Republic of the Philippines

Congress of the Philippines

Metro Manila
Eighth Congress

Republic Act No. 6940

March 28, 1990

AN ACT GRANTING A PERIOD ENDING ON DECEMBER 31, 2000 FOR FILING

APPLICATIONS FOR FREE PATENT AND JUDICIAL CONFIRMATION OF
IMPERFECT TITLE TO ALIENABLE AND DISPOSABLE LANDS OF THE PUBLIC
DOMAIN UNDER CHAPTERS VII AND VIII OF THE PUBLIC LAND ACT (CA
141, AS AMENDED)
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in
Congress assembled::
Section 1. Paragraph 1, Section 44, Chapter VII of Commonwealth Act No. 141,
as amended, is hereby amended to read as follows:
"Sec. 44. Any natural-born citizen of the Philippines who is not the owner
of more than twelve (12) hectares and who, for at least thirty (30) years
prior to the effectivity of this amendatory Act, has continuously occupied
and cultivated, either by himself or through his predecessors-in-interest a
tract or tracts of agricultural public lands subject to disposition, who shall
have paid the real estate tax thereon while the same has not been
occupied by any person shall be entitled, under the provisions of this
Chapter, to have a free patent issued to him for such tract or tracts of such
land not to exceed twelve (12) hectares."
Section 2. Section 45, Chapter VII of Commonwealth Act No. 141, as amended, is
hereby, further amended to read as follows:
"Sec. 45. The President of the Philippines, upon recommendation of the
Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources, shall from time to time
fix by proclamation the period within which applications for free patents
may be filed in the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office
or region specified in such proclamation, and upon the expiration of the
period so designated, unless the same be extended by the President, all
the land comprised within such district, chartered city, province,

municipality or region subject thereto under the provisions of this Chapter

may be disposed of as agricultural public land without prejudice to the
prior right of the occupant and cultivator to acquire such land under this
Act by means other than free patent. The time to be fixed in the entire
Archipelago for the filing of applications under this Chapter shall not
extend beyond December 31, 2000, except in the Provinces of Agusan del
Norte, Agusan del Sur, Cotabato, South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat,
Bukidnon, Lanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur,
Davao Oriental, Sulu, Mt. Province, Benguet, Kalinga-Apayao, Ifugao,
Maguindanao, Tawi-Tawi, and Basilan where the President of the
Philippines, upon the recommendation of the Secretary of Environment
and Natural Resources, shall determine or fix the time beyond which the
filing of applications under this Chapter shall not extend: provided, that
the period shall apply only when the area applied for does not exceed
twelve (12) hectares. The period fixed for any district, chartered city,
province or municipality shall begin to run thirty (30) days after the
publication of the proclamation in one (1) newspaper of general circulation
in the city, province or municipality concerned. A certified copy of said
proclamation shall be furnished by the Secretary of Environment and
Natural Resources within thirty (30) days counted from the date of the
presidential proclamation to the Community Environment and Natural
Resources Office and to the provincial board, and municipal board or city
council and barangay council affected, and copies thereof shall be posted
on the bulletin board of the Community Environment and Natural
Resources Office and at conspicuous places in the provincial building and
at the municipal building and barangay halls or meeting place.t shall
moreover be announced by government radio whenever available in each
of the barrios of the municipality."
Section 3. Section 47, Chapter VIII of Commonwealth Act No. 141, as amended,
is hereby further amended to read as follows:
"Sec. 47. The persons specified in the next following section are hereby
granted time, not to extend beyond December 31, 2000 within which to
take advantage of the benefit of this Chapter: provided, that this period
shall apply only where the area applied for does not exceed twelve (12)
hectares: provided, further, that the several periods of time designated by
the President in accordance with Section Forty-five of this Act shall apply
also to the lands comprised in the provisions of this Chapter, but this
section shall not be construed as prohibiting any of said persons from
acting under this Chapter at any time prior to the period fixed by the
President."

