would be more
effective in preventing the break-up of farmlands.
If the farmland is registered in the name of a
corporation, upon the death of the owner, his
heirs would inherit shares in the corporation
instead of subdivided parcels of the farmland.
This would prevent the continuing break-up of
farmlands into smaller and smaller plots from
one generation to the next.
In actual practice, the constitutional ban
strengthens the constitutional limitation on
individuals from acquiring more than the allowed
area of alienable lands of the public domain.
Without the constitutional ban, individuals who
already acquired the maximum area of alienable
lands of the public domain could easily set up
corporations to acquire more alienable public
lands. An individual could own as many
corporations as his means would allow him. An
individual could even hide his ownership of a
corporation by putting his nominees as
stockholders of the corporation. The corporation
is a convenient vehicle to circumvent the
constitutional limitation on acquisition by
individuals of alienable lands of the public
domain.
The constitutional intent, under the
1973 and 1987 Constitutions, is to transfer
ownership of only a limited area of alienable land
of the public domain to a qualified individual.
This constitutional intent is safeguarded by the
provision prohibiting corporations from
acquiring alienable lands of the public domain,
since the vehicle to circumvent the constitutional
intent is removed. The available alienable public
lands are gradually decreasing in the face of an
ever-growing population. The most effective way
to insure faithful adherence to this constitutional
35[35]
433 Phil. 506 (2002).
36[36]
Id.
 intent is to grant or sell alienable lands of the
public domain only to individuals. This, it would
seem, is the practical benefit arising from the
constitutional ban.37[37]
In Director of Lands v. IAC,38[38] the Court allowed the
land registration proceeding filed by Acme Plywood & Veneer Co.,
Inc. (Acme) for five parcels of land with an area of 481,390 square
meters, or 48.139 hectares, which Acme acquired from members of
the Dumagat tribe. The issue in that case was whether the title
could be confirmed in favor of Acme when the proceeding was
instituted after the effectivity of the 1973 Constitution which
prohibited private corporations or associations from holding
alienable lands of the public domain except by lease not to exceed
1,000 hectares. The Court ruled that the land was already
private land when Acme acquired it from its owners in
1962, and thus Acme acquired a registrable title. Under the 1935
Constitution, private corporations could acquire public
agricultural lands not exceeding 1,024 hectares while individuals
could acquire not more than 144 hectares.39[39]
In Director of Lands, the Court further ruled that open,
exclusive, and undisputed possession of alienable land for the
period prescribed by law created the legal fiction whereby the land,
upon completion of the requisite period, ipso jure and without the
need of judicial or other sanction ceases to be public land and
becomes private property. The Court ruled:
Nothing can more clearly demonstrate
the logical inevitability of considering possession
of public land which is of the character and
duration prescribed by statute as the equivalent
of an express grant from the State than the
dictum of the statute itself that the possessor(s)
x x x shall be conclusively presumed to have
performed all the conditions essential to a
Government grant and shall be entitled to a
certificate of title x x x. No proof being
admissible to overcome a conclusive
presumption, confirmation proceedings would,
in truth be little more than a formality, at the
most limited to ascertaining whether the
possession claimed is of the required character
and length of time; and registration thereunder
would not confer title, but simply recognize a
title already vested. The proceedings would not
originally convert the land from public to private
land, but only confirm such a conversion already
effected by operation of law from the moment
the required period of possession became
complete.
x x x [A]lienable public land held by a
possessor, personally or through his
predecessors-in-interest, openly, continuously
and exclusively for the prescribed statutory
period of (30 years under The Public Land Act,
as amended) is converted to private property by
the mere lapse or completion of said period, ipso
jure. Following that rule and on the basis of the
undisputed facts, the land subject of this
appeal was already private property at the
time it was acquired from the Infiels by
Acme. Acme thereby acquired a
registrable title, there being at the time no
37[37]
Id. at 557-559.
38[38]
230 Phil. 590 (1986).
39[39]
Section 2, Article XIII of the 1935 Constitution provides:
No private corporation or association may acquire,
lease, or hold public agricultural lands in excess of one
thousand and twenty four hectares, nor may any
individual acquire such lands by purchase in excess of
one hundred and forty four hectares, or by lease in
excess of one thousand and twenty four hectares, or by
homestead in excess of twenty-four hectares. Lands
adapted to grazing, not exceeding two thousand
hectares, may be leased to an individual, private
corporation, or association.
38
prohibition against said corporations holding or
owning private land. x x x.40[40] (Emphasis
supplied)
Director of Lands is not applicable to the present case. In
Director of Lands, the land x x x was already private
property at the time it was acquired x x x by Acme. In this
case, respondent acquired the land on 8 August 1997 from Porting,
who, along with his predecessors-in-interest, has not shown to
have been, as of that date, in open, continuous, and adverse
possession of the land for 30 years since 12 June 1945. In short,
when respondent acquired the land from Porting, the land was not
yet private property.
For Director of Lands to apply and enable a corporation
to file for registration of alienable and disposable land, the
corporation must have acquired the land when its transferor had
already a vested right to a judicial confirmation of title to the land
by virtue of his open, continuous and adverse possession of the
land in the concept of an owner for at least 30 years since 12 June
1945. Thus, in Natividad v. Court of Appeals,41[41] the Court
declared:
Under the facts of this case and
pursuant to the above rulings, the parcels of land
in question had already been converted to private
ownership through acquisitive prescription by
the predecessors-in-interest of TCMC when the
latter purchased them in 1979. All that was
needed was the confirmation of the titles of the
previous owners or predecessors-in-interest of
TCMC.
Being already private land when TCMC
bought them in 1979, the prohibition in the 1973
Constitution against corporations acquiring
alienable lands of the public domain except
through lease (Article XIV, Section 11, 1973
Constitution) did not apply to them for they were
no longer alienable lands of the public domain
but private property.
What is determinative for the doctrine in Director of
Lands to apply is for the corporate applicant for land registration
to establish that when it acquired the land, the same was already
private land by operation of law because the statutory acquisitive
prescriptive period of 30 years had already lapsed. The length of
possession of the land by the corporation cannot be tacked on to
complete the statutory 30 years acquisitive prescriptive period.
Only an individual can avail of such acquisitive prescription since
both the 1973 and 1987 Constitutions prohibit corporations from
acquiring lands of the public domain.
Admittedly, a corporation can at present still apply for
original registration of land under the doctrine in Director of
Lands. Republic Act No. 917642[42] (RA 9176) further amended the
Public Land Act43[43] and extended the period for the filing of
applications for judicial confirmation of imperfect and incomplete
titles to alienable and disposable lands of the public domain until
31 December 2020. Thus:
Sec. 2. Section 47, Chapter VIII of the
same Act, as amended, is hereby further
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 47. The persons specified in the
next following section are hereby granted
time, not to extend beyond December 31,
2020 within which to avail of the benefits of
this Chapter: Provided, That this period shall
apply only where the area applied for does
40[40]
230 Phil. 590, 602 and 605 (1986).
41[41]
G.R. No. 88233, 4 October 1991, 202 SCRA 493.
42[42]
Approved on 13 November 2002. An earlier law,
Republic Act No. 6940, had extended the period up to 31
December 2000 under the same conditions.
43[43]
Commonwealth Act No. 141, as amended.
 not exceed twelve (12) hectares: Provided,
further, That the several periods of time
designated by the President in accordance
with Section Forty-five of this Act shall apply
also to the lands comprised in the provisions
of this Chapter, but this Section shall not be
construed as prohibiting any of said persons
from acting under this Chapter at any time
prior to the period fixed by the President.
Sec. 3. All pending applications filed
before the effectivity of this amendatory Act shall
be treated as having been filed in accordance
with the provisions of this Act.
Under RA 9176, the application for judicial confirmation
is limited only to 12 hectares, consistent with Section 3, Article XII
of the 1987 Constitution that a private individual may only acquire
not more than 12 hectares of alienable and disposable land. Hence,
respondent, as successor-in-interest of an individual owner of the
land, cannot apply for registration of land in excess of 12 hectares.
Since respondent applied for 56.4007 hectares, the application for
the excess area of 44.4007 hectares is contrary to law, and thus
void ab initio. In applying for land registration, a private
corporation cannot have any right higher than its predecessor-in-
interest from whom it derived its right. This assumes, of course,
that the corporation acquired the land, not exceeding 12 hectares,
when the land had already become private land by operation of
law. In the present case, respondent has failed to prove that any
portion of the land was already private land when respondent
acquired it from Porting in 1997.
WHEREFORE, we SET ASIDE the 21 August 2002
Decision of the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. CV No. 66658 and the
16 December 1999 Decision of the Regional Trial Court of
Tanauan, Batangas, Branch 6 in Land Registration Case No. T-635.
We DENY the application for registration filed by T.A.N.
Properties, Inc.
SO ORDERED.
XVIII. PD 1529vi
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
iCA 141 PUBLIC LAND ACT (BASIS FOR AGRICULTURAL
LAND)
COMMONWEALTH ACT NO. 141* - AN ACT TO AMEND AND
COMPILE THE LAWS RELATIVE TO LANDS OF THE PUBLIC
DOMAIN
TITLE I
TITLE AND APPLICATION OF THE ACT, LANDS TO WHICH IT
REFERS, AND CLASSIFICATION, DELIMITATION, AND
SURVEY THEREOF FOR CONCESSION
CHAPTER I
SHORT TITLE OF THE ACT, LANDS TO WHICH IT APPLIES,
AND OFFICERS CHARGED WITH ITS EXECUTION
Section 1. The short title of this Act shall be "The Public Land Act.
39
Section2. The provisions of this Act shall apply to the lands of the
public domain; but timber and mineral lands shall be governed by
special laws and nothing in this Act provided shall be understood
or construed to change or modify the administration and
disposition of the lands commonly called "friar lands'' and those
which, being privately owned, have reverted to or become the
property of the Commonwealth of the Philippines, which
administration and disposition shall be governed by the laws at
present in force or which may hereafter be enacted.
Section3. The Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce shall be the
executive officer charged with carrying out the provisions of this
Act through the Director of Lands, who shall act under his
immediate control.
Section4. Subject to said control, the Director of Lands shall have
direct executive control of the survey, classification, lease, sale or
any other form of concession or disposition and management of
the lands of the public domain, and his decisions as to questions of
fact shall be conclusive when approved by the Secretary of
Agriculture and Commerce.
Section5. The Director of Lands, with the approval of the Secretary
of Agriculture and Commerce shall prepare and issue such 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.
CHAPTER II
CLASSIFICATION, DELIMITATION, AND SURVEY OF LANDS
OF THE PUBLIC DOMAIN, FOR THE CONCESSION THEREOF
Section6. The President, upon the recommendation of the
Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce, shall from time to time
classify the lands of the public domain into
(a) Alienable or disposable;
(b) Timber, and
(c) Mineral lands,
and may at any time and in a like manner transfer such lands from
one class to another, for the purposes of their administration and
disposition.
Section7. For the purposes of the administration and disposition
of alienable or disposable public lands, the President, upon
recommendation by the Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce,
shall from time to time declare what lands are open to disposition
or concession under this Act.
Section8. Only those lands shall be declared open to disposition or
concession which have been officially delimited and classified and,
when practicable, surveyed, and which have not been reserved for
public or quasi-public uses, nor appropriated by the Government,
nor in any manner become private property, nor those on which a
private right authorized and recognized by this Act or any other
valid law may be claimed, or which, having been reserved or
appropriated, have ceased to be so However, the President may, for
reasons of public interest, declare lands of the public domain open
to disposition before the same have had their boundaries
established or been surveyed, or may, for the same reason, suspend
their concession or disposition until they are again declared open
to concession or disposition by proclamation duly published or by
Act of the National Assembly.
Section9. For the purpose of their administration and disposition,
the lands of the public domain alienable or open to disposition
shall be classified, according to the use or purposes to which such
lands are destined, as follows:
(a) Agricultural
(b) Residential commercial industrial or for similar productive
purposes
(c) Educational, charitable, or other similar purposes
(d) Reservations for town sites and for public and quasi-public
uses.
The President, upon recommendation by the Secretary of
Agriculture and Commerce, shall from time to time make the
classifications provided for in this section, and may, at any time
and in a similar manner, transfer lands from one class to another.
Section10. The words "alienation, "'disposition, or "concession" as
used in this Act, shall mean any of the methods authorized by this
Act for the acquisition, lease, use, or benefit of the lands of the
public domain other than timber or mineral lands.
TITLE II
AGRICULTURAL PUBLIC LANDS
CHAPTER III
FORMS OF CONCESSION OF AGRICULTURAL LANDS
Section11. Public lands suitable for agricultural purposes can be
disposed of only as follows, and not otherwise:
(1) For homestead settlement
(2) By sale
(3) By lease
(4) By confirmation of imperfect or incomplete titles:
(a) By judicial legalization
(b) By administrative legalization (free patent).
Section12. Any citizen of the Philippines over the age of eighteen
years, or the head of a family, who does not own more than twenty-
four hectares of land in the Philippines or has not had the benefit
of any gratuitous allotment of more than twenty-four hectares of
land since the occupation of the Philippines by the United States,
may enter a homestead of not exceeding twenty-four hectares of
agricultural land of the public domain.
Section13. Upon the filing of an application for a homestead, the
Director of Lands, if he finds that the application should be
approved, shall do so and authorize the applicant to take
possession of the land upon the payment of five pesos, Philippine
currency, as entry fee. Within six months from and after the date of
the approval of the application, the applicant shall begin to work
the homestead, otherwise he shall lose his prior right to the land.
Section14. No certificate shall be given or patent issued for the
land applied for until at least one-fifth of the land has been
improved and cultivated. The period within which the land shall be
cultivated shall not be less than one or more than five years, from
and after the date of the approval of the application. The applicant
shall, within the said period, notify the Director of Lands as soon as
he is ready to acquire the title. If at the date of such notice, the
applicant shall prove to the satisfaction of the Director of Lands,
that he has resided continuously for at least one year in the
municipality in which the land is located, or in a municipality
adjacent to the same, and has cultivated at least one-fifth of the
land continuously since the approval of the application, and shall
make affidavit that no part of said land has been alienated or
encumbered, and that he has complied with all the requirements of
this Act, then, upon the payment of five pesos, as final fee, he shall
be entitled to a patent.
Section15. At the option of the applicant, payment of the fees
required in this chapter may be made to the municipal treasurer of
the locality, who, in turn, shall forward them to the provincial
treasurer. In case of delinquency of the applicant, the Director of
Lands may, sixty days after such delinquency has occurred, either
cancel the application or grant an extension of time not to exceed
one hundred and twenty days for the payment of the sum due.
Section16. If at any time before the expiration of the period
allowed by law for the making of final proof, it shall be proven to
the satisfaction of the Director of Lands, after due notice to the
homesteader, that the land entered is under the law not subject to
home-stead entry, or that the homesteader has actually changed
his residence, or voluntarily abandoned the land for more than six
months at any one time during the years of residence and
occupation herein required, or has otherwise failed to comply with
40
the requirements of this Act, the Director of Lands may cancel the
entry.
Section17. Before final proof shall be submitted by any person
claiming to have complied with the provisions of this chapter, due
notice, as prescribed by the Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce
shall be given to the public of his intention to make such proof,
stating therein the name and address of the homesteader, the
description of the land, with its boundaries and area, the names of
the witness by whom it is expected that the necessary facts will be
established, and the time and place at which, and the name of the
officer before whom, such proof will be made.
Section18. In case the homesteader shall suffer from mental
alienation, or shall for any other reason be incapacitated from
exercising his rights personally, the person legally representing
him may offer and submit the final proof on behalf of such
incapacitated person.
Section19. Not more than one homestead entry shall be allowed to
any one person, and no person to whom a homestead patent has
been issued by virtue of the provisions of this Act regardless of the
area of his original homestead, may again acquire a homestead;
Provided, however, That any previous homesteader who has been
issued a patent for less than twenty-four hectares and otherwise
qualified to make a homestead entry, may be allowed another
homestead which, together with his previous homestead shall not
exceed an area of twenty-four hectares.
Section20. If at any time after the approval of the application and
before the patent is issued, the applicant shall prove to the
satisfaction of the Director of Lands that he has complied with all
the requirements of the law, but cannot continue with his
homestead, through no fault of his own, and there is a bona fide
purchaser for the rights and improvements of the applicant on the
land, and that the conveyance is not made for purposes of
speculation, then the applicant, with the previous approval of the
Director of Lands may transfer his rights to the land and
improvements to any person legally qualified to apply for a
homestead, and immediately after such transfer, the purchaser
shall file a homestead application for the land so acquired and shall
succeed the original homesteader in his rights and obligations
beginning with the date of the approval of said application of the
purchaser. Any person who has so transferred his rights may not
again apply for a new homestead. Every transfer made without the
previous approval of the Director of Lands shall be null and void
and shall result in the cancellation of the entry and the refusal of
the patent.
Section21. Any non-Christian Filipino who has not applied for a
home-stead, desiring to live upon or occupy land on any of the
reservations set aside for the so-called "non-Christian tribes" may
request a permit of occupation for any tract of land of the public
domain reserved for said non-Christian tribes under this Act, the
area of which shall not exceed four hectares. It shall be an essential
condition that the applicant for the permit cultivate and improve
the land, and if such cultivation has not been begun within six
months from and after the date on which the permit was received,
the permit shall be cancelled. The permit shall be for a term of one
year. If at the expiration of this term or at any time prior thereto,
the holder of the permit shall apply for a homestead under the
provisions of this chapter, including the portion for which a permit
was granted to him, he shall have the priority, otherwise the land
shall be again open to disposition at the expiration of the permit.
For each permit the sum of one peso shall be paid.
CHAPTER IV
SALE
Section22. Any citizen of lawful age of the Philippines, and any
such citizen not of lawful age who is a head of a family, and any
corporation or association of which at least sixty per centum of the
capital stock or of any interest in said capital stock belongs wholly
to citizens of the Philippines, and which is organized and
constituted under the laws of Philippines, and corporate bodies
organized in the Philippines authorized under their charters to do
so; may purchase any tract of public agricultural land disposable
under this Act, not to exceed one hundred and forty-four hectares
in the case of an individual and one thousand and twenty-four
hectares in that of a corporation or association, by proceeding as
prescribed in this chapter: Provided, That partnerships shall be
entitled to purchase not to exceed one hundred and forty-four
hectares for each member thereof. But the total area so purchased
shall in no case exceed the one thousand and twenty-four hectares
authorized in this section for associations and corporations.
Section23. No person, corporation, association, or partnership
other than those mentioned in the last preceding section may
acquire or own agricultural public land or land of any other
denomination or classification, which is at the time or was
originally, really or presumptively, of the public domain, or any
permanent improvement thereon, or any real right on such land
and improvement: Provided, however, That persons, corporations,
associations or partnerships which, at the date upon which the
Philippine Constitution took effect, held agricultural public lands
or land of any other denomination, that belonged originally, really
or presumptively, to the public domain, or permanent
improvements on such lands, or a real right upon such lands and
Constitution took improvements, having acquired the same under
the laws and regulations in force at the date of such acquisition,
shall be authorized to continue holding the same as if such persons,
corporations, associations, or partnerships were qualified under
the last preceding section; but they shall not encumber, convey, or
alienate the same to persons, corporations, associations, or
partnerships not included in section twenty-two of this Act, except
by reason of hereditary succession, duly legalized and
acknowledged by competent courts.
Section24. Lands sold under the provisions of this chapter must be
appraised in accordance with section one hundred and sixteen of
this Act. The Director of Lands shall announce the sale thereof by
publishing the proper notice once a week for six consecutive weeks
in the Official Gazette, and in two newspapers one published in
Manila and the other published in the municipality or in the
province where the lands are located, or in a neighboring province,
and the same notice shall be posted on the bulletin board of the
Bureau Of Lands in Manila, and in the most conspicuous place in
the provincial building and the municipal building of the province
and municipality, respectively, where the land is located, and, if
practicable, on the land itself; but if the value of the land does not
exceed two hundred and forty pesos, the publication in the Official
Gazette and newspapers may be omitted. The notices shall be
published one in English and the other in Spanish or in the local
dialect, and shall fix a date not earlier than sixty days after the date
of the notice upon which the land will be awarded to the highest
bidder, or public bids will be called for, or other action will be
taken as provided in this chapter.
Section25. Public agricultural lands which are not located within
ten (10) kilometers from the boundaries of the city proper in
chartered cities or within five (5) kilometers from the municipal
hall or town occupants plaza of any municipality may be sold to
actual occupants who do not own any parcel of land or whose total
land holdings do not exceed five hectares and who comply with the
minimum requirements of Commonwealth Act numbered one
hundred forty-one, as amended, and who have resided on the land
applied for at least two years prior to the date of the application.
All bids must be sealed and addressed to the Director of Lands and
must have enclosed therewith cash or certified check, treasury
warrant, or post-office money order payable to the order of the
Director of Lands for ten per centum of the amount of the bid,
which amount shall be retained in case the bid is accepted as part
payment of the purchase price: Provided, That no bid shall be
considered the amount of which is less than the appraised value of
the land.
In addition to existing publication requirements in section twenty-
four of Commonwealth Act Numbered one hundred forty-one, as
amended, notices and of applications shall be posted for a period of
not less than thirty days in at least three conspicuous places in the
municipality where the parcel of land is located, one of which shall
be at the municipal building, and other, in the barrio council
building of the barrio where the land is located.
Section26. Upon the opening of the bids, the land shall be awarded
to the highest bidder. If there are two or more equal bids which are
higher than the others, and one of such equal bids is that of the
applicant, his bid shall be accepted. If, however, the bid of the
applicant is not one of such equal and higher bids, the Director of
Lands shall at once submit the land for public bidding, and to the
41
person making the highest bid on such public auction the land
shall be awarded. In any case, the applicant shall always have the
option of raising his bid to equal that of the highest bidder, and in
this case the land shall be awarded to him. No bid received at such
public auction shall be finally accepted until the bidder shall have
deposited ten per centum of his bid, as required in Section twenty-
five of this Act. In case none of the tracts of land that are offered for
sale or the purchase of which has been applied for, has an area in
excess of twenty-four hectares, the Director of Lands may delegate
to the District Land Officer concerned the power of receiving bids,
holding the auction, and proceeding in accordance with the
provisions of this Act, but the District Land Officer shall submit his
recommendation to the Director of Lands, for the final decision of
the latter in the case.
The District Land Officer shall accept and process any application
for the purchase of public lands not exceeding five hectares subject
to the approval of the Director of Lands within sixty days after
receipt of the recommendation of said District Land Officer.
Section27. The purchase price shall be paid as follows: The balance
of the purchase price after deducting the amount paid at the time
of submitting the bid, may be paid in full upon the making of the
award, or in not more than ten equal annual installments from the
date of the award.
Section28. The purchaser shall have not less than one-fifth of the
land broken and cultivated within five years after the date of the
award; and before any patent is issued, the purchaser must show of
occupancy, cultivation, and improvement of at least one-fifth of the
land applied for until the date on which final payment is made:
Provided, however, That in case land purchased is to be devoted to
pasture, it shall be sufficient compliance with this condition if the
purchaser shall graze on the land as many heads of his cattle as will
occupy at least one-half of the entire area at the rate of one head
per hectare.
Section29. After title has been granted, the purchaser may not,
within a period of ten years from such cultivation or grant, convey
or encumber or dispose said lands or rights thereon to any person,
corporation or association, without prejudice to any right or
interest of the Government in the land: Provided, That any sale and
encumbrance made in violation of the provisions of this section,
shall be null and void and shall produce the effect of annulling the
acquisition and reverting the property and all rights thereto to the
State, and all payments on the purchase price theretofore made to
the Government shall be forfeited.
Section30. If at any time after the date of the award and before the
issuance of patent, it is proved to the satisfaction of the Director of
Lands, after due notice to the purchaser, that the purchaser has
voluntarily abandoned the land for more than one year at any one
time, or has otherwise failed to comply with the requirements of
the law, then the land shall revert to the State, and all prior
payments made by the purchaser and all improvements existing on
the land shall be forfeited.
Section31. No person, corporation, association, or partnership
shall be permitted, after the approval of this Act, to acquire the title
to or possess as owner any lands of the public domain if such lands,
added to other lands belonging to such person, corporation,
association, or partnership shall give a total area greater than area
the acquisition of which by purchase is authorized under this Act.
Any excess in area over this maximum and all right, title, interest,
claim or action held by any person, corporation, association, or
partnership resulting directly or indirectly in such excess shall
revert to the State.
This section shall, however, not be construed to prohibit any
person, corporation, association, or partnership authorized by this
Act to require lands of the public domain from making loans upon
real necessary for the recovery of such loans; but in this case, as
soon as the excess above referred to occurs, such person,
corporation, association, or partnership shall dispose of such lands
within five years, for the purpose of removing the excess
mentioned. Upon the land in excess of the limit there shall be paid,
so long as the same is not disposed of, for the first year a surtax of
fifty per centum additional to the ordinary tax to which such
property shall be subject, and for each succeeding year fifty per
centum shall be added to the last preceding annual tax rate, until
the property shall have been disposed of.
 The person, corporation, association, or partnership owning the
land in excess of the limit established by this Act shall determine
the portion of land to be segregated.
At the request of Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce, the
Solicitor-General or the officer acting in his stead shall institute the
necessary proceedings in the proper court for the purpose of
determining the excess portion to be segregated, as well as the
disposal of such portion in the exclusive interest of the
Government.
Section32. This chapter shall be held to authorize only one
purchase of the maximum amount of land hereunder by the same
person, corporation, association, or partnership; and no
corporation, association, or partnership, any member of which
shall have received the benefits of this chapter or of the next
following chapter, either as an individual or as a member of any
other corporation, association, or partnership, shall purchase any
other lands of the public domain under this chapter. But any
purchaser of public land, after having made the last payment upon
and cultivated at least one-fifth of the land purchased, if the same
shall be less than the maximum allowed by this Act, may purchase
successively additional agricultural public land adjacent to or not
distant from the land first purchased, until the total area of such
purchases shall reach the maximum established in this chapter:
Provided, That in making such additional purchase or purchases,
the same conditions shall be complied with as prescribed by this
Act for the first purchase.
CHAPTER V
LEASE
Section33. Any citizen of lawful age of the Philippines, and any
corporation or association of which at least sixty per centum of the
capital stock or of any interest in said capital stock belongs wholly
to citizens of the Philippines, and which is organized and
constituted under the laws of the Philippines, may lease any tract
of agricultural public land available for lease under the provisions
of this Act, not exceeding a total of one thousand and twenty-four
hectares. If the land leased is adapted to and be devoted for grazing
purposes, an area not exceeding two thousand hectares may be
granted. No member, stockholder, of officer, representative,
attorney, agent, employee or bondholder of any corporation or
association holding or controlling agricultural public land shall
apply, directly or indirectly, for agricultural public land except
under the homestead and free patent provisions of this Act:
Provided, That no lease shall be permitted to interfere with any
prior claim by settlement or occupation, until the consent of the
occupant or settler is first had, or until such claim shall be legally
extinguished, and no person, corporation, or association shall be
permitted to lease lands here-under which are not reasonably
necessary to carry on his business in case of an individual, or the
business for which it was lawfully created and which it may
lawfully pursue in the Philippines, if an association or corporation.
Section34. A notice of the date and place of the auction of the right
to lease the land shall be published and announced in the same
manner as that prescribed for the publication and announcement
of the notice of sale, in section twenty-four of this Act.
Section35. All bids must be sealed and addressed to the Director of
Lands and must have enclosed therewith cash or a certified check,
Treasury warrant, or post-office money order payable to the order
of the Director of Lands, for a sum equivalent to the rental for at
least, the first three months of the lease: Provided, That no bid
shall be considered in which the proposed annual rental is less
than three per centum of the value of the land according to the
appraisal made in conformity with section one hundred and
sixteen of this Act.
Section36. The auction of the right to lease the land shall be
conducted under the same procedure as that prescribed for the
auction sale of agricultural lands as described in section twenty-six
of this Act: Provided, That no bid shall be accepted until the bidder
shall have deposited the rental for at least the first three months of
the lease.
Section37. The annual rental of the land leased shall not be less
than three per centum of the value of the land, according to the
appraisal and reappraisal made in accordance with section one
42
hundred sixteen of this Act; except for lands reclaimed by the
Government, which shall not be less than four per centum of the
appraised and reappraised value of the land: Provided, That one-
fourth of the annual rental of these lands reclaimed prior to the
approval of this Act shall accrue to the construction and
improvement portion of the Portworks Funds: And provided,
further, That the annual rental of not less than four per centum of
the appraised and reappraised value of the lands reclaimed using
the Portworks Fund after the approval of this Act shall all accrue to
the construction and improvement portion of the Portworks Fund.
But if the land leased is adapted to and be devoted for granting
purposes, the annual rental shall be not less than two per centum
of-the appraised and reappraised value thereof- Every contract of
lease under the provisions of this chapter shall contain a cause to
the effect that are appraisal of the land leased shall be made every
ten years from the date of the approval of the lease, if the term of
the same shall be in excess of ten years. In case the lessee is not
agreeable to the reappraisal and prefers to give up his contract of
lease, he shall notify the Director of Lands of his desire within the
six months next preceding the date on which the reappraisal takes
effect, and in case his request is approved, the Director of Lands
may, if the lessee should so desire, proceed in accordance with
section one hundred of this Act.
Section38. Leases shall run for a period of not more than twenty-
five years, but may be renewed once for another period of not to
exceed twenty-five years, in case the lessee shall have made
important improvements which, in the discretion of the Secretary
of Agriculture and Commerce justify a renewal. Upon the final
expiration of the lease, all buildings and other permanent
improvements made by the lessee, his heirs, executors,
administrators, successors, or assigns shall become the property of
the Government, and the land together with the said improvements
shall be disposed of in accordance with the provisions of chapter
five of this Act.
Section39. It shall be an inherent and essential condition of the
lease that the lessee shall have not less than one-third of the land
broken and cultivated within five years after the date of the
approval of the lease: Provided, however, That in case the land
leased is to be devoted to pasture, it shall be sufficient compliance
with this condition if the lessee shall graze on the land as many
heads of cattle as will occupy at least one-half of the entire area at
the rate of one head per hectare.
Section40. The lessee shall not assign, encumber, or sublet his
rights without the consent of the Secretary of Agriculture and
Commerce, and the violation of this condition shall avoid the
contract: Provided, That assignment, encumbrance, or subletting
for purposes of speculation shall not be permitted in any case:
Provided, further, That nothing contained in this section shall be
understood or construed to permit the assignment, encumbrance,
or subletting of lands leased under this Act, or under any previous
Act, to persons, corporations, or associations which under this Act,
are not authorized to lease public lands.
Section41. The lease of any lands under this chapter shall not
confer the right to remove or dispose of any valuable timber except
as provided in the regulations of the Bureau of Forestry for cutting
timber upon such lands. Nor shall such lease confer the right to
remove or dispose of stone, oil, coal, salts. or other minerals, or
medicinal mineral waters existing upon the same. The lease as to
the part of the land which shall be mineral may be canceled by the
Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce, after notice to the lessee,
whenever the said part of the land is more valuable for agricultural
purposes.
The commission of waste or violation of the forestry regulations by
the lessee shall work a forfeiture of his last payment of rent and
render him liable to immediate dispossession and suit for damage.
Section42. After having paid rent for at least the first two years of
the lease, and having complied with the requirements prescribed in
section thirty nine, the lessee of agricultural public land with an
area than the maximum allowed by law, may lease successively
additional agricultural public land adjacent to or near the land
originally leased until the total- area of such leases shall reach the
maximum established in this chapter: Provided, That in making
such additional lease, the same conditions shall be complied with
as prescribed by this Act for the first lease.
 Section43. During the life of the lease, any lessee who shall have
complied with all the conditions thereof and shall have the
qualifications required by section twenty-two, shall have the option
of purchasing the land leased subject to the restrictions of chapter
five of this Act.
CHAPTER VI
FREE PATENTS
Section44. Any natural-born citizen of the Philippines who is not
the owner of more than twenty-four hectares and who since July
fourth, nineteen hundred and twenty-six or prior thereto, has
continuously occupied and cultivated, either by himself or through
his predecessors-in-interest, a tract or tracts of agricultural public
lands subject to disposition, or who shall have paid the real estate
tax thereon while same has not been occupied by any person shall
be entitled, under the provisions of this chapter, to have a free
patent issued to him for such tract or tracts of such land not to
exceed twenty-four hectares.
A member of the national cultural minorities who has
continuously occupied and cultivated, either by himself or through
his predecessors-in-interest, a tract or tracts of land, whether
disposable or not since July 4, 1955, shall be entitled to the right
granted in the preceding paragraph of this section: Provided, That
at the time he files his free patent application he is not the owner of
any real property secured or disposable under this provision of the
Public Land Law
Section45. The President of the Philippines (Prime Minister), upon
recommendation of the Secretary of Natural Resources, shall from
time to time fix by proclamation the period which applications for
Proclamation free patents may be filed in the district, chartered
city, of period province, municipality or region specified in such
proclamation, and upon the expiration of the period so designated,
unless the same be extended by the President (Prime Minister) all
the land comprised within such district, chartered city, province,
municipality or region subject thereto under the provisions of this
chapter may be disposed of as agricultural public land without
prejudice to the prior right of the occupant and cultivator to
acquire such land under this Act by means other than free patent.
The time to be fixed in the entire Archipelago for the filing of
applications under this Chapter shall not extend beyond December
31, 1987, except in the provinces of Agusan del Norte, Agusan del
Sur, Cotabato, South Cotabato, Bukidnon, Lanao del Norte, Lanao
del Sur, Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, Davao Oriental, Sulu, Mt.
Province, Benguet, Kalinga-Apayao, and Ifugao where the
President of the Philippines, upon recommendation of the
Secretary of Natural Resources, shall determine or fix the time
beyond which the filing of applications under this Chapter shall not
extend. The period fixed for any district, chartered city, province,
or municipality shall begin to run thirty days after the publication
of the proclamation in the Official Gazette and if available in one
newspaper of general circulation in the city, province or
municipality concerned. A certified copy of said proclamation shall
be furnished by the Secretary of Natural Resources within 30 days
counted from the date of the presidential proclamation to the
Director of Lands and to the provincial board, the municipal board
or city council and barangay council affected, and copies thereof
shall be posted on the bulletin board of the Bureau of Lands at
Manila and at conspicuous places in the provincial building and at
the municipal building and barangay hall or meeting place. It shall
moreover, be announced by government radio whenever available,
in each of the barrios of the municipality.
Section46. If, after the filing of the application and the
investigation, the Director of Lands shall be satisfied of the truth of
the allegations contained the application and that the applicant
comes within the provisions chapter, he shall cause a patent to
issue to the applicant or his legal successor for the tract so
occupied and cultivated, provided its area does not exceed twenty-
four hectares: Provided, That no application shall be finally acted
upon until notice thereof has been published in the municipality
and barrio in which the land is located and adverse claimants have
had an opportunity to present their claims.
CHAPTER VII
JUDICIAL CONFIRMATION OF IMPERFECT OR INCOMPLETE
TITLES
43
Section47. The persons specified in the next following section are
hereby granted time, not to extend beyond December 31, 1987
within which to take advantage of the benefit of this chapter:
Provided, That this extension shall apply only where the area
applied for does not exceed 144 hectares. Provided, further, That
the several periods of time designated by the President in
accordance with section forty-five of this Act shall apply also to the
lands comprised in the provisions of this chapter, but this section
shall not be construed as prohibiting any of said persons from
acting under this chapter at any time prior to the period fixed by
the President.
Section48. The following-described citizens of the Philippines,
occupying lands of the public domain or claiming to own any such
lands or an interest therein, but whose titles have not been
perfected or completed, may apply to the Court of First Instance of
the province where the land is located for confirmation of their
claims and the issuance of a certificate of title therefor, under the
Land Registration Act , to wit:
(a) Those who prior to the transfer of sovereignty from Spain to
the prior United States have applied for the purchase, composition
or other form of grant of lands of the public domain under the laws
and royal decrees then in force and have instituted and prosecuted
the proceedings in connection therewith, but have with or without
default upon their part, or for any other cause, not received title
therefor, if such applicants or grantees and their heirs have
occupied and cultivated said lands continuously since the filing of
their applications.
(b) Those who by themselves or through their predecessors in
interest have been in open, continuous, exclusive, and notorious
possession and occupation of agricultural lands of the public
domain, under a bona fide claim of acquisition or ownership, for at
least thirty years immediately preceding the filing of the
application for confirmation of title except when prevented by war
or force majeure. These 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 the provisions of this
chapter.
(c) Members of the national cultural minorities who by themselves
or through their predecessors-in-interest have been in open,
continuous, exclusive and notorious possession and occupation of
lands of the public domain suitable to agriculture, whether
disposable or not, under a bona fide claim of ownership for at least
30 years shall be entitled to the rights granted in sub-section (b)
hereof.
Section49. No person claiming title to lands of the public domain
not possession of the qualifications specified in the last preceding
section may apply for the benefits of this chapter.
Section50. Any person or persons, or their legal representatives or
successors in right, claiming any lands or interest in lands under
the provisions of this chapter, must in every case present an
application to the proper Court of First Instance, praying that the
validity of the alleged title or claim be inquired into and that a
certificate of title be issued to them under the provisions of the
Land Registration Act.
The application shall conform as nearly as may be in its material
allegations to the requirements of an application for registration
under the Land Registration Act, and shall be accompanied by a
plan of the land and all documents evidencing a right on the part of
the applicant to the land claimed. The application shall also state
the citizenship of the applicant and shall set forth fully the nature
of the claim and when based upon proceeding initiated under
Spanish laws, it shall specify as exactly as possible the date and
form of application for purchase composition or other form of
grant, the extent of the compliance with the conditions required by
the Spanish laws and royal decrees for the acquisition of legal title,
and if not fully complied with, the reason for such noncompliance,
together with a statement of the length of time such land or any
portion thereof has been actually occupied by the claimant or his
predecessors in interest; the use made of the land, and the nature
of the enclosure, if any. The fees provided to be paid for the
registration of lands under the Land Registration Act shall be
collected from applicants under this chapter.
 Section51. Applications for registration under this chapter shall be
heard in the Court of First Instance in the same manner and shall
be subject to the same procedure as established in the Land
Registration Act for other applications, except that a notice of all
such applications, together with a plan of the lands claimed, shall
be immediately forwarded to the Director of Lands, who may
appear as a party in such cases: Provided, That prior to the
publication for hearing, all of the papers in said case shall be
transmitted papers by the clerk to the Solicitor General or officer
acting in his stead, in order that he may, if he deems it advisable
for the interests of the Government, investigate all of the facts
alleged in the application or otherwise brought to his attention.
The Solicitor-General shall return such papers to the clerk as soon
as practicable within three months.
The final decree of the court shall in every case be the basis for the
original certificate of title in favor of the person entitled to the
property under the procedure prescribed in section forty-one of the
Land Registration Act.
Section52. In cadastral proceedings, instead of an application, an
answer or claim may be filed with the same effect as in the
procedure provided in the last preceding two sections.
Section53. It shall be lawful for the Director of Lands, whenever in
the opinion of the President the public interests shall require it, to
cause to be filed in the proper Court of First Instance, through the
Solicitor-General or the officer acting in his stead, a petition
against the holder, claimant, possessor, or occupant of any land
who shall not have voluntarily come in under the provisions of this
chapter or of the Land Registration Act, stating in substance that
the title of such holder, claimant, possessor, or occupant is open to
discussion; or that the boundaries of any such land which has not
been brought into court as aforesaid are open to question; or that it
is advisable that the title to such lands be settled and adjudicated,
and praying that the title to any such land or the boundaries
thereof or the right to occupancy thereof be settled and
adjudicated. The judicial proceedings under this section shall be in
accordance with the laws on adjudication of title in cadastral
proceedings.
Section54. If in the hearing of any application arising under this
chapter the court shall find that more than one person or claimant
has an interest in the land, such conflicting interests shall be
adjudicated by the court and decree awarded in favor of the person
or persons entitled to the land according to the laws, but if none of
said person is entitled to the land, or if the person who might be
entitled to the same lacks the qualifications required by this Act for
acquiring agricultural land of the public domain, the decision shall
be in favor of the Government.
Section55. Whenever, in any proceedings under this chapter to
secure registration of an incomplete or imperfect claim of title
initiated prior to the transfer of sovereignty from Spain to the
United States, it shall appear that had such claims been prosecuted
to completion under the laws prevailing when instituted, and
under the conditions of the grant then contemplated, the
conveyance of such land to the applicant would not have been
gratuitous, but would have involved payment therefor to the
Government, then and in that event the court shall, after decreeing
in whom title should vest, further determine the amount to be paid
as a condition for the registration of the land. Such judgment shall
be certified to the Director of Lands by the clerk of the court for
collection of the amount due from the person entitled to
conveyance.
Upon payment to the Director of Lands of the price specified in the
judgment, he shall so certify to the proper Court of First Instance
and said court shall forthwith order the registration of the land in
favor of the competent person entitled thereto. If said person shall
fail to pay the amount of money required by the decree within a
reasonable time fixed in the same, the court shall order the
proceeding to stand dismissed and the title to the land shall then
be in the State free from any claim of the applicant.
Section56. Whenever any judgment of confirmation or other
decree of the court under this chapter shall become final, the clerk
of the court concerned shall certify that fact to the Director of
Lands, with a certified copy of the decree of confirmation or
judgment of the court and the plan and technical description of the
land involved in the decree or judgment of the court.
44
Section57. No title or right to, or equity in, any lands of the public
domain may hereafter be acquired by prescription or by adverse
possession or occupancy, or under or by virtue of any law in effect
prior to American occupation, except as expressly provided by laws
enacted after said occupation of the Philippines by the United
States.
TITLE III
LANDS FOR RESIDENTIAL, COMMERCIAL OR INDUSTRIAL
PURPOSES AND OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES
CHAPTER VIII
CLASSIFICATION AND CONCESSION OF PUBLIC LANDS
SUITABLE FOR RESIDENCE, COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY
Section58. Any tract of land of the public domain which, being
neither timber nor mineral land, is intended to be used for
residential purposes or for commercial, industrial, or other
productive purposes other than agricultural, and is open to
disposition or concession, shall be disposed of under the provisions
of this chapter and not otherwise.
Section59. The lands disposable under this title shall be classified
as follows:
(a) Lands reclaimed by the Government by dredging, filing, or
other means;
(b) Foreshore;
(c) Marshy lands or lands covered with water bordering upon the
shores or banks of navigable lakes or rivers;
(d) Lands not included in any of the foregoing classes.
Section60. Any tract of land comprised under this title may be
leased or sold, as the case may be, to any person, corporation, or
association authorized to purchase or lease public lands for
agricultural purposes. The area of the land so leased or sold shall
be such as shall, in the judgment of the Secretary of Agriculture
and Natural Resources, be reasonably necessary for the purposes
for which such sale or lease is requested, and shall in no case
exceed one hundred and forty-four hectares: Provided, however,
That this limitation shall not apply to grants, donations, transfers
made to a province, municipality or branch or subdivision of the
Government for the purposes deemed by said entities conducive to
the public interest; but the land so granted donated, or transferred
to a province, municipality, or branch or subdivision of the
Government shall not be alienated, encumbered, or otherwise
disposed of in a manner affecting its title, except when authorized
by Congress: Provided, further, That any person, corporation,
association or partnership disqualified from purchasing public
land for agricultural purposes under the provisions of this Act, may
lease land included under this title suitable for industrial or
residential purposes, but the lease granted shall only-be valid while
such land is used for the purposes referred to.
Section61. The lands comprised in classes (a), (b), and (c) of
section fifty-nine shall be disposed of to private parties by lease
only and not otherwise, as soon as the President, upon
recommendation by the Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce
shall declare that the same are not necessary for the public service
and are open to disposition under this chapter. The lands included
in class (d) may be disposed of by sale or lease under the provisions
of this Act.
Section62. The lands reclaimed by the Government by dredging,
filling or otherwise shall be surveyed and may, with the approval of
the Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce, be divided by the
Director of Lands into lots and blocks, with the necessary streets
and alley-ways between them, and said Director shall give notice to
the public by publication in the Official Gazette or by other means,
that the lots or blocks not needed for public purposes shall be
leased for commercial or industrial or other similar purposes.
Section63. Whenever it is decided that lands covered by this
chapter are not needed for public purposes, the Director of Lands
shall ask the Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce for authority
to dispose of the same. Upon receipt of such authority, the Director
of Lands shall give notice by public advertisement in the same
manner as in the case of leases or sales of agricultural public land,
that the Government will lease or sell, as the case may be, the lots
or blocks specified in the advertisement, for the purpose stated in
the notice and subject to the conditions specified in this chapter.
Section64. The leases executed under this chapter by the Secretary
of Agriculture and Commerce shall, among other conditions,
contain the following:
(a) The rental shall not be less than three per centum of the
appraised or reappraised value of the land plus one per centum of
the appraised or reappraised value of the improvements, except for
lands reclaimed by the Government which shall not be less than
four per centum of the appraised or reappraised value of the land
plus two per centum of the appraised or reappraised value of the
improvements thereon: Provided, That twenty-five per centum of
the total annual rental on all lands reclaimed prior to the approval
of this Act and one per centum of the appraised or reappraised
value of improvements shall accrue to the construction and
improvement portion of the Portworks Fund: And provided,
further, That the annual rental on lands reclaimed using the
Portworks Fund together with the fee due on account of the
improvement thereon after the effectivity of this Act shall all accrue
to the construction and improvement portion of the Portworks
Fund.
(b) The land rented and the improvements thereon shall be
reappraised every ten years if the term of the lease is in excess of
that period.
(c) The term of the lease shall be as prescribed by section thirty-
eight of this Act.
(d) The lessee shall construct permanent improvements
appropriate for the purpose for which the lease is granted, shall
commence the construction thereof within six months from the
date of the award of the right to lease the land, and shall complete
the said construction within eighteen months from said date.
(e) At the expiration of the lease or of any extension of the same,
all improvements made by the lessee, his heirs, executors,
administrators, successors, or assigns shall become the property of
the Government.
(f) The regulation of all rates and fees charged to the public; and
the annual submission to the Government for approval of all tariffs
of such rates and fees.
(g) The continuance of the easements of the coast police and other
easements reserved by existing law or by any laws hereafter
enacted.
(h) Subjection to all easements and other rights acquired by the
owners of lands bordering upon the foreshore or marshy land.
The violation of one or any of the conditions specified in the
contract shall give rise to the rescission of said contract. The
Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce may, however, subject to
such conditions as he may prescribe, waive the rescission arising
from a violation of the conditions of subsection (d), or extend the
time within which the construction of the improvements shall be
commenced and completed.
Section65. The sale of the lands comprised in classes (c) and (d) of
section fifty-nine shall, among others, comprise the following
conditions:
(a) The purchaser shall make improvements of a permanent
character appropriate for the purpose for which the land is
purchased, shall commence work thereon within six months from
the receipt of the order of award, and shall complete the
construction of said improvements within eighteen months from
the date of such award; otherwise the Secretary of Agriculture and
Natural Resources may rescind the contract.
(b) The purchase price shall be paid in cash or in equal annual
installments, not to exceed ten.
The contract of sale may contain other conditions not inconsistent
with the provisions of this Act.
45
Section66. The kind of improvements to be made by the lessee or
the purchaser, and the plans thereof, shall be subject to the
approval of the Secretary of Public Works and Communications, in
case they are constructions or improvements which if by the
Government, would properly have to be executed under the
supervision of the Bureau of Public Works.
Section67. The lease or sale shall be made through oral bidding;
and adjudication shall be made to the highest bidder. However,
where an applicant has made improvements on the land by virtue
of a permit issued to him by competent authority, the sale or lease
shall be made by sealed bidding as prescribed in section twenty-six
of this Act, the provisions of which shall be applied wherever
applicable. If all or part of the lots remain unleased or unsold, the
Director of Lands shall from time to time announce in the Official
Gazette or in any other newspapers of general circulation, the lease
or sale of those lots, if necessary
Section68. The Secretary of Agricultural and Commerce may
grant to qualified persons temporary permission, upon payment of
a reasonable charge, for the use of any portion of the lands covered
by this chapter for any lawful private purpose, subject to revocation
at any time when, in his judgment, the public interest shall require
it.
TITLE IV
LANDS FOR EDUCATIONAL, CHARITABLE, AND OTHER
SIMILAR PURPOSES
CHAPTER IX
CONCESSION OF LANDS FOR EDUCATIONAL, CHARITABLE,
AND OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES
Section69. Whenever any province, municipality, or other branch
or subdivision of the Government shall need any portion of the
land of the public domain open to concession for educational,
charitable or other similar purposes, the President, upon
recommendation by the Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce,
may execute contracts in favor of the same. in the form of
donation, sale, lease, exchange, or any other form, under terms and
conditions to be inserted in the contract; but land so granted shall
in no case be encumbered or alienated, except when the public
service requires their being leased or exchanged, with the approval
of the President, for other lands belonging to private parties, or if
the National Assembly disposes otherwise.
Section70. Any tract of public land of the class covered by this title
may be sold or leased for the purpose of founding a cemetery,
church, college, school, university, or other institutions for
educational, charitable or philanthropical purposes or scientific
research, the area to be such as may actually and reasonably be
necessary to carry out such purpose, but not to exceed ninety-six
hectares in any case. The sale or lease shall be made subject to the
same conditions as required for the sale and lease of agricultural
public land, but the Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce may
waive the conditions requiring cultivation. The Secretary of
Agriculture and Commerce, if conveyance he sees fit, may order the
sale to be made without public auction, at a price to be fixed by said
Secretary, or the lease to be granted without auction, at a rental to
be fixed by him. In either case it shall be a condition that the
purchaser or lessee or their successors or assigns shall not sell
transfer, encumber or lease the land for the purposes of
speculation or use it for any purpose other than that contemplated
in the application, and that the violation of this condition shall give
rise to the immediate rescission of the sale or lease, as the case may
be, and to the forfeiture to the Government of all existing
improvements: Provided, That it shall in no case be sublet,
encumbered or resold under the conditions above set forth except
with the approval of the Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce.
TITLE V
RESERVATIONS
CHAPTER X
TOWN SITE RESERVATIONS
Section71. Whenever it shall be considered to be in the public
interest to found a new town. The Secretary of Agriculture and
Commerce shall direct the Director of Lands to have a survey made
by his Bureau of the exterior boundaries of the site on which such
town is to be established, and upon the completion of the survey he
shall send the same to said Secretary, with his recommendations.
Section72. The Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce, if he
approves the recommendations of the Director of Lands, shall
submit the matter to the President to the end that the latter may
issue a proclamation reserving the land surveyed, or such part
thereof as he may deem proper, as a town site, and a certified copy
of such proclamation shall be sent to the Director of Lands and
another to the register of deeds of the province in which the
surveyed land lies.
Section73. It shall then be the duty of the Director of Lands, after
having recorded the proclamation of the President and the survey
accompanying the same, and having completed the legal
proceedings prescribed in chapter thirteen of this Act, to direct a
subdivision in accordance with the instructions of the Secretary of
Agriculture and Commerce, if there shall be such instructions, and
if there shall not be any, then in the manner which may to the
Director of Lands seem best adapted to the convenience and
interest of the public and the residents of the future town.
Section74. The plat of the subdivision shall designate certain lots
for commercial and industrial uses and the remainder as residence
lots, and shall also reserve and note the lots owned by private
individuals as evidenced by record titles, or possessed or claimed
by them as private property. Such lots, whether public or private,
shall be numbered upon a general plan or system.
The plat prepared by the Director of Lands shall be submitted to
the Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce for consideration,
modification, amendment, or approval.
Section75. Unless the necessary reservations are made in the
proclamation of the President, the Director of Lands, with the
approval of the Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce, shall
reserve out of the land by him to be subdivided lots of sufficient
size and convenient situation for public use, as well as the
necessary avenues, streets, alleyways, parks, and squares. The
avenues, streets, alleys, parks, plazas, and lots shall be laid out on
the plat as though the lands owned or claimed by private persons
were part of the public domain and part of the reservation, with a
view to the possible subsequent purchase or condemnation thereof,
if deemed necessary by the proper authorities.
Section76. At any time after the subdivision has been made, the
President may, in case the public interest requires it, reserve for
public purposes any lot or lots of the land so reserved and not
disposed of.
Section77. If, in order to carry out the provisions of this chapter, it
shall be necessary to condemn private lands within the limits of the
new town, the President shall direct the Solicitor-General or officer
acting in his stead to at once begin proceedings for condemnation,
in accordance with the provisions of existing law.
Section78. When the plat of subdivision has been finally approved
by the Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce, the Director of
Lands shall record the same in the records of his office and shall
forward a certified copy of such record to the register of deeds of
the province in which the land lies, to be by such register recorded
in the records of his office
Section79. All lots, except those claimed by or belonging to private
parties and those reserved for parks, buildings, and other public
uses, shall be sold, after due notice, at public auction to the highest
bidder, after the approval and recording of the plat of subdivision
as above provided, but no bid shall be accepted that does not equal
at least two-thirds of the appraised value, nor shall bids be
accepted from persons, corporations, associations, or partnerships
not authorized to purchase public lands for commercial, residential
or industrial purposes under the provisions of this Act. The
provisions of sections twenty-six and sixty-five of this Act shall be
observed in so far as they are applicable. Lots for which satisfactory
bids have not been received shall be again offered for sale, under
the same conditions as the first time, and if they then remain
unsold, the Director of Lands shall be authorized to sell them at
private sale for not less than two-thirds of their appraised value.
46
Section80. All funds derived from the sale of lots shall be covered
into the Philippine Treasury as part of the general funds.
Section81. Not more than two residence lots and two lots for
commercial and industrial uses in any one town site shall be sold to
any one person, corporation, or association without the specific
approval of the Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce.
Section82. The Assembly shall have the power at any time to
modify, alter, rescind, repeal, annul, and cancel, with or without
conditions, limitation, exceptions, or reservations, all and any
dispositions made by the executive branch of the Philippine
Government by virtue of this chapter, and the exercise of this
power shall be understood as reserved in all cases, as an inherent
condition thereof.
CHAPTER XI
RESERVATIONS FOR PUBLIC AND SEMI-PUBLIC PURPOSES
Section83. Upon the recommendation of the Secretary of
Agriculture and Commerce, the President may designate by
proclamation any tract or tracts of land of the public domain as
reservations for the use of the Commonwealth of the Philippines or
of any of its branches, or of the inhabitants thereof, in accordance
with regulations prescribed for this purpose, or for quasi-public
uses or purposes when the public interest requires it, including
reservations for highways, rights of way for railroads, hydraulic
power sites, irrigation systems, communal pastures or leguas
comunales, public parks, public quarries, public fishponds,
workingmen's village and other improvements for the public
benefit.
Section84. Upon recommendation of the Secretary of Agriculture
and Commerce, the President, may by proclamation, designate any
tract or tracts of the public domain for the exclusive use of the non-
Christian Filipinos, including in the reservation, in so far as
practicable, the lands used or possessed by them, and granting to
each member not already the owner, by title or gratuitous patent,
of four or more hectares of land, the use and benefit only of a tract
of land not to exceed four hectares for each male member over
eighteen years of age or the head of a family. As soon as the
Secretary of the Interior shall certify that the majority of the non-
Christian inhabitants of any given reservation have advanced
sufficiently in civilization, then the President may order that the
lands of the public domain within such reservation be granted
under the general provisions of this Act to the said inhabitants, and
the subdivision and distribution of said lands as above provided
shall be taken into consideration in the final disposition of the
same. But any non-Christian inhabitant may at any time apply for
the general benefits of this Act provided the Secretary of
Agriculture and Commerce is satisfied that such inhabitant is
qualified to take advantage of the provisions of the same: Provided,
That all grants, deeds, patents and other instruments of
conveyance of land or purporting to convey or transfer rights of
property, privileges, or easements appertaining to or growing out
of lands, granted by sultans, datus, or other chiefs of the so-called
non-Christian tribes, without the authority of the Spanish
Government while the Philippines were under the sovereignty of
Spain, or without the consent of the United States Government or
of the Philippine Government since the sovereignty over the
Archipelago was transferred from Spain to the United States, and
all deeds and other documents executed or issued or based upon
the deeds, patents, and documents mentioned, are hereby declared
to be illegal, void, and of no effect.
Section85. Upon recommendation by the Secretary of Agriculture
and Commerce, the President may, by proclamation designate any
tract or tracts of land of the public domain for the establishment of
agricultural colonies; and although the disposition of the lands to
the colonists shall be made under the provisions of this Act, yet,
while the Government shall have the supervision and management
of said colonies, the Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce may
make the necessary rules and regulations for the organization and
internal administration of the same. The Secretary of Agriculture
and Commerce may also, under conditions to be established by the
Assembly, turn over a colony so reserved to any person or
corporation, in order that such person or corporation may clear,
break, and prepare for cultivation the lands of said colony and
establish the necessary irrigation system and suitable roads and
fences; but final disposition shall be made of the land in
accordance with the provisions of this Act, subject, however, to
such conditions as the National Assembly may establish for the
reimbursement of the expense incurred in putting such lands in
condition for cultivation: Provided, That the National Assembly
may direct that such land so prepared for cultivation may be
disposed of only by sale or lease.
CHAPTER XII
PROVISIONS COMMON TO RESERVATIONS
Section86. A certified copy of every proclamation of the President
issued under the provisions of this title shall be forwarded to the
Director of Lands for record in his office, and a copy of this record
shall be forwarded to the register of deeds of the province or city
where the land lies. Upon receipt of such certified copy, the
Director of Lands shall order the immediate survey of the proposed
reservation if the land has not yet been surveyed, and as soon as
the plat has been completed, he shall proceed in accordance with
the next following section.
Section87. If all the lands included in the proclamation of the
President are not registered under the Land Registration Act, the
Solicitor-General, if requested to do so by the Secretary of
Agriculture and Commerce, shall proceed in accordance with the
provision of section fifty-three of this Act.
Section88. The tract or tracts of land reserved under the
provisions of section eighty-three shall be non-alienable and shall
not be subject to occupation, entry, sale, lease, or other disposition
until again declared alienable under the provisions of this Act or by
proclamation of the President.
TITLE VI
GENERAL PROVISIONS
CHAPTER XIII
APPLICATIONS: PROCEDURE, CONCESSION OF LANDS, AND
LEGAL RESTRICTIONS AND ENCUMBRANCES
Section89. All applications filed under the provisions of this Act
shall be addressed to the Director of Lands.
Section90. Every application under the provisions of this Act shall
be made under oath and shall set forth:
(a) The full name of applicant, his age, place of birth, citizenship,
civil status, and post-office address. In case the applicant is a
corporation, association or co-partnership, the application shall be
accompanied with a certified copy of its articles of incorporation,
association or co-partnership together with an affidavit of its
President, manager, or other responsible officer, giving the names
of the stockholders or members, their citizenship, and the number
of shares subscribed by each.
(b) That the applicant has all the qualifications required by this
Act in the case.
(c) That he has none of the disqualifications mentioned herein.
(d) That the application is made in good faith, for the actual
purpose of using the land for the object specified in the application
and for no other purpose, and that the land is suitable for the
purpose to which it is to be devoted.
(e) That the application is made for the exclusive benefit of the
application and not, either directly or indirectly, for the benefit of
any other person or persons, corporation, association, or
partnership.
(f) As accurate a description of the land as may be given, stating its
nature the province, municipality, barrio, and sitio where it is
located, and its limits and boundaries, specifying those having
reference to accidents of the ground or permanent monuments, if
any.
(g) Whether all or part of the land is occupied or cultivated or
improved, and by whom, giving his post-office address, and
whether the land has been occupied or cultivated or improved by
47
the applicant or his ascendant, the name of the ascendant, the
relationship with him, the date and place of the death of the
ascendant, the date when the possession and cultivation began,
and description of the improvements made, accompanying
satisfactory evidence of the relationship of the applicant with the
ascendant, and of the death of the latter and the descendants left
by him, in case it is alleged that he occupied and cultivated the land
first; or whether there are indications of its having been occupied,
cultivated, or improved entirely or partially, and if so, in what such
indications consist, whether he has made investigations as to when
and by whom such improvements were made, and if so, how such
investigations were made and what was the result thereof; or
whether the land is not occupied, improved, or cultivated either
entirely or partially, and there are no indications of it having ever
been occupied, improved, or cultivated, and in this case, what is
the condition of the land.
(h) That the land applied for is neither timber nor mineral land
and does not contain guano or deposits of salts or coal.
(i) That the applicant agrees that a strip forty meters wide starting
from the bank on each side of any river or stream that may be
found on the land applied for, shall be demarcated and preserved
as permanent timberland to be planted exclusively to trees of
known economic value, and that he 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. 68
Section91. The statements made in the application shall be
considered as essential conditions and parts of any concession,
title, or permit issued on the basis of such application, and any
false statements therein or omission of facts altering, changing, or
modifying the consideration of the facts set forth in such
statements, and any subsequent modification, alteration, or change
of the material facts set forth in the application shall ipso facto
produce the cancellation of the concession, title, or permit granted.
It shall be the duty of the Director of Lands, from time to time and
whenever he may deem it advisable, to make the necessary
investigations for the purpose of ascertaining whether the material
facts set out in the application are true, or whether they continue to
exist and are maintained and preserved in good faith, and for the
purposes of such investigation, the Director of Lands is hereby
empowered to issue subpoenas and subpoenas duces tecum and, if
necessary, to obtain compulsory process from the courts. In every
investigation made in accordance with this section, the existence of
bad faith, fraud, concealment, or fraudulent and illegal
modification of essential facts shall be presumed if the grantee or
possessor of the land shall refuse or fail to obey a subpoena or
subpoena duces tecum lawfully issued by the Director of Lands or
his authorized delegates or agents, or shall refuse or fail to give
direct and specific answers to pertinent questions, and on the basis
of such presumption, an order of cancellation may issue without
further proceedings.
Section92. Although the maximum area of public land that may be
acquired is fixed, yet the spirit of this Act is that the rule which
must determine the real area to be granted is the beneficial use of
the land. The concession or disposition shall be for less than the
maximum area authorized if, at the time of the issuance of the
patent or of the concession or disposition, it shall appear that the
applicant is utilizing and is only able to utilize a smaller area, even
though the application is for a greater area. For the purposes of this
section, the Director of Lands is authorized to determine the area
that may be granted to the applicant, and to deny or cancel or limit
any application for concession, purchase, or lease if convinced of
the lack of means of the applicant for using the land for the
purpose for which he has requested it.
Section93. Lands applied for under this Act shall conform to the
legal subdivisions and shall be contiguous if comprising more than
one subdivision. If subdivisions have not been made on the date of
the application, the lands shall be rectangular in form so far as
practicable, but it shall be endeavored to make them conform to
the legal subdivision as soon as the same has been made, provided
the interests of the applicant or grantee are protected; and the
subdivision assigned to the applicant or grantee shall, so far as
practicable, include the land improved or cultivated. The
regulations to be issued for the execution of the provisions of this
section shall take into account the legal subdivision to be made by
the Government and the inadvisability of granting the best land at
a given place to only one person.

