Republic of the Philippines

Department of Environment and Natural

Resources

Land Administration Services

Basic Principles in the DENR Administrative Titling Program

Frontline Course Module 2.2

Agencies Dealing with Lands
• Department of Agrarian Reform
=Titled properties

DA
R
 Agencies Dealing with Lands

NC
IP
• National Commission on Indigenous Peoples
-Lands occupied, possessed and utilized
by individuals, families, and clans who are members
of the Indigenous Cultural
Communities/Indigenous Peoples (ICCs/IPs)
 Agencies Dealing with Lands
• Land Registration Authority
=Registration of titles issued
by DAR/DENR/NCIP
=Approval of plans covering
LR titled properties

A Act 496, “The Land Registration

Act”
• P.D. 1529, “Amending and
codifying the Laws Relative to
Registration of Property and for
Court of Justice
Other Purposes”
 Agencies Dealing with Lands

LR
A

Court of Justice
Agencies Dealing with Lands
• Public Alienable and Disposable (A&D)
lands
• Free patent – agricultural lands
• Residential Free patent – residential lands
• Sales patent for Agricultural/Commercial/
Industrial
• Foreshore/Miscellaneous lease –
foreshore/offshore area
• Special patent
- School sites
- Public areas
• Patrimonial properties
DEN • IGPSA – Insular Government Property Sales
Application

R • Friar lands
• Friar lands application -
Agencies Dealing with Lands

DEN
R
 MANDATE
The Department of Environment and Natural
Resources (DENR) through the Land Management
Bureau (LMB) and field offices is mandated to
administer, survey, manage and dispose :

1) Public alienable and

disposable (A&D) lands

2) Public lands not placed

under the jurisdiction of
other government agencies
 Section 4, Public Land Act-

• Subject to the said control, the Director of Land

shall have direct executive control of the survey,
classification, lease, sale or any other form of
concession or disposition and management of the
lands of the public domain, X X
 Section 4, E.O. 192, dated June 10,
1987- Mandate of the DENR

• Primary government agency responsible

for the conservation, management,
development and proper use of the country’s
environment and natural resources,
specifically forest and grazing lands, mineral
resources, including those in reservations and
watershed areas, and land of the public domain.

• Licensing and regulation of all natural resources as

may be provided for by law .
 Section 5, h (m), E.O. 192

• The DENR shall exercise exclusive

jurisdiction on the management and disposition of all
lands of the public domain and shall continue
to be the sole agency responsible for classification,
sub classification, surveying and titling in
consultation with appropriate agencies
 THE PHILIPPINES’ LAND
RESOURCES

Agricultu Fore
ral st
47% 50%

Unclassifi
ed 3%

Total Land Area = 29.7 M. Has. Total Population = 100+ million Total
Estimated Land Parcels =22 million
 PRIVATE RIGHTS
TO LAND
During Pre-Hispanic Filipinos
( before Spanish Era)

 No concept of Land Ownership

 Land is communal property
 Property is shared by all
 What is the regalian doctrine ?
• All lands of the public domain belong to the State.

• All lands not otherwise appearing to be clearly

within private ownership are presumed to belong to
the State.

• Public lands not shown to have been reclassified or

released as agricultural land or alienated to a private
person by the State remain part of the inalienable public
domain.(Rep. vs Naguita G.R. No. 134209, Jan. 24, 2006)
Act 496 - Land Registration Act which took
effect on February 1, 1903
- to establish a system of registration by which recorded
title becomes absolute, indefeasible and imprescriptible
- placed all registered lands in the Philippines under the
Torrens system.

Torrens System
- system of land registration
in which a certificate of title
is issued by the government
as an evidence of
ownership.
 Creation of the Bureau of Public Lands and the 1st
Public Land Act

Bureau of Public
*mandate*
supervising the survey and distribution of public lands in the
Philippine Islands.
Consisted of the following original force:
• director,
• chief clerk
• a translator
• 2 clerks
• 1 messenger
 Act 926 (Public Land Act of 1903) - basis of
public land disposition.
Dispositions of public land under this act were:
1. homestead patent
2. free patent
3. Sales patent
4. lease of public lands suitable for agriculture

 Act 926 - formally recognizes titles, grants and

concessions given by Spain to private individuals
- for confirmation of its claim - requiring only
the registration of the same to the Land
Registration Court of the Philippine Islands.
Act 1120 or Friar Lands Act (April 26, 1904)
- The American bought 23 haciendas or friar lands from
various religious order for distribution.
- Friar Lands the most productive agricultural land in the
Philippines at the turn of the Century
- The properties were registered under the Torrens System
- The properties were subdivided into lots and distributed
to actual occupants under Act 1120, the first massive
surveying activity in the Philippines conducted mostly by
American Surveyor
- The first land reform program in the Philippines
Act No. 2259 (An Act Providing Special
Certain
Proceedings for Settlement and Adjudication of Land
Titles)
Started the Massive Surveying of Public Lands
for Disposition
Compulsory Judicial Registration of Land
by Cadastral Claimants
Act 2874 (An Act to Amend and Compile the Laws
Relative to Lands of the Public Domain)
Introduced land classification of the public domain
(Alienable or Disposable, Timber and Mineral)
Limited the exploitation and utilization of agricultural
to Filipino and American Citizen with reciprocity to
aliens.
Increase size of Homesteads from 16 to 24 hectares
and Sales from 16 to 100 hectares
Decrease requirements for patents issuances
Act 2874 or the Second Public Act was
Land
amendeda by
basically Commonwealth
re-enactment Act law
of the said 141 since
whichnois
major revision was introduced.

