Statute
Property Registration Decree and Related Laws
340 provisions · showing TITLE VI › CHAPTER XIV (38) · source
Section 89
All applications filed under the provisions of this Act shall be addressed to the Director of Lands.
Section 90
Every application under the provisions of this Act shall be made under oath and shall set forth: (a) The full name of applicant, his age, place of birth, citizenship, civil status, and post-office address. In case the applicant is a corporation, association or co-partnership, the application shall be accompanied with a certified copy of its articles of incorporation, association or co-partnership together with an affidavit of its President, manager, or other responsible officer, giving the names of the stockholders or members, their citizenship, and the number of shares subscribed by each. (b) That the applicant has all the qualifications required by this Act in the case. (c) That he has none of the disqualifications mentioned herein. (d) That the application is made in good faith, for the actual purpose of using the land for the object specified in the application and for no other purpose, and that the land is suitable for the purpose to which it is to be diverted. (e) That the application is made for the exclusive benefit of the application and not, either directly or indirectly, for the benefit of any other person or persons, corporation, association, or partnership. (f) As accurate a description of the land as may be given, stating its nature, the province, municipality, barrio, and sitio where it is located, and its limits and boundaries, specifying those having reference to accidents of the ground or permanent monuments, if any. (g) Whether all or part of the land is occupied or cultivated or improved, and by whom, giving his post-office address, and whether the land has been occupied or cultivated or improved by the applicant or his ascendant, the date when the possession and cultivation began, and a description of the improvements made, accompanying satisfactory evidence of the relationship of the applicant with the ascendant, and of the death of the latter and the descendants left by him, in case it is alleged that he occupied and cultivated the land first; or whether there are indications of its having been occupied, cultivated, or improved entirely or partially, and if so, in what such indications consist, whether he has made investigations as to when and by whom such improvements were made, and if so, how such investigations were made and what was the result thereof; or whether the land is not occupied, improved, or cultivated either entirely or partially, and there are no indications of it having ever been occupied, improved, or cultivated, and in this case, what is the condition of the land. (h) That the land applied for is neither timber nor mineral land and does not contain guano or deposits of salts or coal. (i) That the applicant agrees that a strip forty meters wide starting from the bank on each side of any river or stream that may be found on the land applied for, shall be demarcated and preserved as permanent timberland to be planted exclusively to trees of known economic value, and that he shall not make any clearing thereon or utilize the same for ordinary farming purposes even after patent shall have been issued to him or a contract of lease shall have been executed in his favor.(Amendment to Section 90 of C.A. No. 141 (Public Land Act), Republic Act No. 1273, [June 14, 1955])
Section 91
The statements made in the application shall be considered as essential conditions and parts of any concession, title, or permit issued on the basis of such application, and any false statements therein or omission of facts altering, changing, or modifying the consideration of the facts set forth in such statements, and any subsequent modification, alteration, or change of the material facts set forth in the application shall ipso facto produce the cancellation of the concession, title, or permit granted. It shall be the duty of the Director of Lands, from time to time and whenever he may deem it advisable, to make the necessary investigations for the purpose of ascertaining whether the material facts set out in the application are true, or whether they continue to exist and are maintained and preserved in good faith, and for the purposes of such investigation, the Director of Lands is hereby empowered to issue subpoenas and subpoenas duces tecum and, if necessary, to obtain compulsory process from the courts. In every investigation made in accordance with this section, the existence of bad faith, fraud, concealment, or fraudulent and illegal modification of essential facts shall be presumed if the grantee or possessor of the land shall refuse or fail to obey a subpoena or subpoena duces tecum lawfully issued by the Director of Lands or his authorized delegates or agents, or shall refuse or fail to give direct and specific answers to pertinent questions, and on the basis of such presumption, an order of cancellation may issue without further proceedings.