Section94. In case the legal subdivisions have already been made
at the time of the filing of the application, no charge shall be made
for the survey; but if the legal subdivisions have not yet been made,
the cost of the survey shall be charged to the Government, except
in the following cases:
(a) In purchases under chapters five and ten of this Act, the cost of
the survey shall be charged to the purchaser if the same is a
corporation, association, or partnership; in other purchases the
purchases, whoever it be, shall pay the total cost of the survey.
(b) In leases, the cost of the survey shall be paid by the lessee; but
at any time after the first five years from the approval of the lease,
and during Cost of the life of the same, the lessee shall be entitled
to the reimbursement of one-half of the cost of the survey, if he
shows to the satisfaction of the Director of Lands that he has
occupied and improved a sufficient area of the land or incurred
sufficient expenses in connection therewith to warrant such
reimbursement.
Section95. If before the delimitation and survey of a tract of public
land the President shall declare the same disposable or alienable
and such land shall be actually occupied by a person other than the
applicant, the Director of Lands shall inform the occupant of his
prior right to apply for the land and shall give him one hundred
and twenty days time in which to file the application or apply for
the concession by any of the forms of disposition authorized by this
Act, if such occupant is qualified to acquire a concession under this
Act.
Section96. As soon as any land of the public domain has been
surveyed, delimited, and classified, the President may, in the order
issued by him declaring it open for disposition, designate a term
within which occupants with improvements but not entitled to free
patents may apply for the land occupied by them, if they have the
qualifications required by this Act.
Section97. If in the case of the two last preceding sections, the
occupant or occupants have not made application under any of the
provisions of this Act at the expiration of the time limit fixed, they
shall lose any prior right to the land recognized by this Act, and the
improvements on the land, if any, shall be forfeited to the
Government.
Section98. All rights in and interest to, and the improvements and
crops upon, land for which an application has been denied or
canceled or a patent or grant refused, or a contract or concession
rescinded or annulled, shall also be forfeited to the Government.
Section99. The Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce may order
such improvements and crops to be appraised separately, for sale
to the new applicant or grantee, or may declare such land open
only to sale or lease.
Section100. In case the cancellation is due to delinquency on the
part of the applicant or grantee, the same shall be entitled to the
reimbursement of the proceeds of the sale of the improvements
and crops, after deducting the total amount of his indebtedness to
the Government and the expense incurred by it in the sale of the
improvements or crops and in the new concession of the land.
Section101. All actions for the reversion to the Government of
lands of the public domain or improvements thereon shall be
instituted by the Solicitor-General or the officer acting in his stead,
in the proper courts, in the name of the Commonwealth of the
Philippines.
Section102. Any person, corporation, or association may file an
objection under oath to any application or concession under this
Act, grounded on any reason sufficient under this Act for the denial
or cancellation of the application or the denial of the patent or
grant. If, after the applicant or grantee has been given suitable
opportunity to be duly heard, the objection is found to be well
founded, the Director of Lands shall deny or cancel the application
or deny patent or grant, and the person objecting shall, if qualified,
be granted a prior right of entry for a term of sixty days from the
date of the notice.
Section103. All the proofs, affidavits, and oaths of any kind
required or necessary under this Act may be made before the
justice of the peace 71 of the municipality in which the land lies, or
48
before the judge or clerk of the Court of First Instance of the
province in which the land lies, or before any justice of the peace or
chargeable notary public of the province in which the land lies, or
before any officer or employee of the Bureau of Lands authorized
by law to administer oaths.
The fees for the taking of final evidence before any of the officials
herein-before mentioned shall be as follows:
For each affidavit, fifty centavos.
For each deposition of the applicant or the witness, fifty centavos.
Section104. Any owner of uncultivated agricultural land who
knowingly permits application for the same to be made to the
Government and the land to be tilled and improved by a bona fide
grantee without protesting to the Bureau of Lands within one year
after cultivation has begun, shall lose all to the part of the land so
cultivated and improved, unless he shall bring action in the proper
court before such action for recovery prescribes and obtains
favorable judgment therein, in which case the court shall, upon its
decision becoming final, order the payment to the grantee, within a
reasonable period, of the indemnity fixed by said court for the
cultivation and improvement.
Section105. If at any time the applicant or grantee shall die before
the issuance of the patent or the final grant of the land, or during
the life of the lease, or while the applicant or grantee still has
obligations pending towards the Government, in accordance with
this Act, he shall be succeeded in his rights and obligations with
respect to the land applied for or granted or leased under this Act
by his heirs in law, who shall be entitled to have issued to them the
patent or final concession if they show that they have complied
with the requirements therefor, and who shall be subrogated in all
his rights and obligations for the purposes of this Act.
Section106. If at any time after the approval of the application and
before the issuance of a patent or the final concession of the land,
or during the life of the lease, or at any time when the applicant or
grantee still has obligations pending with the Government, in
accordance with this Act, it appears that the land applied for is
necessary, in the public interest, for the protection of any source of
water or for any work for the public benefit that the Government
wishes to undertake, the Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce
may order the cancellation of the application or the non issuance of
the patent or concession or the exclusion from the land applied for
of such portion as may be required, upon payment of the value of
the improvements, if any.
Section107. All patents or certificates for land granted under this
Act shall be prepared in the Bureau of Lands and shall be issued in
the name of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines
under the signature of the President of the Philippines: Provided,
however, That the President of the Philippines may delegate to the
Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources 74 and/or the
Under secretary for Natural Resources 74 the power to sign patents
or certificates covering lands not exceeding one hundred forty-four
hectares in area, and to the Secretary of Agriculture and Natural
Resources 75 the power to sign patents or certificates covering
lands exceeding one hundred forty-four hectares in area: Provided,
further, That District Land Officers in every province are hereby
empowered to sign patents or certificates covering lands not
exceeding five hectares in area when the office of the District Land
Officer is properly equipped to carry out the purposes of this Act:
Provided, That no applicant shall be permitted to split the area
applied for by him in excess of the area fixed in this section among
his relatives within the sixth degree of consanguinity or affinity
excepting the applicant's married children who are actually
occupying the land: Provided, finally, That copies of said patents
issued shall be furnished to the Bureau of Lands for record
purposes. No patent or certificate shall be issued by the District
Land Officer unless the survey of the land covered by such patent
or certificate, whether made by the Bureau of Lands or by a private
surveyor, has been approved by the Director of Lands. The Director
of Lands shall promptly act upon all surveys submitted to him for
approval and return the same to the District Land Officer within
ninety days after receipt of such surveys by his office. In case of
disapproval, the Director of Lands shall state the reasons therefor.
Any person aggrieved by the decision or action of the District Land
Officer may, within thirty days from receipt of the copy of the said
decision, appeal to the Director of Lands. Such patents or
certificates shall be effective only for the purposes defined in
Section one hundred and twenty-two of the land Registration Act,
and actual conveyance of the land shall be effected only as provided
in said section.
All surveys pending approval by the Director of Lands at the time
this Act takes effect shall be acted upon by him within ninety days
from the effectivity of this Act.
Section108. No patent shall issue nor shall any concession or
contract be finally approved unless the land has been surveyed and
an accurate plat made thereof by the Bureau of Lands.
Section109. In no case shall any land be granted under the
provisions of this Act when this affects injuriously the use of any
adjacent land or of the waters, rivers, creeks, foreshore, roads, or
roadsteads, or vest the grantee with other valuable rights that may
be detrimental to the public interest.
Section110. Patents or certificates issued under the provisions of
this Act shall not include nor convey the title to any gold, silver,
copper, iron, or other metals or minerals, or other substances
containing minerals, guano, gums, precious stones, coal, or coal oil
contained in lands granted thereunder. These shall remain to be
property of the State.
Section111. All persons receiving title to lands under the provisions
of this Act shall hold such lands subject to the provisions hereof
and to the same public servitudes as exist upon lands owned by
private persons, including those with reference to the littoral of the
sea and the banks of navigable rivers or rivers upon which rafting
may be done.
Section112. Said land shall further be subject to a right-of-way not
exceeding sixty (60) meters in width 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 their business, with
damages for the improvements only. 77
Section113. The beneficial use of water shall be the basis, the
measure, and the limit of all rights thereto, and the patents herein
granted shall be subject to the right of the Government to make
such rules and regulations for the use of water and the protection
of the water supply, and for other public purposes, as it may deem
best for the public good. Whenever, by priority of possession,
rights to the use of water for mining, agricultural, manufacturing,
or other purposes have vested and accrued, and the same are
recognized and acknowledged by the local customs, or by the laws
and decisions of the courts, the possessors and owners of such
vested rights shall be maintained and protected in the same, and all
patents granted under this Act shall be subject to any vested and
accrued rights to ditches and reservoirs used in connection with
such water rights as may have been acquired in the manner above
described prior to April eleven, eighteen hundred and ninety-nine.
Section114. There is hereby reserved from the operation of all
patents, certificates, entries, and grants by the Government
authorized under this Act the right to use for the purposes of power
any flow of water in any stream running through or by the land
granted, the convertible power from which at ordinary low water
exceeds fifty horse power. Where the convertible power in any
stream running through or by land granted under the authority of
this Act thus exceeds fifty horsepower, and there is no means of
using such power except by the occupation of a part of the land
granted under authority of this Act, then so much land as is
reasonably necessary for the mill site or site for the power house,
and for a suitable dam and site for massing the water, is hereby
excepted from such grants, not exceeding four hectares, and a right
of way to the nearest public highway from the land thus excepted,
and also a right of way for the construction and maintenance of
such flumes, aqueducts, wires, poles, or order conduits as may be
needed in conveying the water to the point where its fall will yield
the greatest power, or the power from the point of conversion to
the point of use, is reserved as a servitude or easement upon the
land granted by authority of this Act: Provided, however, That
when the Government or any concessionaire of the Government
shall take possession of the land under this section which a grantee
under this Act shall have paid for, supposing it to be subject to
grant under this Act, said grantee shall be entitled to indemnity
from the Government or the concessionaire, as the case may be, in
the amount, if any, paid by him to the Government for the land
49
taken from him by virtue of this section: And provided, further,
That with respect to the flow of water, except for converting the
same into power exceeding fifty horse power, said grantee shall be
entitled to the same use of the water flowing through or along his
land that other private owners enjoy under the law, subject to the
governmental regulation provided in the previous section. Water
power privileges in which the convertible power at ordinary low
water shall exceed fifty horse power shall be disposed of only upon
terms established by an Act of the Assembly concerning the use,
lease or acquisition of such water privilege.
Section115. All lands granted by virtue of this Act, including
homesteads upon which final proof has not been made or
approved, shall, even though and while the title remains in the
State, be subject to the ordinary taxes, which shall be paid by the
grantee or the applicant, beginning with the year next following the
one in which the homestead application has been filed, or the
concession has been approved, or the contract has been signed, as
the case may be, on the basis of the value fixed in such filing,
approval or signing of the application, concession or contract.
Section116. The appraisal or reappraisal of the lands or
improvements subject to concession or disposition under this Act
shall be made by the Director of Lands, with the approval of the
Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce. The Director of Lands may
request the assistance of the provincial treasurer of the province in
which the land lies or may appoint a committee for such purpose in
the province or in the municipality in which the land lies. In no
case shall the appraisal or reappraisal be less than the expense
incurred or which may be incurred by the Government in
connection with the application or concession, nor shall any
reappraisal be made with an increase of more than one hundred
per centum upon the appraisal or reappraisal next preceding.
Section117. All sums due and payable to the Government under
this Act, except homestead fees, shall draw simple interest at the
rate of four per centum per annum from and after the date in
which the debtor shall become delinquent.
Section118. Except in favor of the Government or any of its
branches, units, or institutions, lands acquired under free patent or
homestead provisions shall not be subject to encumbrance or
alienation from the date of the approval of the application and for a
term of five years from and after the date of issuance of the patent
or grant, nor shall they become liable to the satisfaction of any debt
contracted prior to the expiration of said period, but the
improvements or crops on the land may be mortgaged or pledged
to qualified persons, associations, or corporations.
No alienation, transfer, or conveyance of any homestead after five
years and before twenty-five years after issuance of title shall be
valid without the approval of the Secretary of Agriculture and
Commerce, which approval shall not be denied except on
constitutional and legal grounds.
Section119. Every conveyance of land acquired under the free
patent or homestead provisions, when proper, shall be subject to
repurchase by the applicant, his widow, or legal heirs, within a
period of five years from the date of the conveyance.
Section120. Conveyance and encumbrance made by persons
belonging to the so-called "non-Christian Filipinos" or national
cultural minorities, when proper, shall be valid if the person
making the conveyance or encumbrance is able to read and can
understand the language in which the instrument or conveyance or
encumbrances is written. Conveyances and encumbrances made by
illiterate non-Christian or literate non-Christians where the
instrument of conveyance or encumbrance is in a language not
understood by the said literate non-Christians shall not be valid
unless duly approved by the Chairman of the Commission on
National Integration.
Section121. Except with the consent of the grantee and the
approval of the Secretary of Natural Resources, and solely for
commercial, industrial, educational, religious or charitable
purposes or for a right of way, no corporation, association, or
partnership may acquire or have any right, title, interest, or
property right whatsoever to any land granted under the free
patent, homestead, or individual sale provisions of this Act or to
any permanent improvement on such land.
 The provisions of Section 124 of this Act to the contrary
notwithstanding, any acquisition of such land, rights thereto or
improvements thereon by a corporation, association, or
partnership prior to the promulgation of this Decree for the
purposes herein stated is deemed valid and binding; Provided,
That no final decision of reversion of such land to the State has
been rendered by a court; And Provided, further, That such
acquisition is approved by the Secretary of Natural Resources
within six (6) months from the effectivity of this Decree.
Section122. No land originally acquired in any manner under the
provisions of this Act, nor any permanent improvement on such
land, shall encumbered, alienated, or transferred, except to
persons, corporations, associations, or partnerships who may
acquire lands of the public domain under this Act or to
corporations organized in the Philippines authorized therefor by
their charters.
Except in cases of hereditary succession, no land or any portion
thereof originally acquired under the free patent, homestead, or
individual sale provisions of this Act, or any permanent
improvement on such land, shall be transferred or assigned to any
individual, nor shall such land or any permanent improvement
thereon be leased to such individual, when the area of said land,
added to that of his own, shall exceed one hundred and forty-four
hectares. Any transfer, assignment, or lease made in violation
hereof, shall be null and void.
Section123. No land originally acquired in any manner under the
provisions of any previous Act, ordinance, royal order, royal
decree, or any other provision of law formerly in force in the
Philippines with regard to public lands, terrenos baldios y
realengos, or lands of any other denomination that were actually or
presumptively of the public domain, or by royal grant or in any
other form, nor any permanent improvement on such land, shall be
encumbered, alienated, or conveyed, except to persons,
corporations or associations who may acquire land of the public
domain under this Act or to corporate bodies organized in the
Philippines whose charters authorize them to do so: Provided,
however, That this prohibition shall not be applicable to the
conveyance or acquisition by reason of hereditary succession duly
acknowledged and legalized by competent courts; Provided,
further, That in the event of the ownership of the lands and
improvements mentioned in this section and in the last preceding
section being transferred by judicial decree to persons,
corporations or associations not legally capacitated to acquire the
same under the provisions of this Act, such persons, corporations,
or associations shall be obliged to alienate said lands or
improvements to others so capacitated within the precise period of
five years; otherwise, such property shall revert to the Government.
Section124. Any acquisition, conveyance, alienation, transfer, or
other contract made or executed in violation of any of the
provisions of sections one hundred and eighteen, one hundred and
twenty, one hundred and twenty-one, one hundred and twenty two,
and one hundred and twenty-three of this Act shall be unlawful
and null and void from its execution and shall produce the effect of
annulling and cancelling the grant, title, patent, or permit
originally issued, recognized or confirmed, actually or
presumptively, and cause the reversion of the property and its
improvements to the State.
Section125. The provisions of sections twenty-two, twenty-three,
thirty-three, one hundred and twenty-two, and one hundred and
twenty-three of this Act, and any other provision or provisions
restricting or tending to restrict the right of persons, corporations,
or associations to acquire, hold, lease, encumber, dispose of, or
alienate land in the Philippines, or permanent improvements
thereon, or any interest therein, shall not be applied in cases in
which the right to acquire, hold or dispose of such land, permanent
improvements thereon or interests therein in the Philippines is
recognized by existing treaties in favor of citizens or subjects of
foreign nations and corporations or associations organized and
constituted by the same, which right, in so far as it exists under
such treaties, shall continue and subsist in the manner and to the
extent stipulated in said treaties, and only while these are in force,
but not thereafter.
Section126. All public auctions provided for in the foregoing
chapters in the disposition of public lands shall be held, wherever
possible, in the province where the land is located, or, in the office
of the Bureau of Lands in Manila
50
CHAPTER XIV
TRANSITORY PROVISIONS
Section127. During the existence and continuance of the
Commonwealth and before the Republic of the Philippines is
finally established, citizens and corporations of the United States
shall enjoy the same rights granted to citizens and corporations of
the Philippines under this Act.
Section128. During the period specified in the next preceding
section, the President of the Philippines, upon receipt of the order
of the President of the United States, shall, by proclamation,
designate such land as the latter may set aside for military, naval or
other reservations for use of the Government of the United States.
CHAPTER XV
PENAL PROVISIONS
Section129. Any person who presents or causes to be presented, or
cooperates in the presentation of, any false application,
declaration, or evidence, or makes or causes to be made or
cooperates in the making of a false affidavit in support of any
petition, claim, or objection respecting lands of the public domain,
shall be deemed guilty of perjury and punished accordingly.
Section130. Any person who voluntarily and maliciously prevents
or hinders or attempts to prevent or hinder the presentation of any
application for public land under this Act, or who in any manner
attempts to execute or executes acts intended to dissuade or
discourage, or aid to dissuade or discourage, the acquisition of
public lands, shall be deemed guilty of coercion and be punished
accordingly.
Section131. Any person who sells forms issued and distributed
gratuitously under this Act or who, being an officer charged with
distributing them, refuses or fails, without sufficient reason, to
furnish the same, shall be punished for each offense by a fine of not
more than one hundred pesos or by imprisonment for not more
than three months, or both, in the discretion of the court.
Section132. Any person, corporation, association or partnership
which, not being qualified or no longer authorized to apply for
public land under the provisions of this Act, files or induces or
knowingly permits another person, corporation, association or
partnership to file an application in his or its behalf or for his or its
interest, benefit or advantage, shall be punished by a fine of not
less than two hundred nor more than five thousand pesos or by
imprisonment for not less than two months nor more than five
years, or both, in the discretion of the court; and the application
shall be cancelled.
Section133. Any person who, without having the qualifications
required by this Act, shall by deceit or fraud acquire or attempt to
acquire lands of the public domain or other real property or any
right, title or interest, or property right of any class to the same,
and any person aiding and abetting him therein or serving as a
means or tool therefor, shall, upon conviction, be punished by a
fine of not more than five thousands pesos, or by the imprisonment
for not more than five years, or both, in the discretion of the court.
TITLE VII
FINAL PROVISIONS
CHAPTER XVI
EFFECTIVENESS OF THIS ACT
Section134. If, for any reason, any section or provision of this Act
is challenged in a competent court and is held to be
unconstitutional, none of the other sections or provisions thereof
shall be affected thereby and such other sections and provisions
shall continue to govern as if the section or provisions so annulled,
disapproved, or repealed had never been incorporated in this Act,
and in lieu of the section or provision so annulled, disapproved, or
repealed, the provisions of law on the subject thereof in force prior
to the approval of this Act shall govern until the Assembly shall
otherwise provide in the premises.
Section135. All laws and regulations, or parts thereof, inconsistent
with the provisions of this Act, are hereby repealed.
Section136. This Act shall take effect on December first, nineteen
hundred and thirty-six unless the President shall, in the
proclamation announcing its effectiveness, designate a prior date,
in which case this Act shall take effect on the date so designated.
Approved: November 7, 1936
ii PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 705 BASIS
FOR FOREST AND TIMBER
May 19, 1975
REVISING PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 389,
OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE FORESTRY REFORM
CODE OF THE PHILIPPINES
WHEREAS, proper classification, management and utilization of
the lands of the public domain to maximize their productivity to
meet the demands of our increasing population is urgently needed;
WHEREAS, to achieve the above purpose, it is necessary to
reassess the multiple uses of forest lands and resources before
allowing any utilization thereof to optimize the benefits that can be
derived therefrom;
WHEREAS, it is also imperative to place emphasis not only on the
utilization thereof but more so on the protection, rehabilitation and
development of forest lands, in order to ensure the continuity of
their productive condition;
WHEREAS, the present laws and regulations governing forest
lands are not responsive enough to support re-oriented
government programs, projects and efforts on the proper
classification and delimitation of the lands of the public domain,
and the management, utilization, protection, rehabilitation, and
development of forest lands;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of
the Philippines, by virtue of the powers in me vested by the
Constitution, do hereby revise Presidential Decree No. 389 to read
as follows:
Section 1. Title of this Code. This decree shall be known as the
"Revised Forestry Code of the Philippines."
Section 2. Policies. The State hereby adopts the following policies:
(a) The multiple uses of forest lands shall be
oriented to the development and progress
requirements of the country, the advancement of
science and technology, and the public welfare;
(b) Land classification and survey shall be
systematized and hastened;
(c) The establishment of wood-processing plants
shall be encouraged and rationalized; and
(d) The protection, development and
rehabilitation of forest lands shall be emphasized
so as to ensure their continuity in productive
condition.
Section 3. Definitions.
51
(a) Public forest is the mass of lands of the public
domain which has not been the subject of the
present system of classification for the
determination of which lands are needed for
forest purposes and which are not.
(b) Permanent forest or forest reserves refer to
those lands of the public domain which have
been the subject of the present system of
classification and determined to be needed for
forest purposes.
(c) Alienable and disposable lands refer to those
lands of the public domain which have been the
subject of the present system of classification
and declared as not needed for forest purposes.
(d) Forest lands include the public forest, the
permanent forest or forest reserves, and forest
reservations.
(e) Grazing land refers to that portion of the
public domain which has been set aside, in view
of the suitability of its topography and
vegetation, for the raising of livestock.
(f) Mineral lands refer to those lands of the
public domain which have been classified as such
by the Secretary of Natural Resources in
accordance with prescribed and approved
criteria, guidelines and procedure.
(g) Forest reservations refer to forest lands
which have been reserved by the President of the
Philippines for any specific purpose or purposes.
(h) National park refers to a forest land
reservation essentially of primitive or wilderness
character which has been withdrawn from
settlement or occupancy and set aside as such
exclusively to preserve the scenery, the natural
and historic objects and the wild animals or
plants therein, and to provide enjoyment of these
features in such a manner as will leave them
unimpaired for future generations.
(i) Game refuge or bird sanctuary refers to a
forest land designated for the protection of game
animals, birds and fish and closed to hunting
and fishing in order that the excess population
may flow and restock surrounding areas.
(j) Marine parks refers to any off-shore area
inhabited by rare and unique species of marine
flora and fauna.
(k) Seashore park refers to any public shore area
delimited for outdoor recreation, sports fishing,
water skiing and related healthful activities.
(l) Watershed reservation is a forest land
reservation established to protect or improve the
conditions of the water yield thereof or reduce
sedimentation.
(m) Watershed is a land area drained by a
stream or fixed body of water and its tributaries
having a common outlet for surface run-off.
(n) Critical watershed is a drainage area of a
river system supporting existing and proposed
hydro-electric power and irrigation works
needing immediate rehabilitation as it is being
subjected to a fast denudation causing
accelerated erosion and destructive floods. It is
closed from logging until it is fully rehabilitated.
(o) Mangrove is a term applied to the type of
forest occurring on tidal flat along the sea coast,
extending along streams where the water is
brackish.
(p) Kaingin is a portion of the forest land,
whether occupied or not, which is subjected to
shifting and/or permanent slash-and-burn
cultivation having little or no provision to
prevent soil erosion.
(q) Forest product means timber, pulpwood,
firewood, bark, tree top, resin, gum, wood, oil,
honey, beeswax, nipa, rattan, or other forest
growth such as grass, shrub, and flowering plant,
the associated water, fish, game, scenic,
historical, recreational and geologic resources in
forest lands.
(r) Dipterocarp forest is a forest dominated by
trees of the dipterocarp species, such as red
lauan, tengile, tiaong, white lauan, almon,
bagtikan and mayapis of the Philippine
mahogany group, apitong and the yakals.
(s) Pine forest is a forest composed of the
Benguet Pine in the Mountain Provinces or the
Mindoro pine in Mindoro and Zambales
provinces.
(t) Industrial tree plantation is any tract of forest
land purposely and extensively planted to timber
crops primarily to supply the raw material
requirements of existing or proposed processing
plants and related industries.
(u) Tree farm refers to any tract of forest land
purposely and extensively planted to trees of
economic value for their fruits, flowers, leaves,
barks, or extractives, but not for the wood
thereof.
(v) Multiple-use is the harmonized utilization of
the numerous beneficial uses of the land, soil,
water, wildlife, recreation value, grass and
timber of forest lands.
(w) Selective logging means the systematic
removal of the mature, over-mature and
defective trees in such manner as to leave
adequate number and volume of healthy residual
trees of the desired species necessary to assure a
future crop of timber, and forest cover for the
protection and conservation of soil and water.
(x) Seed tree system is partial clearcutting with
seed trees left to regenerate the area.
(y) Healthy residual is a sound or slightly injured
tree of the commercial species left after logging.
(z) Sustained-yield management implies
continuous or periodic production of forest
products in a working unit with the aid of
achieving at the earliest practicable time an
approximate balance between growth and
harvest or use. This is generally applied to the
commercial timber resources and is also
applicable to the water, grass, wildlife, and other
renewable resources of the forest.
(aa) Processing plant is any mechanical set-up,
machine or combination of machine used for the
processing of logs and other forest raw materials
into lumber, veneer, plywood, wallboard, block-
board, paper board, pulp, paper or other finished
wood products.
52
(bb) Lease is a privilege granted by the State to a
person to occupy and possess, in consideration
of a specified rental, any forest land of the public
domain in order to undertake any authorized
activity therein.
(cc) License is a privilege granted by the State to
a person to utilize forest resources as in any
forest land, without any right of occupation and
possession over the same, to the exclusion of
others, or establish and operate a wood-
processing plant, or conduct any activity
involving the utilization of any forest resources.
(dd) License agreement is a privilege granted by
the State to a person to utilize forest resources
within any forest land with the right of
possession and occupation thereof to the
exclusion of others, except the government, but
with the corresponding obligation to develop,
protect and rehabilitate the same in accordance
with the terms and conditions set forth in said
agreement.
(ee) Permit is a short-term privilege or authority
granted by the State to a person to utilize any
limited forest resources or undertake a limited
activity with any forest land without any right of
occupation and possession therein.
(ff) Annual allowable cut is the volume of
materials, whether of wood or other forest
products, that is authorized to be cut regularly
from the forest.
(gg) Cutting cycle is the number of years between
major harvests in the same working unit and/or
region, within a rotation.
(hh) Ecosystem means the ecological community
considered together with non-living factors and
its environment as a unit.
(ii) Silviculture is the establishment,
development reproduction and care of forest
trees.
(jj) Rationalization is the organization of a
business or industry using scientific business
management principles and simplified
procedures to obtain greater efficiency of
operation.
(kk) Forest officer means any official or
employee of the Bureau who, by the nature of his
appointment or the function of the position to
which he is appointed, is delegated by law or by
competent authority to execute, implement or
enforce the provisions of this Code, other related
laws, as well as their implementing regulations.
(ll) Primitive tribe is a group of endemic tribe
living primitively as a distinct portion of a people
from a common ancestor.
(mm) Private right means or refers to titled
rights of ownership under existing laws, and in
the case of primitive tribes, to rights of
possession existing at the time a license is
granted under this Code, which possession may
include places of abode and worship, burial
grounds, and old clearings, but excludes
production forest inclusive of logged-over areas,
commercial forests and established plantations
of forest trees and trees of economic value.
(nn) Person includes natural as well as juridical
person.
 CHAPTER 1 ORGANIZATION AND
JURISDICTION OF BUREAU SECTION 4-13
CHAPTER 3 UTILIZATION AND
MANAGEMENT SECTION 19-67
CHAPTER 4 CRIMINAL OFFENSES AND
PENALTIES
iii REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7942 MINING ACT OF
1995
March 3, 1995
AN ACT INSTITUTING A NEW SYSTEM OF MINERAL
RESOURCES EXPLORATION, DEVELOPMENT,
UTILIZATION, AND CONSERVATION
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
Philippines in Congress assembled:
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY PROVISIONS
Section 1
Title
This Act shall be known as the "Philippine Mining Act of
1995."
Section 2
Declaration of Policy
All mineral resources in public and private lands within the
territory and exclusive economic zone of the Republic of the
Philippines are owned by the State. It shall be the responsibility of
the State to promote their rational exploration, development,
utilization and conservation through the combined efforts of
government and the private sector in order to enhance national
growth in a way that effectively safeguards the environment and
protect the rights of affected communities.
Section 3
Definition of Terms
As used in and for purposes of this Act, the following terms,
whether in singular or plural, shall mean:
a. Ancestral lands refers to all lands exclusively and actually
possessed, occupied, or utilized by indigenous cultural
communities by themselves or through their ancestors in
accordance with their customs and traditions since time
immemorial, and as may be defined and delineated by law.
b. Block or meridional block means an area bounded by one-half
(1/2) minute of latitude and one-half (1/2) minute of longitude,
containing approximately eighty-one hectares (81 has.).
c. Bureau means the Mines and Geosciences Bureau under the
Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
d. Carrying capacity refers to the capacity of natural and human
environments to accommodate and absorb change without
experiencing conditions of instability and attendant degradation.
e. Contiguous zone refers to water, sea bottom and substratum
measured twenty-four nautical miles (24 n.m.) seaward from the
base line of the Philippine archipelago.
f. Contract area means land or body of water delineated for
purposes of exploration, development, or utilization of the
minerals found therein.
g. Contractor means a qualified person acting alone or in
consortium who is a party to a mineral agreement or to a financial
or technical assistance agreement.
53
h. Co-production agreement (CA) means an agreement entered
into between the Government and one or more contractors in
accordance with Section 26(b) hereof.
i. Department means the Department of Environment and Natural
Resources.
j. Development means the work undertaken to explore and prepare
an ore body or a mineral deposit for mining, including the
construction of necessary infrastructure and related facilities.
k. Director means the Director of the Mines and Geosciences
Bureau.
l. Ecological profile or eco-profile refers to geographic-based
instruments for planners and decision-makers which presents an
evaluation of the environmental quality and carrying capacity of an
area.
m. Environmental compliance certificate (ECC) refers to the
document issued by the government agency concerned certifying
that the project under consideration will not bring about an
unacceptable environmental impact and that the proponent has
complied with the requirements of the environmental impact
statement system.
n. Environmental impact statement (EIS) is the document which
aims to identify, predict, interpret, and communicate information
regarding changes in environmental quality associated with a
proposed project and which examines the range of alternatives for
the objectives of the proposal and their impact on the environment.
o. Exclusive economic zone means the water, sea bottom and
subsurface measured from the baseline of the Philippine
archipelago up to two hundred nautical miles (200 n.m.) offshore.
p. Existing mining/quarrying right means a valid and subsisting
mining claim or permit or quarry permit or any mining lease
contract or agreement covering a mineralized area granted/issued
under pertinent mining laws.
q. Exploration means the searching or prospecting for mineral
resources by geological, geochemical or geophysical surveys,
remote sensing, test pitting, trenching, drilling, shaft sinking,
tunneling or any other means for the purpose of determining the
existence, extent, quantity and quality thereof and the feasibility of
mining them for profit.
r. Financial or technical assistance agreement means a contract
involving financial or technical assistance for large-scale
exploration, development, and utilization of mineral resources.
s. Force majeure means acts or circumstances beyond the
reasonable control of contractor including, but not limited to, war,
rebellion, insurrection, riots, civil disturbance, blockade, sabotage,
embargo, strike, lockout, any dispute with surface owners and
other labor disputes, epidemic, earthquake, storm, flood or other
adverse weather conditions, explosion, fire, adverse action by
government or by any instrumentality or subdivision thereof, act of
God or any public enemy and any cause that herein describe over
which the affected party has no reasonable control.
t. Foreign-owned corporation means any corporation, partnership,
association, or cooperative duly registered in accordance with law
in which less than fifty per centum (50%) of the capital is owned by
Filipino citizens.
u. Government means the government of the Republic of the
Philippines.
v. Gross output means the actual market value of minerals or
mineral products from its mining area as defined in the National
Internal Revenue Code.
w. Indigenous cultural community means a group or tribe of
indigenous Filipinos who have continuously lived as communities
on communally-bounded and defined land since time immemorial
and have succeeded in preserving, maintaining, and sharing
common bonds of languages, customs, traditions, and other
distinctive cultural traits, and as may be defined and delineated by
law.
x. Joint venture agreement (JVA) means an agreement entered
into between the Government and one or more contractors in
accordance with Section 26(c) hereof.
y. Mineral processing means the milling, beneficiation or
upgrading of ores or minerals and rocks or by similar means to
convert the same into marketable products.
z. Mine wastes and tailings shall mean soil and rock materials from
surface or underground mining and milling operations with no
economic value to the generator of the same.
aa. Minerals refers to all naturally occurring inorganic substance in
solid, gas, liquid, or any intermediate state excluding energy
materials such as coal, petroleum, natural gas, radioactive
materials, and geothermal energy.
ab. Mineral agreement means a contract between the government
and a contractor, involving mineral production-sharing agreement,
co-production agreement, or joint-venture agreement.
ac. Mineral land means any area where mineral resources are
found.
ad. Mineral resource means any concentration of minerals/rocks
with potential economic value.
ae. Mining area means a portion of the contract area identified by
the contractor for purposes of development, mining, utilization,
and sites for support facilities or in the immediate vicinity of the
mining operations.
af. Mining operation means mining activities involving exploration,
feasibility, development, utilization, and processing.
ag. Non-governmental organization (NGO) includes nonstock,
nonprofit organizations involved in activities dealing with resource
and environmental conservation, management and protection.
ah. Net assets refers to the property, plant and equipment as
reflected in the audited financial statement of the contractor net of
depreciation, as computed for tax purposes, excluding appraisal
increase and construction in progress.
ai. Offshore means the water, sea bottom and subsurface from the
shore or coastline reckoned from the mean low tide level up to the
two hundred nautical miles (200 n.m.) exclusive economic zone
including the archipelagic sea and contiguous zone.
aj. Onshore means the landward side from the mean tide elevation,
including submerged lands in lakes, rivers and creeks.
ak. Ore means a naturally occurring substance or material from
which a mineral or element can be mined and/or processed for
profit.
al. Permittee means the holder of an exploration permit.
am. Pollution control and infrastructure devices refers to
infrastructure, machinery, equipment and/or improvements used
for impounding, treating or neutralizing, precipitating, filtering,
conveying and cleansing mine industrial waste and tailings as well
as eliminating or reducing hazardous effects of solid particles,
chemicals, liquids or other harmful byproducts and gases emitted
from any facility utilized in mining operations for their disposal.
an. President means the President of the Republic of the
Philippines.
ao. Private land refers to any land belonging to any private person
which includes alienable and disposable land being claimed by a
holder, claimant, or occupant who has already acquired a vested
right thereto under the law, although the corresponding certificate
or evidence of title or patent has not been actually issued.
ap. Public land refers to lands of the public domain which have
been classified as agricultural lands and subject to management
and disposition or concession under existing laws.
aq. Qualified person means any citizen of the Philippines with
capacity to contract, or a corporation, partnership, association, or
cooperative organized or authorized for the purpose of engaging in
54
miring, with technical and financial capability to undertake
mineral resources development and duly registered in accordance
with law at least sixty per centum (60%) of the capital of which is
owned by citizens of the Philippines: Provided, That a legally
organized foreign-owned corporation shall be deemed a qualified
person for purposes of granting an exploration permit, financial or
technical assistance agreement or mineral processing permit.
ar. Quarrying means the process of extracting, removing and
disposing quarry resources found on or underneath the surface of
private or public land.
as. Quarry permit means a document granted to a qualified person
for the extraction and utilization of quarry resources on public or
private lands.
at. Quarry resources refers to any common rock or other mineral
substances as the Director of Mines and Geosciences Bureau may
declare to be quarry resources such as, but not limited to, andesite,
basalt, conglomerate, coral sand, diatomaceous earth, diorite,
decorative stones, gabbro, granite, limestone, marble, marl, red
burning clays for potteries and bricks, rhyolite, rock phosphate,
sandstone, serpentine, shale, tuff, volcanic cinders, and volcanic
glass: Provided, That such quarry resources do not contain metals
or metallic constituents and/or other valuable minerals in
economically workable quantities: Provided, further, That non-
metallic minerals such as kaolin, feldspar, bull quartz, quartz or
silica, sand and pebbles, bentonite, talc, asbestos, barite, gypsum,
bauxite, magnesite, dolomite, mica, precious and semi-precious
stones, and other non-metallic minerals that may later be
discovered and which the: Director declares the same to be of
economically workable quantities, shall not be classified under the
category of quarry resources.
au. Regional director means the regional director of any mines
regional office under the Department of Environment and Natural
Resources.
av. Regional office means any of the mines regional offices of the
Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
aw. Secretary means the Secretary of the Department of
Environment and Natural Resources.
ax. Special allowance refers to payment to the claim-owners or
surface right-owners particularly during the transition period from
Presidential Decree No. 463 and Executive Order No. 279, series of
1987.
ay. State means the Republic of the Philippines.
az. Utilization means the extraction or disposition of minerals.
CHAPTER II
GOVERNMENT MANAGEMENT
Section 4
Ownership of Mineral Resources
Mineral resources are owned by the State and the exploration,
development, utilization, and processing thereof shall be under its
full control and supervision. The State may directly undertake such
activities or it may enter into mineral agreements with contractors.
The State shall recognize and protect the rights of the indigenous
cultural communities to their ancestral lands as provided for by the
Constitution.
Section 5
Mineral Reservations
When the national interest so requires, such as when there is a
need to preserve strategic raw materials for industries critical to
national development, or certain minerals for scientific, cultural or
ecological value, the President may establish mineral reservations
upon the recommendation of the Director through the Secretary.
Mining operations in existing mineral reservations and such other
reservations as may thereafter be established, shall be undertaken
by the Department or through a contractor: Provided, That a small
scale-mining cooperative covered by Republic Act No. 7076 shall
be given preferential right to apply for a small-scale mining
agreement for a maximum aggregate area of twenty-five percent
(25%) of such mineral reservation, subject to valid existing
mining/quarrying rights as provided under Section 112 Chapter XX
hereof. All submerged lands within the contiguous zone and in the
exclusive economic zone of the Philippines are hereby declared to
be mineral reservations.
A ten per centum (10%) share of all royalties and revenues to be
derived by the government from the development and utilization of
the mineral resources within mineral reservations as provided
under this Act shall accrue to the Mines and Geosciences Bureau to
be allotted for special projects and other administrative expenses
related to the exploration and development of other mineral
reservations mentioned in Section 6 hereof.
Section 6
Other Reservations
Mining operations in reserved lands other than mineral
reservations may be undertaken by the Department, subject to
limitations as herein provided. In the event that the Department
cannot undertake such activities, they may be undertaken by a
qualified person in accordance with the rules and regulations
promulgated by the Secretary. The right to develop and utilize the
minerals found therein shall be awarded by the President under
such terms and conditions as recommended by the Director and
approved by the Secretary: Provided, That the party who
undertook the exploration of said reservation shall be given
priority. The mineral land so awarded shall be automatically
excluded from the reservation during the term of the agreement:
Provided, further, That the right of the lessee of a valid mining
contract existing within the reservation at the time of its
establishment shall not be prejudiced or impaired.
Section 7
Periodic Review of Existing Mineral Reservations
The Secretary shall periodically review existing mineral
reservations for the purpose of determining whether their
continued existence is consistent with the national interest, and
upon his recommendation, the President may, by proclamation,
alter or modify the boundaries thereof or revert the same to the
public domain without prejudice to prior existing rights.
Section 8
Authority of the Department
The Department shall be the primary government agency
responsible for the conservation, management, development, and
proper use of the State's mineral resources including those in
reservations, watershed areas, and lands of the public domain. The
Secretary shall have the authority to enter into mineral agreements
on behalf of the Government upon the recommendation of the
Director, promulgate such rules and regulations as may be
necessary to implement the intent and provisions of this Act.
Section 9
Authority of the Bureau
The Bureau shall have direct charge in the administration and
disposition of mineral lands and mineral resources and shall
undertake geological, mining, metallurgical, chemical, and other
researches as well as geological and mineral exploration surveys.
The Director shall recommend to the Secretary the granting of
mineral agreements to duly qualified persons and shall monitor the
compliance by the contractor of the terms and conditions of the
mineral agreements. The Bureau may confiscate surety,
performance and guaranty bonds posted through an order to be
promulgated by the Director. The Director may deputize, when
necessary, any member or unit of the Philippine National Police,
barangay, duly registered non-governmental organization (NGO)
or any qualified person to police all mining activities.
Section 10
Regional Offices
There shall be as many regional offices in the country as may be
established by the Secretary, upon the recommendation of the
Director.
Section 11
55
Processing of Applications
The system of processing applications for mining rights shall be
prescribed in the rules and regulations of this Act.
Section 12
Survey, Charting and Delineation of Mining Areas
A sketch plan or map of the contract or mining area prepared by a
deputized geodetic engineer suitable for publication purposes shall
be required during the filing of a mineral agreement or financial or
technical assistance agreement application. Thereafter, the
contract or mining area shall be surveyed and monumented by a
deputized geodetic engineer or bureau geodetic engineer and the
survey plan shall be approved by the Director before the approval
of the mining feasibility.
Section 13
Meridional Blocks
For purposes of the delineation of the contract or mining areas
under this Act, the Philippine territory and its exclusive economic
zone shall be divided into meridional blocks of one-half (1/2)
minute of latitude and one-half (1/2) minute of longitude.
Section 14
Recording System
There shall be established a national and regional filing and
recording system. A mineral resource database system shall be set
up in the Bureau which shall include, among others, a mineral
rights management system. The Bureau shall publish at least
annually, a mineral gazette of nationwide circulation containing
among others, a current list of mineral rights, their location in the
map, mining rules and regulations, other official acts affecting
mining, and other information relevant to mineral resources
development. A system and publication fund shall be included in
the regular budget of the Bureau.
CHAPTER III
SCOPE OF APPLICATION
Section 15
Scope of Application
This Act shall govern the exploration, development, utilization and
processing of all mineral resources.
Section 16
Opening of Ancestral Lands for Mining Operations
No ancestral land shall be opened for mining-operations without
prior consent of the indigenous cultural community concerned.
Section 17
Royalty Payments for Indigenous Cultural Communities
In the event of an agreement with an indigenous cultural
community pursuant to the preceding section, the royalty payment,
upon utilization of the minerals shall be agreed upon by the
parties. The said royalty shall form part of a trust fund for the
socioeconomic well-being of the indigenous cultural community.
Section 18
Areas Open to Mining Operations
Subject to any existing rights or reservations and prior agreements
of all parties, all mineral resources in public or private lands,
including timber or forestlands as defined in existing laws, shall be
open to mineral agreements or financial or technical assistance
agreement applications. Any conflict that may arise under this
provision shall be heard and resolved by the panel of arbitrators.
Section 19
Areas Closed to Mining Applications
Mineral agreement or financial or technical assistance agreement
applications shall not be allowed:
a. In military and other government reservations, except upon
prior written clearance by the government agency concerned;
b. Near or under public or private buildings, cemeteries,
archeological and historic sites, bridges, highways, waterways,
railroads, reservoirs, dams or other infrastructure projects, public
or private works including plantations or valuable crops, except
upon written consent of the government agency or private entity
concerned;
c. In areas covered by valid and existing mining rights;
d. In areas expressedly prohibited by law;
e. In areas covered by small-scale miners as defined by law unless
with prior consent of the small-scale miners, in which case a
royalty payment upon the utilization of minerals shall be agreed
upon by the parties, said royalty forming a trust fund for the
socioeconomic development of the community concerned; and
f. Old growth or virgin forests, proclaimed watershed forest
reserves, wilderness areas, mangrove forests, mossy forests,
national parks provincial/municipal forests, parks, greenbelts,
game refuge and bird sanctuaries as defined by law and in areas
expressly prohibited under the National Integrated Protected Areas
System (NIPAS) under Republic Act No. 7586, Department
Administrative Order No. 25, series of 1992 and other laws.
CHAPTER IV
EXPLORATION PERMIT
Section 20
Exploration Permit
An exploration permit grants the right to conduct exploration for
all minerals in specified areas. The Bureau shall have the authority
to grant an exploration Permit to a qualified person.
Section 21
Terms and Conditions of the Exploration Permit
An exploration permit shall be for a period of two (2) years, subject
to annual review and relinquishment or renewal upon the
recommendation of the Director.
Section 22
Maximum Areas for Exploration Permit
The maximum area that a qualified person may hold at any one
time shall be:
a. Onshore, in any one province
1. for individuals, twenty (20) blocks: and
2. for partnerships, corporations, cooperatives, or associations, two
hundred (200) blocks.
b. Onshore, in the entire Philippines
1. for individuals, forty (40) blocks; and
2. for partnerships, corporations, cooperatives, or associations,
four hundred (400) blocks.
c. Offshore, beyond five hundred meters (500m) from the mean
low tide level:
1. for individuals, one hundred (100) blocks; and
2. for partnerships, corporations, cooperatives, or associations, one
thousand (1,000) blocks.
Section 23
Rights and Obligations of the Permittee
An exploration permit shall grant to the permittee, his heirs or
successors-in-interest, the right to enter, occupy and explore the
area: Provided, That if private or other parties are affected, the
permittee shall first discuss with the said parties the extent,
56
necessity, and manner of his entry, occupation and exploration and
in case of disagreement, a panel of arbitrators shall resolve the
conflict or disagreement.
The permittee shall undertake an exploration work on the area as
specified by its permit based on an approved work program.
Any expenditure in excess of the yearly budget of the approved
work program may be carried forward and credited to the
succeeding years covering the duration of the permit. The
Secretary, through the Director, shall promulgate rules and
regulations governing the terms and conditions of the permit.
The permittee may apply for a mineral production sharing
agreement, joint venture agreement, co-production agreement or
financial or technical assistance agreement over the permit area,
which application shall be granted if the permittee meets the
necessary qualifications and the terms and conditions of any such
agreement: Provided, That the exploration period covered by the
exploration permit shall be included as part of the exploration
period of the mineral agreement or financial or technical assistance
agreement.
Section 24
Declaration of Mining Project Feasibility
A holder of an exploration permit who determines the commercial
viability of a project covering a mining area may, within the term of
the permit, file with the Bureau a declaration of mining project
feasibility accompanied by a work program for development. The
approval of the mining project feasibility and compliance with
other requirements provided in this Act shall entitle the holder to
an exclusive right to a mineral production sharing agreement or
other mineral agreements or financial or technical assistance
agreement.
Section 25
Transfer or Assignment
An exploration permit may be transferred or assigned to a qualified
person subject to the approval of the Secretary upon the
recommendation of the Director.
CHAPTER V
MINERAL AGREEMENTS
Section 26
Modes of Mineral Agreement
For purposes of mining operations, a mineral agreement may take
the following forms as herein defined:
a. Mineral production sharing agreement is an agreement where
the Government grants to the contractor the exclusive right to
conduct mining operations within a contract area and shares in the
gross output. The contractor shall provide the financing,
technology, management and personnel necessary for the
implementation of this agreement.
b. Co-production agreement is an agreement between the
Government and the contractor wherein the Government shall
provide inputs to the mining operations other than the mineral
resource.
c. Joint venture agreement is an agreement where a joint-venture
company is organized by the Government and the contractor with
both parties having equity shares. Aside from earnings in equity,
the Government shall be entitled to a share in the gross output.
A mineral agreement shall grant to the contractor the exclusive
right to conduct mining operations and to extract all mineral
resources found in the contract area. In addition, the contractor
may be allowed to convert his agreement into any of the modes of
mineral agreements or financial or technical assistance agreement
covering the remaining period of the original agreement subject to
the approval of the Secretary.
Section 27
Eligibility
A qualified person may enter into any of the three (3) modes of
mineral agreement with the government for the exploration,
development and utilization of mineral resources: Provided, That
in case the applicant has been in the mining industry for any length
of time, he should possess a satisfactory environmental track
record as determined by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau and in
consultation with the Environmental Management Bureau of the
Department.
Section 28
Maximum Areas for Mineral Agreement
The maximum area that a qualified person may hold at any time
under a mineral agreement shall be:
a. Onshore, in any one province
1. for individuals, ten (10) blocks; and
2. for partnerships, cooperatives, associations, or corporations, one
hundred (100) blocks.
b. Onshore, in the entire Philippines
1. for individuals, twenty (20) blocks; and
2. for partnerships, cooperatives, associations, or corporations, two
hundred (200) blocks.
c. Offshore, in the entire Philippines
1. for individuals fifty (50) blocks;
2. for partnerships, cooperatives, associations, or corporations, five
hundred (500) blocks; and
3. for the exclusive economic zone, a larger area to be determined
by the Secretary.
The maximum areas mentioned above that a contractor may hold
under a mineral agreement shall not include mining/quarry areas
under operating agreements between the contractor and a
claimowner/lessee/permittee/licensee entered into under
Presidential Decree No. 463.
Section 29
Filing and Approval of Mineral Agreements
All proposed mineral agreements shall be filed in the region where
the areas of interest are located, except in mineral reservations
which shall be filed with the Bureau.
The filing of a proposal for a mineral agreement shall give the
proponent the prior right to areas covered by the same. The
proposed mineral agreement will be approved by the Secretary and
copies thereof shall be submitted to the President. Thereafter, the
President shall provide a list to Congress of every approved mineral
agreement within thirty (30) days from its approval by the
Secretary.
Section 30
Assignment/Transfer
Any assignment or transfer of rights and obligations under any
mineral agreement except a financial or technical assistance
agreement shall be subject to the prior approval of the Secretary.
Such assignment or transfer shall be deemed automatically
approved if not acted upon by the Secretary within thirty (30)
working days from official receipt thereof, unless patently
unconstitutional or illegal.
Section 31
Withdrawal from Mineral Agreements
The contractor may, by giving due notice at any time during the
term of the agreement, apply for the cancellation of the mineral
agreement due to causes which, in the opinion of the contractor,
make continued mining operations no longer feasible or viable.
The Secretary shall consider the notice and issue its decision within
a period of thirty (30) days: Provided, That the contractor has met
all its financial, fiscal and legal obligations.
57
Section 32
Terms
Mineral agreements shall have a term not exceeding twenty-five
(25) years to start from the date of execution thereof, and
renewable for another term not exceeding twenty-five (25) years
under the same terms and conditions thereof, without prejudice to
changes mutually agreed upon by the parties. After the renewal
period, the operation of the mine may be undertaken by the
Government or through a contractor. The contract for the
operation of a mine shall be awarded to the highest bidder in a
public bidding after due publication of the notice thereof:
Provided, That the contractor shall have the right to equal the
highest bid upon reimbursement of all reasonable expenses of the
highest bidder.
CHAPTER VI
FINANCIAL OR TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AGREEMENT
Section 33
Eligibility
Any qualified person with technical and financial capability to
undertake large-scale exploration, development, and utilization of
mineral resources in the Philippines may enter into a financial or
technical assistance agreement directly with the Government
through the Department.
Section 34
Maximum Contract Area
The maximum contract area that may be granted per qualified
person, subject to relinquishment shall be:
a. 1,000 meridional blocks onshore;
b. 4,000 meridional blocks offshore; or
c. Combinations of a and b provided that it shall not exceed the
maximum limits for onshore and offshore areas.
Section 35
Terms and Conditions
The following terms, conditions, and warranties shall be
incorporated in the financial or technical assistance agreement, to
wit:
a. A firm commitment in the form of a sworn statement, of an
amount corresponding to the expenditure obligation that will be
invested in the contract area: Provided, That such amount shall be
subject to changes as may be provided for in the rules and
regulations of this Act;
b. A financial guarantee bond shall be posted in favor of the
Government in an amount equivalent to the expenditure obligation
of the applicant for any year;
c. Submission of proof of technical competence, such as, but not
limited to, its track record in mineral resource exploration,
development, and utilization; details of technology to be employed
in the proposed operation; and details of technical personnel to
undertake the operation;
d. Representations and warranties that the applicant has all the
qualifications and none of the disqualifications for entering into
the agreement;
e. Representations and warranties that the contractor has or has
access to all the financing, managerial and technical expertise and,
if circumstances demand, the technology required to promptly and
effectively carry out the objectives of the agreement with the
understanding to timely deploy these resources under its
supervision pursuant to the periodic work programs and related
budgets, when proper, providing an exploration period up to two
(2) years, extendible for another two (2) years but subject to annual
review by the Secretary in accordance with the implementing rules
and regulations of this Act, and further, subject to the
relinquishment obligations;
f. Representations and warranties that, except for payments for
dispositions for its equity, foreign investments in local enterprises
which are qualified for repatriation, and local supplier's credits and
such other generally accepted and permissible financial schemes
for raising funds for valid business purposes, the contractor shall
not raise any form of financing from domestic sources of funds,
whether in Philippine or foreign currency, for conducting its
mining operations for and in the contract area;
g. The mining operations shall be conducted in accordance with the
provisions of this Act and its implementing rules and regulations;
h. Work programs and minimum expenditures commitments;
i. Preferential use of local goods and services to the maximum
extent practicable;
j. A stipulation that the contractors are obligated to give preference
to Filipinos in all types of mining employment for which they are
qualified and that technology shall be transferred to the same;
k. Requiring the proponent to effectively use appropriate anti-
pollution technology and facilities to protect the environment and
to restore or rehabilitate mined out areas and other areas affected
by mine tailings and other forms of pollution or destruction;
l. The contractors shall furnish the Government records of
geologic, accounting, and other relevant data for its mining
operations, and that book of accounts and records shall be open for
inspection by the government;
m. Requiring the proponent to dispose of the minerals and
byproducts produced under a financial or technical assistance
agreement at the highest price and more advantageous terms and
conditions as provided for under the rules and regulations of this
Act;
n. Provide for consultation and arbitration with respect to the
interpretation and implementation of the terms and conditions of
the agreements; and
o. Such other terms and conditions consistent with the
Constitution and with this Act as the Secretary may deem to be for
the best interest of the State and the welfare of the Filipino people.
Section 36
Negotiations
A financial or technical assistance agreement shall be negotiated by
the Department and executed and approved by the President. The
President shall notify Congress of all financial or technical
assistance agreements within thirty (30) days from execution and
approval thereof.
Section 37
Filing and Evaluation of Financial or Technical Assistance
Agreement Proposals
All financial or technical assistance agreement proposals shall be
filed with the Bureau after payment of the required processing fees.
If the proposal is found to be sufficient and meritorious in form
and substance after evaluation, it shall be recorded with the
appropriate government agency to give the proponent the prior
right to the area covered by such proposal: Provided, That existing
mineral agreements, financial or technical assistance agreements
and other mining rights are not impaired or prejudiced thereby.
The Secretary shall recommend its approval to the President.
Section 38
Term of Financial or Technical Assistance Agreement
A financial or technical assistance agreement shall have a term not
exceeding twenty-five (25) years to start from the execution
thereof, renewable for not more than twenty-five (25) years under
such terms and conditions as may be provided by law.
Section 39
Option to Convert into a Mineral Agreement
The contractor has the option to convert the financial or technical
assistance agreement to a mineral agreement at any time during
the term of the agreement, if the economic viability of the contract
58
area is found to be inadequate to justify large-scale mining
operations, after proper notice to the Secretary as provided for
under the implementing rules and regulations: Provided, That the
mineral agreement shall only be for the remaining period of the
original agreement.
In the case of a foreign contractor, it shall reduce its equity to forty
percent (40%) in the corporation, partnership, association, or
cooperative. Upon compliance with this requirement by the
contractor, the Secretary shall approve the conversion and execute
the mineral production-sharing agreement.
Section 40
Assignment/Transfer
A financial or technical assistance agreement may be assigned or
transferred, in whole or in part, to a qualified person subject to the
prior approval of the President: Provided, That the President shall
notify Congress of every financial or technical assistance
agreement assigned or converted in accordance with this provision
within thirty (30) days from the date of the approval thereof.
Section 41
Withdrawal from Financial or Technical Assistance Agreement
The contractor shall manifest in writing to the Secretary his
intention to withdraw from the agreement, if in his judgment the
mining project is no longer economically feasible, even after he has
exerted reasonable diligence to remedy the cause or the situation.
The Secretary may accept the withdrawal: Provided, That the
contractor has complied or satisfied all his financial, fiscal or legal
obligations.
CHAPTER VII
SMALL-SCALE MINING
Section 42
Small-scale Mining
Small-scale mining shall continue to be governed by Republic Act
No. 7076 and other pertinent laws.
CHAPTER VIII
QUARRY RESOURCES
Section 43
Quarry Permit
Any qualified person may apply to the provincial/city mining
regulatory board for a quarry permit on privately-owned lands
and/or public lands for building and construction materials such as
marble, basalt, andesite, conglomerate, tuff, adobe, granite,
gabbro, serpentine, inset filling materials, clay for ceramic tiles and
building bricks, pumice, perlite and other similar materials that are
extracted by quarrying from the ground. The provincial governor
shall grant the permit after the applicant has complied with all the
requirements as prescribed by the rules and regulations.
The maximum area which a qualified person may hold at any one
time shall be five hectares (5 has.): Provided, That in large-scale
quarry operations involving cement raw materials, marble, granite,
sand and gravel and construction aggregates, a qualified person
and the government may enter into a mineral agreement as defined
herein.
A quarry permit shall have a term of five (5) years, renewable for
like periods but not to exceed a total term of twenty-five (25) years.
No quarry permit shall be issued or granted on any area covered by
a mineral agreement or financial or technical assistance
agreement.
Section 44
Quarry Fee and Taxes
A permittee shall, during the term of his permit, pay a quarry fee as
provided for under the implementing rules and regulations. The
permittee shall also pay the excise tax as provided by pertinent
laws.