Commonwealth Act 141, the Public Land Act of

1936 was enacted which up to now is still the
governing law on our public lands
 Constitutional Provisions on Natural
Resources
The 1935 Constitution classified lands of the Public domain into:
1.) Alienable and Disposable Lands; 2.) Forest or Timber Land; and 3.)
Mineral Lands.

The 1973 Constitution classifications were: 1.) Agricultural;

2.)Commercial/Industrial; 3.)Residential; 4.)Resettlement; 5.)Forest;
6.)Mineral; and 7.)Grazing lands.

In the 1987 Philippine Constitutions, lands of the public domain

are classified into agricultural, forest or timber, mineral lands and national
parks.
Agricultural lands of the public domain may be further classified by
law according to the uses to which they may be devoted. Alienable lands of
the public domain shall be limited to agricultural lands.
Sec. 2 Art. XII of the Constitution
All lands of the public domain, waters, minerals, coal, petroleum, and other
mineral oils, all forces of potential energy, fisheries, forest or timber,
wildlife, flora and fauna, and other natural resources are owned by the
State. With the exception of agricultural lands, all other natural resources
shall not be alienated.
Can a corporation acquire public land?
Under Section 3, Article XII, of the 1987 Constitutions
provides:
“xxx private corporations or associations may not hold
lands of the public domain except by lease for a period not
exceeding twenty-five years, renewable for not more than
25 years, and not to exceed 1,000 hectares in area. xxx”
 LAND
CLASSIFICATION
Government classifies land according to the provisions
of the Constitution and PD 705 known as the “Forestry
Reform Code”.

The Public Land Act as well as PD 1073 require that

before a land can be titled, it has to be classified as A&D.
This means that forest lands or still unclassified lands,
cannot be alienated or opened for private appropriation.

The same thing holds true with respect to foreshore

lands, military reservations, public highways and municipal
streets, and navigable bodies of water.
 If the area covered by the patent and title is not
disposable public land, it being a part of the forest
zone, then the patent and title thereto are null and
void.

“The defense of indefeasibility of a certificate of

title issued pursuant to a free patent does not lie
against the state in an action for the reversion of the
land covered thereby when such land is a part of a
public forest or a forest reservation.”
Republic of the Philippines v.
Animas G.R. No. L-37682, March
29, 1974
 Specific Kinds of Non-registrable Properties or Lands

1. Forest or timberland, public forest, forest reserve. (The 30 year

requirement will not apply);

2. Mangrove swamps - form part of the public forests of the

Philippines. They are not alienable under the Constitution;

3. Mineral lands - possession of mineral lands, however long,

does not confer upon the possessor any right;

4. Foreshore land and seashore – sea shore, foreshore land,

and/or portions of the territorial waters and beaches, cannot be
registered.
 5. Navigable rivers, streams and creeks;
6. Lakes;
7. Military Reservations;
8. Other Kinds of Reservations – lands covered
by reservations are not subject to entry and no
lawful settlement on them can be acquired;
9. Watershed;
10. Grazing lands – being part of the forest reserve;
11. Previously titled lands; and
12. Alluvial deposit along river when man-made --
part of the public domain -- an encroachment of a
portion of the bed of the river. Riparian owner
cannot acquire ownership
Possession means actual and exclusive control
of property by physical occupation.
Ownership means the legal right of
possession, control and enjoyment by the
owner who has established evidence that he
owns the property.
Thus, the one in possession does not
necessarily mean he is the owner of the land.
Classification of Land According To OWNERSHIP:

1.Private Lands - those which are titled or

registered to private individuals, corporation or
association.

2.Public lands - those which have not been

titled but released as A & D (alienable and
disposable) lands.
 PUBLIC LANDS
In general, public lands are lands not titled or
registered to private individuals or corporations.
It includes:
Alienable and disposable lands – lands
released for disposition and can be acquired or
issued title
Non-alienable and disposable lands – lands
incapable of private ownership. Includes forest
lands, mineral lands, national parks
MODES OF ACQUIRING TITLES
 Administrative proceeding
Patents (DENR)
Certificate of Land Ownership Award (DAR)
Certificate of Ancestral Domains Title (NCIP)

 Judicial proceeding (Court)

Decrees under judicial registration (PD
1529)
THANK YOU
FOR
LISTENING!