Section 92
Although the maximum area of public land that may be acquired is fixed, yet the spirit of this Act is that the rule which must determine the real area to be granted is the beneficial use of the land. The concession or disposition shall be for less than the maximum area authorized if, at the time of the issuance of the patent or of the concession or disposition, it shall appear that the applicant is utilizing and is only able to utilize a smaller area, even though the application is for a greater area. For the purposes of this section, the Director of Lands is authorized to determine the area that may be granted to the applicant, and to deny or cancel or limit any application for concession, purchase, or lease if convinced of the lack of means of the applicant for using the land for the purpose for which he has requested it.
Section 93
Lands applied for under this Act shall conform to the legal subdivisions and shall be contiguous if comprising more than one subdivision. If subdivisions have not been made on the date of the application, the lands shall be rectangular in form so far as practicable, but it shall be endeavored to make them conform to the legal subdivision as soon as the same has been made, provided the interests of the applicant or grantee are protected; and the subdivision assigned to the applicant or grantee shall, so far as practicable, include the land improved or cultivated. The regulations to be issued for the execution of the provisions of this section shall take into account the legal subdivision to be made by the Government and the inadvisability of granting the best land at a given place to only one person.
Section 94
In case the legal subdivisions have already been made at the time of the filing of the application, no charge shall be made for the survey; but if the legal subdivisions have not yet been made, the cost of the survey shall be charged to the Government, except in the following cases: (a) In purchases under chapters five and ten of this Act, the cost of the survey shall be charged to the purchaser if the same is a corporation, association, or partnership; in other purchases the purchaser, whoever it be, shall pay the total cost of the survey. (b) In leases, the cost of the survey shall be paid by the lessee; but at any time after the first five years from the approval of the lease, and during the life of the same, the lessee shall be entitled to the reimbursement of one-half of the cost of the survey, if he shows to the satisfaction of the Director of Lands that he has occupied and improved a sufficient area of the land or incurred sufficient expenses in connection therewith to warrant such reimbursement.
Section 95
If before the delimitation and survey of a tract of public land the President shall declare the same disposable or alienable and such land shall be actually occupied by a person other than the applicant, the Director of Lands shall inform the occupant of his prior right to apply for the land and shall give him one hundred and twenty days time in which to file the application or apply for the concession by any of the forms of disposition authorized by this Act, if such occupant is qualified to acquire a concession under this Act.
Section 96
As soon as any land of the public domain has been surveyed, delimited, and classified, the President may, in the order issued by him declaring it open for disposition, designate a term within which occupants with improvements but not entitled to free patents may apply for the land occupied by them, if they have the qualifications required by this Act.
Section 97
If in the case of the two last preceding sections, the occupant or occupants have not made application under any of the provisions of this Act at the expiration of the time limit fixed, they shall lose any prior right to the land recognized by this Act, and the improvements on the land, if any, shall be forfeited to the Government.
Section 98
All rights in and interest to, and the improvements and crops upon, land for which an application has been denied or cancelled or a patent or grant refused, or a contract or concession rescinded or annulled, shall also be forfeited to the Government.
Section 99
The Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce may order such improvements and crops to be appraised separately, for sale to the new applicant or grantee, or may declare such land open only to sale or lease.
Section 100
In case the cancellation is due to delinquency on the part of the applicant or grantee, the same shall be entitled to the reimbursement of the proceeds of the sale of the improvements and crops, after deducting the total amount of his indebtedness to the Government and the expense incurred by it in the sale of the improvements or crops and in the new concession of the land.
Section 101
All actions for the reversion to the Government of lands of the public domain or improvements thereon shall be instituted by the Solicitor-General or the officer acting in his stead, in the proper courts, in the name of the Commonwealth of the Philippines.
Section 102
Any person, corporation, or association may file an objection under oath to any application or concession under this Act, grounded on any reason sufficient under this Act for the denial or cancellation of the application or the denial of the patent or grant. If, after the applicant or the grantee has been given suitable opportunity to be duly heard, the objection is found to be well founded, the Director of Lands shall deny or cancel the application or deny patent or grant, and the person objecting shall, if qualified, be granted a prior right of entry for a term of sixty days from the date of the notice.