Section 45
Cancellation of Quarry Permit
A quarry permit may be cancelled by the provincial governor for
violations of the provisions of this Act or its implementing rules
and regulations or the terms and conditions of said permit:
Provided, That before the cancellation of such permit, the holder
thereof shall be given the opportunity to be heard in an
investigation conducted for the purpose.
Section 46
Commercial Sand and Gravel Permit
Any qualified person may be granted a permit by the provincial
governor to extract and remove sand and gravel or other loose or
unconsolidated materials which are used in their natural state,
without undergoing processing from an area of not more than five
hectares (5 has.) and in such quantities as may be specified in the
permit.
Section 47
Industrial Sand and Gravel Permit
Any qualified person may be granted an industrial sand and gravel
permit by the Bureau for the extraction of sand and gravel and
other loose or unconsolidated materials that necessitate the use of
mechanical processing covering an area of more than five hectares
(5 has.) at any one time. The permit shall have a term of five (5)
years, renewable for a like period but not to exceed a total term of
twenty-five (25) years.
Section 48
Exclusive Sand and Gravel Permit
Any qualified person may be granted an exclusive sand and gravel
permit by the provincial governor to quarry and utilize sand and
gravel or other loose or unconsolidated materials from public lands
for his own use, provided that there will be no commercial
disposition thereof.
A mineral agreement or a financial technical assistance agreement
contractor shall, however, have the right to extract and remove
sand and gravel and other loose unconsolidated materials without
need of a permit within the area covered by the mining agreement
for the exclusive use in the mining operations: Provided, That
monthly reports of the quantity of materials extracted therefrom
shall be submitted to the mines regional office concerned:
Provided, further, That said right shall be coterminous with the
expiration of the agreement.
Holders of existing mining leases shall likewise have the same
rights as that of a contractor: Provided, That said right shall be
coterminous with the expiry dates of the lease.
Section 49
Government Gratuitous Permit
Any government entity or instrumentality may be granted a
gratuitous permit by the provincial governor to extract sand and
gravel, quarry or loose unconsolidated materials needed in the
construction of building and/or infrastructure for public use or
other purposes over an area of not more than two hectares (2 has.)
for a period coterminous with said construction.
Section 50
Private Gratuitous Permit
Any owner of land may be granted a private gratuitous permit by
the provincial governor.
Section 51
Guano Permit
Any qualified person may be granted a guano permit by the
provincial governor to extract and utilize loose unconsolidated
guano and other organic fertilizer materials in any portion of a
municipality where he has established domicile. The permit shall
be for specific caves and/or for confined sites with locations
verified by the Department's field officer in accordance with
existing rules and regulations.
59
Section 52
Gemstone Gathering Permit
Any qualified person may be granted a non-exclusive gemstone
gathering permit by the provincial governor to gather loose stones
useful as gemstones in rivers and other locations.
CHAPTER IX
TRANSPORT, SALE AND PROCESSING OF MINERALS
Section 53
Ore Transport Permit
A permit specifying the origin and quantity of non-processed
mineral ores or minerals shall be required for their transport.
Transport permits shall be issued by the mines regional director
who has jurisdiction over the area where the ores were extracted.
In the case of mineral ores or minerals being transported from the
small-scale mining areas to the custom mills or processing plants,
the Provincial Mining Regulatory Board (PMRB) concerned shall
formulate their own policies to govern such transport of ores
produced by small-scale miners. The absence of a permit shall be
considered as prima facie evidence of illegal mining and shall be
sufficient cause for the Government to confiscate the ores or
minerals being transported, the tools and equipment utilized, and
the vehicle containing the same. Ore samples not exceeding two
metric tons (2 m.t.) to be used exclusively for assay or pilot test
purposes shall be exempted from such requirement.
Section 54
Mineral Trading Registration
No person shall engage in the trading of mineral products, either
locally or internationally, unless registered with the Department of
Trade and Industry and accredited by the Department, with a copy
of said registration submitted to the Bureau.
Section 55
Minerals Processing Permit
No person shall engage in the processing of minerals without first
securing a minerals processing permit from the Secretary. Minerals
processing permit shall be for a period of five (5) years renewable
for like periods but not to exceed a total term of twenty-five (25)
years. In the case of mineral ores or minerals produced by the
small-scale miners, the processing thereof as well as the licensing
of their custom mills, or processing plants shall continue to be
governed by the provisions of Republic Act No. 7076.
Section 56
Eligibility of Foreign-owned/-controlled Corporation
A foreign-owned/-controlled corporation may be granted a mineral
processing permit.
CHAPTER X
DEVELOPMENT OF MINING COMMUNITIES, SCIENCE AND
MINING TECHNOLOGY
Section 57
Expenditure for Community Development and Science and Mining
Technology
A contractor shall assist in the development of its mining
community, the promotion of the general welfare of its inhabitants,
and the development of science and mining technology.
Section 58
Credited Activities
Activities that may be credited as expenditures for development of
mining communities, and science and mining technology are the
following:
a. Any activity or expenditure intended to enhance the
development of the mining and neighboring communities of a
mining operation other than those required or provided for under
existing laws, or collective bargaining agreements, and the like;
and
b. Any activity or expenditure directed towards the development of
geosciences and mining technology such as, but not limited to,
institutional and manpower development, and basic and applied
researches. Appropriate supervision and control mechanisms shall
be prescribed in the implementing rules and regulations of this Act.
Section 59
Training and Development
A contractor shall maintain an effective program of manpower
training and development throughout the term of the mineral
agreement and shall encourage and train Filipinos to participate in
all aspects of the mining operations, including the management
thereof. For highly-technical and specialized mining operations,
the contractor may, subject to the necessary government
clearances, employ qualified foreigners.
Section 60
Use of Indigenous Goods, Services and Technologies
A contractor shall give preference to the use of local goods, services
and scientific and technical resources in the mining operations,
where the same are of equivalent quality, and are available on
equivalent terms as their imported counterparts.
Section 61
Donations/Turn Over of Facilities
Prior to cessation of mining operations occasioned by
abandonment or withdrawal of operations, on public lands by the
contractor, the latter shall have a period of one (1) year therefrom
within which to remove his improvements; otherwise, all the social
infrastructure and facilities shall be turned over or donated tax-
free to the proper government authorities, national or local, to
ensure that said infrastructure and facilities are continuously
maintained and utilized by the host and neighboring communities.
Section 62
Employment of Filipinos
A contractor shall give preference to Filipino citizens in all types of
mining employment within the country insofar as such citizens are
qualified to perform the corresponding work with reasonable
efficiency and without hazard to the safety of the operations. The
contractor, however, shall not be hindered from hiring employees
of his own selection, subject to the provisions of Commonwealth
Act No. 613, as amended, for technical and specialized work which,
in his judgment and with the approval of the Director, requires
highly-specialized training or long experience in exploration,
development or utilization of mineral resources: Provided, That in
no case shall each employment exceed five (5) years or the payback
period as represented in original project study, whichever is longer:
Provided, further, That each foreigner employed as mine manager,
vice-president for operations or in an equivalent managerial
position in charge of mining, milling, quarrying or drilling
operation shall:
a. Present evidence of his qualification and work experience; or
b. Shall pass the appropriate government licensure examination; or
c. In special cases, may be permitted to work by the Director for a
period not exceeding one (1) year: Provided, however, That if
reciprocal privileges are extended to Filipino nationals in the
country of domicile, the Director may grant waivers or exemptions.
CHAPTER XI
SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
Section 63
Mines Safety and Environmental Protection
All contractors and permittees shall strictly comply with all the
mines safety rules and regulations as may be promulgated by the
Secretary concerning the safe and sanitary upkeep of the mining
operations and achieve waste-free and efficient mine development.
Personnel of the Department involved in the implementation of
60
mines safety, health and environmental rules and regulations shall
be covered under Republic Act No. 7305.
Section 64
Mine Labor
No person under sixteen (16) years of age shall be employed in any
phase of mining operations and no person under eighteen (18)
years of age shall be employed underground in a mine.
Section 65
Mine Supervision
All mining and quarrying operations that employ more than fifty
(50) workers shall have at least one (1) licensed mining engineer
with at least five (5) years of experience in mining operations, and
one (1) registered foreman.
Section 66
Mine Inspection
The regional director shall have exclusive jurisdiction over the
safety inspection of all installations, surface or underground, in
mining operations at reasonable hours of the day or night and as
much as possible in a manner that will not impede or obstruct
work in progress of a contractor or permittee.
Section 67
Power to Issue Orders
The mines regional director shall, in consultation with the
Environmental Management Bureau, forthwith or within such time
as specified in his order, require the contractor to remedy any
practice connected with mining or quarrying operations, which is
not in accordance with safety and anti-pollution laws and
regulations. In case of imminent danger to life or property, the
mines regional director may summarily suspend the mining or
quarrying operations until the danger is removed, or appropriate
measures are taken by the contractor or permittee.
Section 68
Report of Accidents
In case of any incident or accident, causing or creating the danger
of loss of life or serious physical injuries, the person in charge of
operations shall immediately report the same to the regional office
where the operations are situated. Failure to report the same
without justifiable reason shall be a cause for the imposition of
administrative sanctions prescribed in the rules and regulations
implementing this Act.
Section 69
Environmental Protection
Every contractor shall undertake an environmental protection and
enhancement program covering the period of the mineral
agreement or permit. Such environmental program shall be
incorporated in the work program which the contractor or
permittee shall submit as an accompanying document to the
application for a mineral agreement or permit. The work program
shall include not only plans relative to mining operations but also
to rehabilitation, regeneration, revegetation and reforestation of
mineralized areas, slope stabilization of mined-out and tailings
covered areas, aquaculture, watershed development and water
conservation; and socioeconomic development.
Section 70
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)
Except during the exploration period of a mineral agreement or
financial or technical assistance agreement or an exploration
permit, an environmental clearance certificate shall be required
based on an environmental impact assessment and procedures
under the Philippine Environmental Impact Assessment System
including Sections 26 and 27 of the Local Government Code of 1991
which require national government agencies to maintain ecological
balance, and prior consultation with the local government units,
non-governmental and people's organizations and other concerned
sectors of the community: Provided, That a completed ecological
profile of the proposed mining area shall also constitute part of the
environmental impact assessment. People's organizations and non-
governmental organizations shall be allowed and encouraged to
participate in ensuring that contractors/permittees shall observe
all the requirements of environmental protection.
Section 71
Rehabilitation
Contractors and permittees shall technically and biologically
rehabilitate the excavated, mined-out, tailings covered and
disturbed areas to the condition of environmental safety, as may be
provided in the implementing rules and regulations of this Act. A
mine rehabilitation fund shall be created, based on the contractor's
approved work program, and shall be deposited as a trust fund in a
government depository bank and used for physical and social
rehabilitation of areas and communities affected by mining
activities and for research on the social, technical and preventive
aspects of rehabilitation. Failure to fulfill the above obligation shall
mean immediate suspension or closure of the mining activities of
the contractor/permittee concerned.
CHAPTER XII
AUXILIARY MINING RIGHTS
Section 72
Timber Rights
Any provision of law to the contrary notwithstanding, a contractor
may be granted a right to cut trees or timber within his mining area
as may be necessary for his mining operations subject to forestry
laws, rules and regulations: Provided, That if the land covered by
the mining area is already covered by existing timber concessions,
the volume of timber needed and the manner of cutting and
removal thereof shall be determined by the mines regional
director, upon consultation with the contractor, the timber
concessionaire/permittee and the Forest Management Bureau of
the Department: Provided, further, That in case of disagreement
between the contractor and the timber concessionaire, the matter
shall be submitted to the Secretary whose decision shall be final.
The contractor shall perform reforestation work within his mining
area in accordance with forestry laws, rules and regulations.
Section 73
Water Rights
A contractor shall have water rights for mining operations upon
approval of application with the appropriate government agency in
accordance with existing water laws, rules and regulations
promulgated thereunder: Provided, That water rights already
granted or vested through long use, recognized and acknowledged
by local customs, laws, and decisions of courts shall not thereby be
impaired: Provided, further, That the Government reserves the
right to regulate water rights and the reasonable and equitable
distribution of water supply so as to prevent the monopoly of the
use thereof.
Section 74
Right to Possess Explosives
A contractor/exploration permittee shall have the right to possess
and use explosives within his contract/permit area as may be
necessary for his mining operations upon approval of application
with the appropriate government agency in accordance with
existing laws, rules and regulations promulgated thereunder:
Provided, That the Government reserves the right to regulate and
control the explosive accessories to ensure safe mining operations.
Section 75
Easement Rights
When mining areas are so situated that for purposes of more
convenient mining operations it is necessary to build, construct or
install on the mining areas or lands owned, occupied or leased by
other persons, such infrastructure as roads, railroads, mills, waste
dump sites, tailings ponds, warehouses, staging or storage areas
and port facilities, tramways, runways, airports, electric
transmission, telephone or telegraph lines, dams and their normal
flood and catchment areas, sites for water wells, ditches, canals,
new river beds, pipelines, flumes, cuts, shafts, tunnels, or mills, the
contractor, upon payment of just compensation, shall be entitled to
enter and occupy said mining areas or lands.
61
Section 76
Entry into Private Lands and Concession Areas
Subject to prior notification, holders of mining rights shall not be
prevented from entry into private lands and concession areas by
surface owners, occupants, or concessionaires when conducting
mining operations therein: Provided, That any damage done to the
property of the surface owner, occupant, or concessionaire as a
consequence of such operations shall be properly compensated as
may be provided for in the implementing rules and regulations:
Provided, further, That to guarantee such compensation, the
person authorized to conduct mining operation shall, prior thereto,
post a bond with the regional director based on the type of
properties, the prevailing prices in and around the area where the
mining operations are to be conducted, with surety or sureties
satisfactory to the regional director.
CHAPTER XIII
SETTLEMENT OF CONFLICTS
Section 77
Panel of Arbitrators
There shall be a panel of arbitrators in the regional office of the
Department composed of three (3) members, two (2) of whom
must be members of the Philippine Bar in good standing and one a
licensed mining engineer or a professional in a related field, and
duly designated by the Secretary as recommended by the Mines
and Geosciences Bureau Director. Those designated as members of
the panel shall serve as such in addition to their work in the
Department without receiving any additional compensation As
much as practicable, said members shall come from the different
bureaus of the Department in the region. The presiding officer
thereof shall be selected by the drawing of lots. His tenure as
presiding officer shall be on a yearly basis. The members of the
panel shall perform their duties and obligations in hearing and
deciding cases until their designation is withdrawn or revoked by
the Secretary. Within thirty (30) working days, after the
submission of the case by the parties for decision, the panel shall
have exclusive and original jurisdiction to hear and decide on the
following:
a. Disputes involving rights to mining areas;
b. Disputes involving mineral agreements or permits;
c. Disputes involving surface owners, occupants and
claimholders/concessionaires; and
d. Disputes pending before the Bureau and the Department at the
date of the effectivity of this Act.
Section 78
Appellate Jurisdiction
The decision or order of the panel of arbitrators may be appealed
by the party not satisfied thereto to the Mines Adjudication Board
within fifteen (15) days from receipt thereof which must decide the
case within thirty (30) days from submission thereof for decision.
Section 79
Mines Adjudication Board
The Mines Adjudication Board shall be composed of three (3)
members. The Secretary shall be the chairman with the Director of
the Mines and Geosciences Bureau and the Undersecretary for
Operations of the Department as members thereof. The Board shall
have the following powers and functions:
a. To promulgate rules and regulations governing the hearing and
disposition of cases before it, as well as those pertaining to its
internal functions, and such rules and regulations as may be
necessary to carry out its functions;
b. To administer oaths, summon the parties to a controversy, issue
subpoenas requiring the attendance and testimony of witnesses or
the production of such books, papers, contracts, records, statement
of accounts, agreements, and other documents as may be material
to a just determination of the matter under investigation, and to
testify in any investigation or hearing conducted in pursuance of
this Act;
c. To conduct hearings on all matters within its jurisdiction,
proceed to hear and determine the disputes in the absence of any
party thereto who has been summoned or served with notice to
appear, conduct its proceedings or any part thereof in public or in
private, adjourn its hearings at any time and place, refer technical
matters or accounts to an expert and to accept his report as
evidence after hearing of the parties upon due notice, direct parties
to be joined in or excluded from the proceedings, correct, amend,
or waive any error, defect or irregularity, whether in substance or
in form, give all such directions as it may deem necessary or
expedient in the determination of the dispute before it, and dismiss
the mining dispute as part thereof, where it is trivial or where
further proceedings by the Board are not necessary or desirable:
1. To hold any person in contempt, directly or indirectly, and
impose appropriate penalties therefor; and
2. To enjoin any or all acts involving or arising from any case
pending before it which, if not restrained forthwith, may cause
grave or irreparable damage to any of the parties to the case or
seriously affect social and economic stability.
In any proceeding before the Board, the rules of evidence
prevailing in courts of law or equity shall not be controlling and it
is the spirit and intention of this Act that shall govern. The Board
shall use every and all reasonable means to ascertain the facts in
each case speedily and objectively and without regard to
technicalities of law or procedure, all in the interest of due process.
In any proceeding before the Board, the parties may be represented
by legal counsel. The findings of fact of the Board shall be
conclusive and binding on the parties and its decision or order
shall be final and executory.
A petition for review by certiorari and question of law may be filed
by the aggrieved party with the Supreme Court within thirty (30)
days from receipt of the order or decision of the Board.
CHAPTER XIV
GOVERNMENT SHARE
Section 80
Government Share in Mineral Production Sharing Agreement
The total government share in a mineral production sharing
agreement shall be the excise tax on mineral products as provided
in Republic Act No. 7729, amending Section 151(a) of the National
Internal Revenue Code, as amended.
Section 81
Government Share in Other Mineral Agreements
The share of the Government in co-production and joint-venture
agreements shall be negotiated by the Government and the
contractor taking into consideration the:
a. capital investment of the project;
b. risks involved;
c. contribution of the project to the economy; and
d. other factors that will provide for a fair and equitable sharing
between the Government and the contractor.
The Government shall also be entitled to compensations for its
other contributions which shall be agreed upon by the parties, and
shall consist, among other things, the contractor's income tax,
excise tax, special allowance, withholding tax due from the
contractor's foreign stockholders arising from dividend or interest
payments to the said foreign stockholders, in case of a foreign
national, and all such other taxes, duties and fees as provided for
under existing laws.
The Government share in financial or technical assistance
agreement shall consist of, among other things, the contractor's
corporate income tax, excise tax, special allowance, withholding tax
due from the contractor's foreign stockholders arising from
62
dividend or interest payments to the said foreign stockholder in
case of a foreign national and all such other taxes, duties and fees
as provided for under existing laws.
The collection of Government share in financial or technical
assistance agreement shall commence after the financial or
technical assistance agreement contractor has fully recovered its
pre-operating expenses, exploration, and development
expenditures, inclusive.
Section 82
Allocation of Government Share
The Government share as referred to in the preceding sections
shall be shared and allocated in accordance with Sections 290 and
292 of Republic Act No. 7160 otherwise known as the Local
Government Code of 1991. In case the development and utilization
of mineral resources is undertaken by a government-owned or -
controlled corporation, the sharing and allocation shall be in
accordance with Sections 291 and 292 of the said Code.
CHAPTER XV
TAXES AND FEES
Section 83
Income Taxes
After the lapse of the income tax holiday as provided for in the
Omnibus Investments Code, the contractor shall be liable to pay
income tax as provided in the National Internal Revenue Code, as
amended.
Section 84
Excise Tax on Mineral Products
The contractor shall be liable to pay the excise tax on mineral
products as provided for under Section 151 of the National Internal
Revenue Code: Provided, however, That with respect to a mineral
production sharing agreement, the excise tax on mineral products
shall be the government share under said agreement.
Section 85
Mine Wastes and Tailings Fees
A semi-annual fee to be known as mine wastes and tailings fee is
hereby imposed on all operating mining companies in accordance
with the implementing rules and regulations. The mine wastes and
tailings fee shall accrue to a reserve fund to be used exclusively for
payment for damages to:
a. Lives and personal safety;
b. Lands, agricultural crops and forest products, marine life and
aquatic resources, cultural resources; and
c. Infrastructure and the revegetation and rehabilitation of silted
farm lands and other areas devoted to agriculture and fishing
caused by mining pollution.
This is in addition to the suspension or closure of the activities of
the contractor at any time and the penal sanctions imposed upon
the same.
The Secretary is authorized to increase mine wastes and tailings
fees, when public interest so requires, upon the recommendation of
the Director.
Section 86
Occupation Fees
There shall be collected from any holder of a mineral agreement,
financial or technical assistance agreement or exploration permit
on public or private lands, an annual occupation fee in accordance
with the following schedule:
a. For exploration permit - Five pesos (P5.00) per hectare or
fraction thereof per annum;
b. For mineral agreements and financial or technical assistance
agreements - Fifty pesos (P50.00) per hectare or fraction thereof
per annum; and
c. For mineral reservation - One hundred pesos (P100.00) per
hectare or fraction thereof per annum.
The Secretary is authorized to increase the occupation fees
provided herein when the public interest so requires, upon
recommendation of the Bureau Director.
Section 87
Manner of Payment of Fees
The fees shall be paid on the date the mining agreement is
registered with the appropriate office and on the same date every
year thereafter. It shall be paid to the treasurer of the municipality
or city where the onshore mining areas are located, or to the
Director in case of offshore mining areas. For this purpose, the
appropriate officer shall submit to the treasurer of the municipality
or city where the onshore mining area is located, a complete list of
all onshore mining rights registered with his office, indicating
therein the names of the holders, area in hectares, location, and
date registered. If the fee is not paid on the date specified, it shall
be increased by twenty-five per centum (25%).
Section 88
Allocation of Occupation Fees
Thirty per centum (30%) of all occupational fees collected from
holders of mining rights in onshore mining areas shall accrue to
the province and seventy per centum (70%) to the municipality in
which the onshore mining areas are located. In a chartered city, the
full amount shall accrue to the city concerned.
Section 89
Filing Fees and Other Charges
The Secretary is authorized to charge reasonable filing fees and
other charges as he may prescribe in accordance with the
implementing rules and regulations.
CHAPTER XVI
INCENTIVES
Section 90
Incentives
The contractors in mineral agreements, and financial or technical
assistance agreements shall be entitled to the applicable fiscal and
non-fiscal incentives as provided for under Executive Order No.
226, otherwise known as the Omnibus Investments Code of 1987.
Provided, That holders of exploration permits may register with
the Board of Investments and be entitled to the fiscal incentives
granted under the said Code for the duration of the permits or
extensions thereof: Provided, further, That mining activities shall
always be included in the investment priorities plan.
Section 91
Incentives for Pollution Control Devices
Pollution control devices acquired, constructed or installed by
contractors shall not be considered as improvements on the land or
building where they are placed, and shall not be subject to real
property and other taxes or assessments: Provided, however, That
payment of mine wastes and tailings fees is not exempted.
Section 92
Income Tax-Carry Forward of Losses
A net operating loss without the benefit of incentives incurred in
any of the first ten (10) years of operations may be carried over as a
deduction from taxable income for the next five (5) years
immediately following the year of such loss. The entire amount of
the loss shall be carried over to the first of the five (5) taxable years
following the loss, and any portion of such loss which exceeds the
taxable income of such first year shall be deducted in like manner
from the taxable income of the next remaining four (4) years.
Section 93
63
Income Tax-Accelerated Depreciation
Fixed assets may be depreciated as follows:
a. To the extent of not more than twice as fast as the normal rate of
depreciation or depreciated at normal rate of depreciation if the
expected life is ten (10) years or less; or
b. Depreciated over any number of years between five (5) years and
the expected life if the latter is more than ten (10) years, and the
depreciation thereon allowed as deduction from taxable income:
Provided, That the contractor notifies the Bureau of Internal
Revenue at the beginning of the depreciation period which
depreciation rate allowed by this section will be used.
In computing for taxable income, unless otherwise provided in this
Act, the contractor may, at his option, deduct exploration and
development expenditures accumulated at cost as of the date of the
prospecting or exploration and development expenditures paid or
incurred during the taxable year: Provided, That the total amount
deductible for exploration and development expenditures shall not
exceed twenty-five per centum (25%) of the net income from
mining operations. The actual exploration and development
expenditures minus the twenty-five per centum (25%) net income
from mining shall be carried forward to the succeeding years until
fully deducted.
Net income from mining operation is defined as gross income from
operations less allowable deductions which are necessary or related
to mining operations. Allowable deductions shall include mining,
milling and marketing expenses, depreciation of properties directly
used in the mining operations. This paragraph shall not apply to
expenditures for the acquisition or improvement of property of a
character which is subject to the allowances for depreciation.
Section 94
Investment Guarantees
The contractor shall be entitled to the basic rights and guarantees
provided in the Constitution and such other rights recognized by
the government as enumerated hereunder:
a. Repatriation of investments. The right to repatriate the entire
proceeds of the liquidation of the foreign investment in the
currency in which the investment was originally made and at the
exchange rate prevailing at the time of repatriation.
b. Remittance of earnings. The right to remit earnings from the
investment in the currency in which the foreign investment was
originally made and at the exchange rate prevailing at the time of
remittance.
c. Foreign loans and contracts. The right to remit at the exchange
rate prevailing at the time of remittance such sums as may be
necessary to meet the payments of interest and principal on foreign
loans and foreign obligations arising from financial or technical
assistance contracts.
d. Freedom from expropriation. The right to be free from
expropriation by the Government of the property represented by
investments or loans, or of the property of the enterprise except for
public use or in the interest of national welfare or defense and
upon payment of just compensation. In such cases, foreign
investors or enterprises shall have the right to remit sums received
as compensation for the expropriated property in the currency in
which the investment was originally made and at the exchange rate
prevailing at the time of remittance.
e. Requisition of investment. The right to be free from requisition
of the property represented by the investment or of the property of
the enterprises except in case of war or national emergency and
only for the duration thereof. Just compensation shall be
determined and paid either at the time or immediately after
cessation of the state of war or national emergency. Payments
received as compensation for the requisitioned property may be
remitted in the currency in which the investments were originally
made and at the exchange rate prevailing at the time of remittance.
f. Confidentiality. Any confidential information supplied by the
contractor pursuant to this Act and its implementing rules and
regulations shall be treated as such by the Department and the
Government, and during the term of the project to which it relates.

