Land Titles and Deeds Reviewer

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A.

Historical background of land registration in the Philippines


Land Registration Act a.k.a. Act No. 496, enacted on November 6, 1902 but took effect on February 1, 1903.
- Provided for the creation of Court of Land Registration
- The offices of the Register of Deeds
- The institution of the Torrens System of Registration in the Philippines under which real estate ownership may be
judicially confirmed and recorded in the archives of the government.
o Public land grants were brought under the operation of the Torrens system of land registration and all
public and private lands were likewise placed under that system which requires, among others, that the
government shall issue an official certificate of title attesting to the fact that the person named therein is
the owner of the property described in the said certificate, subject to such liens and encumbrances as
may be annotated thereon or as the law warrants or reserves.
o PD No. 892 abolished the system of registration under the Spanish Mortgage Law providing that all
holders of Spanish title must register their lands under the LRA within six months, non-compliance will
result in the reclassification of their lands. 1
o Spanish titles can no longer be countenanced as indubitable evidence of land ownership. 2
President Marcos signed PD No. 1529 known as the Property Registration Decree, amending and codifying the law relative to the
registration of property aimed at strengthening the Torrens system through the necessary adoption titling of real property as well
as streamline and simply the registration proceedings and the issuance of certificates of title.

Torrens system defined; reason for its adoption in the Philippines


Torrens system generally means those systems of registration of transactions with interest in land whose declare object
is, under government authority, to establish and certify to the ownership of an absolute and indefeasible title to realty, and to
simplify its transfer.
The system is an effective measure to guarantee the integrity of land titles and to protect their indefeasibility once the
claim of ownership is established and recognized.

Key features of the Torrens system and what it seeks to ensure.


All encumbrances on the land or special estates therein shall be shown, or at least intimated, upon the certificate of title
and a person dealing with the owner of the registered land is not bound to go beyond the certificate and inquire into transactions,
the existence of which is not there intimated 3, but he is only charged with notice of the burdens on the property which are noted
on the face of the register or on the certificate of title. 4
Torrens System seeks to insure the efficacy and conclusiveness of the certificate of title. It is provided that every person
receiving a certificate of title in pursuance of a decree of registration, and every subsequent purchaser of registered land who
takes the certificate of title for value and in good faith shall hold the same free of all encumbrances except those noted on said
certificate.

Torrens System does not confer but merely confirms title.


The system merely confirms ownership and does not create it. It cannot be used to divest lawful owners of their title for
the purpose of transferring it to another one who has not acquired it by any of the modes allowed by law.

Title and Certificate of Title distinguished.

Title is defined as the lawful cause or ground of possession that which is ours. It is the foundation of ownership of
property, real or personal.
Certificate of Title is regarded as mere evidence of ownership and is not the “title” to the land itself. Under the
Torrens system, a “certificate of title” may be an Original Certificate of Title (OCT) which constitute a true copy of the decree of
registration or a Transfer of Certificate of Title (TCT) subsequent to the original registration.

Purpose of the Torrens System


To quiet title to land; to put a stop forever to any question of the legality of the title, except claims which were noted at
the time of registration, in the certificate, or which may arise subsequent thereto.
Exception to the rule of quieting title to registered land.
General Rule: Once a title is registered, the owner may rest secure, without the necessity of waiting in the portals of
the court, or sitting in the “mirador de su casa”, to avoid the possibility of losing his land.
Exception: Where a person obtains a certificate of title to a land belong to another and he has full knowledge of the
rights of the true owner. He is then considered as guilty of fraud and may be compelled to transfer the land to the defrauded
owner so long as the property has not passed to the hands of an innocent purchase for value.

The proceeding for the registration of land under the Torrens system is judicial. It is clothed with all the forms of an action
and the result is final and binding upon all the world. It is an action in rem.

Effects of Registration under the Torrens System

After the registration is complete and final and there exists no fraud, there are no innocent third parties who may claim
an interest. The rights of the world are foreclosed by the decree of registration. The government assumes the burden of giving
notice to all parties. To permit persons who are parties in the registration proceedings (and they are all the world) to again litigate
the same questions, and to again cast doubt upon the validity of the registered title, would destroy the very purpose and intent of
the law.

1
Carabot vs. CA
2
Republic vs. IAC
3
Quimson vs. Suarez
4
Anderson vs. Garcia
The registration does not give the owner any better title than he had. The title once registered, with very few
exceptions, should not thereafter be impugned, altered or diminished, except in some direct proceeding permitted by law. A
registered title cannot be altered in a collateral proceeding and not even by a direct proceeding, after the lapse of the period
prescribed by law.

