INVOLUNTARY DEALINGS- Attachment

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.

NATURE OF ATTACHMENT

> Legal process of seizing another’s property in accordance with a writ or judicial order for the purpose of securing satisfaction of a judgment yet to be rendered

> Writ of attachment is used primarily to seize the debtor’s property to seize the debtor’s property in order to secure the debt or claim of the creditor in the event that a judgment is rendered

> Jurisprudence: a party who delivers a notice of attachment to the RD and pays the corresponding fees has a right to presume that the official would perform his duty properly

> In involuntary registration, entry thereof in the day book is sufficient notice to all persons of such adverse claim. The notice of course has to be annotated at the back of the corresponding original certificate of title, but this is an official duty of the RD which may be presumed to have been regularly performed

> DBP v. Acting Registry of Deeds: current doctrine thus seems to be that entry alone produces the effect of registration, whether the transaction entered is a voluntary or involuntary one, so long as the registrant has complied with all that is required of him for purposes of entry and annotation, and nothing more remains to be done but a duty incumbent solely on the Registry of Deeds

> Section 69 states that an attachment or any writ, order or process intended to create or preserve any lien upon registered land shall be filed and registered in the RD and shall contain a reference to the number of the certificate of title to be affected, the registered owner thereof and a description of the land or interest therein

GROUNDS UPON WHICH ATTACHMENT MAY ISSUE

(Section 1, Rule 57 of the Rules of Court)
At the commencement of the action or at any time before entry of judgment, a plaintiff or proper party may have the property of the adverse party attached as security for the satisfaction of any judgment that may be recovered in, among others, the following cases:

1. In an action to recover the possession of property unjustly or fraudulently taken, detained or converted, when the property or any part thereof, has been concealed, removed or disposed of, to prevent its being found or taken by the applicant or an authorized person

2. In an action against a party who has been guilty of fraud in contracting the debt or incurring an obligation upon which the action is brought, or in the performance thereof

3. In an action against a party who has removed or disposed of his property, or is about to do so, with intent to defraud his creditors A PRELIMINARY ATTACHMENT may be validly applied for and granted ex parte before a defendant is summoned since the phrase “at the commencement of action” refers to the date of the filing of the complaint and before the summons is served on the defendant.

HOW ATTACHMENT EFFECTED

(Section 7, Rule 57 of the Rules of Court)
Sec. 7. Attachment of real and personal property; recording thereof. Real and personal property shall be attached by the sheriff executing the writ in the following manner:

(a) Real property, or growing crops thereon, or any interest therein, standing uponthe record of the registry of deed of the province in the name of the party against whom attachment is issued, or not appearing at all upon such records, or belonging to the party against whom attachment is issued and held by any other person, or standing on the records of the registry of deeds in the name of any other person, by filing with the registry of deeds a copy of the order, together with a description of the property attached, and a notice that it is attached, or that such real property and any interest therein held by or standing in the name of such other person are attached, and by leaving a copy of such order, description, and notice with the occupant of the property, if any, or with
such other person or his agent if found within the province. Where the property has been brought under the operation of either the Land Registration Act or the Property Registration Decree, the notice shall contain a reference to the number of the certificate of title, the volume and page in the registration book where the certificate is registered, and the registered owner or owners thereof. The registrar of deed must index attachments filed under this section in the
names of the applicant, the adverse party, or the person by whom the property is held or in whose name it stands in the records. If the attachment is not claimed on the entire area of the land covered by the certificate of title, a description sufficiently accurate for the identification of the land or interest to be affected shall be included in the registration of such attachment;

(b) Personal property capable of manual delivery, by taking and safely keeping it in his custody, after issuing the corresponding receipt therefor;

(c) Stocks or shares, or an interest in stocks or shares, of any corporation or company, by leaving with the president or managing agent thereof, a
copy of the writ, and a notice stating that the stock or interest of the party against whom the attachment is issued is attached in pursuance of such
writ;

(d) Debts and credits, including bank deposits, financial interest, royalties, commissions, and other personal property not capable of manual delivery,
by leaving with the person owing such debts, or having in his possession or under his control, such credits or other personal property, or with his agent, a copy of the writ, and notice that the debts owing by him to the party against whom attachment is issued, and the credits and other personal property in his possession, or under his control, belonging to said party, are attached in pursuance of such writ;

(e) The interest of the party whom attachment is issued in property belonging to the estate of the decedent, wether as heir, legatee, or devisee, by serving the executor or administrator or other personal representative of the decedent with a copy of the writ and notice that said interest is attached. A copy of said writ of attachment and of said notice shall also be filed in the office of the clerk of the court in which said estate is being settled and served upon the heir, legatee or devisee concerned. If the property sought to be attached is in custodia legis, a copy of the writ of attachment shall be filed with the proper court or quasi-judicial agency, and notice of the attachment served upon the custodian of such property.

REGISTRATION OF ATTACHMENT, WRITS, AND RELATED PROCESSES

> An attachment, or copy of writ, order or process issued by the court intended to create or preserve any lien, status, right or attachment upon registered land shall be filed and registered in the RD for the province or city where 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 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 or registered on the certificate of title affected, free of charge

KNOWLEDGE OF A PRIOR UNREGISTERED INTEREST IS EQUIVALENT TO REGISTRATION

> In case of conflict between a vendee and an attaching creditor, an attaching creditor who registers the order of attachment and the sale of property to him as the highest bidder acquires a valid title to the property, as against a vendee who had previously bought the same property from the registered owner but who failed to register his deed of sale

> Registration is the operative act that binds or affects the land insofar as third persons are concerned—notice to the whole world

> But where a 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 that prior unregistered interest has the effect of registration as to him. Knowledge of an unregistered sale is equivalent to registration

DISCHARGE OF ATTACHMENT

> An attachment may be discharged upon giving a counterclaim or on the ground that the same was improperly or irregularly issued or enforced, or that the bond is insufficient

> By the dissolution of an attachment levied on the defendant’s property, through the filing of the bond, the released property becomes free and no longer liable to the results of the proceeding in which it was attached. Consequently, the act of the defendant, whose property has been attached, in mortgaging the released property to a third person, is not a conveyance in fraud of creditors, since the transaction is legal and valid, and since the presumption of fraud doesn’t arise when there is security in favor of the creditor