Section 51 of PD 1529

Validity of a Contract
1. Consent of the contracting party.
2. Object which is the subject matter of the contract
3. Cause of the obligation which is established.

 The contract of sale of real property even if not complete in form as long the essential
requisites are present is valid. (consensual contracts only, kapag donation need in
writing under the Statutes of Fraud)

TRANSFER OF OWNERSHIP

Contract of Sale - delivery

Contract to Sell - full payment

TWO PRINCIPAL MODES OF DELIVERY: Actual delivery and legal or constructive delivery

Actual delivery - placing the thing sold in the control and possession of the vendee.
Legal or constructive delivery - execution of a public instrument evidencing the sale;
symbolical tradition such as the delivery of the keys of the place where the movable sold is
being kept; mere consent or agreement if the movable sold cannot yet be transferred to the
possession of the buyer at the time of the sale; if the buyer already had the possession of the
object even before the sale; where the seller remains in possession of the property in a different
capacity.

The act of registration is the operative act to convey or affect the land insofar as third persons
are concerned.

Section 52

Registration is constructive notice to third persons.

The sale of property and the subsequent registration thereof in the Primary Book of the
Registry of Deeds constitutes constructive notice to the whole world.

The reason for this is that it is the act of registration which creates constructive notice to
the whole world pursuant to Section 52 of the Property Registration Decree.

In cases of involuntary registration, an entry thereof in the day book is a sufficient notice to all
persons even if the owner’s duplicate certificate of title is not presented to the Register of
Deeds.

In case of voluntary registration of documents, an innocent purchaser for value of registered

land becomes the registered owner, and, in contemplation of law the holder of a certificate of
title, the moment he presents and files a duly notarized and valid deed of sale and the same is
entered in the day book and at the same time he surrenders or presents the owner’s duplicate
certificate of title covering the land sold and pays the registration fees, because what remains to
be done lies not within his power to perform.

Section 53

To affect the land sold, the presentation of the deed of sale and its entry in the day book
must be done with the surrender of the owner’s duplicate of the certificate of title.
Production of the owner’s duplicate of the certificate of title is required by Section 53 of
PD No. 1529, and only after compliance with this and other requirements shall actual
registration retroact to the date of entry in the day book.

Section 55

This section states what a deed or other voluntary instrument presented to the Register
of Deeds for registration shall contain to wit: full name, nationality, status, residence and
postal address of the grantee or person acquiring interest under such instrument. If the
grantee is a corporation or association, the instrument shall contain a statement whether
or not it is legally qualified to acquire private lands.

Section 56 

The primary entry book is a record of all instruments, including copies of writs and processes,
affecting registered lands, which are entered by the Register of Deeds in the order of their filing,
upon payment of the proper fees.

The rule that all persons must take notice of the facts which the public record contains is
a rule of law. The rule must be absolute.

Section 57 

The Register of Deeds shall note upon the original and duplicate certificate the: (a) date of the
conveyance, (b) volume and page of the registration book in which the new certificate is
registered, and (c) a reference by number to the last preceding certificate.

Foreclosure is the process by which a mortgagee acquires an absolute title to the property of
which he had previously been only the conditional owner, or upon which he had previously a
mere lien or encumbrance. Foreclosure is valid where the debtors are in default in the payment
of their obligation.

Dacion en pago is the delivery and transmission of ownership of a thing by the debtor to the creditor
as an accepted equivalent of the performance of an existing obligation. It is a special mode of
payment where the debtor offers another thing to the creditor who accepts it as equivalent to the
payment of an outstanding debt.