CHAPTER XVII
GROUND FOR CANCELLATION, REVOCATION, AND
TERMINATION
Section 95
Late or Non-filing of Requirements
Failure of the permittee or contractor to comply with any of the
requirements provided in this Act or in its implementing rules and
regulations, without a valid reason, shall be sufficient ground for
the suspension of any permit or agreement provided under this
Act.
Section 96
Violation of the Terms and Conditions of Permits or Agreements
Violation of the terms and conditions of the permits or agreements
shall be a sufficient ground for cancellation of the same.
Section 97
Non-Payment of Taxes and Fees
Failure to pay the taxes and fees due the Government for two (2)
consecutive years shall cause the cancellation of the exploration
permit, mineral agreement, financial or technical assistance
agreement and other agreements and the re-opening of the area
subject thereof to new applicants.
Section 98
Suspension or Cancellation of Tar Incentives and Credits
Failure to abide by the terms and conditions of tax incentive and
credits shall cause the suspension or cancellation of said incentives
and credits.
Section 99
Falsehood or Omission of Facts in the Statement
All statements made in the exploration permit, mining agreement
and financial or technical assistance agreement shall be considered
as conditions and essential parts thereof and any falsehood in said
statements or omission of facts therein which may alter, change or
affect substantially the facts set forth in said statements may cause
the revocation and termination of the exploration permit, mining
agreement and financial or technical assistance agreement.
CHAPTER XVIII
ORGANIZATIONAL AND INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS
Section 100
From Staff Bureau to Line Bureau
The Mines and Geosciences Bureau is hereby transformed into a
line bureau consistent with Section 9 of this Act: Provided, That
under the Mines and Geosciences Bureau shall be the necessary
mines regional, district and other pertinent offices - the number
and specific functions of which shall be provided in the
implementing rules and regulations of this Act.
CHAPTER XIX
PENAL PROVISIONS
Section 101
False Statements
Any person who knowingly presents any false application,
declaration, or evidence to the Government or publishes or causes
to be published any prospectus or other information containing
any false statement relating to mines, mining operations or mineral
agreements, financial or technical assistance agreements and
permits shall, upon conviction, be penalized by a fine of not
exceeding Ten thousand pesos (P10,000.00).
Section 102
Illegal Exploration
64
Any person undertaking exploration work without the necessary
exploration permit shall, upon conviction, be penalized by a fine of
not exceeding Fifty thousand pesos (P50,000.00).
Section 103
Theft of Minerals
Any person extracting minerals and disposing the same without a
mining agreement, lease, permit, license, or steals minerals or ores
or the products thereof from mines or mills or processing plants
shall, upon conviction, be imprisoned from six (6) months to six
(6) years or pay a fine from Ten thousand pesos (P10,000.00) to
Twenty thousand pesos (P20,000.00) or both, at the discretion of
the appropriate court. In addition, he shall be liable to pay
damages and compensation for the minerals removed, extracted,
and disposed of. In the case of associations, partnerships, or
corporations, the president and each of the directors thereof shall
be responsible for the acts committed by such association,
corporation, or partnership.
Section 104
Destruction of Mining Structures
Any person who willfully destroys or damages structures in or on
the mining area or on the mill sites shall, upon conviction, be
imprisoned for a period not to exceed five (5) years and shall, in
addition, pay compensation for the damages which may have been
caused thereby.
Section 105
Mines Arson
Any person who willfully sets fire to any mineral stockpile, mine or
workings, fittings or a mine, shall be guilty of arson and shall be
punished, upon conviction, by the appropriate court in accordance
with the provisions of the Revised Penal Code and shall, in
addition, pay compensation for the damages caused hereby.
Section 106
Willful Damage to a Mine
Any person who willfully damages a mine, unlawfully causes water
to run into a mine, or obstructs any shaft or passage to a mine, or
renders useless, damages or destroys any machine, appliance,
apparatus, rope, chain, tackle, or any other things used in a mine,
shall be punished, upon conviction, by the appropriate court, by
imprisonment not exceeding a period of five (5) years and shall, in
addition, pay compensation for the damages caused thereby.
Section 107
Illegal Obstruction to Permittees or Contractors
Any person who, without justifiable cause, prevents or obstructs
the holder of any permit, agreement or lease from undertaking his
mining operations shall be punished, upon conviction by the
appropriate court, by a fine not exceeding Five thousand pesos
(P5,000.00) or imprisonment not exceeding one (1) year, or both,
at the discretion of the court.
Section 108
Violation of the Terms and Conditions of the Environmental
Compliance Certificate
Any person who willfully violates or grossly neglects to abide by the
terms and conditions of the environmental compliance certificate
issued to said person and which causes environmental damage
through pollution shall suffer the penalty of imprisonment of six
(6) months to six (6) years or a fine of Fifty thousand pesos
(P50,000.00) to Two hundred thousand pesos (P200,000.00), or
both, at the discretion of the court.
Section 109
Illegal Obstruction to Government Officials
Any person who illegally prevents or obstructs the Secretary, the
Director or any of their representatives in the performance of their
duties under the provisions of this Act and of the regulations
promulgated hereunder shall be punished upon conviction, by the
appropriate court, by a fine not exceeding Five thousand pesos
(P5,000.00) or by imprisonment not exceeding one (1) year, or
both, at the discretion of the court.
Section 110
Other Violations
Any other violation of this Act and its implementing rules and
regulations shall constitute an offense punishable with a fine not
exceeding Five thousand pesos (P5,000.00).
Section 111
Fines
The Secretary is authorized to charge fines for late or non-
submission of reports in accordance with the implementing rules
and regulations of this Act.
CHAPTER XX
TRANSITORY AND MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS
Section 112
Non-Impairment of Existing Mining/Quarrying Rights
All valid and existing mining lease contracts, permits/licenses,
leases pending renewal, mineral production-sharing agreements
granted under Executive Order No. 279, at the date of effectivity of
this Act, shall remain valid, shall not be impaired, and shall be
recognized by the Government: Provided, That the provisions of
Chapter XIV on government share in mineral production-sharing
agreement and of Chapter XVI on incentives of this Act shall
immediately govern and apply to a mining lessee or contractor
unless the mining lessee or contractor indicates his intention to the
secretary, in writing, not to avail of said provisions: Provided,
further, That no renewal of mining lease contracts shall be made
after the expiration of its term: Provided, finally, That such leases,
production-sharing agreements, financial or technical assistance
agreements shall comply with the applicable provisions of this Act
and its implementing rules and regulations.
Section 113
Recognition of Valid and Existing Mining Claims and
Lease/Quarry Applications
Holders of valid and existing mining claims, lease/quarry
applications shall be given preferential rights to enter into any
mode of mineral agreement with the government within two (2)
years from the promulgation of the rules and regulations
implementing this Act.
Section 114
Separability Clause
If any of the provision of this Act is held or declared to be
unconstitutional or invalid by a competent court, the other
provisions hereof shall continue to be in force as if the provision so
annulled or voided had never been incorporated in this Act.
Section 115
Repealing and Amending Clause
All laws, executive orders, presidential decrees, rules and
regulations or parts thereof which are inconsistent with any of the
provisions of this Act are hereby repealed or amended accordingly.
Section 116
Effectivity Clause
This Act shall take effect thirty (30) days following its complete
publication in two (2) newspapers of general circulation in the
Philippines.
iv REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7586 NIPAS ACT (BASIS
FOR NATIONAL PARK)
AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT AND
MANAGEMENT OF
NATIONAL INTEGRATED PROTECTED AREAS SYSTEM,
DEFINING ITS SCOPE AND COVERAGE, AND FOR OTHER
PURPOSES
65
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
Philippines in Congress assembled:
SECTION 1. Title - This Act shall be known and referred to as
the "National Integrated Protected Areas System Act of
1992".
SECTION 2. Declaration of Policy - Cognizant of the profound
impact of man's activities on all components of the natural
environment particularly the effect of increasing population,
resource exploitation and industrial advancement and recognizing
the critical importance of protecting and maintaining the natural
biological and physical diversities of the environment notably on
areas with biologically unique features to sustain human life and
development, as well as plant and animal life, it is hereby declared
the policy of the State to secure for the Filipino people of present
and future generations the perpetual existence of all native plants
and animals through the establishment of a comprehensive system
of integrated protected areas within the classification of national
park as provided for in the Constitution.
It is hereby recognized that these areas, although distinct in
features, posses common ecological values that may be
incorporated into a holistic plan representative of our natural
heritage; that effective administration of this area is possible only
through cooperation among national government, local
government and concerned private organizations; that the use and
enjoyment of these protected areas must be consistent with the
principles of biological diversity and sustainable development.
To this end, there is hereby established a National Integrated
Protected Areas System (NIPAS), which shall encompass
outstandingly remarkable areas and biologically important public
lands that are habitats of rare and endangered species of plants
and animals, biogeographic zones and related ecosystems, whether
terrestrial, wetland or marine, all of which shall be designated as
"protected areas".
SECTION 3. Categories - The following categories of protected
areas are hereby established:
a. Strict nature reserve;
b. Natural park;
c. Natural monument;
d. Wildlife sanctuary;
e. Protected landscapes and seascapes;
f. Resource reserve;
g. Natural biotic areas; and
h. Other categories established by law, conventions or
international agreements which the Philippine Government is a
signatory.
SECTION 4. Definition of Terms - For purposes of this Act,
the following terms shall be defined as follows:
"National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS)" is the
classification and administration of all designated protected areas
to maintain essential ecological processes and life-support systems,
to preserve genetic diversity, to ensure sustainable use of resources
found therein, and to maintain their natural conditions to the
greatest extent possible;
"Protected Area" refers to identified portions of land and water set
aside by reason of their unique physical and biological significance,
managed to enhance biological diversity and protected against
destructive human exploitation;
"Buffer zones" are identified areas outside the boundaries of and
immediately adjacent to designated protected areas pursuant to
Section 8 that need special development control in order to avoid
or minimize harm to the protected area;
"Indigenous cultural community" refers to a group of people
sharing common bonds of language, customs, traditions and other
distinctive cultural traits and who have since time immemorial,
occupied, possessed and utilized a territory;
"National park" refers to a forest reservation essentially of natural
wilderness character which has been withdrawn from settlement,
occupancy or any form of exploitation except in conformity with
approved management plan and set aside as such exclusively to
conserve the area or preserve the scenery, the natural and historic
objects, wild animals and plants therein and to provide enjoyment
of these features in such areas;
"Natural monuments" is a relatively small area focused on
protection of small features to protect or preserve nationally
significant natural features on account of their special interest or
unique characteristics;
"Natural biotic area" is an area set aside to allow the way of life of
societies living in harmony with the environment to adapt to
modern technology at their pace;
"Natural park" is a relatively large area not materially altered by
human activity where extractive resource uses are not allowed and
maintained to protect outstanding natural and scenic areas of
national or international significance for scientific, educational and
recreational use;
"Protected landscapes/seascapes" are areas of national significance
which are characterized by the harmonious interaction of man and
land while providing opportunities for public enjoyment through
the recreation and tourism within the normal lifestyle and
economic activity of these areas;
"Resource reserve" is an extensive and relatively isolated and
uninhabited area normally with difficult access designated as such
to protect natural resources of the area for future use and prevent
or contain development activities that could affect the resource
pending the establishment of objectives which are based upon
appropriate knowledge and planning;
"Strict nature reserve" is an area possessing some outstanding
ecosystem, features and/or species of flora and fauna of national
scientific importance maintained to protect nature and maintain
processes in an undisturbed state in order to have ecologically
representative examples of the natural environment available for
scientific study, environmental monitoring, education, and for the
maintenance of genetic resources in a dynamic and evolutionary
state;
"Tenured migrant communities" are communities within protected
areas which have actually and continuously occupied such areas for
five (5) years before the designation of the same as protected areas
in accordance with this Act and are solely dependent therein for
subsistence; and
"Wildlife sanctuary" comprises an area which assures the natural
conditions necessary to protect nationally significant species,
groups of species, biotic communities or physical features of the
environment where these may require specific human
manipulations for their perpetuation.
SECTION 5. Establishment and Extent of the System - The
establishment and operationalization of the System shall involve
the following:
All areas or islands in the Philippines proclaimed, designated or set
aside, pursuant to a law, presidential decree, presidential
proclamation or executive order as national park, game refuge,
bird and wildlife sanctuary, wilderness area, strict nature reserve,
watershed, mangrove reserve, fish sanctuary, natural and historical
landmark, protected and managed landscape/seascape as well as
identified virgin forests before the effectivity of this Act are hereby
designated as initial components of the System. The initial
components of the System shall be governed by existing laws, rules
and regulations, not inconsistent with this Act;
Within one (1) year from the effectivity of this Act, the DENR shall
submit to the Senate and the House of Representatives a map and
legal descriptions or natural boundaries of each protected area
initially comprising the System. Such maps and legal description
shall, by virtue of this Act, constitute the official documentary
representation of the entire System, subject to such changes as
Congress deems necessary;
All DENR records pertaining to said protected areas, including
maps and legal descriptions or natural boundaries, copies of rules
and regulations governing them, copies of public notices of, and
reports submitted to Congress regarding pending additions,
eliminations, or modifications shall be made available to the
public. These legal documents pertaining to protected areas shall
also be available to the public in the respective DENR Regional
66
Offices, Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Offices
(PENROs) and Community Environment and Natural Resources
Offices (CENROs) where NIPAS areas are located;
Within three (3) years from the effectivity of this Act, the DENR
shall study and review each area tentatively composing the System
as to its suitability or non-suitability for preservation as protected
area and inclusion in the System according to the categories
established in Section 3 hereof and report its findings to the
President as soon as each study is completed. The study must
include in each area:
1. A forest occupants survey;
2. An ethnographic study;
3. A protected area resource profile;
4. Land use plans done in coordination with the respective
Regional Development Councils; and
5. Such other background studies as will be sufficient bases for
selection.
The DENR shall:
Notify the public of proposed action through publication in a
newspaper of general circulation, and such other means as the
System deems necessary in the area or areas in the vicinity of the
affected land thirty (30) days prior to the public hearing;
i. Conduct public hearings at the locations nearest to the area
affected;
ii. At least thirty (30) days prior to the date of hearing, advise all
Local Government Units (LGUs) in the affected areas, national
agencies concerned, people's organizations and non-government
organizations and invite such officials to submit their views on the
proposed action at the hearing not later than thirty (30) days
following the date of hearing; and
iii. Give due consideration to the recommendations at the public
hearing; and provide sufficient explanation for his
recommendations contrary to the general sentiments expressed in
the public hearing;
Upon receipt of the recommendations of the DENR, the President
shall issue a presidential proclamation designating the
recommended areas as protected areas and providing for measures
for their protection until such time when Congress shall have
enacted a law finally declaring such recommended areas as part of
the integrated protected area systems; and
Thereafter, the President shall send to the Senate and the House of
Representatives his recommendations with respect to the
designations as protected areas or reclassification of each area on
which review has been completed, together with maps and legal
description of boundaries. The President, in his recommendation,
may propose the alteration of existing boundaries of any or all
proclaimed protected areas, addition of any contiguous area of
public land of predominant physical and biological value. Nothing
contained herein shall limit the President to propose, as part of his
recommendation to Congress, additional areas which have not
been designated, proclaimed or set aside by law, presidential
decree, proclamation or executive orders as protected area/s.
SECTION 6. Additional Areas to be Integrated to the System. -
Notwithstanding the establishment of the initial component of the
additional areas with outstanding physical features,
anthropological significance and biological diversity in accordance
with the provisions of Section 5d.
SECTION 7. Disestablishment as Protected Area. - When in
the opinion of the DENR a certain protected area should be
withdrawn or disestablished, or its boundaries modified as
warranted by a study and sanctioned by the majority of the
members of the respective boards for the protected area as herein
established in Section 11, it shall, in turn, advice Congress.
Disestablishment of a protected area under the System or
modification of its boundary shall take effect pursuant to an act of
Congress. Thereafter, said area shall revert to the category of
public forests unless otherwise classified by Congress: Provided
however, that after disestablishment by Congress, the Secretary
may recommend the transfer of such disestablished area to other
government agencies to serve other priority programs of national
interest.
SECTION 8. Buffer Zones. - For each protected area, there
shall be established peripheral buffer zones when necessary, in the
same manner as Congress establishes the protected area, to protect
the same from activities that will directly and indirectly harm it.
Such buffer zones shall be included in the individual protected area
management plan that shall prepared for each protected area. The
DENR shall exercise its authority over protected areas as provided
in this Act on such area and designated as buffer zones.
SECTION 9. Management Plans. - There shall be a general
management planning strategy to serve as guide in formulating
individual plans for each protected area. The management
planning strategy shall, at the minimum, promote the adoption and
implementation of innovative management techniques including if
necessary, the concept of zoning, buffer zone management for
multiple use and protection, habitat conservation and
rehabilitation, diversity management, community organizing,
socioeconomic and scientific researches, site-specific policy
development, pest management, and fire control. The management
planning strategy shall also provide guidelines for the protection of
indigenous cultural communities, other tenured migrant
communities and sites for close coordination between and among
local agencies of the Government as well as the private sector.
Each component area of the System shall be planned and
administered to further protect and enhance the permanent
preservation of its natural conditions. A management manual shall
be formulated and developed which must contain the following: an
individual management plan prepared by three (3) experts, basic
background information, field inventory of the resources within the
area, an assessment of assets and limitations, regional
interrelationships, particular objectives for managing the area,
appropriate division of the area into management zones, a review
of the boundaries of the area, and a design of the management
programs.
SECTION 10. Administration and Management of the System. -
The National Integrated Protected Areas System is hereby placed
under the control and administration of the Department of
Environment and Natural Resources. For this purpose, there is
hereby created a division in the regional offices of the Department
to be called the Protected Areas and Wildlife Division in regions
where protected areas have been established, which shall be under
the supervision of a Regional Technical Director, and shall include
subordinate officers, clerks, and employees as may be proposed by
the Secretary, duly approved by the Department of Budget and
Management, and appropriated by the Congress. The Service thus
established shall manage protected areas and promote the
permanent preservation, to the greatest extent possible of their
natural conditions.
To carry out the mandate of this Act, the Secretary of the DENR is
empowered to perform any and all of the following acts:
a. To conduct studies on various characteristic features and
conditions of the different protected areas, using commonalities in
their characteristics, classify and define them into categories and
prescribe permissible or prohibited human activities in each
category in the System;
b. To adopt and enforce a land use scheme and zoning plan in
adjoining areas for the preservation and control of activities that
may threaten the ecological balance in the protected areas;
c. To cause the preparation of and exercise the power to review all
plans and proposals for the management of protected areas;
d. To promulgate rules and regulations necessary to carry out the
provisions of this Act;
e. To deputize field officers and delegate any of his powers under
this Act and other laws to expedite its implementation and
enforcement;
f. To fix and prescribe reasonable NIPAS fees to be collected from
government agencies or any person, firm or corporation deriving
benefits from the protected areas;
g. To exact administrative fees and fines as authorized in Section
21 for violation of guidelines, rules and regulations of this Act as
would endanger the viability of protected areas;
h. To enter into contracts and/or agreements with private entities
or public agencies as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of
this Act;
i. To accept in the name of the Philippine Government and in
behalf of NIPAS funds, gifts or bequests of money for immediate
disbursements or other property in the interest of the NIPAS, its
activities or its services;
j. To call on any agency or instrumentality of the Government as
well as academic institutions, non-government organizations and
the private sector as may be necessary to accomplish the objectives
and activities of the System;
67
k. To submit an annual report to the President of the Philippines
and to Congress on the status of protected areas in the country;
l. To establish a uniform marker of the System, including an
appropriate and distinctive symbol for each category in the System,
in consultation with appropriate government agencies and public
and private organizations;
m. To determine the specification of the class, type and style of
buildings and other structures to be constructed in protected areas
and the materials to be used;
n. Control the construction, operation and maintenance of roads,
trails, waterworks, sewerage, fire protection, and sanitation
systems and other public utilities within the protected area;
o. Control occupancy of suitable portions of the protected area
and resettle outside of said area forest occupants therein, with the
exception of the members of indigenous communities area; and
p. To perform such other functions as may be directed by the
President of the Philippines, and to do such acts as may be
necessary or incidental to the accomplishment of the purpose and
objectives of the System.
SECTION 11. Protected Area Management Board. - A Protected
Area Management Board for each of the established protected area
shall be created and shall be composed of the following: The
Regional Executive Director under whose jurisdiction the protected
area is located; one (1) representative from the autonomous
regional government, if applicable; the Provincial Development
Officer; one (1) representative from the municipal government; one
(1) representative from each barangay covering the protected area;
one (1) representative from each tribal community, if applicable;
and, at least three (3) representatives from non-government
organizations/local community organizations, and if necessary,
one (1) representative from other departments or national
government agencies involved in protected area management.
The Board shall, by a majority vote, decide the allocations for
budget, approve proposals for funding, decide matters relating to
planning, peripheral protection and general administration of the
area in accordance with the general management strategy. The
members of the Board shall serve for a term of five (5) years
without compensation, except for actual and necessary traveling
and subsistence expenses incurred in the performance of their
duties. They shall be appointed by the Secretary of the DENR as
follows:
a. A member who shall be appointed to represent each local
government down to barangay level whose territory or portion is
included in the protected area. Each appointee shall be the person
designated by the head of such LGU, except for the Provincial
Development Officer who shall serve ex officio;
b. A member from non-government organizations who shall be
endorsed by heads of organizations which are preferably based in
the area or which have established and recognized interest in
protected areas;
c. The RED/s in the region/s where such protected area lies shall
sit as ex officio member of the Board and shall serve as adviser/s in
matters related to the technical aspect of management of the area;
and
d. The RED shall act as chairman of the Board. When there are
two (2) or more REDs in the Board, the Secretary shall designate
one (1) of them to be the Chairman. Vacancies shall be filled in the
same manner as the original appointment.
SECTION 12. Environmental Impact Assessment. - Proposals
for activities which are outside the scope of the management plan
for protected areas shall be subject to an environmental impact
assessment as required by law before they are adopted, and the
results thereof shall be taken into consideration in the decision-
making process.
No actual implementation of such activities shall be allowed
without the required Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC)
under the Philippine Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)
system. In instances where such activities are allowed to be
undertaken, the proponent shall plan and carry them out in such
manner as will minimize any adverse effects and take preventive
and remedial action when appropriate. The proponent shall be
liable for any damage due to lack of caution or indiscretion.
SECTION 13. Ancestral Lands and Rights Over Them. -
Ancestral lands and customary rights and interest arising shall be
accorded due recognition. The DENR shall prescribe rules and
regulations to govern ancestral lands within protected areas:
Provided, that the DENR shall have so power to evict indigenous
communities from their present occupancy nor resettle them to
another area without their consent: Provided, however, That all
rules and regulations, whether adversely affecting said
communities or not, shall be subjected to notice and hearing to be
participated in by members of concerned indigenous community.
SECTION 14. Survey for Energy Resources. - Consistent with
the policies declared in Section 2 hereof, protected areas, except
strict nature reserves and natural parks, may be subjected to
exploration only for the purpose of gathering information on
energy resources and only if such activity is carried out with the
least damage to surrounding areas. Surveys shall be conducted
only in accordance with a program approved by the DENR, and the
result of such surveys shall be made available to the public and
submitted to the President for recommendation to Congress. Any
exploitation and utilization of energy resources found within
NIPAS areas shall be allowed only through a law passed by
Congress.
SECTION 15. Areas Under the Management of Other
Departments and Government Instrumentalities. - Should there be
protected areas, or portions thereof, under the jurisdiction of
government instrumentalities other than the DENR, such
jurisdiction shall, prior to the passage of this Act, remain in the
said department or government instrumentality; Provided, That
the department or government instrumentality exercising
administrative jurisdiction over said protected area or a portion
thereof shall coordinate with the DENR in the preparation of its
management plans, upon the effectivity of this Act.
SECTION 16. Integrated Protected Areas Fund. - There is
hereby established a trust fund to be known as Integrated
Protected Areas (IPAS) Fund for purposes of financing projects of
the System. The IPAS may solicit and receive donations,
endowments, and grants in the form of contributions, and such
endowment shall be exempted from income or gift taxes and all
other taxes, charges or fees imposed by the Government or any
political subdivision or instrumentality thereof.
All incomes generated from the operation of the System or
management of wild flora and fauna shall accrue to the Fund and
may be utilized directly by the DENR for the above purpose. These
incomes shall be derived from:
a. Taxes from the permitted sale and export of flora and fauna
and other resources from protected areas;
b. Proceeds from lease of multiple use areas;
c. Contributions from industries and facilities directly benefiting
from the protected area; and
d. Such other fees and incomes derived from the operation of the
protected area. Disbursements from the Funds shall be made solely
for the protection, maintenance, administration, and management
of the System, and duly approved projects endorsed by the PAMBs,
in the amounts authorized by the DENR.
SECTION 17. Annual Report to Congress. - At the opening of
each session of Congress, the DENR shall report to the President,
for transmission to Congress, on the status of the System,
regulation in force and other pertinent information, together with
recommendations.
SECTION 18. Field Officers. - All officials, technical personnel
and forest guards employed in the integrated protected area service
or all persons deputized by the DENR, upon recommendation of
the Management Board shall be considered as field officers and
shall have the authority to investigate and search premises and
buildings and make arrests in accordance with the rules on
criminal procedure for the violation of laws and regulations
relating to the protected areas. Persons arrested shall be brought to
the nearest police precinct for investigation.
Nothing herein mentioned shall be construed as preventing regular
law enforcers and police officers from arresting any person in the
act of violating said laws and regulations.
SECTION 19. Special Prosecutors. - The Department of Justice
shall designate special prosecutors to prosecute violations of laws,
rules and regulations in protected areas.
68
SECTION 20. Prohibited Acts. - Except as may be allowed by
the nature of their categories and pursuant to rules and regulations
governing the same, the following acts are prohibited within
protected areas:
a. Hunting, destroying, disturbing, or mere possession of any
plants or animals or products derived therefrom without a permit
from the Management Board;
b. Dumping of any waste products detrimental to the protected
area, or to the plants and animals or inhabitants therein;
c. Use of any motorized equipment without a permit from the
Management Board;
d. Mutilating, defacing or destroying objects of natural beauty, or
objects of interest to cultural communities (of scenic value);
e. Damaging and leaving roads and trails in a damaged condition;
f. Squatting, mineral locating, or otherwise occupying any land;
g. Constructing or maintaining any kind of structure, fence or
enclosures, conducting any business enterprise without a permit;
h. Leaving in exposed or unsanitary conditions refuse or debris, or
depositing in ground or in bodies of water; and
i. Altering, removing destroying or defacing boundary marks or
signs.
SECTION 21. Penalties. - Whoever violates this Act or any rules
and regulations issued by the Department pursuant to this Act or
whoever is found guilty by a competent court of justice of any of
the offenses in the preceding section shall be fined in the amount of
not less than Five thousand pesos (P5,000) nor more than Five
hundred thousand pesos (P500,000), exclusive of the value of the
thing damaged or imprisonment for not less than one (1) year but
not more than six (6) years, or both, as determined by the court:
Provided, that, if the area requires rehabilitation or restoration as
determined by the court, the offender shall be required to restore
or compensate for the restoration to the damages: Provided,
further, that court shall order the eviction of the offender from the
land and the forfeiture in favor of the Government of all minerals,
timber or any species collected or removed including all
equipment, devices and firearms used in connection therewith, and
any construction or improvement made thereon by the offender. If
the offender is an association or corporation, the president or
manager shall be directly responsible for the act of his employees
and laborers: Provided, finally, that the DENR may impose
administrative fines and penalties consistent with this Act.
SECTION 22. Separability Clause. - If any part or section of this
Act is declared unconstitutional, such declaration shall not affect
the other parts or sections of this Act.
SECTION 23. Repealing Clause. - All laws, presidential decrees,
executive orders, rules and regulations inconsistent with any
provisions of this Act shall be deemed repealed or modified
accordingly.
SECTION 24. Effectivity Clause. - This Act shall take effect
fifteen (15) days after its complete publication in two (2)
newspapers of general circulation.
v REPUBLIC A CT NO . 8371 IPRA INDIGENOUS
RIGHTS ACT
October 29, 1997
AN ACT TO RECOGNIZE, PROTECT AND PROMOTE THE
RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS CULTURAL
COMMUNITIES/INDIGENOUS PEOPLE, CREATING A
NATIONAL COMMISSION OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLE,
ESTABLISHING IMPLEMENTING MECHANISMS,
APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR, AND FOR OTHER
PURPOSES
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
Philippines in Congress assembled::
CHAPTER I
GENERAL PROVISIONS
Section 1. Short Title. - This Act shall be known as "The Indigenous
Peoples Rights Act of 1997."

