QUESTION: Can the possessor of land deemed to have acquired a Right to a grant

without the necessity of a Certificate of Title being issued?

Section 48(b) Those who by themselves or through their predecessors in interest have
been in open, continuous, exclusive, and notorious possession and occupation of agricultural lands
of the public domain, under a bona fide claim of acquisition or ownership, for at least thirty years
immediately preceding the filing of the application for confirmation of title except when prevented
by war or force majeure. These shall be conclusively presumed to have performed all the conditions
essential to a Government grant and shall be entitled to a certificate of title under the provisions of
this chapter.

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NOTE: Vested Rights cannot be impaired by subsequent law

Doctrine of Vested Rights- this means that a right is vested when the
right to enjoyment, present or prospective, has become the property
of some person or persons as a present interest. ( Balboa Vs. Farrales)
• It is some right or interest in property which has become fixed and
established and is no longer open to doubt or controversy.

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QUESTION: Which court has the
jurisdiction for the applications for
registration proceeding?

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 ANSWER: It’s the Regional Trial Court
Procedure:
●a. Upon the application for registration, Notice of all such applications, together with a plan of the
lands claimed, shall be immediately forwarded to the Director of Lands who may appear as the
party in such cases;
●b. prior to the publication for hearing, all the papers in said case shall be transmitted by the clerk
to the Solicitor General or officer acting in his stead;
●c. for him to investigate all facts alleged in the application or otherwise brought to his attention.

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 EXCEPTIONS: BP 129 known as the Judiciary Reorganization Act of 1980, as amended by
the RA NO. 7691 grants the MTC, MCTC, MeTC the delegated jurisdiction to hear and determine
CADASTRAL or land registration cases in the following instances:
a. where the lot sought to be registered is not the subject of controversy or opposition; or
b. where the lot is contested but the value thereof does not exceed P100,000, such value to be
ascertained by the affidavit of the claimant or by the agreement of the respective claimants, if
there be more than one or from the corresponding tax declaration of the real property.

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Section 48(b) of the Public Land Act

Burden of Proof Possession and

Occupation
Judgment Order of Issuance of Decree

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 Administrative Legalization (Free
Patent)
Section 44, Chapter VII (Free Patent) of the Public Land Act provides that “any natural-born citizen of the
Philippines who is not the owner of more than 12 hectares and who, for at least 30 years prior to the
effectivity of the 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, TO HAVE FREE PATENT ISSUED TO HIM FOR SUCH TRACT OR TRACTS OF SUCH
LAND NOT TO EXCEED 12 HECTARES. “

NOTE: Same section provides for a prescriptive period of 30 years possession

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 Republic Act No. 10023
Any Filipino citizen who is an actual occupant of a residential land may
apply for a free patent title, provided that in highly urbanized cities, the
land should not exceed 200 square meters; in other cities, it should not
exceed 500 square meters; in first class and second class municipalities, it
should not exceed 750 square meters; and in all other municipalities, it
should not exceed 1,000 square meters, and provided further that the land
applied for is not needed for public service or public use.

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The application shall be supported by the following:
a). Map based on an actual survey conducted by a licensed geodetic engineer and approved by the DENR;

b.) Technical description of the land applied for; and

c.) Supporting affidavit of two 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 10 years and has complied with the requirements prescribed in Section 1 of the Act.

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 Chapter IX, Title III of the
Public Land Act
It provides that any tract of land of the
public domain which, being neither timber nor
mineral land, is intended to be used for residential
purposes or for commercial, industrial, or other
productive purposes other than agricultural, and is
open to disposition or concession, shall be disposed
of under the provisions of said chapter.
Hence, Section 59 classifies the lands disposable
under Title III as follows:
a.) Lands reclaimed by the government by
dredging, filling, or other means (input pictures);

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foreshore

Marshy lands or lands covered with water bordering upon the

shores or banks of navigable lakes or rivers

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 Foreshore land
- that strip of land that lies between
the high and low water marks and that is
alternately wet and dry according to the flow
of the tide.

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Foreshore lands, submerged areas and reclaimed lands are inalienable unless converted by law into alienable
and disposable lands of the public domain.

In fact, the shores and the lands reclaimed from the sea, while they continue to be devoted to
public uses and no grant whatever has been made of any portion of them to private persons, remain a part of
the public domain and are for public uses, and, until they are converted into patrimonial property of the State,
such lands, thrown up by the action of the sea and the shores adjacent thereto, and also not susceptible of
prescription, even if for lease shall not be a subject of commerce of men.

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Modes of
Disposition

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Sale Only paragraph (d)of Section 59 may be disposed, among others, comprise the following
conditions;
A. The purchaser shall make improvements of a permanent character appropriate for the purpose for
which the land is purchased, shall commence work thereon within six months from the receipt of the
order of award, and shall complete the construction of said improvements within 18 months from the
date of such award; otherwise, the Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources may rescind the
contract.

B. The purchase price shall be paid in cash or in equal annual installments, not to exceed ten.

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 Lease
The lands comprised in classes a, b, c of Section 59 shall be disposed of to private parties by
lease only and not otherwise, as soon as the President, upon the recommendation by the Secretary of
Environment and Natural Resource, shall declare that the same are not necessary for the public service and
are open to disposition.