Section 103
All the proofs, affidavits, and oaths of any kind required or necessary under this Act may be made before the justice of the peace of the municipality in which the land lies, or before the judge or clerk of the Court of First Instance of the province in which the land lies, or before any justice of the peace or notary public of the province in which the land lies, or before any officer or employee of the Bureau of Lands authorized by law to administer oaths. The fees for the taking of final evidence before any of the officials hereinbefore mentioned shall be as follows: For each affidavit, fifty centavos. For each deposition of the applicant or the witness, fifty centavos.
Section 104
Any owner of uncultivated agricultural land who knowingly permits application for the same to be made to the Government and the land to be tilled and improved by a bona fide grantee without protesting to the Bureau of Lands within one year after cultivation has begun, shall lose all right to the part of the land so cultivated and improved, unless he shall bring action in the proper court before such action for recovery prescribes and obtains favorable judgment therein, in which case the court shall, upon its decision becoming final, order the payment to the grantee, within a reasonable period, of the indemnity fixed by said court for the cultivation and improvement.
Section 105
If at any time the applicant or grantee shall die before the issuance of the patent or the final grant of the land, or during the life of the lease, or while the applicant or grantee still has obligations pending towards the Government, in accordance with this Act, he shall be succeeded in his rights and obligations with respect to the land applied for or granted or leased under this Act by his heirs in law, who shall be entitled to have issued to them the patent or final concession if they show that they have complied with the requirements therefor, and who shall be subrogated in all his rights and obligations for the purposes of this Act.
Section 106
If at any time after the approval of the application and before the issuance of a patent or the final concession of the land, or during the life of the lease, or at any time when the applicant or grantee still has obligations pending with the Government, in accordance with this Act, it appears that the land applied for is necessary, in the public interest, for the protection of any source of water or for any work for the public benefit that the Government wishes to undertake, the Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce may order the cancellation of the application or the non-issuance of the patent or concession or the exclusion from the land applied for of such portion as may be required, upon payment of the value of the improvements, if any.
Section 107
All patents or certificates for land granted under this Act shall be prepared in the Bureau of Lands and shall be issued in the name of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines under the signature of the President of the Philippines: Provided, however, That the President of the Philippines may delegate to the Minister of Natural Resources and/or the Deputy Minister the power to sign patents or certificates covering lands not exceeding one hundred forty-four hectares in area: Provided, further, That the Director of Lands is empowered to sign patents or certificates covering lands not exceeding ten hectares, and District Land Officers in every province are hereby empowered to sign patents or certificates covering lands not exceeding six hectares in area when the Office of the District Land Officer is properly equipped to carry out the purposes of this Act: Provided, furthermore, That no applicant shall be permitted to split the area applied for by him in excess of the area fixed in this Section among his relatives within the sixth degree of consanguinity of affinity excepting the applicant's married children who are actually occupying the land: Provided, finally, That copies of said patents shall be furnished the Bureau of Lands for record purposes. No patent or certificate shall be issued by the District Land Officer unless the survey of the land covered by said patent or certificate, whether made by the Bureau of Lands or by private surveyor, has been approved by the Director of Lands. The Director of Lands shall promptly act upon all surveys submitted to him for approval and return the same to the District Land Officer within ninety days after receipt of such surveys by his Office. The Director of Lands shall state the reasons for any action taken by him thereon. It shall be the duty of the District Land Officer to act on the matter or transmit the records of the case, with his action thereon, to interested parties within thirty days after receipt of the records from the Director of Lands or the Regional Director. Any person aggrieved by the decision or action of the District Land Officer may, within thirty days from receipt of the copy of the said decision, appeal to the Director of Lands. Such patents or certificates shall be effective only for the purposes defined in Section One hundred twenty-two of the Land Registration Act, and actual conveyance of the land shall be effected only as provided in said Section. All surveys pending approval by the Director of Lands at the time this Act takes effect shall be acted upon by him within ninety days from the effectivity of this Act.(Amendments to C.A. No. 141 (Public Land Act), Batas Pambansa Blg. 878, [June 9, 1985])
Section 108
No patent shall issue nor shall any concession or contract be finally approved unless the land has been surveyed and an accurate plat made thereof by the Bureau of Lands.
