Sec. 52.

Constructive
notice upon
registration
Section 52. Constructive notice upon
registration
Every conveyance, mortgage, lease, lien, attachment, order, judgement,
instrument or entry affecting land registered shall, if registered, filed, or
entered in the office of the Register of Deeds for the province or city
where the land to which it relates lies, be constructive notice to all
persons from the time of such registering, filing or entering.
Act of registration is the operative act
to convey or affect registered land

– Registration is the operative act that conveys ownership or affects the

land insofar as third persons are concerned.
– Such registration in the public registry is notice to the whole world.
– The Property Registration Decree only protects the holder in good faith
and cannot be used as a shield for frauds.
 Registration of document ministerial
on the part of the Register of Deeds

– While it operates as a notice of the deed, contract or instrument to

others, it does not add to its validity nor converts an invalid instrument
into a valid one as between the parties, nor amounts to a declaration by
the state that the instrument is a valid and subsisting interest in the land.
– The registration of a void deed, for instance, is not an impediment to a
declaration by the courts of its invalidity.
– The law on registration does not require that only valid instruments shall
be registered. If the purpose of registration is merely to give notice, then
questions regarding the effect of invalidity of instruments are expected
to be decided after, not before, registration. Registration must first be
allowed, and validity or effect litigated afterwards.
As between the parties, registration is
not essential for validity of sale
– The purpose of registration is merely to notify the interests of strangers
to a given transaction, who may be ignorant thereof, and the non-
registration of the deed evidencing said transaction does not relieve the
parties thereto of their obligation thereunder.
– Where no right of innocent third persons is involved, the conveyance
between the vendee and his vendors, although not registered, is valid
and binding upon the latter as well as upon his heirs.
 Actual notice equivalent of
registration
– As between parties to a contract of sale, registration is not necessary to
make it valid and effective, for actual notice is equivalent to registration.
– Under Section 51 of the Property Registration Decree, “even without the
act of registration, a deed purporting to convey or affect registered land
shall operate as a contract between the parties.”
– Such registration is intended to protect the buyer against claims of third
persons arising from subsequent alienations by the vendor, and is
certainly not necessary to give effect to the deed of sale, as between the
parties to the contract.
 Duque – Rosario v. Banco Filipino Savings and
Mortgage Bank
G.R. No. 140528

Penned by: Justice Leonardo – De Castro

– For repudiation of an express trust to be effective, the unequivocal act of
repudiation had to be made known to the Torbela siblings as the cestuis
que trust and must be proven by clear and conclusive evidence.
– The general rule in redemption is that it is not sufficient that a person
offering to redeem manifests his desire to do so. The statement of
intention must be accompanied by an actual and simultaneous tender of
payment.
 Duque – Rosario v. Banco Filipino Savings and
Mortgage Bank
G.R. No. 140528

– Regardless of whether or not there is a pending suit for the annulment of

the mortgage or the foreclosure itself, the purchaser is entitled to a writ
of possession, without prejudice, of course, to the eventual outcome of
the pending annulment case. The issuance of a writ of possession in
favor of the purchaser in a foreclosure sale is a ministerial act and does
not entail the exercise of discretion.
 Sarili v. Lagrosa
G.R. No. 193517

Penned by: Justice Perlas – Bernabe

– Article 1874 of the Civil Code provides that "when a sale of a piece of
land or any interest therein is through an agent, the authority of the
latter shall be in writing; otherwise, the sale shall be void.“
– Good faith is an intangible and abstract quality with no technical
meaning or statutory definition, and it encompasses, among other
things, an honest belief, the absence of malice and the absence of design
to defraud or to seek an unconscionable advantage. It implies honesty of
intention, and freedom from knowledge of circumstances which ought to
put the holder upon inquiry.
Sunshine Finance & Investment Corporation v. IAC
G.R. No. 74070-71

Penned by: Justice Cruz

– It has been held that where, as in this case, the land sold is in the
possession of a person other than the vendor, the purchaser is required
to go beyond the certificate of title and make inquiries concerning the
rights of the actual possessors. Failure to do so would make. him a
purchaser in bad faith.
– The Court feels that more responsibility should attach to the petitioner.
Its superior knowledgeability in the matter should have moved it to take
more precautions in the protection of its rights as purchaser of the
foreclosed property. Tricycle drivers like De Guzman cannot be expected
to be as vigilant.
Cruz v. Bancom Finance Corporation
G.R. No. 147788

Penned by: Justice Panganiban

– A simulated deed of sale has no legal effect; consequently any transfer
certificate of title (TCT) issued in consequence thereof should be cancelled.
A simulated contract is not a recognized mode of acquiring ownership.
– Banks should not have simply relied on the face of the Certificate of Title to
the property, as its ancillary function of investing funds required a greater
degree of diligence. Considering the substantial loan involved at the time, it
should have exercised more caution.
– In the instant case, the two Deeds of Sale were absolutely simulated;
hence, null and void
Cruz v. Bancom Finance Corporation
G.R. No. 147788

– "Banks, indeed, should exercise more care and prudence in dealing even
with registered lands, than private individuals, for their business is one
affected with public interest, keeping in trust money belonging to their
depositors, which they should guard against loss by not committing any
act of negligence which amounts to lack of good faith by which they
would be denied the protective mantle of the land registration statute,
Act No. 496, extended only to purchasers for value and in good faith, as
well as to mortgagees of the same character and description."