TORRENS CERTIFICATE OF TITLE

- the transcript of the decree of registration made by the Registrar of Deeds in the registry

Kinds of Certificates of Title

1. Original Certificate of Title
o issued for the first time after the land has been adjudicated and decree
o
2. Transfer Certificate of Title
o title issued after the cancellation of the OCT when land is transferred by the
registered owner.
o Subsequent certificate of title that may be issued by the Registrar of Deeds pursuant
to any voluntary or involuntary instrument relating to the land. (Sec. 43 of PD 1529)

Indefeasibility of Torrens Title

- Torrens title, once registered, cannot be defeated, even by adverse, open, and notorious
possession. The title, once registered, is notice to the world. No one can plead ignorance of
the registration.

NOTE:
- In cases of TCT, the same is enforceable in the hands of a holder in good faith and for
valuable consideration or an “innocent purchaser for value”.
- One who is not an innocent purchaser for value has no standing in court to question
another’s right to the land and to file an action for quieting title.
- Only the Solicitor General or the officer acting in his stead may file an action for reversion or
cancelling a free patent.

Probative Value of a Torrens Title

- A Torrens title is generally a conclusive evidence of the ownership of the land referred to
therein. A strong presumption exists that Torrens titles are regularly issued and that they are
valid.

The certificate serves as evidence of an indefeasible title to the property in favor of the person
whose name appears therein. After the expiration of the one year period from the issuance of the
decree of registration upon which it is based, it becomes incontrovertible.

Effects of Issuance of Title

1. The land is placed under the operation of Torrens system.
2. The land is relieved from all claims except those noted thereon.
Exception:
a. Liens, claims or rights arising or existing under the laws and Constitution.
b. 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.
c. Any public highway or private way
 d. Any disposition of the property or limitation on the use thereof pursuant to PD or
regulation on agrarian reform
e. Rights incident to the relation of husband and wife, landlord and tenant, or from liability
to attachment or levy on execution, etc …

Amendment or Correction of Title

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 by the clerk or any
registrar of deeds, except by order of the court.

Note:
RTC, sitting as a Land Registration Court, has limited jurisdiction and cannot pass upon questions
regarding validity of the contracts or their failure to express the true intention of the parties. Such
questions should be ventilated in an ordinary action.
The proceeding provided in the Land Registration Act being summary in nature, they are inadequate
for the litigation of issues properly pertaining to ordinary civil actions. Thus, questions involving
ownership or relating to validity or discharge of a mortgage should properly be ventilated in an
ordinary proceeding.

Grounds for Correction:

1. That an error or omission was made therein
2. That a registered interest is terminated
3. That new rights have arisen which do not appear on the certificate
4. That the name or status of a person mentioned in the certificate has been changed.
5. That upon any other reasonable grounds

Cancellation of Title
Petition for the cancellation of certificate of title and the issuance of a new one should be filed in the
registration case and not in an ordinary civil action.

Grounds for Cancellation of Title

1. When title is void
o because it is procured thru fraud
o because it is issued for a land already covered by a prior Torrens title
o because it covers land reserved for military, naval or civil public purposes
o because it covers a land which has not been brought under the registration
proceeding
2. When the title is replaced by one issued under a cadastral proceeding
3. When the condition of its issuance has been violated by the registered owner.

Reconstitution
- Restoration of the instrument or title allegedly lost or destroyed in its original form and
condition
 Purpose: to have the same reproduced, after observing the procedure
- It does not pass upon the ownership of the land covered by the lost or destroyed title

Recovery of Certificate of Title Considered Lost

In case a certificate of title considered lost or destroyed, be found or recovered, the same shall
prevail over the reconstituted certificate of title.

Sources or Bases for Reconstitution

Judicial Reconstitution:
1. Certified copy of the certificate of title
2. Authenticated copy of the decree of registration or patent
3. Document, on file in the ROD
4. Other document which, in the judgment of the court is sufficient and proper basis
5. Deed of transfer on file in the ROD

VOLUNTARY DEALINGS WITH REGISTERED LAND

The act of registration creates constructive notice to the whole world of the fact of such
conveyance. However, the benefits of this provision can no longer be invoked by one who had lost
through prescription whatever rights he had as third person who was not privy to the unregistered
deed of sale.