Section 109
In no case shall any land be granted under the provisions of this Act when this affects injuriously the use of any adjacent land or of the waters, rivers, creeks, foreshore, roads, or roadsteads, or vest the grantee with other valuable rights that may be detrimental to the public interest.
Section 110
Patents or certificates issued under the provisions of this Act shall not include nor convey the title to any gold, silver, copper, iron, or other substances containing minerals, guano, gums, precious stones, coal, or coal oil contained in lands granted thereunder. These shall remain to be property of the State.
Section 111
All persons receiving title to lands subject to the provisions of this Act shall hold such lands subject to the provisions hereof and to the same public servitudes as exist upon lands owned by private persons, including those with reference to the littoral of the sea and the banks of navigable rivers or rivers upon which rafting may be done.
Section 112
Said land shall further be subject to a right-of-way not exceeding sixty (60) meters in width for public highways, railroads, irrigation ditches, aqueducts, telegraph and telephone lines, airport runways, including sites necessary for terminal buildings and other government structures needed for full operation of the airport, as well as areas and sites for government buildings for Resident and/or Project Engineers needed in the prosecution of government-infrastructure projects, and similar works as the Government or any public or quasi-public service or enterprise, including mining or forest concessionaires, may reasonably require for carrying on their business, with damages for the improvements only. Government officials charged with the prosecution of these projects or their representatives are authorized to take immediate possession of the portion of the property subject of the lien as soon as the need arises and after due notice to the owners. It is however, understood that ownership over said properties shall immediately revert to the title holders should the airport be abandoned or when the infrastructure projects are completed and buildings used by project engineers are abandoned or dismantled, but subject to the same lien for future improvements. (Amending Section 112 of C.A. No. 141 As Amended, Presidential Decree No. 1361, [April 26, 1978])
Section 113
The beneficial use of water shall be the basis, the measure, and the limit of all rights thereto, and the patents herein granted shall be subject to the right of the Government to make such rules and regulations for the use of water and the protection of the water supply, and for other public purposes, as it may deem best for the public good. Whenever, by priority of possession, rights to the use of water for mining, agricultural, manufacturing, or other purposes have vested and accrued, and the same are recognized and acknowledged by the local customs, or by the laws and decisions of the courts, the possessors and owners of such vested rights vested and accrued under this Act shall be subject to and shall be maintained and protected in the same, and all patents under this Act shall be subject to any vested and accrued rights to ditches and reservoirs used in connection with such water rights as may have been acquired in the manner above described prior to April eleven, eighteen hundred and ninety-nine.
Section 114
There is hereby reserved from the operation of all patents, certificates, entries, and grants by the Government authorized under this Act the right to use for the purposes of power any flow of water in any stream running through or by the land granted, the convertible power from which at ordinary low water exceeds fifty horsepower. Where the convertible power in any stream running through or by land granted under the authority of this Act thus exceeds fifty horsepower, and there is no means of using such power except by the occupation of a part of the land granted under authority of this Act, then so much land as is reasonably necessary for the mill site or site for the power house, and for a suitable dam and site for massing the water, is hereby excepted from such grants, not exceeding four hectares, and a right of way to the nearest public highway from the land thus excepted, and also a right of way for the construction and maintenance of such flumes, aqueducts, wires, poles, or other conduits as may be needed in conveying the water to the point where its fall will yield the greatest power, or the power from the point of conversion to the point of use, is reserved as a servitude or easement upon the land granted by authority of this Act: Provided, however, That when the Government or any concessionaire of the Government shall take possession of the land under this section which a grantee under this Act shall have paid for, supposing it to be subject to grant under this Act, said grantee shall be entitled to indemnity from the Government or the concessionaire, as the case may be, in the amount, if any, paid by him to the Government for the land taken from him by virtue of this section: And provided, further, That with respect to the flow of water, except for converting the same into power exceeding fifty horse power, said grantee shall be entitled to the same use of the water flowing through or along his land that other private owners enjoy under the law, subject to the governmental regulation provided in the previous section. Water power privileges in which the convertible power at ordinary low water shall exceed fifty horse power shall be disposed of only upon terms established by an Act of the Assembly concerning the use, lease or acquisition of such water privilege.