Section 2. Declaration of State Policies. - The State shall recognize
and promote all the rights of Indigenous Cultural
Communities/Indigenous Peoples (ICCs/IPs) hereunder
enumerated within the framework of the Constitution:
a) The State shall recognize and promote the rights of ICCs/IPs
within the framework of national unity and development;
b)The State shall protect the rights of ICCs/IPs to their ancestral
domains to ensure their economic, social and cultural well being
and shall recognize the applicability of customary laws governing
property rights or relations in determining the ownership and
extent of ancestral domain;
c) The State shall recognize, respect and protect the rights of
ICCs/IPs to preserve and develop their cultures, traditions and
institutions. It shall consider these rights in the formulation of
national laws and policies;
d) The State shall guarantee that members of the ICCs/IPs
regardless of sex, shall equally enjoy the full measure of human
rights and freedoms without distinctions or discriminations;
e) The State shall take measures, with the participation of the
ICCs/IPs concerned, to protect their rights and guarantee respect
for their cultural integrity, and to ensure that members of the
ICCs/IPs benefit on an equal footing from the rights and
opportunities which national laws and regulations grant to other
members of the population and
f) The State recognizes its obligations to respond to the strong
expression of the ICCs/IPs for cultural integrity by assuring
maximum ICC/IP participation in the direction of education,
health, as well as other services of ICCs/IPs, in order to render
such services more responsive to the needs and desires of these
communities.
Towards these ends, the State shall institute and establish the
necessary mechanisms to enforce and guarantee the realization of
these rights, taking into consideration their customs, traditions,
values, beliefs, their rights to their ancestral domains.
CHAPTER II
DEFINITION OF TERMS
Section 3. Definition of Terms. - For purposes of this Act, the
following terms shall mean:
a) Ancestral Domains - Subject to Section 56 hereof, refer to all
areas generally belonging to ICCs/IPs comprising lands,inland
waters, coastal areas, and natural resources therein, held under a
claim of ownership, occupied or possessed by ICCs/IPs, themselves
or through their ancestors, communally or individually since time
immemorial, continuously to the present except when interrupted
by war, force majeure or displacement by force, deceit, stealth or as
a consequence of government projects or any other voluntary
dealings entered into by government and private individuals,
corporations, and which are necessary to ensure their economic,
social and cultural welfare. It shall include ancestral land, forests,
pasture, residential, agricultural, and other lands individually
owned whether alienable and disposable or otherwise, hunting
grounds, burial grounds, worship areas, bodies of water, mineral
and other natural resources, and lands which may no longer be
exclusively occupied by ICCs/IPs but from which their traditionally
had access to for their subsistence and traditional activities,
particularly the home ranges of ICCs/IPs who are still nomadic
and/or shifting cultivators;
b) Ancestral Lands - Subject to Section 56 hereof, refers to land
occupied, possessed and utilized by individuals, families and clans
who are members of the ICCs/IPs since time immemorial, by
themselves or through their predecessors-in-interest, under claims
of individual or traditional group ownership,continuously, to the
present except when interrupted by war, force majeure or
displacement by force, deceit, stealth, or as a consequence of
government projects and other voluntary dealings entered into by
government and private individuals/corporations, including, but
not limited to, residential lots, rice terraces or paddies, private
forests, swidden farms and tree lots;
69
c) Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title - refers to a title formally
recognizing the rights of possession and ownership of ICCs/IPs
over their ancestral domains identified and delineated in
accordance with this law;
d) Certificate of Ancestral Lands Title - refers to a title formally
recognizing the rights of ICCs/IPs over their ancestral lands;
e) Communal Claims - refer to claims on land, resources and rights
thereon, belonging to the whole community within a defined
territory
f) Customary Laws - refer to a body of written and/or unwritten
rules, usages, customs and practices traditionally and continually
recognized, accepted and observed by respective ICCs/IPs;
g) Free and Prior Informed Consent - as used in this Act shall mean
the consensus of all members of the ICCs/IPs to; be determined in
accordance with their respective customary laws and practices, free
from any external manipulation, interference and coercion, and
obtained after fully disclosing the intent and scope of the activity,
in a language an process understandable to the community;
h) Indigenous Cultural Communities/Indigenous Peoples - refer to
a group of people or homogenous societies identified by self-
ascription and ascription by other, who have continuously lived as
organized community on communally bounded and defined
territory, and who have, under claims of ownership since time
immemorial, occupied, possessed customs, tradition and other
distinctive cultural traits, or who have, through resistance to
political, social and cultural inroads of colonization, non-
indigenous religions and culture, became historically differentiated
from the majority of Filipinos. ICCs/IPs shall likewise include
peoples who are regarded as indigenous on account of their
descent from the populations which inhabited the country, at the
time of conquest or colonization, or at the time of inroads of non-
indigenous religions and cultures, or the establishment of present
state boundaries, who retain some or all of their own social,
economic, cultural and political institutions, but who may have
been displaced from their traditional domains or who may have
resettled outside their ancestral domains;
i) Indigenous Political Structure - refer to organizational and
cultural leadership systems, institutions, relationships, patterns
and processed for decision-making and participation, identified by
ICCs/IPs such as, but not limited to, Council of Elders, Council of
Timuays, Bodong Holder, or any other tribunal or body of similar
nature;
j) Individual Claims - refer to claims on land and rights thereon
which have been devolved to individuals, families and clans
including, but not limited to, residential lots, rice terraces or
paddies and tree lots;
k) National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) - refers to
the office created under this Act, which shall be under the Office of
the President, and which shall be the primary government agency
responsible for the formulation and implementation of policies,
plans and programs to recognize, protect and promote the rights of
ICCs/IPs;
l) Native Title - refers to pre-conquest rights to lands and domains
which, as far back as memory reaches, have been held under a
claim of private ownership by ICCs/IPs, have never been public
lands and are thus indisputably presumed to have been held that
way since before the Spanish Conquest;
m) Nongovernment Organization - refers to a private, nonprofit
voluntary organization that has been organized primarily for the
delivery of various services to the ICCs/IPs and has an established
track record for effectiveness and acceptability in the community
where it serves;
n) People's Organization - refers to a private, nonprofit voluntary
organization of members of an ICC/IP which is accepted as
representative of such ICCs/IPs;
o) Sustainable Traditional Resource Rights - refer to the rights of
ICCs/IPs to sustainably use,manage, protect and conserve a) land,
air, water, and minerals; b) plants, animals and other organisms; c)
collecting, fishing and hunting grounds; d) sacred sites; and e)
other areas of economic, ceremonial and aesthetic value in
accordance with their indigenous knowledge, beliefs, systems and
practices; and
p) Time Immemorial - refers to a period of time when as far back
as memory can go, certain ICCs/IPs are known to have occupied,
possessed in the concept of owner, and utilized a defined territory
devolved to them, by operation of customary law or inherited from
their ancestors, in accordance with their customs and traditions.
CHAPTER III
RIGHTS TO ANCESTRAL DOMAINS
Section 4. Concept of Ancestral Lands/Domains. - Ancestral
lands/domains shall include such concepts of territories which
cover not only the physical environment but the total environment
including the spiritual and cultural bonds to the area which the
ICCs/IPs possess, occupy and use and to which they have claims of
ownership.
Section 5. Indigenous Concept of Ownership. - Indigenous concept
of ownership sustains the view that ancestral domains and all
resources found therein shall serve as the material bases of their
cultural integrity. The indigenous concept of ownership generally
holds that ancestral domains are the ICC's/IP's private but
community property which belongs to all generations and
therefore cannot be sold, disposed or destroyed. It likewise covers
sustainable traditional resource rights.
Section 6. Composition of Ancestral Lands/Domains. - Ancestral
lands and domains shall consist of all areas generally belonging to
ICCs/IPs as referred under Sec. 3, items (a) and (b) of this Act.
Section 7. Rights to Ancestral Domains. - The rights of ownership
and possession of ICCs/IPs t their ancestral domains shall be
recognized and protected. Such rights shall include:
a. Rights of Ownership.- The right to claim ownership over lands,
bodies of water traditionally and actually occupied by ICCs/IPs,
sacred places, traditional hunting and fishing grounds, and all
improvements made by them at any time within the domains;
b. Right to Develop Lands and Natural Resources. - Subject to
Section 56 hereof, right to develop, control and use lands and
territories traditionally occupied, owned, or used; to manage and
conserve natural resources within the territories and uphold the
responsibilities for future generations; to benefit and share the
profits from allocation and utilization of the natural resources
found therein; the right to negotiate the terms and conditions for
the exploration of natural resources in the areas for the purpose of
ensuring ecological, environmental protection and the
conservation measures, pursuant to national and customary laws;
the right to an informed and intelligent participation in the
formulation and implementation of any project, government or
private, that will affect or impact upon the ancestral domains and
to receive just and fair compensation for any damages which they
sustain as a result of the project; and the right to effective measures
by the government to prevent any interfere with, alienation and
encroachment upon these rights;
c. Right to Stay in the Territories- The right to stay in the territory
and not be removed therefrom. No ICCs/IPs will be relocated
without their free and prior informed consent, nor through any
means other than eminent domain. Where relocation is considered
necessary as an exceptional measure, such relocation shall take
place only with the free and prior informed consent of the ICCs/IPs
concerned and whenever possible, they shall be guaranteed the
right to return to their ancestral domains, as soon as the grounds
for relocation cease to exist. When such return is not possible, as
determined by agreement or through appropriate procedures,
ICCs/IPs shall be provided in all possible cases with lands of
quality and legal status at least equal to that of the land previously
occupied by them, suitable to provide for their present needs and
future development. Persons thus relocated shall likewise be fully
compensated for any resulting loss or injury;
d. Right in Case of Displacement. - In case displacement occurs as
a result of natural catastrophes, the State shall endeavor to resettle
the displaced ICCs/IPs in suitable areas where they can have
temporary life support system: Provided, That the displaced
ICCs/IPs shall have the right to return to their abandoned lands
until such time that the normalcy and safety of such lands shall be
determined: Provided, further, That should their ancestral domain
70
cease to exist and normalcy and safety of the previous settlements
are not possible, displaced ICCs/IPs shall enjoy security of tenure
over lands to which they have been resettled: Provided,
furthermore, That basic services and livelihood shall be provided to
them to ensure that their needs are adequately addressed:
e. Right to Regulate Entry of Migrants. - Right to regulate the entry
of migrant settlers and organizations into the domains;
f. Right to Safe and Clean Air and Water. - For this purpose, the
ICCs/IPs shall have access to integrated systems for the
management of their inland waters and air space;
g. Right to Claim Parts of Reservations. - The right to claim parts of
the ancestral domains which have been reserved for various
purposes, except those reserved and intended for common and
public welfare and service; and
h. Right to Resolve Conflict. - Right to resolve land conflicts in
accordance with customary laws of the area where the land is
located, and only in default thereof shall the complaints be
submitted to amicable settlement and to the Courts of Justice
whenever necessary.
Section 8. Rights to Ancestral Lands. - The right of ownership and
possession of the ICCs/IPs, to their ancestral lands shall be
recognized and protected.
a. Right to transfer land/property. - Such right shall include the
right to transfer land or property rights to/among members of the
same ICCs/IPs, subject to customary laws and traditions of the
community concerned.
b. Right to Redemption. - In cases where it is shown that the
transfer of land/property rights by virtue of any agreement or
devise, to a non-member of the concerned ICCs/IPs is tainted by
the vitiated consent of the ICCs/IPs,or is transferred for an
unconscionable consideration or price, the transferor ICC/IP shall
have the right to redeem the same within a period not exceeding
fifteen (15) years from the date of transfer.
Section 9. Responsibilities of ICCs/IPs to their Ancestral Domains.
- ICCs/IPs occupying a duly certified ancestral domain shall have
the following responsibilities:
a. Maintain Ecological Balance- To preserve, restore, and maintain
a balanced ecology in the ancestral domain by protecting the flora
and fauna, watershed areas, and other reserves;
b. Restore Denuded Areas- To actively initiate, undertake and
participate in the reforestation of denuded areas and other
development programs and projects subject to just and reasonable
remuneration; and
c. Observe Laws- To observe and comply with the provisions of this
Act and the rules and regulations for its effective implementation.
Section 10. Unauthorized and Unlawful Intrusion. - Unauthorized
and unlawful intrusion upon, or use of any portion of the ancestral
domain, or any violation of the rights herein before enumerated,
shall be punishable under this law. Furthermore, the Government
shall take measures to prevent non-ICCs/IPs from taking
advantage of the ICCs/IPs customs or lack of understanding of
laws to secure ownership, possession of land belonging to said
ICCs/IPs.
Section 11. Recognition of Ancestral Domain Rights. - The rights of
ICCs/IPs to their ancestral domains by virtue of Native Title shall
be recognized and respected. Formal recognition, when solicited by
ICCs/IPs concerned, shall be embodied in a Certificate of Ancestral
Domain Title (CADT), which shall recognize the title of the
concerned ICCs/IPs over the territories identified and delineated.
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 the
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.
CHAPTER IV
RIGHT TO SELF-GOVERNANCE AND EMPOWERMENT
Section 13. Self-Governance. - The State recognizes the inherent
right of ICCs/IPs to self-governance and self-determination and
respects the integrity of their values, practices and institutions.
Consequently, the State shall guarantee the right of ICCs/IPs to
freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.
Section 14. Support for Autonomous Regions. - The State shall
continue to strengthen and support the autonomous regions
created under the Constitution as they may require or need. The
State shall likewise encourage other ICCs/IPs not included or
outside Muslim Mindanao and the Cordillera to use the form and
content of their ways of life as may be compatible with the
fundamental rights defined in the Constitution of the Republic of
the Philippines and other internationally recognized human rights.
Section 15. Justice System, Conflict Resolution Institutions and
Peace Building Processes. - The ICCs/IPs shall have the right to use
their own commonly accepted justice systems, conflict resolution
institutions, peace building processes or mechanisms and other
customary laws and practices within their respective communities
and as may be compatible with the national legal system and with
internationally recognized human rights.
Section 16. Right to Participate in Decision -Making. - ICCs/IPs
have the right to participate fully, if they so choose, at all levels of
decision-making in matters which may affect their rights, lives and
destinies through procedures determined by them as well as to
maintain and develop their own indigenous political structures.
Consequently, the State shall ensure that the ICCs/IPs shall be
given mandatory representation in policy-making bodies and other
local legislative councils.
Section 17. Right to Determine and Decide Priorities for
Development. - The ICCs/IPs shall have the right to determine and
decide their own priorities for development affecting their lives,
beliefs, institutions, spiritual well-being, and the lands they own,
occupy or use. They shall participate in the
formulation,implementation and evaluation of policies, plans and
programs for national, regional and local development which may
directly affect them.
Section 18. Tribal Barangays. - The ICCs/IPs living in contiguous
areas or communities where they form the predominant
population but which are located in municipalities, provinces or
cities where they do not constitute the majority of the population,
may form or constitute a separate barangay in accordance with the
Local Government Code on the creation of tribal barangays.
Section 19. Role of Peoples Organizations. - The State shall
recognize and respect the role of independent ICCs/IPs
organizations to enable the ICCs/IPs to pursue and protect their
legitimate and collective interests and aspirations through peaceful
and lawful means.
Section 20. Means for Development /Empowerment of ICCs/IPs. -
The Government shall establish the means for the full
development/empowerment of the ICCs/IPs own institutions and
initiatives and, where necessary, provide the resources needed
therefor.
CHAPTER V
SOCIAL JUSTICE AND HUMAN RIGHTS
Section 21. Equal Protection and Non-discrimination of ICCs/IPs. -
Consistent with the equal protection clause of the Constitution of
the Republic of the Philippines, the Charter of the United Nations,
71
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights including the
Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women
and International Human Rights Law, the State shall, with due
recognition of their distinct characteristics and identity, accord to
the members of the ICCs/IPs the rights, protections and privileges
enjoyed by the rest of the citizenry. It shall extend to them the
same employment rights, opportunities, basic services, educational
and other rights and privileges available to every member of the
society. Accordingly, the State shall likewise ensure that the
employment of any form of force of coersion against ICCs/IPs shall
be dealt with by law.
The State shall ensure that the fundamental human rights and
freedoms as enshrined in the Constitution and relevant
international instruments are guaranteed also to indigenous
women. Towards this end, no provision in this Act shall be
interpreted so as to result in the diminution of rights and privileges
already recognized and accorded to women under existing laws of
general application.
Section 22. Rights during Armed Conflict. - ICCs/IPs have the right
to special protection and security in periods of armed conflict. The
State shall observe international standards, in particular, the
Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, for the protection of civilian
populations in circumstances of emergency and armed conflict,
and shall not recruit members of the ICCs/IPs against their will
into armed forces, and in particular, for the use against other
ICCs/IPs; not recruit children of ICCs/IPs into the armed forces
under any circumstance; nor force indigenous individuals to
abandon their lands, territories and means of subsistence, or
relocate them in special centers for military purposes under any
discriminatory condition.
Section 23. Freedom from Discrimination and Right to Equal
Opportunity and Treatment. - It shall be the right of the ICCs/IPs
to be free from any form of discrimination, with respect to
recruitment and conditions of employment, such that they may
enjoy equal opportunities as other occupationally-related benefits,
informed of their rights under existing labor legislation and of
means available to them for redress, not subject to any coercive
recruitment systems, including bonded labor and other forms of
debt servitude; and equal treatment in employment for men and
women, including the protection from sexual harassment.
Towards this end, the State shall within the framework of national
laws and regulations, and in cooperation with the ICCs/IPs
concerned, adopt special measures to ensure the effective
protection with regard to the recruitment and conditions of
employment of persons belonging to these communities, to the
extent that they are not effectively protected by the laws applicable
to workers in general.
ICCs/IPs shall have the right to association and freedom for all
trade union activities and the right to conclude collective
bargaining agreements with employers' conditions. They shall
likewise have the right not to be subject to working conditions
hazardous to their health, particularly through exposure to
pesticides and other toxic substances.
Section 24. Unlawful Acts Pertaining to Employment. - It shall be
unlawful for any person:
a. To discriminate against any ICC/IP with respect to the terms and
conditions of employment on account of their descent. Equal
remuneration shall be paid to ICC/IP and non-ICC/IP for work of
equal value; and
b. To deny any ICC/IP employee any right or benefit herein
provided for or to discharge them for the purpose of preventing
them from enjoying any of the rights or benefits provided under
this Act.
Section 25. Basic Services. - The ICC/IP have the right to special
measures for the immediate, effective and continuing improvement
of their economic and social conditions, including in the areas of
employment, vocational training and retraining, housing,
sanitation, health and social security. Particular attention shall be
paid to the rights and special needs of indigenous women, elderly,
youth, children and differently-abled persons. Accordingly, the
State shall guarantee the right of ICCs/IPs to government 's basic
services which shall include, but not limited to water and electrical
facilities, education, health and infrastructure.
Section 26. Women. - ICC/IP women shall enjoy equal rights and
opportunities with men, as regards the social, economic, political
and cultural spheres of life. The participation of indigenous women
in the decision-making process in all levels, as well as in the
development of society, shall be given due respect and recognition.
The State shall provide full access to education, maternal and child
care, health and nutrition, and housing services to indigenous
women. Vocational, technical, professional and other forms of
training shall be provided to enable these women to fully
participate in all aspects of social life. As far as possible, the State
shall ensure that indigenous women have access to all services in
their own languages.
Section 27. Children and Youth. - The State shall recognize the vital
role of the children and youth of ICCs/IPs in nation-building and
shall promote and protect their physical, moral, spiritual, moral,
spiritual, intellectual and social well-being. Towards this end, the
State shall support all government programs intended for the
development and rearing of the children and youth of ICCs/IPs for
civic efficiency and establish such mechanisms as may be necessary
for the protection of the rights of the indigenous children and
youth.
Section 28. Integrated System of Education. - The State shall,
through the NCIP, provide a complete, adequate and integrated
system of education, relevant to the needs of the children and
Young people of ICCs/IPs.
CHAPTER VI
CULTURAL INTEGRITY
Section 29. Protection of Indigenous Culture, traditions and
institutions. - The state shall respect, recognize and protect the
right of the ICCs/IPs to preserve and protect their culture,
traditions and institutions. It shall consider these rights in the
formulation of national plans and policies.
Section 30. Educational Systems. - The State shall provide equal
access to various cultural opportunities to the ICCs/IPs through
the educational system, public or cultural entities, scholarships,
grants and other incentives without prejudice to their right to
establish and control their educational systems and institutions by
providing education in their own language, in a manner
appropriate to their cultural methods of teaching and learning.
Indigenous children/youth shall have the right to all levels and
forms of education of the State.
Section 31. Recognition of Cultural Diversity. - The State shall
endeavor to have the dignity and diversity of the cultures,
traditions, histories and aspirations of the ICCs/IPs appropriately
reflected in all forms of education, public information and cultural-
educational exchange. Consequently, the State shall take effective
measures, in consultation with ICCs/IPs concerned, to eliminate
prejudice and discrimination and to promote tolerance,
understanding and good relations among ICCs/IPs and all
segments of society. Furthermore, the Government shall take
effective measures to ensure that State-owned media duly reflect
indigenous cultural diversity. The State shall likewise ensure the
participation of appropriate indigenous leaders in schools,
communities and international cooperative undertakings like
festivals, conferences, seminars and workshops to promote and
enhance their distinctive heritage and values.
Section 32. Community Intellectual Rights. - ICCs/IPs have the
right to practice and revitalize their own cultural traditions and
customs. The State shall preserve, protect and develop the past,
present and future manifestations of their cultures as well as the
right to the restitution of cultural, intellectual, religious, and
spiritual property taken without their free and prior informed
consent or in violation of their laws, traditions and customs.
Section 33. Rights to Religious, Cultural Sites and Ceremonies. -
ICCs/IPs shall have the right to manifest, practice, develop teach
their spiritual and religious traditions, customs and ceremonies;
the right to maintain, protect and have access to their religious and
cultural sites; the right to use and control of ceremonial object; and
the right to the repatriation of human remains. Accordingly, the
State shall take effective measures, in cooperation with the burial
sites, be preserved, respected and protected. To achieve this
purpose, it shall be unlawful to:
72
a. Explore, excavate or make diggings on archeological sites of the
ICCs/IPs for the purpose of obtaining materials of cultural values
without the free and prior informed consent of the community
concerned; and
b. Deface, remove or otherwise destroy artifacts which are of great
importance to the ICCs/IPs for the preservation of their cultural
heritage.
Section 34. Right to Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Practices
and to Develop own Sciences and Technologies. - ICCs/IPs are
entitled to the recognition of the full ownership and control and
protection of their cultural and intellectual rights. They shall have
the right to special measures to control, develop and protect their
sciences, technologies and cultural manifestations, including
human and other genetic resources, seeds, including derivatives of
these resources, traditional medicines and health practices, vital
medicinal plants, animals and minerals, indigenous knowledge
systems and practices, knowledge of the properties of fauna and
flora, oral traditions, literature, designs, and visual and performing
arts.
Section 35. Access to Biological and Genetic Resources. - Access to
biological and genetic resources and to indigenous knowledge
related to the conservation, utilization and enhancement of these
resources, shall be allowed within ancestral lands and domains of
the ICCs/IPs only with a free and prior informed consent of such
communities, obtained in accordance with customary laws of the
concerned community.
Section 36. Sustainable Agro-Technical Development. - The State
shall recognize the right of ICCs/IPs to a sustainable agro-
technological development and shall formulate and implement
programs of action for its effective implementation. The State shall
likewise promote the bio-genetic and resource management
systems among the ICCs/IPs and shall encourage cooperation
among government agencies to ensure the successful sustainable
development of ICCs/IPs.
Section 37. Funds for Archeological and Historical Sites. - The
ICCs/IPs shall have the right to receive from the national
government all funds especially earmarked or allocated for the
management and preservation of their archeological and historical
sites and artifacts with the financial and technical support of the
national government agencies.
CHAPTER VII
NATIONAL COMMISSION ON INDIGENOUS PEOPLES (NCIP)
Section 38. National Commission on Indigenous Cultural
Communities /Indigenous Peoples (NCCP). - to carry out the
policies herein set forth, there shall be created the National
Commission on ICCs/IPs (NCIP), which shall be the primary
government agency responsible for the formulation and
implementation of policies, plans and programs to promote and
protect the rights and well-being of the ICCs/IPs and the
recognition of their ancestral domains as well as their rights
thereto.
Section 39. Mandate. - The NCIP shall protect and promote the
interest and well-being of the ICCs/IPs with due regard to their
beliefs, customs, traditions and institutions.
Section 40. Composition. - The NCIP shall be an independent
agency under the Office of the President and shall be composed of
seven (7) Commissioners belonging to ICCs/IPs, one (1) of whom
shall be the Chairperson. The Commissioners shall be appointed by
the President of the Philippines from a list of recommendees
submitted by authentic ICCs/IPs: Provided, That the seven (7)
Commissioners shall be appointed specifically from each of the
following ethnographic areas: Region I and the Cordilleras; Region
II; the rest of Luzon; Island Groups including Mindoro, Palawan,
Romblon, Panay and the rest of the Visayas; Northern and Western
Mindanao; Southern and Eastern Mindanao; and Central
Mindanao: Provided, That at least two (2) of the seven (7)
Commissioners shall be women.
Section 41. Qualifications, Tenure, Compensation. - The
Chairperson and the six (6) Commissioners must be natural born
Filipino citizens, bonafide members of ICCs/IPs as certified by
his/her tribe, experienced in ethnic affairs and who have worked
for at least ten (10) years with an ICC/IP community and/or any
government agency involved in ICC/IP, at least 35 years of age at
the time of appointment, and must be of proven honesty and
integrity: Provided, That at least two (2) of the seven (7)
Commissioners shall be the members of the Philippine Bar:
Provided, further, That the members of the NCIP shall hold office
for a period of three (3) years, and may be subject to re-
appointment for another term: Provided, furthermore, That no
person shall serve for more than two (2) terms. Appointment to
any vacancy shall only be for the unexpired term of the predecessor
and in no case shall a member be appointed or designated in a
temporary or acting capacity: Provided, finally, That the
Chairperson and the Commissioners shall be entitled to
compensation in accordance with the Salary Standardization Law.
Section 42. Removal from Office. - Any member of the NCIP may
be removed from office by the President, on his own initiative or
upon recommendation by any indigenous community, before the
expiration of his term for cause and after complying with due
process requirement of law.
Section 43. Appointment of Commissioners. - The President shall
appoint the seven (7) Commissioners of the NCIP within ninety
(90) days from the effectivity of this Act.
Section 44. Powers and Functions. - To accomplish its mandate,
the NCIP shall have the following powers, jurisdiction and
function:
a) To serve as the primary government agency through which
ICCs/IPs can seek government assistance and as the medium,
thorough which such assistance may be extended;
b) To review and assess the conditions of ICCs/IPs including
existing laws and policies pertinent thereto and to propose relevant
laws and policies to address their role in national development;
c) To formulate and implement policies, plans, programs and
projects for the economic, social and cultural development of the
ICCs/IPs and to monitor the implementation thereof;
d) To request and engage the services and support of experts from
other agencies of government or employ private experts and
consultants as may be required in the pursuit of its objectives;
e) To issue certificate of ancestral land/domain title;
f) Subject to existing laws, to enter into contracts, agreements, or
arrangement, with government or private agencies or entities as
may be necessary to attain the objectives of this Act, and subject to
the approval of the President, to obtain loans from government
lending institutions and other lending institutions to finance its
programs;
g) To negotiate for funds and to accept grants, donations, gifts
and/or properties in whatever form and from whatever source,
local and international, subject to the approval of the President of
the Philippines, for the benefit of ICCs/IPs and administer the
same in accordance with the terms thereof; or in the absence of any
condition, in such manner consistent with the interest of ICCs/IPs
as well as existing laws;
h) To coordinate development programs and projects for the
advancement of the ICCs/IPs and to oversee the proper
implementation thereof;
i) To convene periodic conventions or assemblies of IPs to review,
assess as well as propose policies or plans;
j) To advise the President of the Philippines on all matters relating
to the ICCs/IPs and to submit within sixty (60) days after the close
of each calendar year, a report of its operations and achievements;
k) To submit to Congress appropriate legislative proposals
intended to carry out the policies under this Act;
l) To prepare and submit the appropriate budget to the Office of
the President;
m) To issue appropriate certification as a pre-condition to the
grant of permit, lease, grant, or any other similar authority for the
disposition, utilization, management and appropriation by any
73
private individual, corporate entity or any government agency,
corporation or subdivision thereof on any part or portion of the
ancestral domain taking into consideration the consensus approval
of the ICCs/IPs concerned;
n) To decide all appeals from the decisions and acts of all the
various offices within the Commission:
o) To promulgate the necessary rules and regulations for the
implementation of this Act;
p) To exercise such other powers and functions as may be directed
by the President of the Republic of the Philippines; and
q) To represent the Philippine ICCs/IPs in all international
conferences and conventions dealing with indigenous peoples and
other related concerns.
Section 45. Accessibility and Transparency. - Subject to such
limitations as may be provided by law or by rules and regulations
promulgated pursuant thereto, all official records, documents and
papers pertaining to official acts, transactions or decisions, as well
as research data used as basis for policy development of the
Commission shall be made accessible to the public.
Section 46. Officers within the NCIP. - The NCIP shall have the
following offices which shall be responsible for the implementation
of the policies herein after provided:
a. Ancestral Domains Office - The Ancestral Domain Office shall be
responsible for the identification, delineation and recognition of
ancestral land/domains. It shall also be responsible for the
management of ancestral lands/domains in accordance with the
master plans as well as the implementation of the ancestral domain
rights of the ICCs/IPs as provided in Chapter III of this Act. It shall
also issue, upon the free and prior informed consent of the
ICCs/IPs concerned, certification prior to the grant of any license,
lease or permit for the exploitation of natural resources affecting
the interests of ICCs/IPs in protecting the territorial integrity of all
ancestral domains. It shall likewise perform such other functions
as the Commission may deem appropriate and necessary;
b. Office on Policy, Planning and Research - The Office on Policy,
Planning and Research shall be responsible for the formulation of
appropriate policies and programs for ICCs/IPs such as, but not
limited to, the development of a Five-Year Master Plan for the
ICCs/IPs. Such plan shall undergo a process such that every five
years, the Commission shall endeavor to assess the plan and make
ramifications in accordance with the changing situations. The
Office shall also undertake the documentation of customary law
and shall establish and maintain a Research Center that would
serve as a depository of ethnographic information for monitoring,
evaluation and policy formulation. It shall assist the legislative
branch of the national government in the formulation of
appropriate legislation benefiting ICCs/IPs.
c. Office of Education, Culture and Health - The Office on Culture,
Education and Health shall be responsible for the effective
implementation of the education, cultural and related rights as
provided in this Act. It shall assist, promote and support
community schools, both formal and non-formal, for the benefit of
the local indigenous community, especially in areas where existing
educational facilities are not accessible to members of the
indigenous group. It shall administer all scholarship programs and
other educational rights intended for ICC/IP beneficiaries in
coordination with the Department of Education, Culture and
Sports and the Commission on Higher Education. It shall
undertake, within the limits of available appropriation, a special
program which includes language and vocational training, public
health and family assistance program and related subjects.
It shall also identify ICCs/IPs with potential training in the health
profession and encourage and assist them to enroll in schools of
medicine, nursing, physical therapy and other allied courses
pertaining to the health profession.
Towards this end, the NCIP shall deploy a representative in each of
the said offices who shall personally perform the foregoing task
and who shall receive complaints from the ICCs/IPs and compel
action from appropriate agency. It shall also monitor the activities
of the National Museum and other similar government agencies
generally intended to manage and preserve historical and
archeological artifacts of the ICCs /IPs and shall be responsible for
the implementation of such other functions as the NCIP may deem
appropriate and necessary;
d. Office on Socio-Economic Services and Special Concerns - The
Office on Socio-Economic Services and Special Concerns shall
serve as the Office through which the NCIP shall coordinate with
pertinent government agencies specially charged with the
implementation of various basic socio-economic services, policies,
plans and programs affecting the ICCs/IPs to ensure that the same
are properly and directly enjoyed by them. It shall also be
responsible for such other functions as the NCIP may deem
appropriate and necessary;
e. Office of Empowerment and Human Rights - The Office of
Empowerment and Human Rights shall ensure that indigenous
socio- political, cultural and economic rights are respected and
recognized. It shall ensure that capacity building mechanisms are
instituted and ICCs/IPs are afforded every opportunity, if they so
choose, to participate in all level decision-making. It shall likewise
ensure that the basic human rights, and such other rights as the
NCIP may determine, subject to existing laws, rules and
regulations are protected and promoted;
f. Administrative Office - The Administrative Office shall provide
the NCIP with economical, efficient and effective services
pertaining to personnel, finance, records, equipment, security,
supplies, and related services. It shall also administer the Ancestral
Domains Fund; and
g. Legal Affairs Office - There shall be a Legal Affairs Office which
shall advice the NCIP on all legal matters concerning ICCs/IPs and
which shall be responsible for providing ICCs/IPs with legal
assistance in litigation involving community interest. It shall
conduct preliminary investigation on the basis of complaints filed
by the ICCs/IPs against a natural or juridical person believed to
have violated ICCs/IPs rights. On the basis of its findings, it shall
initiate the filing of appropriate legal or administrative action to
the NCIP.
Section 47. Other Offices. - The NCIP shall have the power to
create additional offices as it may deem necessary subject to
existing rules and regulations.
Section 48. Regional and Field Offices. - Existing regional and field
offices shall remain to function under the strengthened
organizational structure of the NCIP. Other field office shall be
created wherever appropriate and the staffing pattern thereof shall
be determined by the NCIP: Provided, That in provinces where
there are ICCs/IPs but without field offices, the NCIP shall
establish field offices in said provinces.
Section 49. Office of the Executive Director. - The NCIP shall create
the Office of the Executive Director which shall serve as its
secretariat. The office shall be headed by an Executive Director
who shall be appointed by the President of the Republic of the
Philippines upon the recommendation of the NCIP on a permanent
basis. The staffing pattern of the office shall be determined by the
NCIP subject to existing rules and regulations.
Section 50. Consultative Body. - A body consisting of the
traditional leaders, elders and representatives from the women and
youth sectors of the different ICCs/IPs shall be constituted by the
NCIP from the time to time to advise it on matters relating to the
problems, aspirations and interests of the ICCs/IPs.
CHAPTER VIII
DELINEATION AND RECOGNITION OF ANCESTRAL DOMAINS
Section 51. Delineation and Recognition of Ancestral Domains. -
Self-delineation shall be guiding principle in the identification and
delineation of ancestral domains. As such, the ICCs/IPs concerned
shall have a decisive role in all the activities pertinent thereto. The
Sworn Statement of the Elders as to the Scope of the territories and
agreements/pacts made with neighboring ICCs/IPs, if any, will be
essential to the determination of these traditional territories. The
Government shall take the necessary steps to identify lands which
the ICCs/IPs concerned traditionally occupy and guarantee
effective protection of their rights of ownership and possession
thereto. Measures shall be taken in appropriate cases to safeguard
the rights of the ICCs/IPs concerned to land which may no longer
be exclusively occupied by them, but to which they have
74
traditionally had access for their subsistence and traditional
activities, particularly of ICCs/IPs who are still nomadic and/or
shifting cultivators.
Section 52. Delineation Process. - The identification and
delineation of ancestral domains shall be done in accordance with
the following procedures:
a. Ancestral Domains Delineated Prior to this Act - The provisions
hereunder shall not apply to ancestral domains/lands already
delineated according to DENR Administrative Order No. 2, series
of 1993, nor to ancestral lands and domains delineated under any
other community/ancestral domain program prior to the
enactment of his law. ICCs/IPs enactment of this law shall have the
right to apply for the issuance of a Certificate of Ancestral Domain
Title (CADT) over the area without going through the process
outlined hereunder;
b. Petition for Delineation - The process of delineating a specific
perimeter may be initiated by the NCIP with the consent of the
ICC/IP concerned, or through a Petition for Delineation filed with
the NCIP, by a majority of the members of the ICCs/IPs;
c. Delineation Paper - The official delineation of ancestral domain
boundaries including census of all community members therein,
shall be immediately undertaken by the Ancestral Domains Office
upon filing of the application by the ICCs/IPs concerned.
Delineation will be done in coordination with the community
concerned and shall at all times include genuine involvement and
participation by the members of the communities concerned;
d. Proof required - Proof of Ancestral Domain Claims shall include
the testimony of elders or community under oath, and other
documents directly or indirectly attesting to the possession or
occupation of the area since time immemorial by such ICCs/IPs in
the concept of owners which shall be any one (1) of the following
authentic documents:
1. Written accounts of the ICCs/IPs customs and traditions;
2. Written accounts of the ICCs/IPs political structure and
institution;
3. Pictures showing long term occupation such as those of old
improvements, burial grounds, sacred places and old villages;
4. Historical accounts, including pacts and agreements concerning
boundaries entered into by the ICCs/IPs concerned with other
ICCs/IPs;
5. Survey plans and sketch maps;
6. Anthropological data;
7. Genealogical surveys;
8. Pictures and descriptive histories of traditional communal
forests and hunting grounds;
9. Pictures and descriptive histories of traditional landmarks such
as mountains, rivers, creeks, ridges, hills, terraces and the like; and
10. Write-ups of names and places derived from the native dialect
of the community.
e. Preparation of Maps - On the basis of such investigation and the
findings of fact based thereon, the Ancestral Domains Office of the
NCIP shall prepare a perimeter map, complete with technical
descriptions, and a description of the natural features and
landmarks embraced therein;
f. Report of Investigation and Other Documents - A complete copy
of the preliminary census and a report of investigation, shall be
prepared by the Ancestral Domains Office of the NCIP;
g. Notice and Publication - A copy of each document, including a
translation in the native language of the ICCs/IPs concerned shall
be posted in a prominent place therein for at least fifteen (15) days.
A copy of the document shall also be posted at the local, provincial
and regional offices of the NCIP, and shall be published in a
newspaper of general circulation once a week for two (2)
consecutive weeks to allow other claimants to file opposition
thereto within fifteen (15) days from the date of such publication:
Provided, That in areas where no such newspaper exists,
broadcasting in a radio station will be a valid substitute: Provided,
further, That mere posting shall be deemed sufficient if both
newspaper and radio station are not available;
h. Endorsement to NCIP - Within fifteen (15) days from
publication, and of the inspection process, the Ancestral Domains
Office shall prepare a report to the NCIP endorsing a favorable
action upon a claim that is deemed to have sufficient proof.
However, if the proof is deemed insufficient, the Ancestral
Domains Office shall require the submission of additional
evidence: Provided, That the Ancestral Domains Office shall reject
any claim that is deemed patently false or fraudulent after
inspection and verification: Provided, further, That in case of
rejection, the Ancestral Domains Office shall give the applicant due
notice, copy furnished all concerned, containing the grounds for
denial. The denial shall be appealable to the NCIP: Provided,
furthermore, That in cases where there are conflicting claims, the
Ancestral Domains Office shall cause the contending parties to
meet and assist them in coming up with a preliminary resolution of
the conflict, without prejudice to its full adjudication according to
the selection below.
i. Turnover of Areas Within Ancestral Domains Managed by Other
Government Agencies - The Chairperson of the NCIP shall certify
that the area covered is an ancestral domain. The secretaries of the
Department of Agrarian Reform, Department of Environment and
Natural Resources, Department of the Interior and Local
Government, and Department of Justice, the Commissioner of the
National Development Corporation, and any other government
agency claiming jurisdiction over the area shall be notified thereof.
Such notification shall terminate any legal basis for the jurisdiction
previously claimed;
j. Issuance of CADT - ICCs/IPs whose ancestral domains have been
officially delineated and determined by the NCIP shall be issued a
CADT in the name of the community concerned, containing a list of
all those identified in the census; and
k. Registration of CADTs - The NCIP shall register issued
certificates of ancestral domain titles and certificates of ancestral
lands titles before the Register of Deeds in the place where the
property is situated.
Section 53. Identification, Delineation and Certification of
Ancestral Lands. -
a. The allocation of lands within any ancestral domain to individual
or indigenous corporate (family or clan) claimants shall be left to
the ICCs/IPs concerned to decide in accordance with customs and
traditions;
b. Individual and indigenous corporate claimants of ancestral lands
which are not within ancestral domains, may have their claims
officially established by filing applications for the identification and
delineation of their claims with the Ancestral Domains Office. An
individual or recognized head of a family or clan may file such
application in his behalf or in behalf of his family or clan,
respectively;
c. Proofs of such claims shall accompany the application form
which shall include the testimony under oath of elders of the
community and other documents directly or indirectly attesting to
the possession or occupation of the areas since time immemorial
by the individual or corporate claimants in the concept of owners
which shall be any of the authentic documents enumerated under
Sec. 52 (d) of this act, including tax declarations and proofs of
payment of taxes;
d. The Ancestral Domains Office may require from each ancestral
claimant the submission of such other documents, Sworn
Statements and the like, which in its opinion, may shed light on the
veracity of the contents of the application/claim;
e. Upon receipt of the applications for delineation and recognition
of ancestral land claims, the Ancestral Domains Office shall cause
the publication of the application and a copy of each document
submitted including a translation in the native language of the
ICCs/IPs concerned in a prominent place therein for at least fifteen
(15) days. A copy of the document shall also be posted at the local,
provincial, and regional offices of the NCIP and shall be published
75
in a newspaper of general circulation once a week for two (2)
consecutive weeks to allow other claimants to file opposition
thereto within fifteen (15) days from the date of such publication:
Provided, That in areas where no such newspaper exists,
broadcasting in a radio station will be a valid substitute: Provided,
further, That mere posting shall be deemed sufficient if both
newspapers and radio station are not available
f. Fifteen (15) days after such publication, the Ancestral Domains
Office shall investigate and inspect each application, and if found
to be meritorious, shall cause a parcellary survey of the area being
claimed. The Ancestral Domains office shall reject any claim that is
deemed patently false or fraudulent after inspection and
verification. In case of rejection, the Ancestral Domains office shall
give the applicant due notice, copy furnished all concerned,
containing the grounds for denial. The denial shall be appealable to
the NCIP. In case of conflicting claims among individual or
indigenous corporate claimants, the Ancestral domains Office shall
cause the contending parties to meet and assist them in coming up
with a preliminary resolution of the conflict, without prejudice to
its full adjudication according to Sec. 62 of this Act. In all
proceedings for the identification or delineation of the ancestral
domains as herein provided, the Director of Lands shall represent
the interest of the Republic of the Philippines; and
g. The Ancestral Domains Office shall prepare and submit a report
on each and every application surveyed and delineated to the
NCIP, which shall, in turn, evaluate or corporate (family or clan)
claimant over ancestral lands.
Section 54. Fraudulent Claims. - The Ancestral Domains Office
may, upon written request from the ICCs/IPs, review existing
claims which have been fraudulently acquired by any person or
community. Any claim found to be fraudulently acquired by, and
issued to, any person or community may be cancelled by the NCIP
after due notice and hearing of all parties concerned.
Section 55. Communal Rights. - Subject to Section 56 hereof, areas
within the ancestral domains, whether delineated or not, shall be
presumed to be communally held: Provide, That communal rights
under this Act shall not be construed as co-ownership as provided
in Republic Act. No. 386, otherwise known as the New Civil Code.
Section 56. Existing Property Rights Regimes. - Property rights
within the ancestral domains already existing and/or vested upon
effectivity of this Act, shall be recognized and respected.
Section 57. Natural Resources within Ancestral Domains. - The
ICCs/IPs shall have the priority rights in the harvesting, extraction,
development or exploitation of any natural resources within the
ancestral domains. A non-member of the ICCs/IPs concerned may
be allowed to take part in the development and utilization of the
natural resources for a period of not exceeding twenty-five (25)
years renewable for not more than twenty-five (25) years:
Provided, That a formal and written agreement is entered into with
the ICCs/IPs concerned or that the community, pursuant to its own
decision making process, has agreed to allow such operation:
Provided, finally, That the all extractions shall be used to facilitate
the development and improvement of the ancestral domains.
Section 58. Environmental Consideration. - Ancestral domains or
portion thereof, which are found necessary for critical watersheds,
mangroves wildlife sanctuaries, wilderness, protected areas, forest
cover, or reforestation as determined by the appropriate agencies
with the full participation of the ICCs/IPs concerned shall be
maintained, managed and developed for such purposes. The
ICCs/IPs concerned shall be given the responsibility to maintain,
develop, protect and conserve such areas with the full and effective
assistance of the government agencies. Should the ICCs/IPs decide
to transfer the responsibility over the areas, said decision must be
made in writing. The consent of the ICCs/IPs should be arrived at
in accordance with its customary laws without prejudice to the
basic requirement of the existing laws on free and prior informed
consent: Provided, That the transfer shall be temporary and will
ultimately revert to the ICCs/IPs in accordance with a program for
technology transfer: Provided, further, That no ICCs/IPs shall be
displaced or relocated for the purpose enumerated under this
section without the written consent of the specific persons
authorized to give consent.
Section 59. Certification Precondition. - all department and other
governmental agencies shall henceforth be strictly enjoined from
issuing, renewing, or granting any concession, license or lease, or
entering into any production-sharing agreement, without prior
certification from the NCIP that the area affected does not overlap
with any ancestral domain. Such certificate shall only be issued
after a field-based investigation is conducted by the Ancestral
Domain Office of the area concerned: Provided, That no certificate
shall be issued by the NCIP without the free and prior informed
and written consent of the ICCs/IPs concerned: Provided, further,
That no department, government agency or government-owned or
-controlled corporation may issue new concession, license, lease, or
production sharing agreement while there is pending application
CADT: Provided, finally, That the ICCs/IPs shall have the right to
stop or suspend, in accordance with this Act, any project that has
not satisfied the requirement of this consultation process.
Section 60. Exemption from Taxes. - All lands certified to be
ancestral domains shall be exempt from real property taxes,
specially levies, and other forms of exaction except such portion of
the ancestral domains as are actually used for large-scale
agriculture, commercial forest plantation and residential purposes
and upon titling by other by private person: Provided, that all
exactions shall be used to facilitate the development and
improvement of the ancestral domains.
Section 61. Temporary Requisition Powers. - Prior to the
establishment of an institutional surveying capacity whereby it can
effectively fulfill its mandate, but in no case beyond three (3) years
after its creation, the NCIP is hereby authorized to request the
Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)
survey teams as well as other equally capable private survey teams,
through a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), to delineate
ancestral domain perimeters. The DENR Secretary shall
accommodate any such request within one (1) month of its
issuance: Provided, That the Memorandum of Agreement shall
stipulate, among others, a provision for technology transfer to the
NCIP.
Section 62. Resolution of Conflicts. - In cases of conflicting
interest, where there are adverse claims within the ancestral
domains as delineated in the survey plan, and which cannot be
resolved, the NCIP shall hear and decide, after notice to the proper
parties, the disputes arising from the delineation of such ancestral
domains: Provided, That if the dispute is between and/or among
ICCs/IPs regarding the traditional boundaries of their respective
ancestral domains, customary process shall be followed. The NCIP
shall promulgate the necessary rules and regulations to carry out
its adjudicatory functions: Provided, further, That in any decision,
order, award or ruling of the NCIP on any ancestral domain
dispute or on any matter pertaining to the application,
implementation, enforcement and interpretation of this Act may be
brought for Petition for Review to the Court of Appeals within
fifteen (15) days from receipt of a copy thereof.
Section 63. Applicable Laws. - Customary laws, traditions and
practices of the ICCs/IPs of the land where the conflict arises shall
be applied first with respect to property rights, claims and
ownerships, hereditary succession and settlement of land disputes.
Any doubt or ambiguity in the application of laws shall be resolved
in favor of the ICCs/IPs.
Section 64. Remedial Measures. - Expropriation may be resorted to
in the resolution of conflicts of interest following the principle of
the "common good". The NCIP shall take appropriate legal action
for the cancellation of officially documented titles which were
acquired illegally: Provided, That such procedure shall ensure that
the rights of possessors in good faith shall be respected: Provided,
further, That the action for cancellation shall be initiated within
two (2) years from the effectivity of this Act: Provided, finally, That
the action for reconveyance shall be a period of ten (10) years in
accordance with existing laws.
CHAPTER IX
JURISDICTION AND PROCEDURES FOR ENFORCEMENT OF
RIGHTS
Section 65. Primary of Customary Laws and Practices. - When
disputes involve ICCs/IPs, customary laws and practices shall be
used to resolve the dispute.
Section 66. Jurisdiction of the NCIP. - The NCIP, through its
regional offices, shall have jurisdiction over all claims and disputes
involving rights of ICCs/IPs; Provided, however, That no such
76
dispute shall be brought to the NCIP unless the parties have
exhausted all remedies provided under their customary laws. For
this purpose, a certification shall be issued by the Council of
Elders/Leaders who participated in the attempt to settle the
dispute that the same has not been resolved, which certification
shall be a condition precedent to the filing of a petition with the
NCIP.
Section 67. Appeals to the Court of Appeals. - Decisions of the
NCIP shall be appealable to the Court of Appeals by way of a
petition for review.
Section 68. Execution of Decisions, Awards, Orders. - Upon
expiration of the period here provided and no appeal is perfected
by any of the contending parties, the Hearing Officer of the NCIP,
on its own initiative or upon motion by the prevailing party, shall
issue a writ of execution requiring the sheriff or the proper officer
to execute final decisions, orders or awards of the Regional
Hearing Officer of the NCIP.
Section 69. Quasi-Judicial Powers of the NCIP. - The NCIP shall
have the power and authority:
a. To promulgate rules and regulations governing the hearing and
disposition of cases filed before it as well as those pertaining to its
internal functions and such rules and regulations as may be
necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act;
b. To administer oaths, summon the parties to a controversy, issue
subpoenas requiring the attendance and testimony of witnesses or
the production of such books, papers, contracts, records,
agreements and other document of similar nature as may be
material to a just determination of the matter under investigation
or hearing conducted in pursuance of this Act;
c. To hold any person in contempt, directly or indirectly, and
impose appropriate penalties therefor; and
d. To enjoin any or all acts involving or arising from any case
pending therefore it which, if not restrained forthwith, may cause
grave or irreparable damage to any of the parties to the case or
seriously affect social or economic activity.
Section 70. No restraining Order or Preliminary Injunction. - No
inferior court of the Philippines shall have the jurisdiction to issue
any restraining order or writ of preliminary injunction against the
NCIP or any of its duly authorized or designated offices in any case,
dispute or controversy to, or interpretation of this Act and other
pertinent laws relating to ICCs/IPs and ancestral domains.
CHAPTER X
ANCESTRAL DOMAINS FUND
Section 71. Ancestral Domains Fund. - There is hereby created a
special fund, to be known as the Ancestral Domains Fund, an
initial amount of the One Hundred thirty million
pesos(P130,000,000) to cover compensation for expropriated
lands, delineation and development of ancestral domains. An
amount of Fifty million pesos (P50,000,000) shall be sourced from
the gross income of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office
(PCSO) from its lotto operation, Ten millions pesos (P10,000,000)
from the gross receipts of the travel tax of the preceding year, the
fund of the Social Reform Council intended for survey and
delineation of ancestral lands/domains, and such other source as
the government may be deem appropriate. Thereafter such amount
shall be included in the annual General Appropriations Act.
Foreign as well as local funds which are made available for the
ICCs/IPs through the government of the Philippines shall be
coursed through the NCIP. The NCIP may also solicit and receive
donations, endowments shall be exempted from income or gift
taxes and all other taxes, charges or fees imposed by the
government or any political subdivision or instrumentality thereof.
CHAPTER XI
PENALTIES
Section 72. Punishable Acts and Applicable Penalties. - Any person
who commits violation of any of the provisions of this Act, such as,
but not limited to, authorized and/or unlawful intrusion upon any
ancestral lands or domains as stated in Sec. 10, Chapter III, or shall
commit any of the prohibited acts mentioned in Sections 21 and 24,
Chapter V, Section 33, Chapter VI hereof, shall be punished in
accordance with the customary laws of the ICCs/IPs concerned:
Provided, That no such penalty shall be cruel, degrading or
inhuman punishment: Provided, further, That neither shall the
death penalty or excessive fines be imposed. This provision shall be
without prejudice to the right of any ICCs/IPs to avail of the
protection of existing laws. In which case, any person who violates
any provision of this Act shall, upon conviction, be punished by
imprisonment of not less than nine (9) months but not more than
twelve (12) years or a fine not less than One hundred thousand
pesos (P100,000) nor more than Five hundred thousand pesos
(P500,000) or both such fine and imprisonment upon the
discretion of the court. In addition, he shall be obliged to pay to the
ICCs/IPs concerned whatever damage may have been suffered by
the latter as a consequence of the unlawful act.
Section 73. Persons Subject to Punishment. - If the offender is a
juridical person, all officers such as, but not limited to, its
president, manager, or head of office responsible for their unlawful
act shall be criminally liable therefor, in addition to the
cancellation of certificates of their registration and/or license:
Provided, That if the offender is a public official, the penalty shall
include perpetual disqualification to hold public office.
CHAPTER XII
MERGER OF THE OFFICE FOR NORTHERN CULTURAL
COMMUNITIES (ONCC) AND THE OFFICE FOR SOUTHERN
CULTURAL COMMUNITIES (OSCC)
Section 74. Merger of ONCC/OSCC. - The Office for Northern
Cultural Communities (ONCC) and the Office of Southern Cultural
Communities (OSCC), created under Executive Order Nos. 122-B
and 122-C respectively, are hereby merged as organic offices of the
NCIP and shall continue to function under a revitalized and
strengthened structures to achieve the objectives of the NCIP:
Provided, That the positions of Regional Directors and below, are
hereby phased-out upon the effectivity of this Act: Provided,
further, That officials and employees of the phased-out offices who
may be qualified may apply for reappointment with the NCIP and
may be given prior rights in the filing up of the newly created
positions of NCIP, subject to the qualifications set by the
Placement Committee: Provided, furthermore, That in the case
where an indigenous person and a non-indigenous person with
similar qualifications apply for the same position, priority shall be
given to the former. Officers and employees who are to be phased-
out as a result of the merger of their offices shall be entitled to
gratuity a rate equivalent to one and a half (1 1/2) months salary
for every year of continuous and satisfactory service rendered or
the equivalent nearest fraction thereof favorable to them on the
basis of the highest salary received. If they are already entitled to
retirement benefits or the gratuity herein provided. Officers and
employees who may be reinstated shall refund such retirement
benefits or gratuity received: Provided, finally That absorbed
personnel must still meet the qualifications and standards set by
the Civil Service and the Placement Committee herein created.
Section 75. Transition Period. - The ONCC/OSCC shall have a
period of six (6) months from the effectivity of this Act within
which to wind up its affairs and to conduct audit of its finances.
Section 76. Transfer of Assets/Properties. - All real and personal
properties which are vested in, or belonging to, the merged offices
as aforestated shall be transferred to the NCIP without further
need of conveyance, transfer or assignment and shall be held for
the same purpose as they were held by the former offices:
Provided, That all contracts, records and documents shall be
transferred to the NCIP. All agreements and contracts entered into
by the merged offices shall remain in full force and effect unless
otherwise terminated, modified or amended by the NCIP.
Section 77. Placement Committee. - Subject to rules on government
reorganization, a Placement Committee shall be created by the
NCIP, in coordination with the Civil Service Commission, which
shall assist in the judicious selection and placement of personnel in
order that the best qualified and most deserving persons shall be
appointed in the reorganized agency. The placement Committee
shall be composed of seven (7) commissioners and an ICCs/IPs
representative from each of the first and second level employees
association in the Offices for Northern and Southern Cultural
Communities (ONCC/OSCC), nongovernment organizations
(NGOs) who have served the community for at least five (5) years
and peoples organizations (POs) with at least five (5) years of
existence. They shall be guided by the criteria of retention and
77
appointment to be prepared by the consultative body and by the
pertinent provisions of the civil service law.
CHAPTER XIII
FINAL PROVISIONS
Section 78. Special Provision. - The City of Baguio shall remain to
be governed by its Chapter and all lands proclaimed as part of its
townsite reservation shall remain as such until otherwise
reclassified by appropriate legislation: Provided, That prior land
rights and titles recognized and/or required through any judicial,
administrative or other processes before the effectivity of this Act
shall remain valid: Provided, further, That this provision shall not
apply to any territory which becomes part of the City of Baguio
after the effectivity of this Act.
Section 79. Appropriations. - The amount necessary to finance the
initial implementation of this Act shall be charged against the
current year's appropriation of the ONCC and the OSCC.
Thereafter, such sums as may be necessary for its continued
implementation shall be included in the annual General
Appropriations Act.
Section 80. Implementing Rules and Regulations. - Within sixty
(60) days immediately after appointment, the NCIP shall issue the
necessary rules and regulations, in consultation with the
Committees on National Cultural Communities of the House of
Representatives and the Senate, for the effective implementation of
this Act.
Section 81. Saving Clause. - This Act will not in any manner
adversely affect the rights and benefits of the ICCs/IPs under other
conventions, recommendations, international treaties, national
laws, awards, customs and agreements.
Section 82. Separability Clause. - In case any provision of this Act
or any portion thereof is declared unconstitutional by a competent
court, other provisions shall not be affected thereby.
Section 83. Repealing Clause. - Presidential Decree NO. 410,
Executive Order Nos. 122-B and 122-C, and all other laws, decrees,
orders, rules and regulations or parts thereof inconsistent with this
Act are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.
Section 84. Effectivity. - This Act shall take effect fifteen days (15)
days upon its publication in the Official Gazette or in any two (2)
newspapers of general circulation.
Approved: 29 October 1997.
vi
PRESIDENTIAL DECREE No. 1529
AMENDING AND CODIFYING THE LAWS RELATIVE TO
REGISTRATION OF PROPERTY AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
WHEREAS, there is a need to update the Land Registration Act
and to codify the various laws relative to registration of property, in
order to facilitate effective implementation of said laws;
WHEREAS, to strengthen the Torrens system, it is deemed
necessary to adopt safeguards to prevent anomalous titling of real
property, and to streamline and simplify registration proceedings
and the issuance of certificates of title;
WHEREAS, the decrees promulgated relative to the registration of
certificates of land transfer and emancipation patents issued
pursuant to Presidential Decree No. 27 to hasten the
implementation of the land reform program of the country form an
integral part of the property registration laws;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of
the Republic of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in
me by the Constitution, do hereby order and decree the following:
CHAPTER I
GENERAL PROVISIONS
Section 1. Title of Decree. This Decree shall be known as the
PROPERTY REGISTRATION DECREE.
Section 2. Nature of registration proceedings; jurisdiction of
courts. Judicial proceedings for the registration of lands
throughout the Philippines shall be in rem and shall be based on
the generally accepted principles underlying the Torrens system.
Courts of First Instance shall have exclusive jurisdiction over all
applications for original registration of title to lands, including
improvements and interests therein, and over all petitions filed
after original registration of title, with power to hear and
determine all questions arising upon such applications or petitions.
The court through its clerk of court shall furnish the Land
Registration Commission with two certified copies of all pleadings,
exhibits, orders, and decisions filed or issued in applications or
petitions for land registration, with the exception of stenographic
notes, within five days from the filing or issuance thereof.
Section 3. Status of other pre-existing land registration system. The
system of registration under the Spanish Mortgage Law is hereby
discontinued and all lands recorded under said system which are
not yet covered by Torrens title shall be considered as unregistered
lands.
Hereafter, all instruments affecting lands originally registered
under the Spanish Mortgage Law may be recorded under Section
113 of this Decree, until the land shall have been brought under the
operation of the Torrens system.
The books of registration for unregistered lands provided under
Section 194 of the Revised Administrative Code, as amended by Act
No. 3344, shall continue to remain in force; provided, that all
instruments dealing with unregistered lands shall henceforth be
registered under Section 113 of this Decree.
CHAPTER II
THE LAND REGISTRATION COMMISSION AND ITS
REGISTRIES OF DEEDS
Section 4. Land Registration Commission. In order to have a more
efficient execution of the laws relative to the registration of lands,
geared to the massive and accelerated land reform and social
justice program of the government, there is created a commission
to be known as the Land Registration Commission under the
executive supervision of the Department of Justice.
Section 5. Officials and employees of the Commission. The Land
Registration Commission shall have a chief and an assistant chief
to be known, respectively, as the Commissioner and the Deputy
Commissioner of Land Registration who shall be appointed by the
President. The Commissioner shall be duly qualified member of the
Philippine Bar with at least ten years of practice in the legal
profession, and shall have the same rank, compensation and
privileges as those of a Judge of the Court of First Instance. The
Deputy Commissioner, who shall possess the same qualifications
as those required of the Commissioner, shall receive compensation
which shall be three thousand pesos per annum less than that of
the Commissioner. He shall act as Commissioner of Land
Registration during the absence or disability of the Commissioner
and when there is a vacancy in the position until another person
shall have been designated or appointed in accordance with law.
The Deputy Commissioner shall also perform such other functions
as the Commissioner may assign to him.
They shall be assisted by such number of division chiefs as may be
necessary in the interest of the functioning of the Commission, by a
Special Assistant to the Commissioner, and by a Chief Geodetic
Engineer who shall each receive compensation at the rate of three
thousand four hundred pesos per annum less than that of the
Deputy Commissioner.
All other officials and employees of the Land Registration
Commission including those of the Registries of Deeds whose
salaries are not herein provided, shall receive salaries
corresponding to the minimum of their respective upgraded ranges
as provided under paragraph 3.1 of Budget Circular No. 273, plus
sixty per centum thereof across the board, notwithstanding the
maximum salary allowed for their respective civil service
eligibilities.
The salaries of officials and employees provided in this Decree shall
be without prejudice to such benefits and adjustments as may from
time to time be granted by the President or by the legislature to
government employees.
78
All officials and employees of the Commission except Registers of
Deeds shall be appointed by the Secretary of Justice upon
recommendation of the Commissioner of Land Registration.
Section 6. General Functions.
(1) The Commissioner of Land Registration shall have the following
functions:
(a) Issue decrees of registration pursuant to final judgments of the
courts in land registration proceedings and cause the issuance by
the Registers of Deeds of the corresponding certificates of title;
(b) Exercise supervision and control over all Registers of Deeds
and other personnel of the Commission;
(c) Resolve cases elevated en consulta by, or on appeal from
decision of, Registers of Deeds;
(d) Exercise executive supervision over all clerks of court and
personnel of the Courts of First Instance throughout the
Philippines with respect to the discharge of their duties and
functions in relation to the registration of lands;
(e) Implement all orders, decisions, and decrees promulgated
relative to the registration of lands and issue, subject to the
approval of the Secretary of Justice, all needful rules and
regulations therefor;
(f) Verify and approve subdivision, consolidation, and
consolidation-subdivision survey plans of properties titled under
Act No. 496 except those covered by P.D. No. 957.
(2) The Land Registration Commission shall have the following
functions:
(a) Extend speedy and effective assistance to the Department of
Agrarian Reform, the Land Bank, and other agencies in the
implementation of the land reform program of the government;
(b) Extend assistance to courts in ordinary and cadastral land
registration proceedings;
(c) Be the central repository of records relative to original
registration of lands titled under the Torrens system, including
subdivision and consolidation plans of titled lands.
Section 7. Office of the Register of Deeds. There shall be at least
one Register of Deeds for each province and one for each city.
Every Registry with a yearly average collection of more than sixty
thousand pesos during the last three years shall have one Deputy
Register of Deeds, and every Registry with a yearly average
collection of more than three hundred thousand pesos during the
last three years, shall have one Deputy Register of Deeds and one
second Deputy Register of Deeds.
The Secretary of Justice shall define the official station and
territorial jurisdiction of each Registry upon the recommendation
of the Commissioner of Land Registration, with the end in view of
making every registry easily accessible to the people of the
neighboring municipalities.
The province or city shall furnish a suitable space or building for
the office of the Register of Deeds until such time as the same could
be furnished out of national funds.
Section 8. Appointment of Registers of Deeds and their Deputies
and other subordinate personnel; salaries. Registers of Deeds shall
be appointed by the President of the Philippines upon
recommendation of the Secretary of Justice. Deputy Registers of
Deeds and all other subordinate personnel of the Registries of
Deeds shall be appointed by the Secretary of Justice upon the
recommendation of the Commissioner of Land Registration.
The salaries of Registers of Deeds and their Deputies shall be at the
following rates:
(1) First Class Registries The salaries of Registers of Deeds in first
class Registries shall be three thousand four hundred pesos per
annum less than that of the Deputy Commissioner.
(2) Second Class Registries The salaries of Registers of Deeds in
second class Registries shall be three thousand four hundred pesos
per annum less than those of Registers of Deeds in first class
Registries.
(3) Third Class Registries The salaries of Registers of Deeds in
third class Registries shall be three thousand four hundred pesos
per annum less than those of Registers of Deeds in second class
Registries.
(4) The salaries of Deputy Registers of Deeds and Second Deputy
Registers of Deeds shall be three thousand four hundred pesos per
annum less than those of their corresponding Registers of Deeds
and Deputy Registers of Deeds, respectively.
The Secretary of Justice, upon recommendation of the
Commissioner of Land Registration, shall cause the reclassification
of Registries based either on work load or the class of
province/city, whichever will result in a higher classification, for
purposes of salary adjustments in accordance with the rates
hereinabove provided.
Section 9. Qualifications of Registers of Deeds and Deputy
Registers of Deeds. No person shall be appointed Register of Deeds
unless he has been admitted to the practice of law in the
Philippines and shall have been actually engaged in such practice
for at least three years or has been employed for a like period in
any branch of government the functions of which include the
registration of property.
The Deputy Register of Deeds shall be a member of the Philippine
Bar. Provided, however, that no Register of Deeds or Deputy
Register of Deeds holding office as such upon the passage of this
Decree shall by reason hereof, be removed from office or be
demoted to a lower category or scale of salary except for cause and
upon compliance with due process as provided for by law.
Section 10. General functions of Registers of Deeds. The office of
the Register of Deeds constitutes a public repository of records of
instruments affecting registered or unregistered lands and chattel
mortgages in the province or city wherein such office is situated.
It shall be the duty of the Register of Deeds to immediately register
an instrument presented for registration dealing with real or
personal property which complies with all the requisites for
registration. He shall see to it that said instrument bears the proper
documentary and science stamps and that the same are properly
canceled. If the instrument is not registerable, 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
this Decree.
Section 11. Discharge of duties of Register of Deeds in case of
vacancy, etc.
(1) Until a regular Register of Deeds shall have been appointed for
a province or city, or in case of vacancy in the office, or upon the
occasion of the absence, illness, suspension, or inability of the
Register of Deeds to discharge his duties, said duties shall be
performed by the following officials, in the order in which they are
mentioned below, unless the Secretary of Justice designates
another official to act temporarily in his place:
(a) For the province or city where there is a Deputy Register of
Deeds, by said Deputy Register of Deeds, or by the second Deputy
Register of Deeds, should there be one;
(b) For the province or city where there is no Deputy or second
Deputy Register of Deeds, by the Provincial or City Fiscal, or any
Assistant Fiscal designated by the Provincial or City Fiscal;
(2) In case of absence, disability or suspension of the Register of
Deeds without pay, or in case of vacancy in the position, the
Secretary of Justice may, in his discretion, authorize the payment
of an additional compensation to the official acting as Register of
Deeds, such additional compensation together with his actual
salary not to exceed the salary authorized for the position thus
filled by him.
(3) In case of a newly-created province or city and pending
establishment of a Registry of Deeds and the appointment of a
79
regular Register of Deeds for the new province or city, the Register
of Deeds of the mother province or city shall be the ex-officio
Register of Deeds for said new province or city.
Section 12. Owner's Index; reports. There shall be prepared in
every Registry an index system which shall contain the names of all
registered owners alphabetically arranged. For this purpose, an
index card which shall be prepared in the name of each registered
owner which shall contain a list of all lands registered in his name.
The Register of Deeds shall submit to the Land Registration
Commission within ten days after the month to which they pertain
his monthly reports on collections and accomplishments. He shall
also submit to the Commission at the end of December of each
year, an annual inventory of all titles and instruments in his
Registry.
Section 13. Chief Geodetic Engineer. There shall be a Chief
Geodetic Engineer in the Land Registration Commission who shall
be the technical adviser of the Commission on all matters involving
surveys and shall be responsible to him for all plats, plans and
works requiring the services of a geodetic engineer in said office.
He shall perform such other functions as may, from time to time,
be assigned to him by the Commissioner.
CHAPTER III
ORIGINAL REGISTRATION
I
ORDINARY REGISTRATION PROCEEDINGS
A. APPLICATIONS
Section 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:
(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 under a bona fide claim of ownership since June 12,
1945, or earlier.
(2) Those who have acquired ownership of private lands by
prescription under the provision of existing laws.
(3) Those who have acquired ownership of private lands or
abandoned river beds by right of accession or accretion under the
existing laws.
(4) 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.
Section 15. Form and contents. The application for land
registration shall be in writing, signed by the application or the
person duly authorized in his behalf, and sworn to before any
officer authorized to administer oaths for the province or city
where the application was actually signed. If there is more than one
applicant, the application shall be signed and sworn to by and in
behalf of each. The application shall contain a description of the
land and shall state the citizenship and civil status of the applicant,
whether single or married, and, if married, the name of the wife or
husband, and, if the marriage has been legally dissolved, when and
how the marriage relation terminated. It shall also state the full
names and addresses of all occupants of the land and those of the
adjoining owners, if known, and, if not known, it shall state the
extent of the search made to find them.
The application, shall, in form, be substantially as follows:
Republic of the Philippines
Court of First Instance of _________________
The undersigned,
______________________________________________
______________hereby applies (or apply) to have the land
hereinafter described brought under the operation of the Property
Registration Decree, and to have the title thereto registered and
confirmed:
AND DECLARE . . . . .
1. That the applicants/s is/are the owners of the land (by virtue of
inheritance or deed of sale or conveyance and/or possession in
accordance with Section 14 of said Decree), together with the
building and improvements thereon, with the exception of the
following:_______________________________________
___________________________ which is/are the property
of _________________________ residing
_________________________ The said land, consisting of
____________________ parcel/s is/are situated, bounded and
described as shown on the plan and technical descriptions attached
hereto and made a part hereof, with the following
exception:_______________________________________
____________________________
2. That said land at the last assessment for taxation was assessed at
P ____, Philippine currency, and the buildings and other
improvements at P ___________, Philippine currency.
3. That to the best of my/our knowledge and belief, there is no
mortgage or encumbrance of any kind whatsoever affecting said
land, nor any other person having any interest therein, legal or
equitable, or in possession, other than as follows:
______________________________________________
_________________________________
4. That the applicant/s has/have acquired said land in the
following manner: ________________________________
(Note: Refer to Sec. 14 of said Decree. State also whether the
property is conjugal, paraphernal or exclusive property of the
applicant/s)
5. That said land is occupied by the following person:
_____________________________
______________________________________________
6. That the names in full and addresses, as far as known to the
undersigned, of the owners of all adjoining properties, of the
persons mentioned in paragraphs 3 and 5, and of the persons
shown on the plan as claimants, are as follows:
______________________________________________
__________________________________________
7. That the applicant/s is/are single or married to
____________________ (Note: if marriage has been legally
dissolved, state when and how the marriage relation
terminated.)_____________________________________
____________________________
_____________________
8. That the applicant's/s' full name, age, citizenship, residence, and
postal address/es is/are as follows:
______________________________________________
_____________________
9. That (Note: If the land included in the application is bounded by
a public or private way or road, there should be stated in this
paragraph whether or not the applicant claims any and what land
within the limits of the way or road and whether the applicant
desires to have the line of the way or road determined.)
________________________________________
___________________________
10. That the following documents are attached hereto and made a
part hereof: ___________________________________
________________________________
Signed at ___________________ this
_____________________ day of
____________________, in the year nineteen hundred and
______________________.
__________________________
Applicant
_________________________
(Post Office Address)
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES
at PROVINCE (OR CITY) OF _______________
On this _______________ day of
_________________________,19 ________ personally
appeared before me the above- named
______________________________________________
____ known to me to be the person/s who executed the foregoing
application and made oath that the statements therein are true of
his/their knowledge, information and belief.
The Residence Certificate/s ______________________ of the
applicant/s ______________ was/were exhibited to me being
No. _________________ issued at ___________________
dated ____________, 19 __________.
________________________
(Notary Public, or other Officer
authorized to administer oaths)
PTR NO. _________________
Section 16. Non-resident applicant. If the applicant is not a
resident of the Philippines, he shall file with his application an
instrument in due form appointing an agent or representative
residing in the Philippines, giving his full name and postal address,
and shall therein agree that the service of any legal process in the
proceedings under or growing out of the application made upon his
agent or representative shall be of the same legal effect as if made
upon the applicant within the Philippines. If the agent or
representative dies, or leaves the Philippines, the applicant shall
forthwith make another appointment for the substitute, and, if he
fails to do so the court may dismiss the application.
Section 17. What and where to file. The application for land
registration shall be filed with the Court of First Instance of the
province or city where the land is situated. The applicant shall file
together with the application all original muniments of titles or
copies thereof and a survey plan of the land approved by the
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 the application and all annexes.
80
Section 18. Application covering two or more parcels. An
application may include two or more parcels of land belonging to
the applicant/s provided they are situated within the same
province or city. The court may at any time order an application to
be amended by striking out one or more of the parcels or by a
severance of the application.
Section 19. Amendments. Amendments to the application
including joinder, substitution, or discontinuance as to parties may
be allowed by the court at any stage of the proceedings upon just
and reasonable terms.
Amendments which shall consist in a substantial change in the
boundaries or an increase in area of the land applied for or which
involve the inclusion of an additional land shall be subject to the
same requirements of publication and notice as in an original
application.
Section 20. When land applied for borders on road. If the
application describes the land as bounded by a public or private
way or road, it shall state whether or not the applicant claims any
and what portion of the land within the limits of the way or road,
and whether the applicant desires to have the line of the way or
road determined.
Section 21. Requirement of additional facts and papers; ocular
inspection. The court may require facts to be stated in the
application in addition to those prescribed by this Decree not
inconsistent therewith and may require the filing of any additional
paper. It may also conduct an ocular inspection, if necessary.
Section 22. Dealings with land pending original registration. After
the filing of the application and before the issuance of the decree of
registration, the land therein described may still be the subject of
dealings in whole or in part, in which case the interested party shall
present to the court the pertinent instruments together with a
subdivision plan approved by the Director of Lands in case of
transfer of portions thereof and the court, after notice to the
parties, shall order such land registered subject to the conveyance
or encumbrance created by said instruments, or order that the
decree of registration be issued in the name of the person to whom
the property has been conveyed by said instruments.
B. PUBLICATION, OPPOSITION AND DEFAULT
Section 23. Notice of initial hearing, publication, etc. The court
shall, within five days from filing of the application, issue an order
setting the date and hour of the initial hearing which shall not be
earlier than forty-five days nor later than ninety days from the date
of the order.
The public shall be given notice of the initial hearing of the
application for land registration by means of (1) publication; (2)
mailing; and (3) posting.
1. By publication.
Upon receipt of the order of the court setting the time for initial
hearing, the Commissioner of Land Registration shall cause notice
of initial hearing to be published once in the Official Gazette and
once in a newspaper of general circulation in the Philippines:
Provided, however, that the publication in the Official Gazette shall
be sufficient to confer jurisdiction upon the court. Said notice shall
be addressed to all persons appearing to have an interest in the
land involved including the adjoining owners so far as known, and
"to all whom it may concern". Said notice shall also require all
persons concerned to appear in court at a certain date and time to
show cause why the prayer of said application shall not be granted.
2. By mailing.
(a) Mailing of notice to persons named in the application. The
Commissioner of Land Registration shall also, within seven days
after publication of said notice in the Official Gazette, as
hereinbefore provided, cause a copy of the notice of initial hearing
to be mailed to every person named in the notice whose address is
known.
(b) Mailing of notice to the Secretary of Public Highways, the
Provincial Governor and the Mayor. If the applicant requests to
have the line of a public way or road determined, the
Commissioner of Land Registration shall cause a copy of said
81
notice of initial hearing to be mailed to the Secretary of Public
Highways, to the Provincial Governor, and to the Mayor of the
municipality or city, as the case may be, in which the land lies.
(c) Mailing of notice to the Secretary of Agrarian Reform, the
Solicitor General, the Director of Lands, the Director of Public
Works, the Director of Forest Development, the Director of Mines
and the Director of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources. If the land
borders on a river, navigable stream or shore, or on an arm of the
sea where a river or harbor line has been established, or on a lake,
or if it otherwise appears from the application or the proceedings
that a tenant-farmer or the national government may have a claim
adverse to that of the applicant, notice of the initial hearing shall be
given in the same manner to the Secretary of Agrarian Reform, the
Solicitor General, the Director of Lands, the Director of Mines
and/or the Director of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, as may be
appropriate.
3. By posting.
The Commissioner of Land Registration shall also cause a duly
attested copy of the notice of initial hearing to be posted by the
sheriff of the province or city, as the case may be, or by his deputy,
in a conspicuous place on each parcel of land included in the
application and also in a conspicuous place on the bulletin board of
the municipal building of the municipality or city in which the land
or portion thereof is situated, fourteen days at least before the date
of initial hearing.
The court may also cause notice to be served to such other persons
and in such manner as it may deem proper.
The notice of initial hearing shall, in form, be substantially as
follows:
(Caption and Title)
NOTICE OF INITIAL HEARING
To (here insert the names of all persons appearing to have an
interest and the adjoining owners so far as known, and to all whom
it may concern):
An application (or petition) having been filed in the above-entitled
case by (full name and address) praying for the registration and
confirmation (or for the settlement and adjudication, in case of
petition in cadastral proceedings) of title to the following described
lands:
(Insert description)
You are hereby served this notice to appear before this Court at its
session to be held at _________________ on the
______________ day of _______________, 19 ______, at
_____________ o'clock in the _________ then and there to
present such claims as you may have to said lands or any portion
thereof, and to submit evidence in support of such claim; and
unless you appear at said Court at the time and place aforesaid,
your default will be recorded and the title to the lands will be
adjudicated and determined in accordance with law and the
evidence before the Court, and thereafter you will forever be barred
from contesting said application (or petition) or any decree entered
thereon.
Witness, the Hon. ________________________ Judge of the
Court of First Instance of _______ this _______ day of
_________________, in the year 19______.
Attest:
Commissioner of Land Registration