Advantages of the Torrens System


- Have helped stabilize land ownership in the Philippines.
- Security with facility in dealing with land.
- Purpose is to quite title to land, to perpetually enjoin any question in the legality of title, Hence, title issued under
the system are indefeasible.

Some of the proven advantages of the Torrens system of land registration:


a. Substituted security for insecurity;
b. Reduced the costs of conveyances and time involved;
c. Exchanged brevity (shortness of time) and clearness for obscurity and verbiage (speech or writing that uses too
many words);
d. Simplified ordinary dealings that every man of ordinary literacy can transact his own conveyancing;
e. Protection against fraud; and,
f. Restored to their just value many estates held under good holding titles.

Rights of innocent third persons; public confidence in the Torrens Certificate


Main purpose is to avoid possible conflicts of title to real estate and to facilitate transactions relative thereto by giving
the public the right to rely upon the face of a Torrens certificate of title and to dispense with the need of inquiring further, except
when the party concerned has actual knowledge of facts and circumstances that should impel a reasonably cautious man to make
such further inquiry.
When innocent third person relied on the Torrens System and acquire rights over the property, the court cannot
disregard such right and order the total cancellation of the title. Such cancellation would be to impair public confidence in the
certificate of title.

Registration as the operative act that validates conveyance of land.


Registration is the operative act that gives validity to the transfer or creates a lien upon the land. Where there was
nothing in the certificate of title to indicate any cloud, vice or any encumbrance, purchaser is not required to explore further than
Torrens title upon its face.

Exception to the Rule.


- Purchaser or mortgagee has knowledge of a defect or lack of title in his vendor, or he was aware of sufficient facts
to induce a reasonably prudent man to inquire into the status of the title of the property in litigation.
- Purchaser is an investment and financing corporation which is presumed to be experienced in its business.
Ascertainment of the status and condition of properties offered to it as security for loans it extends must be a
standard and indispensable part of its operations and it cannot simply rely on an examination of a Torrens
certificate.

Probative Value of Torrens Title


Torrens title is generally a conclusive evidence of ownership of the land. Mere possession cannot defeat the title of a
holder of a registered Torrens title.

Mirror Doctrine
Every person dealing with registered land may safely rely on the correctness of the certificate of title issued therefor
and is in no way obliged to go beyond the certificate to determine the condition of the property.
In the absence of any suspicion, is not obligated to look beyond the certificate to investigate the titles of the seller.

Curtain Principle
Synonymous to the Mirror Doctrine one does not need to go beyond the certificate of title because it contains all the
information about the title of its holder which dispenses with the need of proving ownership.

Exceptions to the Mirror Doctrine or Curtain Principle


- The party has actual knowledge of facts and circumstances that would impel a reasonably cautious man to make
such inquity;
- Purchaser has knowledge of a defect or lack of title in his vendor or of sufficient facts to induce a reasonably
prudent man to inquire into the status of the title.
The presence of anything which excites or arouses suspicion should then prompt the vendee to look beyond the
certificate and investigate the title of the vendor.
Regalian Doctrine

Modes of Acquiring Ownership legal means by which dominion or ownership is created, transferred or destroyed.

Art. 712. Ownership is acquired by:


Occupation, Intellectual Creation, Law, Donation, Estate and Intestate Succession, Contracts, Tradition and
Prescription.

Tradition or delivery, not sale is what transfers ownership.


Sale by itself does not transfer or affect ownership; it only creates the obligation to transfer ownership.
It is tradition or delivery that actually transfer ownership.

Two principal modes of delivery:


1. Actual Delivery – placing the thing sold in the control and possession of the vendee. Art. 1497
2. Constructive Deliver – may had through any of the following:
a. Execution of a public instrument; (Art. 1498)
b. Symbolical Tradition such as delivery by keys; (Art. 1498, par. 2)
c. Traditio Longa Manu or by mere consent or agreement if the movable cannot yet be transferred to the
possession of the buyer at the time of the sale; (Art. 1499)
d. Traditio Brevi Manu if the buyer already had possession of the object even before sale; (ibid)
e. Traditio Constitutum Possessorium, where the seller remains in possession of the property in a different
capacity. (Art. 1500)

Ownership rights over public lands; how acquired; exception


Ownership right over public lands may be acquired either by purchase or grant. Otherwise, presumed to belong to the
public domain.
Exception: Any land that should have been in the possession of an occupant and of his predecessors in interest since
time immemorial5, 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.

5
Time immemorial refers to a period of time which is as far back as memory can go but not beyond the pre-
Spanish conquest.

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