A VIEW OF PAST AND PRESENT LEGISLATION ON LAND REGISTRATION

> The State has the power and right to provide for a procedure for the adjudication of title to real estate
> The State has control over the real property within the limits
> The State doesn’t possess only the right to determine how title to real estate may be acquired and proved, but it is also within its legislative capacity to establish the method of procedure
> All land that were not acquired from the government either by purchase or by grant, belong to the public domain
> Oh Cho case: reiterated the rule enunciated in Carino, which is any land that has been in possession of an occupant and of his predecessors-in-interest since time immemorial, as to which such possession would justify the presumption that the land had never been part of the public domain or that it had been private property even before the Spanish conquest.

1. THE PUBLIC LAND ACT, CA 141

> Governed the disposition of lands of the public domain
> Prescribed rules and regulations for the homesteading, selling, and leasing of portions of the public domain of the Philippine Islands
> Prescribed the terms and conditions to enable persons to perfect their titles to public lands in the Islands

> Provided for the issuance of patents to certain native settlers upon public lands for the establishment of townsites and sale of lots therein, for the completion of imperfect titles, and for the Islands
> In short, this Act worked on the assumption that title to public lands in the Philippines remained in the government and that the government’s title to public land sprung from the Treaty of Paris and other subsequent treaties between Spain and the US PUBLIC LAND
> Referred to all land 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

APPLICATION OF CA 141

> Applies to all lands of public domain which have been declared open to disposition or concession and officially delimited and classified
> Provisions on the different modes of government grant—homesteads, patents, sales, and reservations for public and semipublic purpose
> Has a chapter on judicial confirmation of imperfect or incomplete titles based on acquisitive prescription

2. THE LAND REGISTRATION ACT, ACT NO. 946

> Established the Torrens system of registration in the country
> Court of Land Registration—exclusive jurisdiction over all applications for registration, with power to hear and determine all questions arising upon such applications
> To bring land titles in the Philippines under one comprehensive and harmonious system, the cardinal features of which are indefeasibility of title and the intervention of the State as a prerequisite to the creation and transfer of titles and interests, with the resultant increase in the use of land as a business asset by reason of the greater certainty and security of title
> It doesn’t create a title nor vest one
> It simply confirms a title already created and already vested, rendering it forever indefeasible.
> Before the creation of the Court of Land Registration, the jurisdiction to determine the nature, quality, and extent of land titles, the rival claims of contending parties, and the legality and effect thereof was vested in the Courts of First Instance

WITH THE PASSAGE OF THE ABOVEMENTIONED ACT, TWO THINGS OCCURRED WORTHY OF NOTE:

1. A court of limited jurisdiction, with special subject matter, and with only one purpose was created
2. By reason thereof, courts theretofore of general, original, exclusive jurisdiction, were shon of some of their attributes—in other words, powers were restricted
> Judicial proceedings were in rem and based on generally accepted principles underlying the Torrens system

3. THE CADASTRAL ACT, ACT NO. 2259

> When, in the option of the President, the public interest requires that title to any lands be settled and adjudicated, he shall order the Director of Lands to make a survey thereof, with notice to all persons claiming interest therein
> Thereafter, the Director of Lands, represented by the Solicitor General, shall institute registration proceedings by filing a petition in the proper court against the holders, claimants, possessors, or occupants of such lands, stating that the public interest requires that the titles to such lands be settled and adjudicated
> Notice of the filing of the petition is published twice in successive issues of the Official Gazette
> Decree shall be the basis for the issuance of the certificate of title which shall have the same effect as a certificate of title granted under the Property Registration Decree
> A cadastral proceeding is in rem, hence, binding generally upon the whole world

4. THE PROPERTY REGISTRATION DECREE, PD 1529

> In order to update the Land Registration Act
> To codify the various laws relative to the registration of property and
> To facilitate effective implementation of said laws
> Supercedes all laws relative to the registration of property
> RTC: jurisdiction over applications for registration and all subsequent proceedings relative thereto, subject to judicial review
> Substantially incorporated the substantive and procedural requirements of its precursor, the Land Registration Act of 1902
> It has expanded the coverage to include judicial combination of imperfect and incomplete titles in its Section 14 (1), cadastral registration proceedings in Section 35 to 38, voluntary proceedings in Sections 51 to 68, involuntary proceedings in Sections 69 to 77, certificates of land transfer and emancipation patents issued pursuant to PD No. 27 in Sections 104 to 106, and reconstruction of lost or destroyed original Torrens titles in Section 110.
> Judicial proceedings are in rem and are based on general principles underlying the Torrens system

REGISTRATION UNDER THE TORRENS SYSTEM IS A PROCEEDING IN REM

> Main principle of registration: to make registered titles indeafisible
> All occupants, adjoining owners, adverse claimants, and other interested persons are notified of the proceedings, and have a right to appear in opposition in such application
> Proceeding against the whole world
> Proceedings shall be in rem and based on generally accepted principles under the Torrens system