Section 4. Any law or executive order or part thereof contrary to or inconsistent

with this Act is hereby deemed repealed accordingly.
Section 5. If any provision of this Act or the applicability of such provision to any
person or circumstances shall be held invalid, the validity of the remainder of this
Act and the applicability of such provision to the persons or circumstances shall
not be affected thereby.
Section 6. This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication in two
(2) national newspapers of general circulation.
Approved: March 28, 1990
Republic of the Philippines
CONGRESS OF THE PHILIPPINES
Metro Manila
Fourteenth Congress
Third Regular Session

Begun and held in Metro Manila, on Monday, the twenty-seventh day of July, two
thousand nine.
REPUBLIC ACT No. 10023
AN ACT AUTHORIZING THE ISSUANCE OF FREE PATENTS TO RESIDENTAL
LANDS
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in
Congress assembled:
Section 1. Qualifications. - Any Filipino citizen who is an actual occupant of a
residential land may apply for a Free Patent Title under this Act: Provided; That in
highly urbanized cities, the land should not exceed two hundred (200) square
meters; in other cities, it should not exceed five hundred (500) square meters; in
first class and second class municipalities, it should not exceed seven hundred
fifty (750) square meters; and in all other municipalities, it should not exceed one
thousand (1,000) square meters; Provided, further, That the land applied for is not
needed for public service and/or public use.

Section 2. Coverage. - This Act shall cover all lands that are zoned as residential
areas, including townsites as defined under the Public Land Act; Provided, That
none of the provisions of Presidential Decree No. 705 shall be violated.
Zoned residential areas located inside a delisted military reservation or
abandoned military camp, and those of local government units (LGUs) or
townsites which preceded Republic Act No. 7586 or the National Integrated
Protected Areas System (NIPAS) law, shall also be covered by this Act.
Section 3. Application. - The application on the land applied for shall be
supported by a map based on an actual survey conducted by a licensed geodetic
engineer and approved by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources
(DENR) and a technical description of the land applied for together with
supporting affidavit of two (2) disinterested persons who are residing in the
barangay of the city or municipality where the land is located, attesting to the
truth of the facts contained in the application to the effect that the applicant
thereof has, either by himself or through his predecessor-in-interest, actually
resided on and continuously possessed and occupied, under a bona fide claim of
acquisition of ownership, the land applied for at least ten (10) years and has
complied with the requirements prescribed in Section 1 hereof.
Section 4. Special Patents. - Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary
and subject to private rights, if any, public land actually occupied and used for
public schools, municipal halls, public plazas or parks and other government
institutions for public use or purpose may be issued special patents under the
name of the national agency or LGU concerned: Provided, That all lands titled
under this section shall not be disposed of unless sanctioned by Congress if
owned by the national agency or sanctioned by the sanggunian concerned
through an approved ordinance if owned by the LGU.
Section 5. Removal of Restrictions. - The restrictions regarding encumbrances,
conveyances, transfers or dispositions imposed in Sections 118, 119,121, 122 and
123 of Chapter XII, Title VI of Commonwealth Act No. 141 as amended, shall not
apply to patents issued under this Act.
Section 6. Period for Application. - All applications shall be filed immediately
after the effectivity of this Act before the Community Environment and Natural
Resources Office (CENRO) of the DENR. The CENRO is mandated to process the
application within one hundred and twenty (120) days to include compliance with
the required notices and other legal requirements, and forward this
recommendation to the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office
(PENRO), who shall have five (5) days to approve or disapprove the patent. In
case of approval, patent shall be issued; in case of conflicting claims among
different claimants, the parties may seek the proper judicial remedies.1avvphi1

Section 7. Implementing Rules and Regulations. - The Director of the Land

Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources
(DENR) shall promulgate rules and regulations to carry out the provisions of this
Act, and shall see to it that such are gender responsive.
Section 8. Repealing Clause. - All laws, decrees, executive order, executive
issuance's or letters of instruction, rules and regulations or any part thereof
inconsistent with or contrary to the provisions of this Act are hereby deemed
repealed, amended or modified accordingly.
Section 9. Separability Clause. - If, for any reason or reasons, any part or parts of
this Act shall be declared unconstitutional or invalid by any competent court,
other parts of this Act shall be thereby shall continue to be in full force and effect.
Section 10. Effectivity Clause. - This Act shall take effect fifteen days (15) after
its publication in two (2) national newspapers of general education.