Section 24. Proof of publication and notice. The certification of the
Commissioner of Land Registration and of the sheriff concerned to
the effect that the notice of initial hearing, as required by law, has
been complied with shall be filed in the case before the date of
initial hearing, and shall be conclusive proof of such fact.
Section 25. Opposition to application in ordinary proceedings. Any
person claiming an interest, whether named in the notice or not,
may appear and file an opposition on or before the date of initial
hearing, or within such further time as may be allowed by the
court. The opposition shall state all the objections to the
application and shall set forth the interest claimed by the party
filing the same and apply for the remedy desired, and shall be
signed and sworn to by him or by some other duly authorized
person.
If the opposition or the adverse claim of any person covers only a
portion of the lot and said portion is not properly delimited on the
plan attached to the application, or in case of undivided co-
ownership, conflicting claims of ownership or possession, or
overlapping of boundaries, the court may require the parties to
submit a subdivision plan duly approved by the Director of Lands.
Section 26. Order of default; effect. If no person appears and
answers within the time allowed, the court shall, upon motion of
the applicant, no reason to the contrary appearing, order a default
to be recorded and require the applicant to present evidence. By
the description in the notice "To all Whom It May Concern", all the
world are made parties defendant and shall be concluded by the
default order.
Where an appearance has been entered and an answer filed, a
default order shall be entered against persons who did not appear
and answer.
C. HEARING JUDGMENT AND DECREE OF REGISTRATION
Section 27. Speedy hearing; reference to a referee. The trial court
shall see to it that all registration-proceedings are disposed or
within ninety days from the date the case is submitted for decision,
The Court, if it deems necessary, may refer the case or any part
thereof to a referee who shall hear the parties and their evidence,
and the referee shall submit his report thereon to the Court within
fifteen days after the termination of such hearing. Hearing before a
referee may be held at any convenient place within the province or
city as may be fixed by him and after reasonable notice thereof
shall have been served the parties concerned. The court may render
judgment in accordance with the report as though the facts have
been found by the judge himself: Provided, however, that the court
may in its discretion accept the report, or set it aside in whole or in
part, or order the case to be recommitted for further proceedings:
Section 28. Partial judgment. In a case where only a portion of the
land subject of registration is contested, the court may render
partial judgment provided that a subdivision plan showing the
contested and uncontested portions approved by the Director of
Lands is previously submitted to said court.
Section 29. Judgment confirming title. All conflicting claims of
ownership and interest in the land subject of the application shall
be determined by the court. If the court, after considering the
evidence and the reports of the Commissioner of Land Registration
and the Director of Lands, finds that the applicant or the oppositor
has sufficient title proper for registration, judgment shall be
rendered confirming the title of the applicant, or the oppositor, to
the land or portions thereof.
Section 30. When judgment becomes final; duty to cause issuance
of decree. The judgment rendered in a land registration
proceedings becomes final upon the expiration of thirty days to be
counted from the data of receipt of notice of the judgment. An
appeal may be taken from the judgment of the court as in ordinary
civil cases.
After judgment has become final and executory, it shall devolve
upon the court to forthwith issue an order in accordance with
Section 39 of this Decree to the Commissioner for the issuance of
the decree of registration and the corresponding certificate of title
in favor of the person adjudged entitled to registration.
82
Section 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".
Section 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.
Section 33. Appeal from judgment, etc. The judgment and orders of
the court hearing the land registration case are appealable to the
Court of Appeals or to the Supreme Court in the same manner as in
ordinary actions:
Section 34. Rules of procedure. The Rules of Court shall, insofar as
not inconsistent with the provision of this Decree, be applicable to
land registration and cadastral cases by analogy or in a suppletory
character and whenever practicable and convenient.
II
CADASTRAL REGISTRATION PROCEEDINGS
A. ORDER FOR SPEEDY SETTLEMENT AND ADJUDICATION;
SURVEY; NOTICES
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.
(b) Thereupon, the Director of Lands shall give notice to persons
claiming any interest in the lands as well as to the general public, of
the day on which such survey will begin, giving as fully and
accurately as possible the description of the lands to be surveyed.
Such notice shall be punished once in the Official Gazette, and a
copy of the notice in English or the national language shall be
posted in a conspicuous place on the bulletin board of the
municipal building of the municipality in which the lands or any
portion thereof is situated. A copy of the notice shall also be sent to
the mayor of such municipality as well as to the barangay captain
and likewise to the Sangguniang Panlalawigan and the
Sangguniang Bayan concerned.
(c) The Geodetic Engineers or other employees of the Bureau of
Lands in charge of the survey shall give notice reasonably in
advance of the date on which the survey of any portion of such
lands is to begin, which notice shall be posted in the bulletin board
of the municipal building of the municipality or barrio in which the
lands are situated, and shall mark the boundaries of the lands by
monuments set up in proper places thereon. It shall be lawful for
such Geodetic Engineers and other employees to enter upon the
lands whenever necessary for the purposes of such survey or the
placing of monuments.
(d) It shall be the duty of every person claiming an interest in the
lands to be surveyed, or in any parcel thereof, to communicate with
the Geodetic Engineer upon his request therefor all information
possessed by such person concerning the boundary lines of any
lands to which he claims title or in which he claims any interest.
(e) Any person who shall willfully obstruct the making of any
survey undertaken by the Bureau of Lands or by a licensed
Geodetic Engineer duly authorized to conduct the survey under
this Section, or shall maliciously interfere with the placing of any
monument or remove such monument, or shall destroy or remove
any notice of survey posted on the land pursuant to law, shall be
punished by a fine of not more than one thousand pesos or by
imprisonment for not more than one year, or both.
B. PETITION; LOT NUMBERS
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:
The petition shall contain a description of the lands and shall be
accompanied by a plan thereof, and may contain such other data as
may serve to furnish full notice to the occupants of the lands and to
all persons who may claim any right or interest therein.
Where the land consists of two or more parcels held or occupied by
different persons, the plan shall indicate the boundaries or limits of
the various parcels as accurately as possible. The parcels shall be
known as "lots" and shall on the plan filed in the case be given
separate numbers by the Director of Lands, which numbers shall
be known as "cadastral lot numbers". The lots situated within each
municipality shall, as far as practicable, be numbered consecutively
beginning with number "one", and only one series of numbers shall
be used for that purpose in each municipality. However in cities or
townsites, a designation of the landholdings by blocks and lot
numbers may be employed instead of the designation by cadastral
lot numbers.
The cadastral number of a lot shall not be changed after final
decision has been entered decreasing the registration thereof,
except by order of court. Future subdivisions of any lot shall be
designated by a letter or letters of the alphabet added to the
cadastral number of the lot to which the respective subdivisions
pertain. The letter with which a subdivision is designated shall be
known as its "cadastral letter": Provided, however, that the
subdivisions of cities or townsites may be designated by blocks and
lot numbers.
C. ANSWER
Section 37. Answer to petition in cadastral proceedings. Any
claimant in cadastral proceedings, whether named in the notice or
not, shall appear before the court by himself or by some other
authorized person in his behalf, and shall file an answer on or
before the date of initial hearing or within such further time as may
be allowed by the court. The answer shall be signed and sworn to
by the claimant or by some other authorized person in his behalf,
and shall state whether the claimant is married or unmarried, and
83
if married, the name of the spouse and the date of marriage, his
nationality, residence and postal address, and shall also contain:
(a) The age of the claimant;
(b) The cadastral number of the lot or lots claimed, as appearing on
the plan filed in the case by the Director of Lands, or the block and
lot numbers, as the case may be;
(c) The name of the barrio and municipality in which the lots are
situated;
(d) The names and addresses of the owners of the adjoining lots so
far as known to the claimant;
(e) If the claimant is in possession of the lots claimed and can show
no express grant of the land by the government to him or to his
predecessors-in-interest, the answer shall state the length of time
he has held such possession and the manner in which it has been
acquired, and shall also state the length of time, as far as known,
during which the predecessors, if any, held possession;
(f) If the claimant is not in possession or occupation of the land,
the answer shall fully set forth the interest claimed by him and the
time and manner of his acquisition;
(g) if the lots have been assessed for taxation, their last assessed
value; and
(h) The encumbrances, if any, affecting the lots and the names of
adverse claimants, as far as known.
D. HEARING; JUDGMENT; DECREE
Section 38. Hearing, Judgment, Decree. The trial of the case may
occur at any convenient place within the province in which the
lands are situated and shall be conducted, and orders for default
and confessions entered, in the same manner as in ordinary land
registration proceedings and shall be governed by the same rules.
All conflicting interests shall be adjudicated by the court and
decrees awarded in favor of the persons entitled to the lands or to
parts thereof and such decrees shall be the basis for issuance of
original certificates of title in favor of said persons and shall have
the same effect as certificates of title granted on application for
registration of land under ordinary land registration proceedings.
CHAPTER IV
CERTIFICATE OF TITLE
Section 39. Preparation of decree and Certificate of Title. After the
judgment directing the registration of title to land has become
final, the court shall, within fifteen days from entry of judgment,
issue an order directing the Commissioner to issue the
corresponding decree of registration and certificate of title. The
clerk of court shall send, within fifteen days from entry of
judgment, certified copies of the judgment and of the order of the
court directing the Commissioner to issue the corresponding
decree of registration and certificate of title, and a certificate
stating that the decision has not been amended, reconsidered, nor
appealed, and has become final. Thereupon, the Commissioner
shall cause to be prepared the decree of registration as well as the
original and duplicate of the corresponding original certificate of
title. The original certificate of title shall be a true copy of the
decree of registration. The decree of registration shall be signed by
the Commissioner, entered and filed in the Land Registration
Commission. The original of the original certificate of title shall
also be signed by the Commissioner and shall be sent, together
with the owner's duplicate certificate, to the Register of Deeds of
the city or province where the property is situated for entry in his
registration book.
Section 40. Entry of Original Certificate of Title. Upon receipt by
the Register of Deeds of the original and duplicate copies of the
original certificate of title the same shall be entered in his record
book and shall be numbered, dated, signed and sealed by the
Register of Deeds with the seal of his office. Said certificate of title
shall take effect upon the date of entry thereof. The Register of
Deeds shall forthwith send notice by mail to the registered owner
that his owner's duplicate is ready for delivery to him upon
payment of legal fees.
Section 41. Owner's duplicate certificate of title. The owner's
duplicate certificate of title shall be delivered to the registered
owner or to his duly authorized representative. If two or more
persons are registered owners, one owner's duplicate certificate
may be issued for the whole land, or if the co-owners so desire, a
separate duplicate may be issued to each of them in like form, but
all outstanding certificates of title 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. The Register of Deeds shall note on each
certificate of title a statement as to whom a copy thereof was
issued.
Section 42. Registration Books. The original copy of the original
certificate of title shall be filed in the Registry of Deeds. The same
shall be bound in consecutive order together with similar
certificates of title and shall constitute the registration book for
titled properties.
Section 43. Transfer Certificate of Title. The subsequent certificate
of title that may be issued by the Register of Deeds pursuant to any
voluntary or involuntary instrument relating to the same land shall
be in like form, entitled "Transfer Certificate of Title", and likewise
issued in duplicate. The certificate shall show the number of the
next previous certificate covering the same land and also the fact
that it was originally registered, giving the record number, the
number of the original certificate of title, and the volume and page
of the registration book in which the latter is found.
Section 44. Statutory liens affecting title. Every registered owner
receiving a certificate of title in pursuance of a decree of
registration, and every subsequent purchaser of registered land
taking a certificate of title for value and in good faith, shall hold the
same free from all encumbrances except those noted in said
certificate and any of the following encumbrances which may be
subsisting, namely:
First. Liens, claims or rights arising or existing under the laws and
Constitution of the Philippines which are not by law required to
appear of record in the Registry of Deeds in order to be valid
against subsequent purchasers or encumbrancers of record.
Second. Unpaid real estate taxes levied and assessed within two
years immediately preceding the acquisition of any right over the
land by an innocent purchaser for value, without prejudice to the
right of the government to collect taxes payable before that period
from the delinquent taxpayer alone.
Third. Any public highway or private way established or recognized
by law, or any government irrigation canal or lateral thereof, if the
certificate of title does not state that the boundaries of such
highway or irrigation canal or lateral thereof have been
determined.
Fourth. Any disposition of the property or limitation on the use
thereof by virtue of, or pursuant to, Presidential Decree No. 27 or
any other law or regulations on agrarian reform.
Section 45. Statement of personal circumstances in the certificate.
Every certificate of title shall set forth the full names of all persons
whose interests make up the full ownership in the whole land,
including their civil status, and the names of their respective
spouses, if married, as well as their citizenship, residence and
postal address. If the property covered belongs to the conjugal
partnership, it shall be issued in the names of both spouses.
Section 46. General incidents of registered land. Registered land
shall be subject to such burdens and incidents as may arise by
operation of law. Nothing contained in this decree shall in any way
be construed to relieve registered land or the owners thereof from
any rights incident to the relation of husband and wife, landlord
and tenant, or from liability to attachment or levy on execution, or
from liability to any lien of any description established by law on
the land and the buildings thereon, or on the interest of the owner
in such land or buildings, or to change the laws of descent, or the
rights of partition between co-owners, or the right to take the same
by eminent domain, or to relieve such land from liability to be
recovered by an assignee in insolvency or trustee in bankcruptcy
under the laws relative to preferences, or to 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.
84
Section 47. Registered land not subject to prescriptions. No title to
registered land in derogation of the title of the registered owner
shall be acquired by prescription or adverse possession.
Section 48. Certificate not subject to collateral attack. A certificate
of title shall not be subject to collateral attack. It cannot be altered,
modified, or canceled except in a direct proceeding in accordance
with law.
Section 49. Splitting, or consolidation of titles. A registered owner
of several distinct parcels of land embraced in and covered by a
certificate of title desiring in lieu thereof separate certificates, each
containing one or more parcels, may file a written request for that
purpose with the Register of Deeds concerned, and the latter, upon
the surrender of the owner's duplicate, shall cancel it together with
its original and issue in lieu thereof separate certificates as desired.
A registered owner of several distinct parcels of land covered by
separate certificates of title desiring to have in lieu thereof a single
certificate for the whole land, or several certificates for the
different parcels thereof, may also file a written request with the
Register of Deeds concerned, and the latter, upon the surrender of
the owner's duplicates, shall cancel them together with their
originals, and issue in lieu thereof one or separate certificates as
desired.
Section 50. Subdivision and consolidation plans. Any owner
subdividing a tract of registered land into lots which do not
constitute a subdivision project has defined and provided for under
P.D. No. 957, shall file with the Commissioner of Land Registration
or with the Bureau of Lands a subdivision plan of such land on
which all boundaries, streets, passageways and waterways, if any,
shall be distinctly and accurately delineated.
If a subdivision plan, be it simple or complex, duly approved by the
Commissioner of Land Registration or the Bureau of Lands
together with the approved technical descriptions and the
corresponding owner's duplicate certificate of title is presented for
registration, the Register of Deeds shall, without requiring further
court approval of said plan, register the same in accordance with
the provisions of the Land Registration Act, as amended: Provided,
however, that the Register of Deeds shall annotate on the new
certificate of title covering the street, passageway or open space, a
memorandum to the effect that except by way of donation in favor
of the national government, province, city or municipality, no
portion of any street, passageway, waterway or open space so
delineated on the plan shall be closed or otherwise disposed of by
the registered owner without the approval of the Court of First
Instance of the province or city in which the land is situated.
A registered owner desiring to consolidate several lots into one or
more, requiring new technical descriptions, shall file with the Land
Registration Commission, a consolidation plan on which shall be
shown the lots to be affected, as they were before, and as they will
appear after the consolidation. Upon the surrender of the owner's
duplicate certificates and the receipt of consolidation plan duty
approved by the Commission, the Register of Deeds concerned
shall cancel the corresponding certificates of title and issue a new
one for the consolidated lots.
The Commission may not order or cause any change, modification,
or amendment in the contents of any certificate of title, or of any
decree or plan, including the technical description therein,
covering any real property registered under the Torrens system,
nor order the cancellation of the said certificate of title and the
issuance of a new one which would result in the enlargement of the
area covered by the certificate of title.
CHAPTER V
SUBSEQUENT REGISTRATION
I
VOLUNTARY DEALINGS WITH REGISTERED LANDS
GENERAL PROVISIONS
Section 51. Conveyance and other dealings by registered owner. An
owner of registered land may convey, mortgage, lease, charge or
otherwise deal with the same in accordance with existing laws. He
may use such forms of deeds, mortgages, leases or other voluntary
instruments as are sufficient in law. But no deed, mortgage, lease,
or other voluntary instrument, except a will purporting to convey
or affect registered land shall take effect as a conveyance or bind
the land, but shall operate only as a contract between the parties
and as evidence of authority to the Register of Deeds to make
registration.
The act of registration shall be the operative act to convey or affect
the land insofar as third persons are concerned, and in all cases
under this Decree, the registration shall be made in the office of the
Register of Deeds for the province or city where the land lies.
Section 52. Constructive notice upon registration. Every
conveyance, mortgage, lease, lien, attachment, order, judgment,
instrument or entry affecting registered land shall, if registered,
filed or entered in the office of the Register of Deeds for the
province or city where the land to which it relates lies, be
constructive notice to all persons from the time of such registering,
filing or entering.
Section 53. Presentation of owner's duplicate upon entry of new
certificate. No voluntary instrument shall be registered by the
Register of Deeds, unless the owner's duplicate certificate is
presented with such instrument, except in cases expressly provided
for in this Decree or upon order of the court, for cause shown.
The production of the owner's duplicate certificate, whenever any
voluntary instrument is presented for registration, shall be
conclusive authority from the registered owner to the Register of
Deeds to enter a new certificate or to make a memorandum of
registration in accordance with such instrument, and the new
certificate or memorandum shall be binding upon the registered
owner and upon all persons claiming under him, in favor of every
purchaser for value and in good faith.
In all cases of registration procured by fraud, the owner may
pursue all his legal and equitable remedies against the parties to
such fraud without prejudice, however, to the rights of any
innocent holder for value of a certificate of title. After the entry of
the decree of registration on the original petition or application,
any subsequent registration procured by the presentation of a
forged duplicate certificate of title, or a forged deed or other
instrument, shall be null and void.
Section 54. Dealings less than ownership, how registered. No new
certificate shall be entered or issued pursuant to any instrument
which does not divest the ownership or title from the owner or
from the transferee of the registered owners. All interests in
registered land less than ownership shall be registered by filing
with the Register of Deeds the instrument which creates or
transfers or claims such interests and by a brief memorandum
thereof made by the Register of Deeds upon the certificate of title,
and signed by him. A similar memorandum shall also be made on
the owner's duplicate. The cancellation or extinguishment of such
interests shall be registered in the same manner.
Section 55. Grantee's name, nationality, etc., to be stated. Every
deed or other voluntary instrument presented for registration shall
contain or have endorsed upon it the full name, nationality,
residence and postal address of the grantee or other person
acquiring or claiming an interest under such instrument, and every
deed shall also state whether the grantee is married or unmarried,
and if married, the name in full of the husband or wife. If the
grantee is a corporation or association, the instrument must
contain a recital to show that such corporation or association is
legally qualified to acquire private lands. Any change in the
residence or postal address of such person shall be endorsed by the
Register of Deeds on the original copy of the corresponding
certificate of title, upon receiving a sworn statement of such
change. All names and addresses shall also be entered on all
certificates.
Notices and processed issued in relation to registered land in
pursuance of this Decree may be served upon any person in
interest by mailing the same to the addresses given, and shall be
binding, whether such person resides within or without the
Philippines, but the court may, in its discretion, require further or
other notice to be given in any case, if in its opinion the interest of
justice so requires.
Section 56. Primary Entry Book; fees; certified copies. Each
Register of Deeds shall keep a primary entry book in which, upon
payment of the entry fee, he shall enter, in the order of their
reception, all instruments including copies of writs and processes
85
filed with him relating to registered land. He shall, as a preliminary
process in registration, note in such book the date, hour and
minute of reception of all instruments, in the order in which they
were received. They shall be regarded as registered from the time
so noted, and the memorandum of each instrument, when made on
the certificate of title to which it refers, shall bear the same date:
Provided, that the national government as well as the provincial
and city governments shall be exempt from the payment of such
fees in advance in order to be entitled to entry and registration.
Every deed or other instrument, whether voluntary or involuntary,
so filed with the Register of Deeds shall be numbered and indexed
and endorsed with a reference to the proper certificate of title. All
records and papers relative to registered land in the office of the
Register of Deeds shall be open to the public in the same manner
as court records, subject to such reasonable regulations as the
Register of Deeds, under the direction of the Commissioner of
Land Registration, may prescribe.
All deeds and voluntary instruments shall be presented with their
respective copies and shall be attested and sealed by the Register of
Deeds, endorsed with the file number, and copies may be delivered
to the person presenting them.
Certified copies of all instruments filed and registered may also be
obtained from the Register of Deeds upon payment of the
prescribed fees.
(A) CONVEYANCES AND TRANSFERS
Section 57. Procedure in registration of conveyances. An owner
desiring to convey his registered land in fee simple shall execute
and register a deed of conveyance in a form sufficient in law. The
Register of Deeds shall thereafter make out in the registration book
a new certificate of title to the grantee and shall prepare and
deliver to him an owner's duplicate certificate. The Register of
Deeds shall note upon the original and duplicate certificate the
date of transfer, the volume and page of the registration book in
which the new certificate is registered and a reference by number
to the last preceding certificate. The original and the owner's
duplicate of the grantor's certificate shall be stamped "canceled".
The deed of conveyance shall be filled and indorsed with the
number and the place of registration of the certificate of title of the
land conveyed.
Section 58. Procedure where conveyance involves portion of land.
If a deed or conveyance is for a part only of the land described in a
certificate of title, the Register of Deeds shall not enter any transfer
certificate to the grantee until a plan of such land showing all the
portions or lots into which it has been subdivided and the
corresponding technical descriptions shall have been verified and
approved pursuant to Section 50 of this Decree. Meanwhile, such
deed may only be annotated by way of memorandum upon the
grantor's certificate of title, original and duplicate, said
memorandum to serve as a notice to third persons of the fact that
certain unsegregated portion of the land described therein has
been conveyed, and every certificate with such memorandum shall
be effectual for the purpose of showing the grantee's title to the
portion conveyed to him, pending the actual issuance of the
corresponding certificate in his name.
Upon the approval of the plan and technical descriptions, the
original of the plan, together with a certified copy of the technical
descriptions shall be filed with the Register of Deeds for annotation
in the corresponding certificate of title and thereupon said officer
shall issue a new certificate of title to the grantee for the portion
conveyed, and at the same time cancel the grantor's certificate
partially with respect only to said portion conveyed, or, if the
grantor so desires, his certificate may be canceled totally and a new
one issued to him describing therein the remaining portion:
Provided, however, that pending approval of said plan, no further
registration or annotation of any subsequent deed or other
voluntary instrument involving the unsegregated portion conveyed
shall be effected by the Register of Deeds, except where such
unsegregated portion was purchased from the Government or any
of its instrumentalities. If the land has been subdivided into several
lots, designated by numbers or letters, the Register of Deeds may,
if desired by the grantor, instead of canceling the latter's certificate
and issuing a new one to the same for the remaining unconveyed
lots, enter on said certificate and on its owner's duplicate a
memorandum of such deed of conveyance and of the issuance of
the transfer certificate to the grantee for the lot or lots thus
conveyed, and that the grantor's certificate is canceled as to such
lot or lots.
Section 59. Carry over of encumbrances. If, at the time of any
transfer, subsisting encumbrances or annotations appear in the
registration book, they shall be carried over and stated in the new
certificate or certificates; except so far as they may be
simultaneously released or discharged.
(B) MORTGAGES AND LEASES
Section 60. Mortgage or lease of registered land. Mortgage and
leases shall be registered in the manner provided in Section 54 of
this Decree. The owner of registered land may mortgage or lease it
by executing the deed in a form sufficient in law. Such deed of
mortgage or lease and all instruments which assign, extend,
discharge or otherwise deal with the mortgage or lease shall be
registered, and shall take effect upon the title only from time of
registration.
No mortgagee's or lessee's duplicate certificate of title shall
hereafter be issued by the Registers of Deeds, and those issued
prior to the effectivity of this Decree are hereby deemed canceled
and the holders thereof shall immediately surrender the same to
the Register of Deeds concerned.
Section 61. Registration. Upon presentation for registration of the
deed of mortgage or lease together with the owner's duplicate, the
Register of Deeds shall enter upon the original of the certificate of
title and also upon the owner's duplicate certificate a
memorandum thereof, the date and time of filing and the file
number assigned to the deed, and shall sign the said
memorandum. He shall also note on the deed the date and time of
filing and a reference to the volume and page of the registration
book in which it is registered.
Section 62. Discharge or cancellation. A mortgage or lease on
registered land may be discharge or canceled by means of an
instrument executed by the mortgage or lessee in a form sufficient
in law, which shall be filed with the Register of Deeds who shall
make the appropriate memorandum upon the certificate of title.
Section 63. Foreclosure of Mortgage. (a) If the mortgage was
foreclosed judicially, a certified copy of the final order of the court
confirming the sale shall be registered with the Register of Deeds.
If no right of redemption exists, the certificate of title of the
mortgagor shall be canceled, and a new certificate issued in the
name of the purchaser.
Where the right of redemption exists, the certificate of title of the
mortgagor shall not be canceled, but the certificate of sale and the
order confirming the sale shall be registered by a brief
memorandum thereof made by the Register of Deeds upon the
certificate of title. In the event the property is redeemed, the
certificate or deed of redemption shall be filed with the Register of
Deeds, and a brief memorandum thereof shall be made by the
Register of Deeds on the certificate of title of the mortgagor.
If the property is not redeemed, the final deed of sale executed by
the sheriff in favor of the purchaser at a foreclosure sale shall be
registered with the Register of Deeds; whereupon the title of the
mortgagor shall be canceled, and a new certificate issued in the
name of the purchaser.
(b) If the mortgage was foreclosed extrajudicially, a certificate of
sale executed by the officer who conducted the sale shall be filed
with the Register of Deeds who shall make a brief memorandum
thereof on the certificate of title.
In the event of redemption by the mortgagor, the same rule
provided for in the second paragraph of this section shall apply.
In case of non-redemption, the purchaser at foreclosure sale shall
file with the Register of Deeds, either a final deed of sale executed
by the person authorized by virtue of the power of attorney
embodied in the deed of mortgage, or his sworn statement
attesting to the fact of non-redemption; whereupon, the Register of
Deeds shall issue a new certificate in favor of the purchaser after
the owner's duplicate of the certificate has been previously
delivered and canceled.
86
(C) POWERS OF ATTORNEY; TRUSTS
Section 64. Power of attorney. Any person may, by power of
attorney, convey or otherwise deal with registered land and the
same shall be registered with the Register of Deeds of the province
or city where the land lies. Any instrument revoking such power of
attorney shall be registered in like manner.
Section 65. Trusts in registered land. If a deed or other instrument
is filed in order to transfer registered land in trust, or upon any
equitable condition or limitation expressed therein, or to create or
declare a trust or other equitable interests in such land without
transfer, the particulars of the trust, condition, limitation or other
equitable interest shall not be entered on the certificate; but only a
memorandum thereof shall be entered by the words "in trust", or
"upon condition", or other apt words, and by a reference by
number to the instrument authorizing or creating the same. A
similar memorandum shall be made upon the original instrument
creating or declaring the trust or other equitable interest with a
reference by number to the certificate of title to which it relates and
to the volume and page in the registration book in which it is
registered.
Section 66. Trust with power of sale, etc., how expressed. If the
instrument creating or declaring a trust or other equitable interest
contains an express power to sell, mortgage or deal with the land in
any manner, such power shall be stated in the certificate of title by
the words "with power to sell", or "power to mortgage", or by apt
words of description in case of other powers. No instrument which
transfers, mortgages or in any way deals with registered land in
trust shall be registered, unless the enabling power thereto is
expressly conferred in the trust instrument, or unless a final
judgment or order of a court of competent jurisdiction has
construed the instrument in favor of the power, in which case a
certified copy of such judgment or order may be registered.
Section 67. Judicial appointment of new trustee. If a new trustee of
registered land is appointed by a court of competent jurisdiction, a
new certificate may be issued to him upon presentation to the
Register of Deeds of a certified copy of the order or judicial
appointment and the surrender for cancellation of the duplicate
certificate.
Section 68. Implied, trusts, how established. Whoever claims an
interest in registered land by reason of any implied or constructive
trust shall file for registration with the Register of Deeds a sworn
statement thereof containing a description of the land, the name of
the registered owner and a reference to the number of the
certificate of title. Such claim shall not affect the title of a
purchaser for value and in good faith before its registration.
II
INVOLUNTARY DEALINGS
Section 69. Attachments. An attachment, or a copy of any writ,
order or process issued by a court of record, intended to create or
preserve any lien, status, right, or attachment upon registered land,
shall be filed and registered in the Registry of Deeds for the
province or city in which the land lies, and, in addition to the
particulars required in such papers for registration, shall contain a
reference to the number of the certificate of title to be affected and
the registered owner or owners thereof, and also if the attachment,
order, process or lien is not claimed on all the land in any
certificate of title a description sufficiently accurate for
identification of the land or interest intended to be affected. A
restraining order, injunction or mandamus issued by the court
shall be entered and registered on the certificate of title affected,
free of charge.
Section 70. Adverse claim. Whoever claims any part or interest in
registered land adverse to the registered owner, arising subsequent
to the date of the original registration, may, if no other provision is
made in this Decree for registering the same, make a statement in
writing setting forth fully his alleged right or interest, and how or
under whom acquired, a reference to the number of the certificate
of title of the registered owner, the name of the registered owner,
and a description of the land in which the right or interest is
claimed.
The statement shall be signed and sworn to, and shall state the
adverse claimant's residence, and a place at which all notices may
be served upon him. This statement shall be entitled to registration
as an adverse claim on the certificate of title. The adverse claim
shall be effective for a period of thirty days from the date of
registration. After the lapse of said period, the annotation of
adverse claim may be canceled upon filing of a verified petition
therefor by the party in interest: Provided, however, that after
cancellation, no second adverse claim based on the same ground
shall be registered by the same claimant.
Before the lapse of thirty days aforesaid, any party in interest may
file a petition in the Court of First Instance where the land is
situated for the cancellation of the adverse claim, and the court
shall grant a speedy hearing upon the question of the validity of
such adverse claim, and shall render judgment as may be just and
equitable. If the adverse claim is adjudged to be invalid, the
registration thereof shall be ordered canceled. If, in any case, the
court, after notice and hearing, shall find that the adverse claim
thus registered was frivolous, it may fine the claimant in an
amount not less than one thousand pesos nor more than five
thousand pesos, in its discretion. Before the lapse of thirty days,
the claimant may withdraw his adverse claim by filing with the
Register of Deeds a sworn petition to that effect.
Section 71. Surrender of certificate in involuntary dealings. If an
attachment or other lien in the nature of involuntary dealing in
registered land is registered, and the duplicate certificate is not
presented at the time of registration, the Register of Deeds shall,
within thirty-six hours thereafter, send notice by mail to the
registered owner, stating that such paper has been registered, and
requesting him to send or produce his duplicate certificate so that a
memorandum of the attachment or other lien may be made
thereon. If the owner neglects or refuses to comply within a
reasonable time, the Register of Deeds shall report the matter to
the court, and it shall, after notice, enter an order to the owner, to
produce his certificate at a time and place named therein, and may
enforce the order by suitable process.
Section 72. Dissolution, etc. of attachments, etc. Attachments and
liens of every description upon registered land shall be continued,
reduced, discharged and dissolved by any method sufficient in law,
and to give effect to the continuance, reduction, discharge or
dissolution thereof the certificate or other instrument for that
purpose shall be registered with the Register of Deeds.
Section 73. Registration of orders of court, etc. If an attachment is
continued, reduced, dissolved, or otherwise affected by an order,
decision or judgment of the court where the action or proceedings
in which said attachment was made is pending or by an order of a
court having jurisdiction thereof, a certificate of the entry of such
order, decision or judgment from the clerk of court or the judge by
which such decision, order or judgment has been rendered and
under the seal of the court, shall be entitled to be registered upon
presentation to the Register of Deeds.
Section 74. Enforcement of liens on registered land. Whenever
registered land is solved on execution, or taken or sold for taxes or
for any assessment or to enforce a lien of any character, or for any
costs and charges incident to such liens, any execution or copy of
execution, any officer's return, or any deed, demand, certificate, or
affidavit, or other instrument made in the course of the
proceedings to enforce such liens and required by law to be
recorded, shall be filed with the Register of Deeds of the province
or city where the land lies and registered in the registration book,
and a memorandum made upon the proper certificate of title in
each case as lien or encumbrance.
Section 75. Application for new certificate upon expiration of
redemption period. Upon the expiration of the time, if any, allowed
by law for redemption after registered land has been sold on
execution taken or sold for the enforcement of a lien of any
description, except a mortgage lien, the purchaser at such sale or
anyone claiming under him may petition the court for the entry of
a new certificate of title to him.
Before the entry of a new certificate of title, the registered owner
may pursue all legal and equitable remedies to impeach or annul
such proceedings.
Section 76. Notice of lis pendens. No action to recover possession
of real estate, or to quiet title thereto, or to remove clouds upon the
title thereof, or for partition, or other proceedings of any kind in
court directly affecting the title to land or the use or occupation
thereof or the buildings thereon, and no judgment, and no
87
proceeding to vacate or reverse any judgment, shall have any effect
upon registered land as against persons other than the parties
thereto, unless a memorandum or notice stating the institution of
such action or proceeding and the court wherein the same is
pending, as well as the date of the institution thereof, together with
a reference to the number of the certificate of title, and an adequate
description of the land affected and the registered owner thereof,
shall have been filed and registered.
Section 77. Cancellation of lis pendens. Before final judgment, a
notice of lis pendens may be canceled upon order of the court, after
proper showing that the notice is for the purpose of molesting the
adverse party, or that it is not necessary to protect the rights of the
party who caused it to be registered. It may also be canceled by the
Register of Deeds upon verified petition of the party who caused
the registration thereof.
At any time after final judgment in favor of the defendant, or other
disposition of the action such as to terminate finally all rights of the
plaintiff in and to the land and/or buildings involved, in any case in
which a memorandum or notice of lis pendens has been registered
as provided in the preceding section, the notice of lis pendens shall
be deemed canceled upon the registration of a certificate of the
clerk of court in which the action or proceeding was pending
stating the manner of disposal thereof.
CHAPTER VI
REGISTRATION OF JUDGMENTS; ORDERS; PARTITIONS
Section 78. Judgment for Plaintiff. Whenever in any action to
recover possession or ownership of real estate or any interest
therein affecting registered land judgment is entered for the
plaintiff, such judgment shall be entitled to registration on
presentation of a certificate of the entry thereof from the clerk of
court where the action is pending to the Register of Deeds for the
province or city where the land lies, who shall enter a
memorandum upon the certificate of title of the land to which such
judgment relates. If the judgment does not apply to all the land
described in the certificate of title, the certificate of the clerk of the
court where the action is pending and the memorandum entered
by the Register of Deeds shall contain a description of the land
affected by the judgment.
Section 79. Judgment adjudicating ownership. When in any action
to recover the ownership of real estate or an interest therein
execution has been issued in favor of the plaintiff, the latter shall
be entitled to the entry of a new certificate of title and to the
cancellation of the original certificate and owner's duplicate of the
former registered owner. If the registered owner neglects or refuses
within a reasonable time after request of the plaintiff to produce
his duplicate certificate in order that the same may be canceled, the
court shall, on application and after notice, enter an order to the
owner to produce his certificate at the time and place designated,
and may enforce the order by suitable process.
Section 80. Execution of deed by virtue of judgment. Every court
rendering judgment in favor of the plaintiff affecting registered
land shall, upon petition of said plaintiff, order and parties before
it to execute for registration any deed or instrument necessary to
give effect to the judgment, and shall require the registered owner
to deliver his duplicate certificate to the plaintiff or to the Register
of Deeds to be canceled or to have a memorandum annotated upon
it. In case the person required to execute any deed or other
instrument necessary to give effect to the judgment is absent from
the Philippines, or is a minor, or insane, or for any reason not
amenable to the process of the court rendering the judgment, said
court may appoint a suitable person as trustee to execute such
instrument which, when executed, shall be entitled to registration.
Section 81. Judgment of partition. In proceedings for partition of
registered land, after the entry of the final judgment of partition, a
copy of such final judgment, certified by the clerk of the court
rendering the same, shall be filed and registered; thereupon, if the
land is set of to the owners in severalty, each owner shall be
entitled to have his certificate entered showing the share set off to
him in severalty, and to receive an owner's duplicate thereof.
If the land is ordered by the court to be sold, the purchaser or his
assigns shall be entitled to certificate of title entered in his or their
favor upon presenting a certified copy of the judgment confirming
the sale.
In case the land is ordered by the court to be assigned to one of the
parties upon payment to the others of the sum ordered by the
court, the party to whom the land is thus assigned shall be entitled
to have a certificate of title entered in his favor upon presenting a
certified copy of the judgment: Provided, however, that any new
certificate entered in pursuance of partition proceedings, whether
by way of set-off or of assignment or of sale, shall contain a
reference memorandum to the final judgment of partition, and
shall be conclusive as to the title to the same extent and against the
same persons as such judgment is made conclusive by the laws
applicable thereto: and provided, further, that any person holding
such certificate of title or a transfer thereof shall have the right to
petition the court at any time to cancel the memorandum relating
to such judgment or order and the court, after notice and hearing,
may grant the petition. Such certificate shall thereafter be
conclusive in the same manner and to the same extent as other
certificates of title.
Section 82. Registration of prior registered mortgaged or lease on
partitioned property. If a certified copy of a final judgment or
decree of partition is presented and it appears that a mortgage or
lease affecting a specific portion or an undivided share of the
premises had previously been registered, the Register of Deeds
shall carry over such encumbrance on the certificate of title that
may be issued.
Section 83. Notice of insolvency. Whenever proceeding in
bankruptcy or insolvency, or analogous proceedings, are instituted
against a debtor who owns registered land, it shall be the duty of
the officer serving the notice of the institution of such proceedings
on the debtor to file a copy thereof with the office of the Register of
Deeds for the province or city where the land of the debtor lies. The
assignee or trustee appointed by the court in such proceedings
shall be entitled to the entry of a new certificate of the registered
land of the debtor or bankrupt, upon presenting and filing a
certified copy of the assignment in insolvency or order or
adjudication in bankruptcy with the insolvent's or bankrupt's
duplicate certificate of title; but the new certificate shall state that
it is entered to him as assignee in insolvency or trustee in
bankruptcy or other proceedings, as the case may be.
Section 84. Judgment or order vacating insolvency proceedings.
Whenever any of the proceedings of the character named in the
preceding section against a registered owner, of which notice has
been registered, is vacated by judgment, a certified copy of the
judgment or order may be registered. Where a new certificate has
been entered in the name of the assignee or trustee, such certificate
shall be surrendered for cancellation and forthwith the debtor shall
be entitled to the entry of a new certificate to him.
Section 85. Land taken by eminent domain. Whenever any
registered land, or interest therein, is expropriated or taken by
eminent domain, the National Government, province, city,
municipality, or any other agency or instrumentality exercising
such right shall file for registration in the proper Registry a
certified copy of the judgment which shall state definitely, by an
adequate description, the particular property or interest
expropriated, the number of the certificate of title, and the nature
of the public use. A memorandum of the right or interest taken
shall be made on each certificate of title by the Register of Deeds,
and where the fee simple title is taken, a new certificate shall be
issued in favor of the National Government, province, city,
municipality, or any other agency or instrumentality exercising
such right for the land so taken. The legal expenses incident to the
memorandum of registration or issuances incident to the
memorandum of registration or issuance of a new certificate shall
be for the account of the authority taking the land or interest
therein.
Section 86. Extrajudicial settlement of estate. When a deed of
extrajudicial settlement has been duly registered, the Register of
Deeds shall annotate on the proper title the two-year lien
mentioned in Section 4 of Rule 74 of the Rules of Court. Upon the
expiration of the two-year period and presentation of a verified
petition by the registered heirs, devisees or legatees or any other
party in interest that no claim or claims of any creditor, heir or
other person exist, the Register of Deeds shall cancel the two-year
lien noted on the title without the necessity of a court order. The
verified petition shall be entered in the Primary Entry Book and a
memorandum thereof made on the title.
88
No deed of extrajudicial settlement or affidavit of adjudication
shall be registered unless the fact of extrajudicial settlement or
adjudication is published once a week for three consecutive weeks
in a newspaper of general circulation in the province and proof
thereof is filed with the Register of Deeds. The proof may consist of
the certification of the publisher, printer, his foreman or principal
clerk, or of the editor, business or advertising manager of the
newspaper concerned, or a copy of each week's issue of the
newspaper wherein the publication appeared.
Section 87. Filing of letters of administration and will. Before the
executor or administrator of the estate of a deceased owner of
registered land may deal with the same, he shall file with the office
of the Register of Deeds a certified copy of his letters of
administration or if there is a will, a certified copy thereof and the
order allowing the same, together with the letters testamentary or
of administration with the will annexed, as the case may be, and
shall produce the duplicate certificate of title, and thereupon the
Register of Deeds shall enter upon the certificate a memorandum
thereof, making reference to the letters and/or will by their file
number, and the date of filing the same.
Section 88. Dealings by administering subject to court approval.
After a memorandum of the will, if any, and order allowing the
same, and letters testamentary or letters of administration have
been entered upon the certificate of title as hereinabove provided,
the executor or administrator may alienate or encumber registered
land belonging to the estate, or any interest therein, upon approval
of the court obtained as provided by the Rules of Court.
Section 89. Land devised to executor. When it appears by will, a
certified copy of which with letters testamentary had already been
filed as provided in this Decree, that registered land is devised to
the executor to his own use, or upon some trust, the executor may
have the land transferred to himself upon the register in like
manner and subject to like terms and conditions and to like rights
as in the case of a transfer pursuant to a deed filed in the office of
the Register of Deeds.
Section 90. When executor empowered by will to sell, etc. When
the will of a deceased owner of registered lands, or an interest
therein, empowers the executor to sell, convey, encumber, charge
or otherwise deal with the land, a certified copy of the will and
letters testamentary being filed as provided in this Decree, such
executor may sell, convey, encumber, charge or otherwise deal with
the land pursuant to the power in like manner as if he were
registered owner, subject to the terms and conditions and
limitations expressed in the will.
Section 91. Transfer in anticipation of final distribution. Whenever
the court having jurisdiction of the testate or intestate proceedings
directs the executor or administrator to take over and transfer to
the devisees or heirs, or any of them, in anticipation of final
distribution a portion or the whole of the registered land to which
they might be entitled on final distribution, upon the filing of a
certified copy of such order in the office of the Register of Deeds,
the executor or administratory may cause such transfer to be made
upon the register in like manner as in case of a sale, and upon the
presentation of the owner's duplicate certificate to the Register of
Deeds, the devisees or heirs concerned shall be entitled to the
issuance of the corresponding certificates of title.
Section 92. Registration of final distribution of estate. A certified
copy of the partition and distribution, together with the final
judgment or order of the court approving the same or otherwise
making final distribution, supported by evidence of payment of
estate taw or exemption therefrom, as the case may be, shall be
filed with the Register of Deeds, and upon the presentation of the
owner's duplicate certificate of title, new certificates of title shall be
issued to the parties severally entitled thereto in accordance with
the approved partition and distribution.
CHAPTER VII
ASSURANCE FUND
Section 93. Contribution to Assurance Fund. Upon the entry of a
certificate of title in the name of the registered owner, and also
upon the original registration on the certificate of title of a building
or other improvements on the land covered by said certificate, as
well as upon the entry of a certificate pursuant to any subsequent
transfer of registered land, there shall be paid to the Register of
Deeds one-fourth of one per cent of the assessed value of the real
estate on the basis of the last assessment for taxation purposes, as
contribution to the Assurance Fund. Where the land involved has
not yet been assessed for taxation, its value for purposes of this
decree shall be determined by the sworn declaration of two
disinterested persons to the effect that the value fixed by them is to
their knowledge, a fair valuation.
Nothing in this section shall in any way preclude the court from
increasing the valuation of the property should it appear during the
hearing that the value stated is too small.
Section 94. Custody and investment of fund. All money received by
the Register of Deeds under the preceding section shall be paid to
the National Treasurer. He shall keep this money in an Assurance
Fund which may be invested in the manner and form authorized by
law, and shall report annually to the Commissioner of the Budget
the condition and income thereof.
The income of the Assurance Fund shall be added to the principal
until said fund amounts to five hundred thousand pesos, in which
event the excess income from investments as well as from the
collections of such fund shall be paid into the National Treasury to
the account of the Assurance Fund.
Section 95. Action for compensation from funds. A person who,
without negligence on his part, sustains loss or damage, or is
deprived of land or any estate or interest therein in consequence of
the bringing of the land under the operation of the Torrens system
of arising after original registration of land, through fraud or in
consequence of any error, omission, mistake or misdescription in
any certificate of title or in any entry or memorandum in the
registration book, and who by the provisions of this Decree is
barred or otherwise precluded under the provision of any law from
bringing an action for the recovery of such land or the estate or
interest therein, may bring an action in any court of competent
jurisdiction for the recovery of damages to be paid out of the
Assurance Fund.
Section 96. Against whom action filed. If such action is brought to
recover for loss or damage or for deprivation of land or of any
estate or interest therein arising wholly through fraud, negligence,
omission, mistake or misfeasance of the court personnel, Register
of Deeds, his deputy, or other employees of the Registry in the
performance of their respective duties, the action shall be brought
against the Register of Deeds of the province or city where the land
is situated and the National Treasurer as defendants. But if such
action is brought to recover for loss or damage or for deprivation of
land or of any interest therein arising through fraud, negligence,
omission, mistake or misfeasance of person other than court
personnel, the Register of Deeds, his deputy or other employees of
the Registry, such action shall be brought against the Register of
Deeds, the National Treasurer and other person or persons, as co-
defendants. It shall be the duty of the Solicitor General in person or
by representative to appear and to defend all such suits with the
aid of the fiscal of the province or city where the land lies:
Provided, however, that nothing in this Decree shall be construed
to deprive the plaintiff of any right of action which he may have
against any person for such loss or damage or deprivation without
joining the National Treasurer as party defendant. In every action
filed against the Assurance Fund, the court shall consider the
report of the Commissioner of Land Registration.
Section 97. Judgment, how satisfied. If there are defendants other
than the National Treasurer and the Register of Deeds and
judgment is entered for the plaintiff and against the National
Treasury, the Register of Deeds and any of the other defendants,
execution shall first issue against such defendants other than the
National and the Register of Deeds. If the execution is returned
unsatisfied in whole or in part, and the officer returning the same
certificates that the amount due cannot be collected from the land
or personal property of such other defendants, only then shall the
court, upon proper showing, order the amount of the execution and
costs, or so much thereof as remains unpaid, to be paid by the
National treasurer out of the Assurance Fund. In an action under
this Decree, the plaintiff cannot recover as compensation more
than the fair market value of the land at the time he suffered the
loss, damage, or deprivation thereof.
Section 98. General Fund when liable. If at any time the Assurance
Fund is not sufficient to satisfy such judgment, the National
Treasurer shall make up for the deficiency from any funds available
in the treasury not otherwise appropriated.
89
Section 99. Subrogation of government to plaintiff's rights. In every
case where payment has been made by the National Treasurer in
accordance with the provisions of this Decree, the Government of
the Republic of the Philippines shall be subrogated to the rights of
the plaintiff against any other parties or securities. The National
Treasurer shall enforce said rights and the amount recovered shall
be paid to the account of the Assurance Fund.
Section 100. Register of Deeds as party in interest. When it appears
that the Assurance Fund may be liable for damages that may be
incurred due to the unlawful or erroneous issuance of a certificate
of title, the Register of Deeds concerned shall be deemed a proper
party in interest who shall, upon authority of the Commissioner of
Land Registration, file the necessary action in court to annul or
amend the title.
The court may order the Register of Deeds to amend or cancel a
certificate of title or to do any other act as may be just and
equitable.
Section 101. Losses not recoverable. The Assurance Fund shall not
be liable for any loss, damage or deprivation caused or occasioned
by a breach of trust, whether express, implied or constructive or by
any mistake in the resurveyed or subdivision of registered land
resulting in the expansion of area in the certificate of title.
Section 102. Limitation of Action. Any action for compensation
against the Assurance Fund by reason of any loss, damage or
deprivation of land or any interest therein shall be instituted within
a period of six years from the time the right to bring such action
first occurred: Provided, That the right of action herein provided
shall survive to the legal representative of the person sustaining
loss or damage, unless barred in his lifetime; and Provided,
further, That if at the time such right of action first accrued the
person entitled to bring such action was a minor or insane or
imprisoned, or otherwise under legal disability, such person or
anyone claiming from, by or under him may bring the proper
action at any time within two years after such disability has been
removed, notwithstanding the expiration of the original period of
six years first above provided.
CHAPTER VIII
REGISTRATION OF PATENTS
Section 103. Certificates of title pursuant to patents. Whenever
public land is by the Government alienated, granted or conveyed to
any person, the same shall be brought forthwith under the
operation of this Decree. It shall be the duty of the official issuing
the instrument of alienation, grant, patent or conveyance in behalf
of the Government to cause such instrument to be filed with the
Register of Deeds of the province or city where the land lies, and to
be there registered like other deeds and conveyance, whereupon a
certificate of title shall be entered as in other cases of registered
land, and an owner's duplicate issued to the grantee. The deed,
grant, patent or instrument of conveyance from the Government to
the grantee shall not take effect as a conveyance or bind the land
but shall operate only as a contract between the Government and
the grantee and as evidence of authority to the Register of Deeds to
make registration. It is the act of registration that shall be the
operative act to affect and convey the land, and in all cases under
this Decree, registration shall be made in the office of the Register
of Deeds of the province or city where the land lies. The fees for
registration shall be paid by the grantee. After due registration and
issuance of the certificate of title, such land shall be deemed to be
registered land to all intents and purposes under this Decree.
CHAPTER IX
CERTIFICATE OF LAND TRANSFER, EMANCIPATION PATENT,
AFFIDAVIT OF NON-TENANCY
Section 104. Provisional Register of Documents. The Department
of Agrarian Reform shall prepare by automate data processing a
special registry book to be known as the "Provisional Register of
Documents issued under PD-27" which shall be kept and
maintained in every Registry of Deeds throughout the country.
Said Registry Book shall be a register of:
a. All Certificates of Land Transfer (CLT) issued pursuant to P.D.
No. 27; and
b. All subsequent transactions affecting Certificates of Land
Transfer such as adjustments, transfer, duplication and
cancellations of erroneous Certificates of Land Transfer.
Section 105. Certificates of Land Transfer Emancipation Patents.
The Department of Agrarian reform shall pursuant to P.D. No. 27
issue in duplicate, a Certificate of Land Transfer for every land
brought under "Operation Land Transfer", the original of which
shall be kept by the tenant-farmer and the duplicate, in the
Registry of Deeds.
After the tenant-farmer shall have fully complied with the
requirements for a grant of title under P.D. No. 27, an
Emancipation Patent which may cover previously titled or untitled
property shall be issued by the Department of Agrarian Reform.
The Register of Deeds shall complete the entries on the
aforementioned Emancipation Patent and shall assign an original
certificate of title number in case of unregistered land, and in case
of registered property, shall issue the corresponding transfer
certificate of title without requiring the surrender of the owner's
duplicate of the title to be canceled.
In case of death of the grantee, the Department of Agrarian Reform
shall determine his heirs or successors-in-interest and shall notify
the Register of Deeds accordingly.
In case of subsequent transfer of property covered by an
Emancipation Patent or a Certificate of Title emanating from an
Emancipation Patent, the Register of Deeds shall affect the transfer
only upon receipt of the supporting papers from the Department of
Agrarian Reform.
No fee, premium, of tax of any kind shall be charged or imposed in
connection with the issuance of an original Emancipation Patent
and for the registration or related documents.
Section 106. Sale of agricultural land; affidavit. No voluntary deed
or instrument purporting to be a subdivision, mortgage, lease, sale
or any other mode of encumbrance or conveyance of private
agricultural land principally devoted to rice or corn or any portion
thereof shall be registered unless accompanied by an affidavit of
the vendor or executor stating that the land involved is not
tenanted, or if tenanted, the same is not primarily devoted to the
production of rice and/or corn.
If only a portion of the land is primarily devoted to the production
of rice and/or corn, and such area so devoted is tenanted, no such
deed or instrument shall be registered unless accompanied by an
affidavit stating the area (size) of the portion which is tenanted and
primarily devoted to rice and/or corn, and stating further that the
deed or instrument covers only the untenanted portion or that
which is not primarily devoted to the production of rice and/or
corn. A memorandum of said affidavit shall be annotated on the
certificate of title. The Register of Deeds shall cause a copy of the
registered deed or instrument, together with the affidavit, to be
furnished the Department of Agrarian Reform Regional Office
where the land is located. The affidavit provided in this section
shall not be required in the case of a tenant-farmer who deals with
his Certificate of Land Transfer or Emancipation Patent in
accordance with law.
CHAPTER X
PETITIONS AND ACTIONS AFTER ORIGINAL REGISTRATION
Section 107. Surrender of withhold duplicate certificates. Where it
is necessary to issue a new certificate of title pursuant to any
involuntary instrument which divests the title of the registered
owner against his consent or where a voluntary instrument cannot
be registered by reason of the refusal or failure of the holder to
surrender the owner's duplicate certificate of title, the party in
interest may file a petition in court to compel surrender of the
same to the Register of Deeds. The court, after hearing, may order
the registered owner or any person withholding the duplicate
certificate to surrender the same, and direct the entry of a new
certificate or memorandum upon such surrender. If the person
withholding the duplicate certificate is not amenable to the process
of the court, or if not any reason the outstanding owner's duplicate
certificate cannot be delivered, the court may order the annulment
of the same as well as the issuance of a new certificate of title in
lieu thereof. Such new certificate and all duplicates thereof shall
90
contain a memorandum of the annulment of the outstanding
duplicate.
Section 108. Amendment and alteration of certificates. No erasure,
alteration, or amendment shall be made upon the registration book
after the entry of a certificate of title or of a memorandum thereon
and the attestation of the same be Register of Deeds, except by
order of the proper Court of First Instance. A registered owner of
other person having an interest in registered property, or, in
proper cases, the Register of Deeds with the approval of the
Commissioner of Land Registration, may apply by petition to the
court upon the ground that the registered interests of any
description, whether vested, contingent, expectant or inchoate
appearing on the certificate, have terminated and ceased; or that
new interest not appearing upon the certificate have arisen or been
created; or that an omission or error was made in entering a
certificate or any memorandum thereon, or, on any duplicate
certificate; or that the same or any person on the certificate has
been changed; or that the registered owner has married, or, if
registered as married, that the marriage has been terminated and
no right or interests of heirs or creditors will thereby be affected; or
that a corporation which owned registered land and has been
dissolved has not convened the same within three years after its
dissolution; or upon any other reasonable ground; and the court
may hear and determine the petition after notice to all parties in
interest, and may order the entry or cancellation of a new
certificate, the entry or cancellation of a memorandum upon a
certificate, or grant any other relief upon such terms and
conditions, requiring security or bond if necessary, as it may
consider proper; Provided, however, That this section shall not be
construed to give the court authority to reopen the judgment or
decree of registration, and that nothing shall be done or ordered by
the court which shall impair the title or other interest of a
purchaser holding a certificate for value and in good faith, or his
heirs and assigns, without his or their written consent. Where the
owner's duplicate certificate is not presented, a similar petition
may be filed as provided in the preceding section.
All petitions or motions filed under this Section as well as under
any other provision of this Decree after original registration shall
be filed and entitled in the original case in which the decree or
registration was entered.
Section 109. Notice and replacement of lost duplicate certificate. In
case of loss or theft of an owner's duplicate certificate of title, due
notice under oath shall be sent by the owner or by someone in his
behalf to the Register of Deeds of the province or city where the
land lies as soon as the loss or theft is discovered. If a duplicate
certificate is lost or destroyed, or cannot be produced by a person
applying for the entry of a new certificate to him or for the
registration of any instrument, a sworn statement of the fact of
such loss or destruction may be filed by the registered owner or
other person in interest and registered.
Upon the petition of the registered owner or other person in
interest, the court may, after notice and due hearing, direct the
issuance of a new duplicate certificate, which shall contain a
memorandum of the fact that it is issued in place of the lost
duplicate certificate, but shall in all respects be entitled to like faith
and credit as the original duplicate, and shall thereafter be
regarded as such for all purposes of this decree.
Section 110. Reconstitution of lost or destroyed original of Torrens
title. Original copies of certificates of title lost or destroyed in the
offices of Register of Deeds as well as liens and encumbrances
affecting the lands covered by such titles shall be reconstituted
judicially in accordance with the procedure prescribed in Republic
Act No. 26 insofar as not inconsistent with this Decree. The
procedure relative to administrative reconstitution of lost or
destroyed certificate prescribed in said Act is hereby abrogated.
Notice of all hearings of the petition for judicial reconstitution shall
be given to the Register of Deeds of the place where the land is
situated and to the Commissioner of Land Registration. No order
or judgment ordering the reconstitution of a certificate of title shall
become final until the lapse of thirty days from receipt by the
Register of Deeds and by the Commissioner of Land Registration of
a notice of such order or judgment without any appeal having been
filed by any of such officials.
CHAPTER XI
SCHEDULE OF FEES: SPECIAL FUND

