Land Titles and Deeds Notes: Voluntary Dealings with Registered Lands (pp. 232-278)

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.
Voluntary Dealings vs. Involuntary Dealings 
  • Voluntary Dealings
    • Need to present title - to record the deed in registry and to make memorandum on title
      • Entry in day book = NOT sufficient accomplishment of registration
        • NOT considered accomplished until and unless a memorandum of such document is made on the certificate of title 
          • Rationale: Sec. 52 and Sec. 54 complements each other
  • Involuntary Dealings
    • No presentation required; sufficient that annotation in entry book is sufficient

Operative Act (to convey or affect registered lands): registration

  • Effect of Failure to register: valid and effective between the parties
  • GR: 
    • Where there is nothing on the certificate of title to indicate any cloud or vice in the ownership of the property, or any encumbrance thereon, the purchaser is NOT required to explore further than what the Torrens title upon its face indicates in quest for any hidden defect or inchoate right that may defeat his right thereto (Fule v. Legare [1963])
    • Even if a decree in a registration proceedings is infected with nullity, still, an innocent purchaser for value relying on a Torrens title issued in pursuance thereof is protected (Cruz v. CA & Suzara [1997])
    • Although generally a forged or fraudulent deed is a nullity and conveys no title, however, there are instances where such a fraudulent document may become the root of a valid title to an innocent purchaser
      • Mirror Doctrine: A purchaser CANNOT close his eyes to facts which should put a reasonable man upon his guard and then claim that he acted in GF under the belief that there was no defect in the title of the vendor (Lucena v. CA)
        • Annotation of right usufruct (right to enjoy fruits) - does NOT impose upon the mortgagee-buyer the obligation to investigate the validity of its mortgagor's title
      • Example:
        • where the certificate of title was already transferred from the name of the true owner to the forger and while it remained that way it was sold to an innocent purchaser (Fule v. Legare [1963])
  • EX: (required to look further than what appears on the face of the title)
    1. Where the purchaser or mortgagee is a banking/financing institution (Dela Merced v. GSIS [2001])
    2. Owner still holds a valid and existing certificate of title covering the same property because the law protects the lawful holder of a registered title over the transfer of a vendor bereft of any transmissible right (Tomas v. Tomas [1980])
    3. Purchaser in bad faith (Egeo v. CA [1989])
    4. Sufficiently strong indications to impel closer inquiry into the location  boundaries, and the condition of the lot (Francisco v. CA [1987])
    5. Where a person buys land NOT from the registered owner but from 1 whose rights to the land has been merely annotated on the certificate of title (Quiniano v. CA [1971])
    6. Purchases land w/ a certificate of title containing a notice of lis pendens
    7. Purchaser had full knowledge of flaws and defects in the title (Bernales v. IAC [1988])
  • Sale of lump sum of land
    • boundaries (laid down as enclosing the land and indicating its limits) > area 

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.  (Sec. 54 specifies the manner of registration)

 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.

Formal Requisites of a Deed (Sec. 55)
  1. Full name
  2. Nationality
  3. Place of residence
  4. Postal Address of grantee or other persons acquiring or claiming interest

  • Importance: notices and processes in relation to registered landare mailed to the addresses of persons showed in the records
  • 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.

  1. Civil Status (married or unmarried, and if married, the name in full of the husband or wife)
  2. Where or not corporation
    • If corporation,  recital to show that such corporation or association is legally qualified to acquire private lands
      • may be expressed in the deed by means of a statement to the effect that such corp. or assoc. has at least 60% of its capital belonging to Filipinos
Process of registration (can only be altered by legislature)
1. File the instrument creating or transferring interest and certificate of title with Register of Deeds

  1. Owner's duplicate

  • GR: conclusive authority to register accompanying deed
  • EX: ordered by the competent court to do so
  • safeguard against fraud 
    • Registration procured by mans of a forged duplicate cert. or of a forged deed or other instrument = Null and void
  • In case of loss: notice thereof need be sent to the Register of Deeds as soon as the loss or theft is discovered
  • NOTE: issuance of the mortgagee's duplicate title has been discontinued