However, marshy lands and lands under water bordering on shores or banks of navigable lakes
or rivers which are covered by subsisting leases or those leases which may hereafter be granted and are
already improved and have been utilized for farming, fishpond, or similar purposes for at least 5 years
from the date of the contract of lease, may be SOLD to the LESSEES thereof under Chapter V of the
Act.

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Conditions of Lease:

D. The lessee shall construct permanent improvements appropriate for the purpose for which the lease is granted, shall commence the
construction thereof within six months from the date of the award of the right to lease the land, and shall complete the said construction
within 18 months from said date.

E. At the expiration of the lease or of any extension of the same, all improvements made by the lessee, his heirs, executors, administrators,
successors, or assigns shall become the property of the Government.

In Lu Do and Lu Ym Corp. Vs. Aznar Brothers Realty Co., it was held that the failure to comply with the condition for the construction of
improvement does not automatically give rise to the rescission of the lease contract

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Lands for Residential, Commercial or Industrial purposes shall be disposed of
through Oral Bidding

Sec. 67 of CA No. 141

General Rule: Lease or sale shall be made through oral bidding; and
adjudication shall be made to the highest bidder. If all or part of the lots
remain unleased or unsold, the Director of Lands shall be applied

However, with the enactment of the RA NO. 730, an exception to the

foregoing procedure was created by authorizing disposition of lands of
the public domain by private sale, instead of bidding, provided that:
1.) the applicant has in his favor the conditions specified
therein, and
2.) the area applied for is not more that 1,000 square
meters.

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Sale of Lands within Military Reservations

RA No. 274 provides that lands within military reservations,

when declared by the President as no longer needed for
military purposes, may be subdivided by the Director of
Lands, and thereafter sold to persons qualified to acquire
agricultural public lands under the Public Land Act with
priority given to the bona fide occupants and then to war
veterans.

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Concession of Lands for Educational, Charitable
and other similar uses

Chapter X, Title IV of the Land Public Act provides that

whenever any province, municipality, or other branch or
subdivision of the government shall need any portion of the
land of the public domain open to concession for educational,
charitable, or other similar purposes.

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Special Patents
is a “patent to grant, cede, and convey full ownership of alienable and
disposable lands formerly covered by a reservation or lands of the public
domain”.
An example of “special patent” is that issued by the President to the Public
Estates Authority, now Philippine Reclamation Authority, under PD No. 1085.

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Importance of Registration of
Patent

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Registration of patent is an operative
act to convey the land
Once a public land is alienated, granted or conveyed by the government,
“the same shall be brought forthwith under the operation of the Property
Registration Decree.”

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 The Torrens System

aims to obviate possible conflicts of title by giving the public the right to rely upon the face
of the Torrens Certificate and to dispense, as a rule, with the necessity of inquiring further;
on the part of the registered owner, the system gives him complete peace of mind that he
would be secured in his ownership as long as he has not voluntarily disposed of any right
over the covered land.

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Date of issuance of Patent corresponds to the issuance of the decree in ordinary
registration.

This means that the decree finally awards the land applied for registration to the party
entitled to it, and the patent issued by the Director of Lands equally and finally
grants, awards, and conveys the land applied for to the applicant.

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Title cannot be DEFEATED by adverse
possession, nor subject to collateral
attack.

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Prohibited
Alienations

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 Section 118:
Except in favor of the Government or any of its
branches, units or institutions, or legally constituted
banking corporations, lands acquired under free
patent or homestead provisions shall not be subject to
encumberance or alienation from the date of the
approval of the application and for a term of five
years from and after the date of issuance of the patent
or grant nor shall they become liable to the
satisfaction of any debt contracted prior to the
expiration of said period; but the improvements or
crops on the land may be mortgaged or pledged to
qualified persons, associations, or corporations.
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Section 121:
Except with the consent of the grantee and the
approval of the Secretary of Agriculture and
Natural Resources, and solely for educational,
religious, or charitable purposes or for the right og
way, no corporation, association, or partnership
may acquire or have any right, title, interest, or
property right whatsoever to any land granted
under the free patent, homestead, or inidividual
sale provisions of the Act or to any permanent
improvement on such land.
 Section 122:
No land originally acquired in any manner under the
provisions of this Act, nor any permanent
improvement on such land, shall be encumbered,
alienated or transferred, except to persons,
corporations, association, or partnerships who may
acquire lands of the public domain under this Act or
to corporations organized in the Philippines
authorized therefore by their charters.
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Section 124:
Any acquisition, conveyance, alienation, transfer,
or other contract made or executed in violation of
any of the provisions of sections 118, 120, 121,
122, 123 of this Act shall be unlawful and null
and void from its execution and shall produce the
effect of annulling and cancelling the grant, title,
patent, or permit originally issued, recognized or
confirmed, actually or presumptively, and cause
the reversion of the property and its
improvements to the State.
TABLE OF CONTENTS

01 02 03 04
LESSON 1 LESSON 2 LESSON 3 LESSON 4
You can describe the You can describe the You can describe the You can describe the
topic of the section topic of the section topic of the section topic of the section
here here here here

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A. POLICY OF THE
LAWThe prohibition has the avowed purpose of giving the
homesteader or patentee every chance to preserve for himself and
his family the land that the State had gratuitously given him as a
reward for his labor in cleaning and cultivating it.