Section 111. Fees payable. The fees payable to the Clerk of Court,
the Sheriff, the Register of Deeds and the Land Registration
Commission shall be as follows:
A. Fees payable to the Clerk of Court. The fees payable to the clerk
of court or his deputies shall be as follows:
1. For filing an application for the registration of land, the fees shall
be based on the assessed value of the property for the current year,
in accordance with the following schedule
(a) When the value of the property does not exceed two thousand
pesos, fifteen pesos for the first five hundred pesos, or fractional
part thereof, and five pesos for each additional five hundred pesos,
or fractional part thereof.
(b) When the value of the property does not exceed two thousand
pesos but does not exceed ten thousand pesos, thirty five pesos for
the first three thousand pesos, or fractional part thereof, and five
pesos for each additional one thousand pesos, or fractional part
thereof.
(c) When the value of the property is more than ten thousand pesos
but does not exceed one hundred thousand pesos, eighty pesos for
the first twenty thousand pesos, or fractional part thereof, and ten
pesos for each additional ten thousand pesos, or fractional part
thereof.
(d) When the value of the property is more than one hundred
thousand pesos but does not exceed five hundred thousand pesos,
one hundred eighty pesos for the first one hundred twenty-five
thousand pesos, or fractional part thereof, and twenty pesos for
each additional twenty-five thousand pesos, or fractional part
thereof.
(e) When the value of the property is more than five hundred
thousand pesos, five hundred twenty pesos for the first five
hundred fifty thousand pesos, or fractional part thereof, and forty
pesos for each additional fifty thousand pesos, or fractional part
thereof.
If the property has not been assessed for taxation, the fees above
prescribed shall be based on the current market value; and the
applicant shall file with his application a sworn declaration of three
disinterested persons that the value fixed by him is to their
knowledge a fair valuation.
2. For filing a petition for review of judgment and decree, or other
claim adverse to the registered owner, for each petition, twenty
pesos.
3. For filing a petition after the decision has become final, twenty
pesos. If it affects land decrees in more than one case, for each
additional case, one peso. If it affects several lots or parcels of land
in which the petitioners have no common interest, each of such
petitioners shall pay the corresponding fees as if separate petitions
had been filed by him.
B. Fees payable to the Sheriff. The sheriff shall collect fees for his
services rendered in connection with land registration and
cadastral proceedings as follows:
1. For posting notices of initial hearing of land registration cases in
conspicuous places on the lands described in the notice, for each
parcel of land on which a copy of such notice is posted, besides
travel fees, three pesos.
2. For posting notices of initial hearing of cadastral cases in
conspicuous places on the lands included in the survey, for each
group of one hundred lots on which a copy of the notice is posted,
besides travel fees, three pesos.
3. For posting one copy of a notice of initial hearing in a
conspicuous place upon the municipal building of the city,
municipality, or municipal district in which the land or portion
thereof lies, besides travel fees, three pesos.
4. For serving notices upon cadastral claimants to appear before
the court, travel fees only as provided in the Rules of Court.
91
5. For all other services not mentioned above, the same fees
including travel fees as provided in the Rules of Court for similar
services.
C. Fees payable to the Register of Deeds. The Register of Deeds
shall collect fees for all services rendered by him under this Decree
in accordance with the following schedule:
1. Original certificate of title. For the entry of one original
certificate of title and issuance of one owner's duplicate certificate,
ten pesos for the first parcel of land described thereon and five
pesos for each additional parcel.
2. Entry fee. For each entry fee in the primary entry book, five
pesos.
3. Attachment, levy, etc. For the annotation of an attachment, levy,
writ of execution, adverse claim, five pesos for each parcel of land
affected thereby.
4. Lis Pendens, etc. For the annotation of a notice of lis pendens, or
of any document or order in connection therewith, for each of land
affected thereby, five pesos.
5. Release of encumbrance. For the annotation of a release of any
encumbrance, except mortgage, lease, or other lien for the
cancellation of which a specific fee is prescribed herein, for each
parcel of land so released, five pesos; but the total amount of fees
to be collected shall not exceed the amount of fees paid for the
registration of such encumbrance.
6. Court Order. For the annotation of an order of the court for the
amendment of, or the making of a memorandum on, a certificate of
title, except inclusion of buildings or improvements, or any order
directing the registration of a document, or of any right or interest
referred to in said order, or the cancellation of a certificate of title
and/or the issuance of a new one, ten pesos for each certificate of
title on which the annotation is made, in addition to the fees
prescribed under paragraphs sixteen or seventeen, as the case may
be, of this subsection, in the same are also due for the registration
of such document, right or interest.
7. Building. For the annotation of an order of the court for the
inclusion of building and/or improvement in a certificate of title,
ten pesos for each certificate of title.
8. Powers of attorney, letters of administration, appointment of
guardian, resolution or revocation thereof. For registering and
filing a power of attorney, letters of administration or letters
testamentary whether or not accompanied by a copy of the
testament, certificate of allowance of a will with attested copy of
the will annexed, appointment of guardian for a minor or
incompetent person, appointment of receiver, trustee, or
administrator, articles of incorporation of any corporation,
association or partnership, or resolution of its board of directors
empowering an officer or member thereof to act in behalf of the
same, twenty pesos; and for the annotation of such papers on
certificates of title when required by existing laws or regulations,
five pesos for each certificate of title so annotated: Provided,
however, that when the certificate of allowance of a will and the
letters testamentary or letters of administration are filed together,
only one fee shall be collected. For registering an instrument of
revocation of any of the paper mentioned above, five pesos, and if
annotated on the corresponding certificate of title, three pesos for
each certificate of title.
9. Notice of tax lien, loss, etc. For the annotation of a notice of tax
lien of any description notice of lost duplicate or copy of a
certificate of title, order of the court declaring such duplicate or
copy null and void, notice of change of address, or the cancellation
of any such annotation, for each certificate of title, five pesos.
10. Carry over of annotation. For transferring the memorandum of
an encumbrance of any kind from one certificate of title which is
canceled to a new one in lieu thereof, for each memorandum thus
transferred, five pesos.
11. Annotation on additional copy of title. For any memorandum
made in a standing co-owner's copy of a certificate of title after a
similar memorandum has been made in the original thereof, of
each certificate of title, five pesos.
12. No specific fee. For any memorandum made in a certificate of
title for which no specific fee is prescribe above, for each certificate
of title, five pesos.
13. Transfer to trustee, executor, administrator receiver. For the
issuance of a transfer certificate of title, including its duplicate, to a
trustee, executor, administrator, or receiver, or for the cancellation
of such certificate of title and issuance of a new one, including its
duplicate, to the cestui que trust in case of trusteeship, ten pesos. If
the certificate covers more than one parcel or lot, an additional fee
of five pesos shall be collected for each additional parcel or lot.
14. Transfer certificate of title. For the issuance of a transfer
certificate of title, including its duplicate, to a person other than
those named in the next preceding paragraph, ten pesos, in
addition to the fees hereinafter prescribed in paragraph sixteen or
seventeen, as the case may be, of this subsection, if the same are
also due. If the certificate covers more than one parcel or lot, an
additional fee of five pesos shall be collected for each additional
parcel or lot.
15. Additional copy of title. For the issuance of a new owner's
duplicate or a co-owner's copy of a certificate of title, or any
additional duplicate or copy thereof, ten pesos for the first page
and five pesos for each subsequent page, or fraction thereof.
16. Registration fee. For the registration of a deed of sale,
conveyance, transfer, exchange, partition, or donation; a deed of
sale with pacto de retro, conditional sale, sheriff's sale at public
auction, sale for non-payment of taxes, or any sale subject to
redemption, or the repurchase or redemption of the property so
sold; any instrument, order, judgment or decree divesting the title
of the registered owner, except in favor of a trustee, executor,
administrator or receiver; option to purchase or promise to sell;
any mortgage, surety, bond, lease, easement, right-of-way, or other
real right or lien created or constituted by virtue of a distinct
contract or agreement, and not as an incidental condition of sale,
transfer or conveyance; the assignment, enlargement, extension or
novation of a mortgage or of any other real right, or a release of
mortgage, termination of lease, or consolidation of ownership over
a property sold with pacto de retro; where no specific fee is
prescribed therefor in the preceding paragraphs, the fees shall be
based on the value of the consideration in accordance with the
following schedule:
(a) Six thousand pesos maximum. When the value of the
consideration does not exceed six thousand pesos, seven pesos for
the first five hundred pesos, or fractional part thereof, and three
pesos for each additional five hundred pesos, or fractional part
thereof.
(b) Thirty thousand pesos maximum. When the value of the
consideration is more than six thousand pesos but does not exceed
thirty thousand pesos, or fractional part thereof, and eight pesos
for each additional two thousand pesos, or fractional part thereof.
(c) One hundred thousand pesos maximum. When the value of the
consideration is more than thirty thousand pesos but does not
exceed one hundred thousand pesos, one hundred fifty pesos for
the first thirty-five thousand pesos, or fractional part thereof, and
fourteen pesos or each additional five thousand pesos, or fractional
part thereof.
(d) Five hundred thousand pesos maximum. When the value of the
consideration is more than one hundred thousand pesos but does
not exceed five hundred thousand pesos, three hundred fifty-two
pesos for the first one hundred ten thousand pesos, or fractional
part thereof, and twenty pesos for each additional ten thousand
pesos, or fractional part thereof.
(e) More than five hundred thousand pesos. When the value of the
consideration is more than five hundred thousand pesos, one
thousand one hundred sixty-two pesos for the first five hundred
twenty thousand pesos, or fractional part thereof, and thirty pesos
for each additional twenty thousand pesos, or fractional part
thereof.
17. Fees for specific transactions. In the following transactions,
however, the basis of the fees collectible under paragraph sixteen of
this subsection, whether or not the value of the consideration is
stated in the instrument, shall be as hereunder set forth:
92
(a) Exchange. In the exchange of real property the basis of the fees
to be paid by each party shall be the current assessed value of the
properties acquired by one party from the other, in addition to the
value of any other consideration, if any, stated in the contract.
(b) Hereditary transfer. In the transmission of an hereditary estate
without partition or subdivision of the property among the heirs,
devisees or legatees, although with specification of the share of
each in the value of the estate, the basis shall be the total current
assessed value of the property thus transmitted.
(c) Partition of hereditary estate; Conjugal property. In the
partition of an hereditary estate which is still in the name of the
deceased, in which determinate properties are adjudicated to each
heir devisee or legatee, or to each group of heirs, devisees or
legatees, the basis of the fees to be paid by each person or group, as
the case may be, shall be the total current assessed value of the
properties thus adjudicated to each person or group. In the case,
however, of conjugal property, the basis of the fees for the
registration of one-half thereof in the name of the surviving spouse
shall be the total current assessed value of the properties
adjudicated to said spouse.
(d) Subdivision or partition. In the partition of real property held
in common by several registered co-owner's the basis of the fees to
be paid by each co-owner or group of co-owners shall be the total
assessed value of the property taken by each co-owner or group.
(e) Conveyance: several lots and parties. In the sale, conveyance or
transfer of two or more parcels of land in favor of two or more
separate parties but executed in one single instrument, the basis
shall be the total selling price paid by each party-buyer, or, in the
case of lump sum consideration, such portion thereof as
apportioned in accordance with the assessed value of the respective
land acquired by each party-buyer.
(f) Conveyance of properties in different places. In the sale,
conveyance, or transfer of properties situated in different cities or
provinces, the basis of the fees in each Registry of Deeds where the
instrument is to be registered shall be the total selling price of the
properties situated in the respective city or province, or, in the case
of lump sum consideration, such portion thereof as obtained for
those properties lying within the jurisdiction of the respective
registry after apportioning the total consideration of the sale,
conveyance or transfer in accordance with the current assessed
value of such properties.
(g) Conveyance of mortgaged properties. In the sale, conveyance,
or transfer of a mortgaged property, the basis shall be the selling
price of the property proper plus the full amount of the mortgage,
or the unpaid balance thereof if the latter is stated in the
instrument. If the properties are situated in different cities or
provinces, the basis of the fees in each Registry of Deeds where the
instrument is to be registered shall be such sum as obtained for the
properties situated in the respective city or province after
apportioning in accordance with the current assessed values of said
properties the total amount of consideration as above computed,
unless the selling price of the properties in each city or province
and the proportionate share thereof in the amount of unpaid
balance of the mortgage are stated in the instrument, in which
case, the aggregate of such selling price and share shall be the
basis. In any case, however, where the aggregate value of the
consideration as above computed shall be less than the current
assessed value of the properties in the city or province concerned,
such assessed value shall be the basis of the fees in the respective
Registry.
(h) Mortgage of properties in different places. In a mortgage
affecting properties situated in different cities or provinces, the
basis of the fees in each Registry of Deeds where the document is to
be registered shall be such amount as obtained for the properties
lying within the jurisdiction of said Registry after apportioning the
total amount of the mortgage in accordance with the current
assessed value of such properties.
(i) Release of mortgage. In the release of a mortgage the basis of
the fees shall be an amount equal to ten per centum of the total
amount of obligation secured by the mortgage. If the properties are
situated in different cities or provinces, the basis of the fees in each
Registry shall be ten per centum of such sum as obtained for the
properties in the respective city or province after apportioning the
amount of the mortgage in accordance with the current assessed
values of such properties. In the case of a partial release, the fees
shall be based on ten per centum of the current assessed value of
the property so released in the respective city or province;
Provided, however, That where several partial releases had been
registered, the fees corresponding to the final release shall be
computed on the basis of ten per centum of the difference between
the amount of the mortgage and the aggregate of the consideration
used as basis for the collection of the fees paid for the registration
of all previous partial releases.
(j) Certificate of sale. In a certificate of sale at public auction by
virtue of an order of execution or sale for delinquency in the
payment of taxes, or repurchase of the property so sold, the basis of
the fees in each Registry shall be ten per centum of the selling or
repurchase price of the property lying within the jurisdiction of the
Registry.
(k) Affidavit of consolidation of ownership. In an affidavit for the
consolidation of ownership over a property sold with pacto de retro
or pursuant to an extra judicial foreclosure under the provisions of
Act Numbered Thirty-one hundred and thirty-five, as amended,
the basis of the fees in each Registry shall be an amount equivalent
to ten per centum of the consideration of the sale in the respective
city or province.
(l) Contract of lease. In contracts of lease, the basis of the fees in
each Registry shall be the sum total to be paid by the lessee for the
properties situated in the respective city or province during the
entire period specified in the contract, including the extension
contemplated by the parties which may be given effect without the
necessity of further registration. If the period is from year to year,
or otherwise not fixed, the basis shall be the total amount of rentals
due for thirty months. If the rentals are not distributed, the total
amount thereof as above computed shall be apportioned to said
properties in accordance with their assessed values, and the
proportionate sum thus obtained for each city or province shall be
the basis of the fees to be collected in the Registry concerned.
(m) Termination of lease. In the termination of lease, the basis of
the fees in each registry shall be ten per centum of the amount used
as basis for the collection of the fees paid for the registration of said
lease.
(n) Option to purchase or promise to sell. In contracts of option to
purchase or promise to sell, the basis of the fees in each Registry
shall be ten per centum of the current assessed value of the
property subject of such contract in the respective city or province.
(o) Consideration not stated or fixed or less than assessed value. In
other transactions where the actual value of the consideration is
not fixed in the contract or cannot be determined from the terms
thereof, or, in case of a sale, conveyance, or transfer, the
consideration stated is less than the current assessed value of the
property, the basis of the fees shall be the current assessed value of
the property involved in the transaction. If the properties are
situated in different cities or provinces, the basis of the fees in each
Registry shall be the current assessed value of the properties lying
within the jurisdiction of the Registry concerned.
18. Issuance of copy of document. For furnishing copies of any
entry, decree, document, or other papers on file, fifty centavos for
each hundred words of fraction thereof contained in the copies
thus furnished.
19. Certified copy. For certifying a copy furnished under the next
preceding paragraph, for each certification, five pesos for one page
and one peso for each additional page certified.
20. Certification. For issuing a certificate relative to, or showing the
existence or non-existence of, an entry in the registration books or
a document on file, for each such certificate containing not more
than two hundred words, five pesos; if it exceeds that number an
additional fee of one peso shall be collected for every hundred
words, or fraction thereof, in excess of the first two hundred words.
21. Research fee. For services rendered in attending to request for
reference or researches on any records or documents on file in the
Registry, there shall be collected two pesos per document or
record.
93
D. Fees payable to the Commissioner of Land Registration. The
fees payable to the Commissioner of Land Registration shall be as
follows:
1. For verification and approval of subdivision plans, the fee shall
be:
(a) For each lot ................ P2.00
(b) For each corner of a lot, irrespective of whether such corner is
common to two or more lots ............... 0.20
(c) For each traverse station ............ 0.10
(d) For each observation ........... 0.50
(e) In case the plan is a resurveyed or relocation plan an additional
40 per cent of the rates prescribed above shall be collected.
Provided, however, that the total fee as computed above, whether
for subdivision and/or consolidation-subdivision survey,
resurveyed or relocation plan, shall in no case be less than P8.00
per plan.
2. For changing or correcting the name of any person appearing on
the subdivision plan or other plan in order to have it conform to
that stated in the certificate of title covering the land, and for the
cancellation of an approved plan when so requested by the
interested party, there shall be a fee of P5.00 per plan.
3. The rates of fees prescribed in paragraph 1 and 2, inclusive, shall
apply to similar services rendered in connection with the
examination, verification, and approval of consolidation,
consolidation-subdivision, resubdivision, and reconsolidation
plans, special work order plans on the basis of certified copies of
technical descriptions of plans approved by the Land Registration
Commission or the Bureau of Lands, private surveys, and other
plans of similar nature.
In the computation of fees relative to lots subject of consolidation
and consolidation-subdivision plans, a fee of two pesos shall be
collected per lot as appearing in the old survey in addition to the
fee collectible in paragraph 1 hereof for the new lots.
4. For the preparation of a plan in a tracing cloth of any survey, the
data of which are available in the Commission, except when the
same is merely traced from an existing plan, the fees shall be
computed as follows:
(a) When the plan to be so prepared contains only one lot:
1. For the first ten corners or fraction thereof ......... P40.00
2. For the next ten corners or fraction thereof .......... 6.00
3. For each corner in excess of the first twenty corners ........... 0.40
(b) When the plan to be so prepared contains two or more lots:
1. For the first lot, which must be the biggest of the group,
irrespective of the number of its corner
.......... P40.00
2. For each additional lot, irrespective of the number of its corners,
said lot being adjacent to the first lot or any other lot
.. P15.00
3. For each non-adjacent lot (other than the first charged lot),
irrespective of the number of its corners ...........
P20.00
4. If any lot contains more than twenty corners for each corner of
such lot in the first twenty corners .........
P0.40
5. For the preparation of a plan in tracing cloth, to be traced from
an existing plan, complete with bearings and distances of corners
and tie lines, the fee shall be 30 per centum of the fees prescribed
in paragraph 4 above.
6. For the preparation of a plan in tracing cloth, to be copied from
an existing plan, complete with bearings and distances of sides and
tie-lines, but using a different scale, the fee shall be 50 per centum
of the fees prescribed under paragraph 4 above, if made on a
reduced scale; or 60 per centum of the same fees, if made on an
enlarged scale.
7. For the preparation of a simple plan or sketch of any available
survey or plan on any paper other than a tracing cloth, the fee on
the basis of each lot, shall be as follows:
(a) For the first ten corners or fraction thereof
............ P20.00 For the 31st ha. to 200th ha. An additional P10.00 per ha.
(b) For the second ten corners or fraction thereof
.............. 5.00
(c) For the third ten corners or fraction thereof
............ 2.00 A fraction of a hectare shall be considered one hectare.
(d) For each corner in excess of the first thirty corners
.............. 0.20 2. Urban (Solar):
(e) If the sketch is prepared in tracing cloth, add to the total fees as
above computed ... 5.00
(f) If the plan or sketch so prepared contains the bearing and
distances of the sides and tie-lines, add to the total fees as above
computed 10 per centum thereof.
8. For furnishing a plan copy (blue-print, or white print) of any
plan on file in the Commission, the fee shall be as follows:
(a) For the copy of any size not exceeding forty square decimeters
....... P3.00
(b) For one copy of more than forty square decimeters but not
exceeding eighty square decimeters in size
............ 6.00 Registers of Deeds and of the Land Registration Commission under
(c) For one copy of more than eighty square decimeters but not
exceeding one hundred twenty square decimeter in size
.. 9.00
(d) For one copy in excess of one hundred twenty square
decimeters in size, the basis rate of nine pesos plus for every twenty
square decimeters or fraction thereof in excess
........ 0.50 Deeds, as authorized by the Commissioner, for contracts regarding
9. For the preparation of technical descriptions, other than mere
copying from an existing copy, there shall be collected the
following fees:
(a) For technical descriptions of lots or parcels, typewritten in
triplicate and double-spaced, including certification:
1. For each lot ........... P3.00
2. For each corner of a lot ........... 0.20
3. For each extra carbon copy, extra charge .... 0.20
4. Minimum total charge ............. 3.00
(b) For lot description prepared in tracing cloth (on tabulated
form) including certification:
1. For each sheet ......... P1.50
2. For each lot .......... 0.20
3. For each corner in excess of ten for a lot .... 0.10
(c) Any common corner shall be counted as many items as there
are lots to which it pertains.
10. For certification of plans or copies of plans as to the correctness
of the same, per plan or print copy P3.00 and for the issuance of all
other certification P5.00 plus one 30-centavo documentary stamp
to be affixed thereto.
11. For inspection of land subject of private surveys, simple or
complex subdivision plans, or consolidation, consolidation-
subdivision, resubdivision, or reconsolidation plans, special work
orders, and other plans of similar nature for the purpose of
verification and/or approval:
(a) For each plan with an aggregate area of 1,000 sq. m. or less
......... P100.00
(b) For each subdivision with an aggregate area of more than 1,000
sq. m.:
1. For the first 1,000 s.m. ............. P100.00
2. For every succeeding 1,000 sq. m. or fraction thereof ...........
10.00
12. For actual field work of subdivision survey, relocation survey
and resurveyed of land, the fees shall be as follows:
(a) Subdivision survey:
1. Rural (Agricultural)
Area Survey Fee
For the first hectare ........... P 350.00
For the 2nd ha. to 10th ha. An additional 60.00 per ha.
For the 11th ha. to 20th ha. An additional P30.00 per ha.
For the 21st ha. to 30th ha. An additional P20.00 per ha.
For the 201st ha. or over An additional P8.00 per ha.
First 200 sq. m. or less ......... P350.00
Succeeding 201 sq. m. or more ........... P20.00 100 sq. m.
(b) Relocation Survey or Resurveyed:
The fee for relocation survey or resurveyed shall be one hundred
fifty per cent (150%) of the amount of survey fee collectible on the
basis of the schedule of fees for subdivision survey as provided in
the preceding paragraph plus one per cent (1%) of the assessed
value of the land.
Special Account. Twenty per centum of all the collections of the
this Section and Sections 118 and 116 of this Decree shall be
appropriated and upon approval of a budget for it by the Ministry
of the Budget, such amounts shall be disbursed and all offices
under the Land Registration Commission, for the purchase of
necessary equipment, for payment of allowances of officials and
employees of the Commission, including those of the Registries of
security printing of Land title forms, for survey contracts, and for
the maintenance and other operating expenses of the Commission.
CHAPTER XII
FORMS USED IN LAND REGISTRATION AND CONVEYANCING
Section 112. Forms in conveyancing. The Commissioner of Land
Registration shall prepare convenient blank forms as may be
necessary to help facilitate the proceedings in land registration and
shall take charge of the printing of land title forms.
Deeds, conveyances, encumbrances, discharges, powers of attorney
and other voluntary instruments, whether affecting registered or
unregistered land, executed in accordance with law in the form of
public instruments shall be registerable: Provided, that, every such
instrument shall be signed by the person or persons executing the
same in the presence of at least two witnesses who shall likewise
sign thereon, and shall acknowledged to be the free act and deed of
the person or persons executing the same before a notary public or
other public officer authorized by law to take acknowledgment.
Where the instrument so acknowledged consists of two or more
pages including the page whereon acknowledgment is written, each
page of the copy which is to be registered in the office of the
Register of Deeds, or if registration is not contemplated, each page
of the copy to be kept by the notary public, except the page where
the signatures already appear at the foot of the instrument, shall be
signed on the left margin thereof by the person or persons
executing the instrument and their witnesses, and all the ages
sealed with the notarial seal, and this fact as well as the number of
pages shall be stated in the acknowledgment. Where the
instrument acknowledged relates to a sale, transfer, mortgage or
encumbrance of two or more parcels of land, the number thereof
shall likewise be set forth in said acknowledgment.
CHAPTER XIII
DEALINGS WITH UNREGISTERED LANDS
Section 113. Recording of instruments relating to unregistered
lands. 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.
(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
94
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.
(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.
(c) After recording on the Record Book, the Register of Deeds shall
endorse among other things, upon the original of the recorded
instruments, the file number and the date as well as the hour and
minute when the document was received for recording as shown in
the Primary Entry Book, returning to the registrant or person in
interest the duplicate of the instrument, with appropriate
annotation, certifying that he has recorded the instrument after
reserving one copy thereof to be furnished the provincial or city
assessor as required by existing law.
(d) Tax sale, attachment and levy, notice of lis pendens, adverse
claim and other instruments in the nature of involuntary dealings
with respect to unregistered lands, if made in the form sufficient in
law, shall likewise be admissible to record under this section.
(e) For the services to be rendered by the Register of Deeds under
this section, he shall collect the same amount of fees prescribed for
similar services for the registration of deeds or instruments
concerning registered lands.
CHAPTER XIV
REGISTRATION OF CHATTEL MORTGAGES
Section 114. Recording of chattel mortgages. A chattel mortgage
shall be recorded in the office of the Register of Deeds of the
province or city where the mortgagor resides as well as where the
property is situated or ordinarily kept.
Section 115. Manner of recording chattel mortgages. Every Register
of Deeds shall keep a Primary Entry Book and a Registration Book
for chattel mortgages; shall certify on each mortgage filed for
record, as well as on its duplicate, the date, hour, and minute when
the same was by him received; and shall record in such books any
chattel mortgage, assignment or discharge thereof, and any other
instrument relating to a recorded mortgage, and all such
instruments shall be presented to him in duplicate, the original to
be filed and the duplicate to be returned to the person concerned.
The recording of a mortgage shall be effected by making an entry,
which shall be given a correlative number, setting forth the names
of the mortgagee and the mortgagor, the sum or obligation
guaranteed, date of the instrument, name of the notary before
whom it was sworn to or acknowledged, and a note that the
property mortgaged, as well as the terms and conditions of the
mortgage, is mentioned in detail in the instrument filed, giving the
proper file number thereof. The recording of other instruments
relating to a recorded mortgage shall be effected by way of
annotation on the space provided therefor in the Registration
Book, after the same shall have been entered in the primary Entry
Book.
The Register of Deeds shall also certify the officer's return of sale
upon any mortgage, making reference upon the record of such
officer's return to the volume and page of the record of the
mortgage, and a reference of such return on the record of the
mortgage itself, and give a certified copy thereof, when requested,
upon payment of the legal fees for such copy thereof, when
requested, upon payment of the legal fees for such copy and certify
upon each mortgage officer's return of sale or discharge of
mortgage, and upon any other instrument relating to such a
recorded mortgage, both on the original and in the duplicate, the
date, hour, and minute when the same is received for record and
record such certificate index of mortgagors and mortgagees, which
record and index shall be open to public inspection.
95
Duly certified copies of such records and of filed instruments shall
be receivable as evidence in any court.
Section 116. Fees for chattel mortgages, etc. The register of Deeds
shall collect the following fees for services rendered by him under
this section:
1. Entry fee. For entry or presentation of any document in the
Primary Entry Book, five pesos. Supporting papers presented
together with the principal document need not be charged any
entry or presentation fee unless the party in interest desires that
they be likewise entered.
2. Chattel Mortgage. For filing and recording each chattel
mortgage, including the necessary certificates and affidavits, the
fees established in the following schedule shall be collected:
(a) Six thousand pesos maximum. When the amount of the
mortgage does not exceed six thousand pesos, seven pesos for the
first five hundred pesos, or fractional part thereof, and three pesos
for each additional five hundred pesos, or fractional part thereof.
(b) Thirty thousand pesos maximum. When the amount of the
mortgage is more than six thousand pesos but does not exceed
thirty thousand pesos, forty-eight pesos for the initial amount not
exceeding eight thousand pesos, and eight pesos for each
additional two thousand pesos or fractional part thereof.
(c) One hundred thousand pesos maximum. When the amount of
the mortgage is more than thirty thousand pesos but does not
exceed one hundred thousand pesos, one hundred fifty pesos for
the initial amount not exceeding thirty-five thousand pesos, and
fourteen pesos for each additional five thousand pesos of fractional
part thereof.
(d) Five hundred thousand pesos maximum. When the amount of
the mortgage is more than one hundred thousand pesos but does
not exceed five hundred thousand pesos, three hundred fifty-two
pesos for the initial amount not exceeding one hundred ten
thousand pesos and twenty pesos for each additional ten thousand
pesos or fractional part thereof.
(e) More than five hundred thousand pesos. When the amount of
the mortgage is more than five hundred thousand pesos, one
thousand one hundred sixty-two pesos for the initial amount not
exceeding five hundred twenty thousand pesos, and thirty pesos for
each additional twenty thousand pesos or fractional part thereof:
Provided, however, that registration of the mortgage in the
province where the property is situated shall be sufficient
registration and provided, further, that if the mortgage is to be
registered in more than one city or province, the Register of Deeds
of the city or province where the instrument is first presented for
registration shall collect the full amount of the fees due in
accordance with the schedule prescribed above, and the Register of
Deeds of the other city of province where the same instrument is
also to be registered shall collect only a sum equivalent to twenty
per centum of the amount of fees due and paid in the first city of
province, but in no case shall the fees payable in any Registry be
less than the minimum fixed in this schedule.
3. Conveyance of mortgaged property, etc. For recording each
instrument of sale, conveyance, or transfer of the property which is
subject of a recorded mortgage, or of the assignment of mortgage
credit, the fees established in the preceding schedule shall be
collected on the bases of ten per centum of the amount of the
mortgage or unpaid balance thereof, provided, that the latter is
stated in the instrument.
4. Notice of attachment. For recording each notice of attachment,
including the necessary index and annotations, eight pesos.
5. Release of mortgage. For recording such release of mortgage,
including the necessary index and references, the fees established
in the schedule under paragraph (b) above shall be collected on the
basis of five per centum of the amount of the mortgage.
6. Release of attachment. For recording each release of attachment,
including the proper annotations, five pesos.
7. Sheriff's return of sale. For recording each sheriff's return of sale,
including the index and references, seven pesos. Section 121. Separability clause. In the event that any provision of
this Decree is declared unconstitutional, the validity of the
8. Power of attorney, appointment of guardian, administrator or remainder shall not be affected thereby.
trustee. For recording a power of attorney, appointment of judicial
guardian, administrator, or trustee, or any other instrument in Section 122. Effectivity. This Decree shall take effect upon its
which a person is given power to act in behalf of another in approval.
connection with a mortgage, ten pesos.
Done in the City of Manila, this 11th day of June, in the year of Our
9. No specific fee. For recording each instrument or order relating Lord, nineteen hundred and seventy-eight.
to a recorded mortgage, including the necessary index and
references, for which no specific fee is provided above, five pesos.

10. Certified copy. For certified copies of records, such fees as are
allowed by law for copies kept by the Register of Deeds.

11. Certification. For issuing a certificate relative to, or showing the

existence or non-existence of an entry in the registration book, or a
document on file, for each such certificate containing not more
than two hundred words, five pesos; if it exceeds that number, an
additional fee of one peso shall be collected for every one hundred
words or fractional part thereof, in excess of the first two hundred
words.

12. Research Fee. For services rendered in attending to requests for

references to, or researches on any document on file in the
Registry, there shall be collected a fee of two pesos per document.

CHAPTER XV
CONSULTAS

Section 117. Procedure. When the Register of Deeds is in doubt

with regard to the proper step to be taken or memorandum to be
made in pursuance of any deed, mortgage or other instrument
presented to him for registration, or where any party in interest
does not agree with the action taken by the Register of Deeds with
reference to any such instrument, the question shall be submitted
to the Commissioner of Land Registration by the Register of Deeds,
or by the party in interest thru the Register of Deeds.

Where the instrument is denied registration, the Register of Deeds

shall notify the interested party in writing, setting forth the defects
of the instrument or legal grounds relied upon, and advising him
that if he is not agreeable to such ruling, he may, without
withdrawing the documents from the Registry, elevate the matter
by consulta within five days from receipt of notice of the denial of
registration to the Commissioner of Land Registration.