encumbrance or alienation before the patent is issued and for a term of ten years
from the date of the issuance of such patent, nor shall they become liable to the
satisfaction of any debt contracted prior to the expiration of said period. No
transfer or alienation made after the said period of ten years and within fifteen
years from the issuance of such patent except those made by virtue of the right
of succession shall be valid unless when duly authorized by the Secretary of
Agriculture and Natural Resources and the transferee or vendee is a Filipino
citizen. Every conveyance made shall be subject to repurchase by the original
purchaser or his legal heirs within a period of five years from the date of
conveyance.
Any contract or agreement made or executed in violation of this section shall be
void
ab
initio.
Sec. 3. The provisions of the Public Land Act with respect to the sale of lands for
residential purposes which are not inconsistent herewith shall be applicable.
Sec.

Approved

4.

This

Act

shall

take

effect

upon

its

approval.

REPUBLIC ACT NO. 730

REPUBLIC ACT NO. 730 - AN ACT TO PERMIT THE SALE WITHOUT PUBLIC
AUCTION OF PUBLIC LANDS OF THE REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES FOR
RESIDENTIAL PURPOSES TO QUALIFIED APPLICANTS UNDER CERTAIN
CONDITIONS

Section 1. Notwithstanding the provisions of sections sixty-one and sixty-seven

of Commonwealth Act Numbered One hundred forty-one, as amended by
Republic Act Numbered Two hundred ninety-three, any Filipino citizen of legal age
who is not the owner of a home lot in the municipality or city in which he resides
and who has in good faith established his residence on a parcel of the public land
of the Republic of the Philippines which is not needed for the public service, shall
be given preference to purchase at a private sale of which reasonable notice shall
be given to him not more than one thousand square meters at a price to be fixed
by the Director of Lands with the approval of the Secretary of Agriculture and
Natural Resources. It shall be an essential condition of this sale that the
occupants has constructed his house on the land and actually resided therein. Ten
per cent of the purchase price shall be paid upon the approval of the sale and the
balance may be paid in full, or in ten equal annual installments.
Sec. 2.
Except in favor of the Government or any of its branches, units, or
institutions lands acquired under the provisions of this Act shall not be subject to

Approved: June 18, 1952

PRESIDENTIAL DECREE No. 1529
AMENDING AND CODIFYING THE LAWS RELATIVE TO REGISTRATION OF
PROPERTY AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
CHAPTER III
ORIGINAL REGISTRATION
I
ORDINARY REGISTRATION PROCEEDINGS
A. APPLICATIONS
Section 14. Who may apply. The following persons may file in the proper Court of
First Instance an application for registration of title to land, whether personally or
through their duly authorized representatives:
(1) Those who by themselves or through their predecessors-in-interest
have been in open, continuous, exclusive and notorious possession and

occupation of alienable and disposable lands of the public domain under a

bona fide claim of ownership since June 12, 1945, or earlier.

A trustee on behalf of his principal may apply for original registration of any land
held in trust by him, unless prohibited by the instrument creating the trust.

(2) Those who have acquired ownership of private lands by prescription

under the provision of existing laws.

CA 141 Sec. 8. Only those lands shall be declared open to disposition or

concession which have been officially delimited and classified and, when
practicable, surveyed, and which have not been reserved for public or
quasipublic uses, nor appropriated by the Government, nor in any manner
become private property, nor those on which a private right authorized
and recognized by this Act or any other valid law may be claimed, or
which, having been reserved or appropriated, have ceased to be so.
However, the President may, for reasons of public interest, declare lands
of the public domain open to disposition before the same have had their
boundaries established or been surveyed, or may, for the same reason,
suspend their concession or disposition until they are again declared open
to concession or disposition by proclamation duly published or by Act of
the Congress.

(3) Those who have acquired ownership of private lands or abandoned

river beds by right of accession or accretion under the existing laws.
(4) Those who have acquired ownership of land in any other manner
provided for by law.
Where the land is owned in common, all the co-owners shall file the application
jointly.
Where the land has been sold under pacto de retro, the vendor a retro may file an
application for the original registration of the land, provided, however, that should
the period for redemption expire during the pendency of the registration
proceedings and ownership to the property consolidated in the vendee a retro,
the latter shall be substituted for the applicant and may continue the
proceedings.