B. PROHIBITION TO ALIENATE
The prohibition to alienate commences to run from the date the application is
approved which may be a date earlier than the date of issuance of the patent.
The latest rulings of the Supreme Court emphasizes that the patent is
considered issued once the order for its issuances is promulgated and, therefore,
the FIVE-YEAR period is computed from this date and not from the date of
registration with the Registration with the Registration of Deeds or from the
date of the Certificate of Title.
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C. APPROVAL OF SECRETARY MERELY DIRECTORY
In Raffinan Vs. Abel, it was held that the requirement for the approval of the
Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources is merely directory, and its absence
does not invalidate any alienation, transfer or conveyance of the homestead after five
years and before the 25-year period. Such approval may be secured at any time in the
future.

D. AGREEMENTS WHICH ARE CONSIDERED A

CIRCUMVENTION OF THE LAW
The prohibition applies as well to the sale of the land to the homesteader’s own
son or daughter as a clever homesteader who wants to circumvent the ban may
simply sell the lot to his descendant and the latter after registering the same in
his name would sell it to a third person.

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E. SALE OF ONLY A PART OF THE LAND VIOLATES PROHIBITION

Even if only a part of the property has been sold or alienated within the prohibited
period of five years from the issuance of the patent, such alienation is a sufficient
ground or cause for the reversion of the whole estate of the State.

F. REPURCHASE BY APPLICANT OR HIS HEIRS

Section 119 of the Public Land Act provides that every conveyance of land
acquired under the free patent or homestead provisions, when proper, shall be
subject to repurchase by the applicant, his, widow, or legal heirs, within a
period of five years from the date of the conveyance.

When the patentee-vendor is still living, he has the right to repurchase,

otherwise, his widow or his legal heirs have that right.
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 a. Period of Repurchase under Section 119

The five-year for legal redemption starts from the date of the execution of the deed
of sale, and not from the date of registration in the office of the Register of Deeds.

b. Effect of a void conveyance

Section 124 provides that any acquisition, conveyance, alienation, transfer, or
other contract made or executed in violation of any of the provisions of
Sections 108, 120, 121, 122, and 123 of the Act shall be unlawful and null and
void from its execution and shall produce the effect of annulling and cancelling
the grant, title, patent, or permit originally issued, recognized or confirmed,
actually or presumptively, and cause the reversion of the property and its
improvements to the State.

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 Nieves Tinio Vs. Gregorio Frances
G.R No. L- 7747
November 29, 1955

Facts:
The case involves the annulment of the sale of a homestead that the
plaintiffs, who are the heirs of Sergio Nicolas, inherited from him. Sergio Nicolas had
applied for a parcel of land in 1917, and his application was approved in the same
year. He filed the necessary final proof papers, which were approved in 1943, after his
death. The Director of Lands then ordered the issuance of a patent in favor of Sergio
Nicolas's heirs. In 1947, the heirs transferred their rights to the homestead to the
defendants, and the transfers were approved by the Secretary of Agriculture and
Commerce in 1948. The defendants subsequently obtained a homestead patent and a
title for the land. The plaintiffs filed a lawsuit in 1953 to annul the conveyances and
recover the land.
ISSUE: The main issue in this case is whether the conveyances of a homestead without prior approval from
the Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce are null and void.

RULING: The court ruled that the conveyances of a homestead without prior approval from the Secretary of Agriculture
and Commerce are null and void.

RATIO: The court based its decision on Section 20 of the Public Land Act, which states that the sale or conveyance of a
homestead is prohibited after the issuance of a patent. The court interpreted this provision to mean that the prohibition
on the sale or conveyance of a homestead should be extended to the date on which the order for the issuance of the
patent is issued. In this case, the conveyances were made without the prior approval of the Secretary of Agriculture and
Commerce, which is a requirement under Section 20. Therefore, the court declared the conveyances null and void. The
court also considered the fact that the homesteader, Sergio Nicolas, was able to continue with his homestead until his
death. It did not appear that he could not continue with his homestead through no fault of his own. This is another
requirement under Section 20 that the court found was not met. Therefore, the court held that the conveyances did not
comply with the requirements of Section 20. Furthermore, the court emphasized that the order for the issuance of a
patent is the same in effect as the issuance of a patent itself. Therefore, the prohibition on the sale or conveyance of a
homestead after the issuance of a patent should be extended to the date on which the order for the issuance of the patent
is issued. As the conveyances in this case were made after the order for the issuance of the patent was issued, they were
deemed null and void. Based on these reasons, the court declared the conveyances null and void, ordered the
cancellation of the transfer certificate of title issued to the defendants, and ordered the return of the land to the plaintiffs.
POLICIES, PROGRAMS and PROJECTS