The Register of Deeds shall make a memorandum of the pending

consulta on the certificate of title which shall be canceled motu
proprio by the Register of Deeds after final resolution or decision
thereof, or before resolution, if withdrawn by petitioner.

The Commissioner of Land Registration, considering the consulta

and the records certified to him after notice to the parties and
hearing, shall enter an order prescribing the step to be taken or
memorandum to be made. His resolution or ruling in consultas
shall be conclusive and binding upon all Registers of Deeds,
provided, that the party in interest who disagrees with the final
resolution, ruling or order of the Commissioner relative to
consultas may appeal to the Court of Appeals within the period and
in manner provided in Republic Act No. 5434.

CHAPTER XVI
FINAL PROVISIONS

Section 118. Appropriation. There is hereby appropriated initially

the sum of TWELVE MILLION THREE HUNDRED FORTY
THOUSAND PESOS (P12,340,000.00) from the National Treasury
not otherwise appropriated for the implementation of this decree;
thereafter, said sum shall be added to the regular appropriation act
of every year.

Section 119. Postage exemption. No postage stamps or mailing

charges shall be required in all matters transmitted by the Land
Registration Commission or any of its Registry of Deeds in the
implementation of Sections 21, 40, 106, 118 and 117 of this Decree.

Section 120. Repealing clause. All laws, decrees, orders, rules and
regulations, or parts thereof, in conflict or inconsistent with any of
the provisions of this Decree are hereby repealed or modified
accordingly.

96
I. RECONSTITUTION AND RE-
ISSUANCE OF TITLES

97
98

II. MALABANAN VS REPUBLIC; APRIL
29,2009 Tinga, J.:
One main reason why the informal sector has not
become formal is that from Indonesia to Brazil, 90 percent of the
informal lands are not titled and registered. This is a generalized
phenomenon in the so-called Third World. And it has many
consequences.
xxx
The question is: How is it that so many governments, from
Suharto's in Indonesia to Fujimori's in Peru, have wanted to title
these people and have not been able to do so effectively? One
reason is that none of the state systems in Asia or Latin America
can gather proof of informal titles. In Peru, the informals have
means of proving property ownership to each other which are not
the same means developed by the Spanish legal system. The
informals have their own papers, their own forms of agreements,
and their own systems of registration, all of which are very clearly
stated in the maps which they use for their own informal business
transactions.
If you take a walk through the countryside, from Indonesia to Peru,
and you walk by field after field--in each field a different dog is
going to bark at you. Even dogs know what private property is all
about. The only one who does not know it is the government. The
issue is that there exists a "common law" and an "informal law"
which the Latin American formal legal system does not know how
to recognize.
- Hernando De Soto[1]
This decision inevitably affects all untitled lands currently in
possession of persons and entities other than the Philippine
government. The petition, while unremarkable as to the facts, was
accepted by the Court en banc in order to provide definitive clarity
to the applicability and scope of original registration proceedings
under Sections 14(1) and 14(2) of the Property Registration Decree.
In doing so, the Court confronts not only the relevant provisions of
the Public Land Act and the Civil Code, but also the reality on the
ground. The countrywide phenomenon of untitled lands, as well as
the problem of informal settlement it has spawned, has
unfortunately been treated with benign neglect. Yet our current
laws are hemmed in by their own circumscriptions in addressing
the phenomenon. Still, the duty on our part is primarily to decide
cases before us in accord with the Constitution and the legal
principles that have developed our public land law, though our
social obligations dissuade us from casting a blind eye on the
endemic problems.
I. On 20 February 1998, Mario Malabanan filed an application
for land registration covering a parcel of land identified as Lot
9864-A, Cad-452-D, Silang Cadastre,[2] situated in Barangay
Tibig, Silang Cavite, and consisting of 71,324 square meters.
Malabanan claimed that he had purchased the property from
Eduardo Velazco,[3] and that he and his predecessors-in-interest
had been in open, notorious, and continuous adverse and peaceful
possession of the land for more than thirty (30) years.
The application was raffled to the Regional Trial Court of
(RTC) Cavite-Tagaytay City, Branch 18. The Office of the Solicitor
General (OSG) duly designated the Assistant Provincial Prosecutor
of Cavite, Jose Velazco, Jr., to appear on behalf of the State.[4]
Apart from presenting documentary evidence, Malabanan himself
and his witness, Aristedes Velazco, testified at the hearing. Velazco
testified that the property was originally belonged to a twenty-two
hectare property owned by his great-grandfather, Lino Velazco.
Lino had four sons Benedicto, Gregorio, Eduardo and Esteban
the fourth being Aristedess grandfather. Upon Linos death, his
four sons inherited the property and divided it among themselves.
But by 1966, Estebans wife, Magdalena, had become the
administrator of all the properties inherited by the Velazco sons
from their father, Lino. After the death of Esteban and Magdalena,
their son Virgilio succeeded them in administering the properties,
including Lot 9864-A, which originally belonged to his uncle,
Eduardo Velazco. It was this property that was sold by Eduardo
Velazco to Malabanan.[5]
Assistant Provincial Prosecutor Jose Velazco, Jr. did not cross-
examine Aristedes Velazco. He further manifested that he also
99
[knew] the property and I affirm the truth of the testimony given
by Mr. Velazco.[6] The Republic of the Philippines likewise did
not present any evidence to controvert the application.
Among the evidence presented by Malabanan during trial was a
Certification dated 11 June 2001, issued by the Community
Environment & Natural Resources Office, Department of
Environment and Natural Resources (CENRO-DENR), which
stated that the subject property was verified to be within the
Alienable or Disposable land per Land Classification Map No. 3013
established under Project No. 20-A and approved as such under
FAO 4-1656 on March 15, 1982.[7]
On 3 December 2002, the RTC rendered judgment in favor of
Malabanan, the dispositive portion of which reads:
WHEREFORE, this Court hereby approves this application for
registration and thus places under the operation of Act 141, Act 496
and/or P.D. 1529, otherwise known as Property Registration Law,
the lands described in Plan Csd-04-0173123-D, Lot 9864-A and
containing an area of Seventy One Thousand Three Hundred
Twenty Four (71,324) Square Meters, as supported by its technical
description now forming part of the record of this case, in addition
to other proofs adduced in the name of MARIO MALABANAN,
who is of legal age, Filipino, widower, and with residence at
Munting Ilog, Silang, Cavite.
Once this Decision becomes final and executory, the corresponding
decree of registration shall forthwith issue.
SO ORDERED.
The Republic interposed an appeal to the Court of Appeals, arguing
that Malabanan had failed to prove that the property belonged to
the alienable and disposable land of the public domain, and that
the RTC had erred in finding that he had been in possession of the
property in the manner and for the length of time required by law
for confirmation of imperfect title.
On 23 February 2007, the Court of Appeals rendered a Decision[8]
reversing the RTC and dismissing the application of Malabanan.
The appellate court held that under Section 14(1) of the Property
Registration Decree any period of possession prior to the
classification of the lots as alienable and disposable was
inconsequential and should be excluded from the computation of
the period of possession. Thus, the appellate court noted that since
the CENRO-DENR certification had verified that the property was
declared alienable and disposable only on 15 March 1982, the
Velazcos possession prior to that date could not be factored in the
computation of the period of possession. This interpretation of the
Court of Appeals of Section 14(1) of the Property Registration
Decree was based on the Courts ruling in Republic v. Herbieto.[9]
Malabanan died while the case was pending with the Court of
Appeals;[10] hence, it was his heirs who appealed the decision of
the appellate court. Petitioners, before this Court, rely on our
ruling in Republic v. Naguit,[11] which was handed down just four
months prior to Herbieto. Petitioners suggest that the discussion in
Herbieto cited by the Court of Appeals is actually obiter dictum
since the Metropolitan Trial Court therein which had directed the
registration of the property had no jurisdiction in the first place
since the requisite notice of hearing was published only after the
hearing had already begun. Naguit, petitioners argue, remains the
controlling doctrine, especially when the property in question is
agricultural land. Therefore, with respect to agricultural lands, any
possession prior to the declaration of the alienable property as
disposable may be counted in reckoning the period of possession to
perfect title under the Public Land Act and the Property
Registration Decree.
The petition was referred to the Court en banc,[12] and on 11
November 2008, the case was heard on oral arguments. The Court
formulated the principal issues for the oral arguments, to wit:
1. In order that an alienable and disposable land of the public
domain may be registered under Section 14(1) of Presidential
Decree No. 1529, otherwise known as the Property Registration
Decree, should the land be classified as alienable and disposable as
of June 12, 1945 or is it sufficient that such classification occur at
any time prior to the filing of the applicant for registration
provided that it is established that the applicant has been in open,
continuous, exclusive and notorious possession of the land under a
bona fide claim of ownership since June 12, 1945 or earlier?
2. For purposes of Section 14(2) of the Property Registration
Decree may a parcel of land classified as alienable and disposable
be deemed private land and therefore susceptible to acquisition by
prescription in accordance with the Civil Code?
3. May a parcel of land established as agricultural in character
either because of its use or because its slope is below that of forest
lands be registrable under Section 14(2) of the Property
Registration Decree in relation to the provisions of the Civil Code
on acquisitive prescription?
4. Are petitioners entitled to the registration of the subject
land in their names under Section 14(1) or Section 14(2) of the
Property Registration Decree or both?[13]
Based on these issues, the parties formulated their respective
positions.
With respect to Section 14(1), petitioners reiterate that the analysis
of the Court in Naguit is the correct interpretation of the provision.
The seemingly contradictory pronouncement in Herbieto, it is
submitted, should be considered obiter dictum, since the land
registration proceedings therein was void ab initio due to lack of
publication of the notice of initial hearing. Petitioners further point
out that in Republic v. Bibonia,[14] promulgated in June of 2007,
the Court applied Naguit and adopted the same observation that
the preferred interpretation by the OSG of Section 14(1) was
patently absurd. For its part, the OSG remains insistent that for
Section 14(1) to apply, the land should have been classified as
alienable and disposable as of 12 June 1945. Apart from Herbieto,
the OSG also cites the subsequent rulings in Buenaventura v.
Republic,[15] Fieldman Agricultural Trading v. Republic[16] and
Republic v. Imperial Credit Corporation,[17] as well as the earlier
case of Director of Lands v. Court of Appeals.[18]
With respect to Section 14(2), petitioners submit that open,
continuous, exclusive and notorious possession of an alienable
land of the public domain for more than 30 years ipso jure converts
the land into private property, thus placing it under the coverage of
Section 14(2). According to them, it would not matter whether the
land sought to be registered was previously classified as
agricultural land of the public domain so long as, at the time of the
application, the property had already been converted into private
property through prescription. To bolster their argument,
petitioners cite extensively from our 2008 ruling in Republic v.
T.A.N. Properties.[19]
The arguments submitted by the OSG with respect to Section 14(2)
are more extensive. The OSG notes that under Article 1113 of the
Civil Code, the acquisitive prescription of properties of the State
refers to patrimonial property, while Section 14(2) speaks of
private lands. It observes that the Court has yet to decide a case
that presented Section 14(2) as a ground for application for
registration, and that the 30-year possession period refers to the
period of possession under Section 48(b) of the Public Land Act,
and not the concept of prescription under the Civil Code. The OSG
further submits that, assuming that the 30-year prescriptive period
can run against public lands, said period should be reckoned from
the time the public land was declared alienable and disposable.
Both sides likewise offer special arguments with respect to the
particular factual circumstances surrounding the subject property
and the ownership thereof.
II.
First, we discuss Section 14(1) of the Property Registration
Decree. For a full understanding of the provision, reference has to
be made to the Public Land Act.
A.
Commonwealth Act No. 141, also known as the Public Land Act,
has, since its enactment, governed the classification and
disposition of lands of the public domain. The President is
authorized, from time to time, to classify the lands of the public
domain into alienable and disposable, timber, or mineral
lands.[20] Alienable and disposable lands of the public domain are
further classified according to their uses into (a) agricultural; (b)
residential, commercial, industrial, or for similar productive
purposes; (c) educational, charitable, or other similar purposes; or
(d) reservations for town sites and for public and quasi-public
uses.[21]
May a private person validly seek the registration in his/her name
of alienable and disposable lands of the public domain? Section 11
100
of the Public Land Act acknowledges that public lands suitable for
agricultural purposes may be disposed of by confirmation of
imperfect or incomplete titles through judicial legalization.[22]
Section 48(b) of the Public Land Act, as amended by P.D. No. 1073,
supplies the details and unmistakably grants that right, subject to
the requisites stated therein:
Sec. 48. The following described citizens of the Philippines,
occupying lands of the public domain or claiming to own any such
land or an interest therein, but whose titles have not been
perfected or completed, may apply to the Court of First Instance of
the province where the land is located for confirmation of their
claims and the issuance of a certificate of title therefor, under the
Land Registration Act, to wit:
xxx
(b) 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 acquisition of
ownership, since June 12, 1945, or earlier, immediately preceding
the filing of the application for confirmation of title except when
prevented by war or force majeure. These 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 the provisions of this chapter.
Section 48(b) of Com. Act No. 141 received its present
wording in 1977 when the law was amended by P.D. No. 1073. Two
significant amendments were introduced by P.D. No. 1073. First,
the term agricultural lands was changed to alienable and
disposable lands of the public domain. The OSG submits that this
amendment restricted the scope of the lands that may be
registered.[23] This is not actually the case. Under Section 9 of the
Public Land Act, agricultural lands are a mere subset of lands of
the public domain alienable or open to disposition. Evidently,
alienable and disposable lands of the public domain are a larger
class than only agricultural lands.
Second, the length of the requisite possession was changed
from possession for thirty (30) years immediately preceding the
filing of the application to possession since June 12, 1945 or
earlier. The Court in Naguit explained:
When the Public Land Act was first promulgated in 1936, the
period of possession deemed necessary to vest the right to register
their title to agricultural lands of the public domain commenced
from July 26, 1894. However, this period was amended by R.A. No.
1942, which provided that the bona fide claim of ownership must
have been for at least thirty (30) years. Then in 1977, Section 48(b)
of the Public Land Act was again amended, this time by P.D. No.
1073, which pegged the reckoning date at June 12, 1945. xxx
It bears further observation that Section 48(b) of Com. Act
No, 141 is virtually the same as Section 14(1) of the Property
Registration Decree. Said Decree codified the various laws relative
to the registration of property, including lands of the public
domain. It is Section 14(1) that operationalizes the registration of
such lands of the public domain. The provision reads:
SECTION 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:
(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 under a bona fide claim of ownership since June 12,
1945, or earlier.
Notwithstanding the passage of the Property Registration Decree
and the inclusion of Section 14(1) therein, the Public Land Act has
remained in effect. Both laws commonly refer to persons or their
predecessors-in-interest who 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. That circumstance may
have led to the impression that one or the other is a redundancy, or
that Section 48(b) of the Public Land Act has somehow been
repealed or mooted. That is not the case.
The opening clauses of Section 48 of the Public Land Act and
Section 14 of the Property Registration Decree warrant
comparison:
Sec. 48 [of the Public Land Act]. The following described citizens of
the Philippines, occupying lands of the public domain or claiming
to own any such land or an interest therein, but whose titles have
not been perfected or completed, may apply to the Court of First
Instance of the province where the land is located for confirmation
of their claims and the issuance of a certificate of title therefor,
under the Land Registration Act, to wit:
xxx
Sec. 14 [of the Property Registration Decree]. 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:
xxx
It is clear that Section 48 of the Public Land Act is more descriptive
of the nature of the right enjoyed by the possessor than Section 14
of the Property Registration Decree, which seems to presume the
pre-existence of the right, rather than establishing the right itself
for the first time. It is proper to assert that it is the Public Land Act,
as amended by P.D. No. 1073 effective 25 January 1977, that has
primarily established the right of a Filipino citizen who has 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 acquisition of ownership, since June 12,
1945 to perfect or complete his title by applying with the proper
court for the confirmation of his ownership claim and the issuance
of the corresponding certificate of title.
Section 48 can be viewed in conjunction with the afore-quoted
Section 11 of the Public Land Act, which provides that public lands
suitable for agricultural purposes may be disposed of by
confirmation of imperfect or incomplete titles, and given the
notion that both provisions declare that it is indeed the Public
Land Act that primarily establishes the substantive ownership of
the possessor who has been in possession of the property since 12
June 1945. In turn, Section 14(a) of the Property Registration
Decree recognizes the substantive right granted under Section
48(b) of the Public Land Act, as well provides the corresponding
original registration procedure for the judicial confirmation of an
imperfect or incomplete title.
There is another limitation to the right granted under Section
48(b). Section 47 of the Public Land Act limits the period within
which one may exercise the right to seek registration under Section
48. The provision has been amended several times, most recently
by Rep. Act No. 9176 in 2002. It currently reads thus:
Section 47. The persons specified in the next following section are
hereby granted time, not to extend beyond December 31, 2020
within which to avail of the benefits of this Chapter: Provided, That
this period shall apply only where the area applied for does not
exceed twelve (12) hectares: Provided, further, That the several
periods of time designated by the President in accordance with
Section Forty-Five of this Act shall apply also to the lands
comprised in the provisions of this Chapter, but this Section shall
not be construed as prohibiting any said persons from acting under
this Chapter at any time prior to the period fixed by the
President.[24]
Accordingly under the current state of the law, the
substantive right granted under Section 48(b) may be availed of
only until 31 December 2020.
B.
Despite the clear text of Section 48(b) of the Public Land Act, as
amended and Section 14(a) of the Property Registration Decree,
the OSG has adopted the position that for one to acquire the right
to seek registration of an alienable and disposable land of the
public domain, it is not enough that the applicant and his/her
predecessors-in-interest be in possession under a bona fide claim
of ownership since 12 June 1945; the alienable and disposable
character of the property must have been declared also as of 12
June 1945. Following the OSGs approach, all lands certified as
alienable and disposable after 12 June 1945 cannot be registered
either under Section 14(1) of the Property Registration Decree or
Section 48(b) of the Public Land Act as amended. The absurdity of
such an implication was discussed in Naguit.
101
Petitioner suggests an interpretation that the alienable and
disposable character of the land should have already been
established since June 12, 1945 or earlier. This is not borne out by
the plain meaning of Section 14(1). Since June 12, 1945, as used
in the provision, qualifies its antecedent phrase under a bonafide
claim of ownership. Generally speaking, qualifying words restrict
or modify only the words or phrases to which they are
immediately associated, and not those distantly or remotely
located.[25] Ad proximum antecedents fiat relation nisi impediatur
sentencia.
Besides, we are mindful of the absurdity that would
result if we adopt petitioners position. Absent a legislative
amendment, the rule would be, adopting the OSGs view, that all
lands of the public domain which were not declared alienable or
disposable before June 12, 1945 would not be susceptible to
original registration, no matter the length of unchallenged
possession by the occupant. Such interpretation renders paragraph
(1) of Section 14 virtually inoperative and even precludes the
government from giving it effect even as it decides to reclassify
public agricultural lands as alienable and disposable. The
unreasonableness of the situation would even be aggravated
considering that before June 12, 1945, the Philippines was not yet
even considered an independent state.
Accordingly, the Court in Naguit explained:
[T]he more reasonable interpretation of Section 14(1) is that it
merely requires the property sought to be registered as already
alienable and disposable at the time the application for registration
of title is filed. If the State, at the time the application is made, has
not yet deemed it proper to release the property for alienation or
disposition, the presumption is that the government is still
reserving the right to utilize the property; hence, the need to
preserve its ownership in the State irrespective of the length of
adverse possession even if in good faith. However, if the property
has already been classified as alienable and disposable, as it is in
this case, then there is already an intention on the part of the State
to abdicate its exclusive prerogative over the property.
The Court declares that the correct interpretation of Section 14(1)
is that which was adopted in Naguit. The contrary pronouncement
in Herbieto, as pointed out in Naguit, absurdly limits the
application of the provision to the point of virtual inutility since it
would only cover lands actually declared alienable and disposable
prior to 12 June 1945, even if the current possessor is able to
establish open, continuous, exclusive and notorious possession
under a bona fide claim of ownership long before that date.
Moreover, the Naguit interpretation allows more possessors under
a bona fide claim of ownership to avail of judicial confirmation of
their imperfect titles than what would be feasible under Herbieto.
This balancing fact is significant, especially considering our
forthcoming discussion on the scope and reach of Section 14(2) of
the Property Registration Decree.
Petitioners make the salient observation that the contradictory
passages from Herbieto are obiter dicta since the land registration
proceedings therein is void ab initio in the first place due to lack of
the requisite publication of the notice of initial hearing. There is no
need to explicitly overturn Herbieto, as it suffices that the Courts
acknowledgment that the particular line of argument used therein
concerning Section 14(1) is indeed obiter.
It may be noted that in the subsequent case of Buenaventura,[26]
the Court, citing Herbieto, again stated that [a]ny period of
possession prior to the date when the [s]ubject [property was]
classified as alienable and disposable is inconsequential and should
be excluded from the computation of the period of possession
That statement, in the context of Section 14(1), is certainly
erroneous. Nonetheless, the passage as cited in Buenaventura
should again be considered as obiter. The application therein was
ultimately granted, citing Section 14(2). The evidence submitted by
petitioners therein did not establish any mode of possession on
their part prior to 1948, thereby precluding the application of
Section 14(1). It is not even apparent from the decision whether
petitioners therein had claimed entitlement to original registration
following Section 14(1), their position being that they had been in
exclusive possession under a bona fide claim of ownership for over
fifty (50) years, but not before 12 June 1945.
Thus, neither Herbieto nor its principal discipular ruling
Buenaventura has any precedental value with respect to Section
14(1). On the other hand, the ratio of Naguit is embedded in
Section 14(1), since it precisely involved situation wherein the
applicant had been in exclusive possession under a bona fide claim
of ownership prior to 12 June 1945. The Courts interpretation of
Section 14(1) therein was decisive to the resolution of the case. Any
doubt as to which between Naguit or Herbieto provides the final
word of the Court on Section 14(1) is now settled in favor of Naguit.
We noted in Naguit that it should be distinguished from
Bracewell v. Court of Appeals[27] since in the latter, the
application for registration had been filed before the land was
declared alienable or disposable. The dissent though pronounces
Bracewell as the better rule between the two. Yet two years after
Bracewell, its ponente, the esteemed Justice Consuelo Ynares-
Santiago, penned the ruling in Republic v. Ceniza,[28] which
involved a claim of possession that extended back to 1927 over a
public domain land that was declared alienable and disposable only
in 1980. Ceniza cited Bracewell, quoted extensively from it, and
following the mindset of the dissent, the attempt at registration in
Ceniza should have failed. Not so.
To prove that the land subject of an application for registration is
alienable, an applicant must establish the existence of a positive act
of the government such as a presidential proclamation or an
executive order; an administrative action; investigation reports of
Bureau of Lands investigators; and a legislative act or a statute.
In this case, private respondents presented a certification dated
November 25, 1994, issued by Eduardo M. Inting, the Community
Environment and Natural Resources Officer in the Department of
Environment and Natural Resources Office in Cebu City, stating
that the lots involved were "found to be within the alienable and
disposable (sic) Block-I, Land Classification Project No. 32-A, per
map 2962 4-I555 dated December 9, 1980." This is sufficient
evidence to show the real character of the land subject of private
respondents application. Further, the certification enjoys a
presumption of regularity in the absence of contradictory evidence,
which is true in this case. Worth noting also was the observation of
the Court of Appeals stating that:
[n]o opposition was filed by the Bureaus of Lands and Forestry to
contest the application of appellees on the ground that the property
still forms part of the public domain. Nor is there any showing that
the lots in question are forestal land....
Thus, while the Court of Appeals erred in ruling that mere
possession of public land for the period required by law would
entitle its occupant to a confirmation of imperfect title, it did not
err in ruling in favor of private respondents as far as the first
requirement in Section 48(b) of the Public Land Act is concerned,
for they were able to overcome the burden of proving the
alienability of the land subject of their application.
As correctly found by the Court of Appeals, private respondents
were able to prove their open, continuous, exclusive and notorious
possession of the subject land even before the year 1927. As a rule,
we are bound by the factual findings of the Court of Appeals.
Although there are exceptions, petitioner did not show that this is
one of them.[29]
Why did the Court in Ceniza, through the same eminent
member who authored Bracewell, sanction the registration under
Section 48(b) of public domain lands declared alienable or
disposable thirty-five (35) years and 180 days after 12 June 1945?
The telling difference is that in Ceniza, the application for
registration was filed nearly six (6) years after the land had been
declared alienable or disposable, while in Bracewell, the
application was filed nine (9) years before the land was declared
alienable or disposable. That crucial difference was also stressed in
Naguit to contradistinguish it from Bracewell, a difference which
the dissent seeks to belittle.
III.
We next ascertain the correct framework of analysis with
respect to Section 14(2). The provision reads:
SECTION 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:
102
xxx
(2) Those who have acquired ownership over private lands by
prescription under the provisions of existing laws.
The Court in Naguit offered the following discussion concerning
Section 14(2), which we did even then recognize, and still do, to be
an obiter dictum, but we nonetheless refer to it as material for
further discussion, thus:
Did the enactment of the Property Registration Decree and the
amendatory P.D. No. 1073 preclude the application for registration
of alienable lands of the public domain, possession over which
commenced only after June 12, 1945? It did not, considering
Section 14(2) of the Property Registration Decree, which governs
and authorizes the application of those who have acquired
ownership of private lands by prescription under the provisions of
existing laws.
Prescription is one of the modes of acquiring ownership under the
Civil Code.[[30]] There is a consistent jurisprudential rule that
properties classified as alienable public land may be converted into
private property by reason of open, continuous and exclusive
possession of at least thirty (30) years.[[31]] With such conversion,
such property may now fall within the contemplation of private
lands under Section 14(2), and thus susceptible to registration by
those who have acquired ownership through prescription. Thus,
even if possession of the alienable public land commenced on a
date later than June 12, 1945, and such possession being been
open, continuous and exclusive, then the possessor may have the
right to register the land by virtue of Section 14(2) of the Property
Registration Decree.
Naguit did not involve the application of Section 14(2), unlike
in this case where petitioners have based their registration bid
primarily on that provision, and where the evidence definitively
establishes their claim of possession only as far back as 1948. It is
in this case that we can properly appreciate the nuances of the
provision.
A.
The obiter in Naguit cited the Civil Code provisions on
prescription as the possible basis for application for original
registration under Section 14(2). Specifically, it is Article 1113
which provides legal foundation for the application. It reads:
All things which are within the commerce of men are susceptible of
prescription, unless otherwise provided. Property of the State or
any of its subdivisions not patrimonial in character shall not be the
object of prescription.
It is clear under the Civil Code that where lands of the public
domain are patrimonial in character, they are susceptible to
acquisitive prescription. On the other hand, among the public
domain lands that are not susceptible to acquisitive prescription
are timber lands and mineral lands. The Constitution itself
proscribes private ownership of timber or mineral lands.
There are in fact several provisions in the Civil Code concerning the
acquisition of real property through prescription. Ownership of
real property may be acquired by ordinary prescription of ten (10)
years,[32] or through extraordinary prescription of thirty (30)
years.[33] Ordinary acquisitive prescription requires possession in
good faith,[34] as well as just title.[35]
When Section 14(2) of the Property Registration Decree explicitly
provides that persons who have acquired ownership over private
lands by prescription under the provisions of existing laws, it
unmistakably refers to the Civil Code as a valid basis for the
registration of lands. The Civil Code is the only existing law that
specifically allows the acquisition by prescription of private lands,
including patrimonial property belonging to the State. Thus, the
critical question that needs affirmation is whether Section 14(2)
does encompass original registration proceedings over patrimonial
property of the State, which a private person has acquired through
prescription.
The Naguit obiter had adverted to a frequently reiterated
jurisprudence holding that properties classified as alienable public
land may be converted into private property by reason of open,
continuous and exclusive possession of at least thirty (30)
years.[36] Yet if we ascertain the source of the thirty-year period,
additional complexities relating to Section 14(2) and to how exactly
it operates would emerge. For there are in fact two distinct origins
of the thirty (30)-year rule.
The first source is Rep. Act No. 1942, enacted in 1957, which
amended Section 48(b) of the Public Land Act by granting the right
to seek original registration of alienable public lands through
possession in the concept of an owner for at least thirty years.
The following-described citizens of the Philippines, occupying
lands of the public domain or claiming to own any such lands or an
interest therein, but whose titles have not been perfected or
completed, may apply to the Court of First Instance of the province
where the land is located for confirmation of their claims and the
issuance of a certificate of title therefor, under the Land
Registration Act, to wit:
xxx xxx xxx
(b) Those who by themselves or through their predecessors in
interest have been in open, continuous, exclusive and notorious
possession and occupation of agricultural lands of the public
domain, under a bona fide claim of acquisition of ownership, for at
least thirty years immediately preceding the filing of the
application for confirmation of title, except when prevented by war
or force majeure. These 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 the provisions of this
Chapter. (emphasis supplied)[37]
This provision was repealed in 1977 with the enactment of P.D.
1073, which made the date 12 June 1945 the reckoning point for
the first time. Nonetheless, applications for registration filed prior
to 1977 could have invoked the 30-year rule introduced by Rep. Act
No. 1942.
The second source is Section 14(2) of P.D. 1529 itself, at least by
implication, as it applies the rules on prescription under the Civil
Code, particularly Article 1113 in relation to Article 1137. Note that
there are two kinds of prescription under the Civil Codeordinary
acquisitive prescription and extraordinary acquisitive prescription,
which, under Article 1137, is completed through uninterrupted
adverse possession for thirty years, without need of title or of
good faith.
Obviously, the first source of the thirty (30)-year period rule, Rep.
Act No. 1942, became unavailable after 1977. At present, the only
legal basis for the thirty (30)-year period is the law on prescription
under the Civil Code, as mandated under Section 14(2). However,
there is a material difference between how the thirty (30)-year rule
operated under Rep. Act No. 1942 and how it did under the Civil
Code.
Section 48(b) of the Public Land Act, as amended by Rep. Act No.
1942, did not refer to or call into application the Civil Code
provisions on prescription. It merely set forth a requisite thirty-
year possession period immediately preceding the application for
confirmation of title, without any qualification as to whether the
property should be declared alienable at the beginning of, and
continue as such, throughout the entire thirty-(30) years. There is
neither statutory nor jurisprudential basis to assert Rep. Act No.
1942 had mandated such a requirement,[38] similar to our earlier
finding with respect to the present language of Section 48(b),
which now sets 12 June 1945 as the point of reference.
Then, with the repeal of Rep. Act No. 1942, the thirty-year
possession period as basis for original registration became Section
14(2) of the Property Registration Decree, which entitled those
who have acquired ownership over private lands by prescription
under the provisions of existing laws to apply for original
registration. Again, the thirty-year period is derived from the rule
on extraordinary prescription under Article 1137 of the Civil Code.
At the same time, Section 14(2) puts into operation the entire
regime of prescription under the Civil Code, a fact which does not
hold true with respect to Section 14(1).
B.
Unlike Section 14(1), Section 14(2) explicitly refers to the principles
on prescription under existing laws. Accordingly, we are impelled
to apply the civil law concept of prescription, as set forth in the
Civil Code, in our interpretation of Section 14(2). There is no
similar demand on our part in the case of Section 14(1).
103
The critical qualification under Article 1113 of the Civil Code is
thus: [p]roperty of the State or any of its subdivisions not
patrimonial in character shall not be the object of prescription.
The identification what consists of patrimonial property is
provided by Articles 420 and 421, which we quote in full:
Art. 420. The following things are property of public dominion:
(1) Those intended for public use, such as roads, canals, rivers,
torrents, ports and bridges constructed by the State, banks, shores,
roadsteads, and others of similar character;
(2) Those which belong to the State, without being for public use,
and are intended for some public service or for the development of
the national wealth.
Art. 421. All other property of the State, which is not of the
character stated in the preceding article, is patrimonial property
It is clear that property of public dominion, which generally
includes property belonging to the State, cannot be the object of
prescription or, indeed, be subject of the commerce of man.[39]
Lands of the public domain, whether declared alienable and
disposable or not, are property of public dominion and thus
insusceptible to acquisition by prescription.
Let us now explore the effects under the Civil Code of a
declaration by the President or any duly authorized government
officer of alienability and disposability of lands of the public
domain. Would such lands so declared alienable and disposable be
converted, under the Civil Code, from property of the public
dominion into patrimonial property? After all, by connotative
definition, alienable and disposable lands may be the object of the
commerce of man; Article 1113 provides that all things within the
commerce of man are susceptible to prescription; and the same
provision further provides that patrimonial property of the State
may be acquired by prescription.
Nonetheless, Article 422 of the Civil Code states that [p]roperty of
public dominion, when no longer intended for public use or for
public service, shall form part of the patrimonial property of the
State. It is this provision that controls how public dominion
property may be converted into patrimonial property susceptible to
acquisition by prescription. After all, Article 420 (2) makes clear
that those property which belong to the State, without being for
public use, and are intended for some public service or for the
development of the national wealth are public dominion property.
For as long as the property belongs to the State, although already
classified as alienable or disposable, it remains property of the
public dominion if when it is intended for some public service or
for the development of the national wealth.
Accordingly, there must be an express declaration by the State that
the public dominion property is no longer intended for public
service or the development of the national wealth or that the
property has been converted into patrimonial. Without such
express declaration, the property, even if classified as alienable or
disposable, remains property of the public dominion, pursuant to
Article 420(2), and thus incapable of acquisition by prescription. It
is only when such alienable and disposable lands are expressly
declared by the State to be no longer intended for public service or
for the development of the national wealth that the period of
acquisitive prescription can begin to run. Such declaration shall be
in the form of a law duly enacted by Congress or a Presidential
Proclamation in cases where the President is duly authorized by
law.
It is comprehensible with ease that this reading of Section 14(2) of
the Property Registration Decree limits its scope and reach and
thus affects the registrability even of lands already declared
alienable and disposable to the detriment of the bona fide
possessors or occupants claiming title to the lands. Yet this
interpretation is in accord with the Regalian doctrine and its
concomitant assumption that all lands owned by the State,
although declared alienable or disposable, remain as such and
ought to be used only by the Government.
Recourse does not lie with this Court in the matter. The duty of the
Court is to apply the Constitution and the laws in accordance with
their language and intent. The remedy is to change the law, which
is the province of the legislative branch. Congress can very well be
entreated to amend Section 14(2) of the Property Registration
Decree and pertinent provisions of the Civil Code to liberalize the
requirements for judicial confirmation of imperfect or incomplete
titles.
The operation of the foregoing interpretation can be illustrated by
an actual example. Republic Act No. 7227, entitled An Act
Accelerating The Conversion Of Military Reservations Into Other
Productive Uses, etc., is more commonly known as the BCDA law.
Section 2 of the law authorizes the sale of certain military
reservations and portions of military camps in Metro Manila,
including Fort Bonifacio and Villamor Air Base. For purposes of
effecting the sale of the military camps, the law mandates the
President to transfer such military lands to the Bases Conversion
Development Authority (BCDA)[40] which in turn is authorized to
own, hold and/or administer them.[41] The President is authorized
to sell portions of the military camps, in whole or in part.[42]
Accordingly, the BCDA law itself declares that the military lands
subject thereof are alienable and disposable pursuant to the
provisions of existing laws and regulations governing sales of
government properties.[43]
From the moment the BCDA law was enacted the subject military
lands have become alienable and disposable. However, said lands
did not become patrimonial, as the BCDA law itself expressly
makes the reservation that these lands are to be sold in order to
raise funds for the conversion of the former American bases at
Clark and Subic.[44] Such purpose can be tied to either public
service or the development of national wealth under Article
420(2). Thus, at that time, the lands remained property of the
public dominion under Article 420(2), notwithstanding their status
as alienable and disposable. It is upon their sale as authorized
under the BCDA law to a private person or entity that such lands
become private property and cease to be property of the public
dominion.
C.Should public domain lands become patrimonial because they
are declared as such in a duly enacted law or duly promulgated
proclamation that they are no longer intended for public service or
for the development of the national wealth, would the period of
possession prior to the conversion of such public dominion into
patrimonial be reckoned in counting the prescriptive period in
favor of the possessors? We rule in the negative.
The limitation imposed by Article 1113 dissuades us from
ruling that the period of possession before the public domain land
becomes patrimonial may be counted for the purpose of
completing the prescriptive period. Possession of public dominion
property before it becomes patrimonial cannot be the object of
prescription according to the Civil Code. As the application for
registration under Section 14(2) falls wholly within the framework
of prescription under the Civil Code, there is no way that
possession during the time that the land was still classified as
public dominion property can be counted to meet the requisites of
acquisitive prescription and justify registration.
Are we being inconsistent in applying divergent rules for Section
14(1) and Section 14(2)? There is no inconsistency. Section 14(1)
mandates registration on the basis of possession, while Section
14(2) entitles registration on the basis of prescription. Registration
under Section 14(1) is extended under the aegis of the Property
Registration Decree and the Public Land Act while registration
under Section 14(2) is made available both by the Property
Registration Decree and the Civil Code.
In the same manner, we can distinguish between the thirty-
year period under Section 48(b) of the Public Land Act, as
amended by Rep. Act No. 1472, and the thirty-year period available
through Section 14(2) of the Property Registration Decree in
relation to Article 1137 of the Civil Code. The period under the
former speaks of a thirty-year period of possession, while the
period under the latter concerns a thirty-year period of
extraordinary prescription. Registration under Section 48(b) of the
Public Land Act as amended by Rep. Act No. 1472 is based on
thirty years of possession alone without regard to the Civil Code,
while the registration under Section 14(2) of the Property
Registration Decree is founded on extraordinary prescription
under the Civil Code.
It may be asked why the principles of prescription under the
Civil Code should not apply as well to Section 14(1).
Notwithstanding the vaunted status of the Civil Code, it ultimately
104
is just one of numerous statutes, neither superior nor inferior to
other statutes such as the Property Registration Decree. The
legislative branch is not bound to adhere to the framework set forth
by the Civil Code when it enacts subsequent legislation. Section
14(2) manifests a clear intent to interrelate the registration allowed
under that provision with the Civil Code, but no such intent exists
with respect to Section 14(1).
IV.
One of the keys to understanding the framework we set forth
today is seeing how our land registration procedures correlate with
our law on prescription, which, under the Civil Code, is one of the
modes for acquiring ownership over property.
The Civil Code makes it clear that patrimonial property of the
State may be acquired by private persons through prescription.
This is brought about by Article 1113, which states that [a]ll things
which are within the commerce of man are susceptible to
prescription, and that [p]roperty of the State or any of its
subdivisions not patrimonial in character shall not be the object of
prescription.
There are two modes of prescription through which
immovables may be acquired under the Civil Code. The first is
ordinary acquisitive prescription, which, under Article 1117,
requires possession in good faith and with just title; and, under
Article 1134, is completed through possession of ten (10) years.
There is nothing in the Civil Code that bars a person from
acquiring patrimonial property of the State through ordinary
acquisitive prescription, nor is there any apparent reason to
impose such a rule. At the same time, there are indispensable
requisitesgood faith and just title. The ascertainment of good
faith involves the application of Articles 526, 527, and 528, as well
as Article 1127 of the Civil Code,[45] provisions that more or less
speak for themselves.
On the other hand, the concept of just title requires some
clarification. Under Article 1129, there is just title for the purposes
of prescription when the adverse claimant came into possession of
the property through one of the modes recognized by law for the
acquisition of ownership or other real rights, but the grantor was
not the owner or could not transmit any right. Dr. Tolentino
explains:
Just title is an act which has for its purpose the transmission of
ownership, and which would have actually transferred ownership if
the grantor had been the owner. This vice or defect is the one cured
by prescription. Examples: sale with delivery, exchange, donation,
succession, and dacion in payment.[46]
The OSG submits that the requirement of just title necessarily
precludes the applicability of ordinary acquisitive prescription to
patrimonial property. The major premise for the argument is that
the State, as the owner and grantor, could not transmit ownership
to the possessor before the completion of the required period of
possession.[47] It is evident that the OSG erred when it assumed
that the grantor referred to in Article 1129 is the State. The grantor
is the one from whom the person invoking ordinary acquisitive
prescription derived the title, whether by sale, exchange, donation,
succession or any other mode of the acquisition of ownership or
other real rights.
Earlier, we made it clear that, whether under ordinary prescription
or extraordinary prescription, the period of possession preceding
the classification of public dominion lands as patrimonial cannot
be counted for the purpose of computing prescription. But after the
property has been become patrimonial, the period of prescription
begins to run in favor of the possessor. Once the requisite period
has been completed, two legal events ensue: (1) the patrimonial
property is ipso jure converted into private land; and (2) the
person in possession for the periods prescribed under the Civil
Code acquires ownership of the property by operation of the Civil
Code.
It is evident that once the possessor automatically becomes the
owner of the converted patrimonial property, the ideal next step is
the registration of the property under the Torrens system. It should
be remembered that registration of property is not a mode of
acquisition of ownership, but merely a mode of confirmation of
ownership.[48]
Looking back at the registration regime prior to the adoption of the
Property Registration Decree in 1977, it is apparent that the
registration system then did not fully accommodate the acquisition
of ownership of patrimonial property under the Civil Code. What
the system accommodated was the confirmation of imperfect title
brought about by the completion of a period of possession
ordained under the Public Land Act (either 30 years following Rep.
Act No. 1942, or since 12 June 1945 following P.D. No. 1073).
The Land Registration Act[49] was noticeably silent on the
requisites for alienable public lands acquired through ordinary
prescription under the Civil Code, though it arguably did not
preclude such registration.[50] Still, the gap was lamentable,
considering that the Civil Code, by itself, establishes ownership
over the patrimonial property of persons who have completed the
prescriptive periods ordained therein. The gap was finally closed
with the adoption of the Property Registration Decree in 1977, with
Section 14(2) thereof expressly authorizing original registration in
favor of persons who have acquired ownership over private lands
by prescription under the provisions of existing laws, that is, the
Civil Code as of now.
V.
We synthesize the doctrines laid down in this case, as follows:
(1) In connection with Section 14(1) of the Property
Registration Decree, Section 48(b) of the Public Land Act
recognizes and confirms that 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 acquisition of ownership, since June 12, 1945 have acquired
ownership of, and registrable title to, such lands based on the
length and quality of their possession.
(a) Since Section 48(b) merely requires possession since 12 June
1945 and does not require that the lands should have been
alienable and disposable during the entire period of possession, the
possessor is entitled to secure judicial confirmation of his title
thereto as soon as it is declared alienable and disposable, subject to
the timeframe imposed by Section 47 of the Public Land Act.[51]
(b) The right to register granted under Section 48(b) of the
Public Land Act is further confirmed by Section 14(1) of the
Property Registration Decree.
(2) In complying with Section 14(2) of the Property
Registration Decree, consider that under the Civil Code,
prescription is recognized as a mode of acquiring ownership of
patrimonial property. However, public domain lands become only
patrimonial property not only with a declaration that these are
alienable or disposable. There must also be an express government
manifestation that the property is already patrimonial or no longer
retained for public service or the development of national wealth,
under Article 422 of the Civil Code. And only when the property
has become patrimonial can the prescriptive period for the
acquisition of property of the public dominion begin to run.
(a) Patrimonial property is private property of the government.
The person acquires ownership of patrimonial property by
prescription under the Civil Code is entitled to secure registration
thereof under Section 14(2) of the Property Registration Decree.
(b) There are two kinds of prescription by which patrimonial
property may be acquired, one ordinary and other extraordinary.
Under ordinary acquisitive prescription, a person acquires
ownership of a patrimonial property through possession for at least
ten (10) years, in good faith and with just title. Under
extraordinary acquisitive prescription, a persons uninterrupted
adverse possession of patrimonial property for at least thirty (30)
years, regardless of good faith or just title, ripens into ownership.
B. We now apply the above-stated doctrines to the case at bar.
It is clear that the evidence of petitioners is insufficient to
establish that Malabanan has acquired ownership over the subject
property under Section 48(b) of the Public Land Act. There is no
substantive evidence to establish that Malabanan or petitioners as
his predecessors-in-interest have been in possession of the
property since 12 June 1945 or earlier. The earliest that petitioners
can date back their possession, according to their own evidence
the Tax Declarations they presented in particularis to the year
1948. Thus, they cannot avail themselves of registration under
Section 14(1) of the Property Registration Decree.
105
Neither can petitioners properly invoke Section 14(2) as basis
for registration. While the subject property was declared as
alienable or disposable in 1982, there is no competent evidence
that is no longer intended for public use service or for the
development of the national evidence, conformably with Article
422 of the Civil Code. The classification of the subject property as
alienable and disposable land of the public domain does not
change its status as property of the public dominion under Article
420(2) of the Civil Code. Thus, it is insusceptible to acquisition by
prescription.
VI.
A final word. The Court is comfortable with the correctness of the
legal doctrines established in this decision. Nonetheless,
discomfiture over the implications of todays ruling cannot be
discounted. For, every untitled property that is occupied in the
country will be affected by this ruling. The social implications
cannot be dismissed lightly, and the Court would be abdicating its
social responsibility to the Filipino people if we simply levied the
law without comment.
The informal settlement of public lands, whether declared
alienable or not, is a phenomenon tied to long-standing habit and
cultural acquiescence, and is common among the so-called Third
World countries. This paradigm powerfully evokes the disconnect
between a legal system and the reality on the ground. The law so
far has been unable to bridge that gap. Alternative means of
acquisition of these public domain lands, such as through
homestead or free patent, have
proven unattractive due to limitations imposed on the grantee in
the encumbrance or alienation of said properties.[52] Judicial
confirmation of imperfect title has emerged as the most viable, if
not the most attractive means to regularize the informal settlement
of alienable or disposable lands of the public domain, yet even that
system, as revealed in this decision, has considerable limits.
There are millions upon millions of Filipinos who have
individually or exclusively held residential lands on which they
have lived and raised their families. Many more have tilled and
made productive idle lands of the State with their hands. They have
been regarded for generation by their families and their
communities as common law owners. There is much to be said
about the virtues of according them legitimate states. Yet such
virtues are not for the Court to translate into positive law, as the
law itself considered such lands as property of the public dominion.
It could only be up to Congress to set forth a new phase of land
reform to sensibly regularize and formalize the settlement of such
lands which in legal theory are lands of the public domain before
the problem becomes insoluble. This could be accomplished, to cite
two examples, by liberalizing the standards for judicial
confirmation of imperfect title, or amending the Civil Code itself to
ease the requisites for the conversion of public dominion property
into patrimonial.
Ones sense of security over land rights infuses into every aspect of
well-being not only of that individual, but also to the persons
family. Once that sense of security is deprived, life and livelihood
are put on stasis. It is for the political branches to bring welcome
closure to the long pestering problem.
WHEREFORE, the Petition is DENIED. The Decision of the
Court of Appeals dated 23 February 2007 and Resolution dated 2
October 2007 are AFFIRMED. No pronouncement as to costs.
SO ORDERED.
[5]The trial court decision identified Eduardo Velazco as the
vendor of the property, notwithstanding the original allegation in
the application that Malabanan purchased the same from Virgilio
Velazco. See note 3. In his subsequent pleadings, including those
before this Court, Malabanan or his heirs stated that the property
was purchased from Eduardo Velazco, and not Virgilio. On this
point, the appellate court made this observation:
More importantly, Malabanan failed to prove his ownership over
Lot 9864-A. In his application for land registration, Malabanan
alleged that he purchased the subject lot from Virgilio Velazco.
During the trial of the case, however, Malabanan testified that he
purchased the subject lot from Eduardo Velazco, which was
corroborated by his witness, Aristedes Velazco, a son of Virgilio
Velazco, who stated that Eduardo was a brother of his grandfather.
As aptly observed by the Republic, no copy of the deed of sale
covering Lot 9864-A, executed either by Virgilio or Eduardo
Velazco, in favor of Malabanan was marked and offered in
evidence. In the appealed Decision, the court a quo mentioned of a
deed of sale executed in 1995 by Eduardo Velazco in favor of
Malabanan which was allegedly marked as Exhibit I. It appears,
however, that what was provisionally marked as Exhibit I was a
photocopy of the deed of sale executed by Virgilio Velazco in favor
of Leila Benitez and Benjamin Reyes. Section 34, Rule 132 of the
Rules of Court provides that the court shall consider no evidence
which has not been formally offered. The offer is necessary
because it is the duty of a judge to rest his findings of facts and his
judgment only and strictly upon the evidence offered by the parties
at the trial. Thus, Malabanan has not proved that Virgilio or
Eduardo Velazco was his predecessor-in-interest. Rollo, pp. 39-
40.

[52]See Section 118, Com. Act No. 141, as amended.

Except in favor of the Government or any of its branches, units, or

institutions, lands acquired under free patent or homestead
provisions shall not be subject to encumbrance or alienation from
the date of the approval of the application and for a term of five
years from and after the date of issuance of the patent or grant, nor
shall they become liable to the satisfaction of any debt contracted
prior to the expiration of said period, but the improvements or
crops on the land may be mortgaged or pledged to qualified
persons, associations, or corporations.

No alienation, transfer, or conveyance of any homestead after five

years and before twenty-five years after issuance of title shall be
valid without the approval of the Secretary of Agriculture and
Commerce, which approval shall not be denied except on
constitutional and legal grounds.

106