GR: Good faith is always presumed

Exception: Where a purchaser neglects to make the necessary inquiries and closes his eyes to facts
which should put a reasonable man on his guard as to the possibility of the existence of a defect in
his vendor’s title, and relying on the belief that there was no defect in title of the vendor, purchased
the property without making any further investigation, he cannot claim that he is a purchaser in
good faith for value.

Note: A person dealing with registered land is not required to go behind the register to determine
the condition of the property. He is only charged with notice of the burdens on the property which
are noted on the face of the register or the certificate of title.

GR: registration of the deed is the operative act to bind the land insofar as third person is concerned.
Exception: where the party has knowledge of a prior existing interest which is unregistered at the
time he acquired a right to the same land, his knowledge of the prior unregistered interest has the
effect of registration as to him. (Gustilo vs Maravilla, 48Phil422)

Note
- Registration is a mere ministerial act.
- The question of whether or not the conveyance was made to defraud creditors of the
transferor should better be left for determination by the proper court.
 - Registrar of Deeds has no power to decide questions as to whether a property if subject to or
exempt from taxes.

Stages of Registration
1. Execution of Deeds
2. Surrender of the Owner’s Duplicate
Note:
o For voluntary transaction: if a co-owner’s duplicate certificate of title has however
been issued, its surrender is required before any voluntary transaction can be
registered.
o For involuntary dealing: the presentation of the owner’s duplicate certificate of title
is not necessary.
3. Entry in the Day Book
o Registration of voluntary transaction: It is necessary not only to register the deed,
but a memorandum thereof shall also be made by the Registrar of Deeds, on the
owner’s duplicate certificate and its original.

Conveyance of unsegregated portions of land

- The Registrar of Deeds shall not enter a new certificate of title until such land has been
subdivided. Such deed may only be annotated by way of memorandum upon the grantor’s
certificate of title.

When Deeds are considered registered?

A: From the moment of payment of the filing fee, the entry and notation of deeds relating to
registered land in the entry book or day book.
Note: In cases of conveyances in fee, the issuance of a transfer certificate of title to the
purchaser constitutes sufficient registration of such conveyance.

When two instruments involve the same land

As between two transactions concerning the same land, the registered transaction prevails over the
earlier unregistered right.

INVOLUNTARY DEALINGS WITH REGISTERED LANDS

Lis Pendens – is that legal process in a suit regarding land which amounts to a legal notice to all the
world that there is a dispute as to the title of the same.

Notice of lis pendens – is an announcement to the whole world that a particular real property is in
litigation, and serves as a warning that one who acquires an interest over said property does so at
his own risk or that he gambles on the result of the litigation over said property.

Note: lis pendens being a mere cautionary notice to buyer, imposes no obligation on the owner, but
on the buyer.
Doctrine of lis pendens has no application to the following cases:
1. Preliminary attachments
2. Proceedings for the probate of wills
3. Levies on execution
4. Proceedings for administration of estate of deceased persons; and
5. Proceedings in which the only object is the recovery of a money judgement.
Note: In Lis Pendens, the court acquires The jurisdiction, power, or control over the property
involved in the suit pending the continuance of the action.

Cancellation of Lis Pendens

- A notice of lis pendens may be cancelled 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.

Attachment – is a writ issued at the institution or during the progress of an action commanding the
sheriff or other public officer to attach the property rights, credit or effects of the defendant to
satisfy demands of the plaintiff.

3 kinds of attachment:
1. Preliminary attachment
o is that issued at the institution or during the progress of an action. It is a means
process, liable to be dissolved at any time and the judgement upon which may or may
not affect the property seized.
2. Garnishment
o is an attachment by means of which plaintiff seeks to subject to his claim, property of
the defendant in the hands of a third person called the garnishee. Garnishment
proceedings are usually directed to personal property.
3. Levy on execution
o Attachment is governed by Rule 57 of the Rules of Court.

Note: Entry in the day book is a sufficient notice to all persons of such adverse calim.

Discharge of Attachment