  1. Payment of fees and documentary stamp tax
  2. Evidence of full payment of real estate tax
  3. Document of transfer - 1 copy additional for city/provincial assessor
2. Register of Deeds shall make a memorandum on the certificate of title, signed by him
3. Issue TCT 
  • GR: essential for transfer to purchaser
  • EX: sale of an unsegregated portion of a parcel of land covered by a cert. of title  where subdivision plan of such land showing all the portions or lots into which it has been subdivided, and technical descriptions of each portion or lot have been verified and approved by the Director of Land has NOT been submitted
    • ROD upon written request of the party concerned, makes only a memorandum of such deed of conveyance on the seller's certificate of title to serve as notice to 3rd parties of the fact that such portion or lot has been sold to the person/s named in the deed

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 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.
  1. Register of Deeds to keep a day book (entry book)
  2. Enter in order of reception all deeds & voluntary instruments, write & processes regarding the land - year, month , day , time, minute of reception of instrument; 
  3. Fees of 5 php per document t be paid within 15 days
    •  provincial and city governments shall be exempt from the payment of such fees 
  4. Note memorandum, sign and issuance of certificate
  5. Documents are numbered, indexed and indorsed w/ reference to cert. of title > public records

    • subject to reasonable regulation
NOTE: GR: Cost is borne by the vendor


  • Denial of Registration (appeal within 5 days from receipt of notice) > Administrator of Land Registration Authority (appeal within 15 days from notice and deposit of P300 to the Clerk of CA) > Court of Appeals (appeal by certiorari on questions of law) > Supreme Court


  • Duties of Register of Deeds - ministerial and mandatory in character 
    • NOT authorized to determine whether or not fraud was committed (court should determine)
  • Invalidity of contract - NOT valid objection to registration where the ROD finds nothing defective or irregular on its face upon examination
    • For purpose of merely giving notice, questions regarding effect or invalidity of instruments are expected to be decided after (NOT before) registration.
  • Sale of lands to aliens 
    • GR: aliens prohibited in acquiring private lands in the Philippines
    • EX: in cases of hereditary succession 
      • NOTE: prohibition in the consti. was not in effect during Japanese Occupation
  • Sec. 10 of the Foreign Investments Act (R.A. No. 7042)

“SEC. 10. Other rights of natural-born citizen pursuant to the provisions of Article XII, Section 8 of the Constitution. – Any natural-born citizen who has lost his Philippine citizenship and who has the legal capacity to enter into a contract under Philippine Laws may be a transferee of a private land up to a maximum area of five thousand [5,000] square meters in the case of urban land or three [3] hectares in the case of rural land to be used by him for business or other purposes. In the case of married couples, one of them may avail of the privilege herein granted: Provided, That If both shall avail of the same, the total area acquired shall not exceed the maximum herein fixed.

“In case the transferee already owns urban or rural land for business or other purposes, he shall be entitled to be a transferee of additional urban or rural land for business or other purposes which when added to those already owned by him shall not exceed the maximum areas herein authorized.

“A transferee under this Act may acquire not more than two [2] lots which should be situated in different municipalities or cities anywhere in the Philippines: Provided, That the total land area thereof shall not exceed five thousand [5,000] square meters in the case of urban land or three [3] hectares in the case of rural land for use by him for business or other purposes. A transferee who has already acquired urban land shall be disqualified form acquiring rural land and vice versa.”

  • American Landholdings
    • acquired by Americans prior to July 4,1946 = VALID and cannot be impaired
  • Simultaneous registration of sales coursed thru alien buyer allowed (opinion of sec. of justice rendered on Jan 24, 1948)
  • Effect of naturalization of alien buyer - title of the alien = lawful and valid as of the date of its acquisition or transfer to him
    • BUT: no right to presume his admission to Philippine citizenship upon the expiration of the 2-year prescribed period so he cannot place "Filipino"
      • False narration of facts in deed of sale or real peoprty = falsification of public document
  • Acquisition of land w/ money furnished by alien, valid when in GF (NOT for the benefit of the alien)
  • Registration of alien corp. NOT a prerequisite to owning real property
    • restricted to the ownership and control of NOT to exceed 1,024 hectares of land
  • Private Corp. or assoc. as applicants
    • alienable land of the public domain 
      • GR: only by lease for a period of NOT exceeding 25 yrs and renewable for NOT more than 25 yrs and NOT to exceed 1,000 hectares in area
      • EX:acquired from precessors-in-interest by exclusive, continuous and adverse possession of the same for more than 30 yrs who acquired ownership of the land
  • Alien religious corp. disqualified
    • NOT violative of freedom of religion clause since land tenure is dispensable to the free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession or worship
    • BUT: Filipino Corp. w/ Alien Administrator = VALID