Homestead Patent and Free Patent are some of the land patents

granted by the government under the Public Land Act. While similar, they
are not exactly the same.
A Homestead Patent is one issued to: any citizen of this country; over
the age of 18 years or the head of a family; who is not the owner of more
than twenty-four (24) hectares of land in the Philippines or has not had the
benefit of any gratuitous allotment of more than twenty- four (24)
hectares of land since the occupation of the Philippines by the United
States. The applicant must show that he has complied with the residence
and cultivation requirements of the law; must have resided continuously
for at least one year in the municipality where the land is situated; and
must have cultivated at least one-fifth of the land applied for.
On the other hand, a Free Patent may be issued where the applicant is a
natural-born citizen of the Philippines; not the owner of more than twelve
(12) hectares of land; that he has continuously occupied and cultivated,
either by himself or through his predecessors-in-interests, a tract or tracts
of agricultural public lands subject to disposition for at least 30 years prior
to the effectivity of Republic Act No. 6940; and that he has paid the real
taxes

thereon

while

the

same

has

not

been

occupied

by

any

person. (Republic vs Court of Appeals and Ceferino Paredes, Jr., G.R. No.
112115, March 9, 2001)
HOMESTEAD PATENT

> Chapter 4 of the Public Land Act governs the disposition of alienable public
lands through homestead
> Any citizen of the Philippines over the age of 18 years, or the head of a family,
may enter a homestead of not exceeding 12 hectares of agricultural land of the
public domain
> The applicant must have cultivated and improved at least 1/5 of the land
continuously since the approval of the application and resided for at least 1 year
in the municipality in which the land is located, or in a municipality in which the
land is located, or in a municipality adjacent to the same, and then, upon
payment of the required fee, he shall be entitled to a patent
EFFECT OF COMPLIANCE WITH LEGAL REQUIREMENTS
> When a homesteader has complied with all the terms and conditions which
entitle him to a patent for a particular tract of public land, he acquires a vested
interest therein, and is to be regarded as the equitable owner thereof

> The execution and delivery of the patent, after the right to a particular piece of
land has become complete, are the mere ministerial acts of the officer charged
with that duty
> Even without the patent, a perfected homestead is a property right in the
fullest sense, unaffected by the fact that the paramount title to the land is still in
the government