Section 115
All the lands granted by virtue of this Act except homestead upon which final proof has not been made and approved, shall, even though, and while the title remains in the State, be subject to the ordinary taxes, which shall be paid by the grantee beginning with the year next following the one in which the application or concession has been approved or the contract signed, as the case may be, on the basis of the value fixed in such approval, concession or contract.
Section 116
The appraisal or reappraisal of the lands or improvements subject to concession or disposition under this Act shall be made by the Director of Lands, with the approval of the Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce. The Director of Lands may request the assistance of the provincial treasurer of the province in which the land lies or may appoint a committee for such purpose in the province or in the municipality in which the land lies. In no case shall the appraisal or reappraisal be less than the expense incurred or which may be incurred by the Government in connection with the application or concession, nor shall any reappraisal be made with an increase of more than one hundred per centum upon the appraisal or reappraisal next preceding.
Section 117
All sums due and payable to the Government under this Act, except homestead fees, shall draw simple interest at the rate of four per centum per annum from and after the date in which the debtor shall become delinquent.
Section 118
Except in favor of the Government or any of its branches, units, or institutions, lands acquired under free patent or homestead provisions shall not be subject to encumbrance 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. No alienation, transfer, or conveyance of any homestead after five years and before twenty-five years after issuance of title shall be valid without the approval of the Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce, which approval shall not be denied except on constitutional and legal grounds. (Amendments to Certain Sections of C.A. No. 141 (Public Land Act), Commonwealth Act No. 456, [June 8, 1939])
Section 119
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.
Section 120
Conveyance and encumbrance made by persons belonging to the so-called "non-christian Filipinos" or national cultural minorities, when proper, shall be valid if the person making the conveyance or encumbrance is able to read and can understand the language in which the instrument of conveyance or encumbrances is written. Conveyances or encumbrances made by illiterate non-Christian or literate non-Christians where the instrument of conveyance or encumbrance is in a language not understood by the said literate non-Christians shall not be valid unless duly approved by the Chairman of the Commission on National Integration. (Amendments to C.A. No. 141 (Public Land Act), Republic Act No. 3872, [June 18, 1964])
Section 121
Except with the consent of the grantee and the approval of the Secretary of Natural Resources, and solely for commercial, industrial, educational, religious, or charitable purposes or for a right of 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 individual sale provisions of this Act or to any permanent improvement on such land. The provisions of Section 124 of this Act to the contrary notwithstanding, any acquisition of such land, rights thereto or improvements thereon by a corporation association, or partnership prior to the promulgation of this Decree for the purposes herein stated is deemed valid and binding; Provided, That no final decision or reversion of such land to the State has been rendered by a court; And Provided, further, That such acquisition is approved by the Secretary of Natural Resources within six (6) months from the effectivity of this Decree. (as amended by Presidential Decree No. 763, August 6, 1975)
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, associations, or partnerships who may acquire lands of the public domain under this Act or to corporations organized in the Philippines authorized therefor by their charters.
Section 123
No land originally acquired in any manner under the provisions of any previous Act, ordinance, royal order, royal decree, or any other provision of law formerly in force in the Philippines with regard to public lands, terrenos baldios y realengos, or lands of any other denomination that were actually or presumptively of the public domain, or by royal grant or in any other form, nor any permanent improvement on such land, shall be encumbered, alienated, or conveyed, except to persons, corporations or associations who may acquire land of the public domain under this Act or to corporate bodies organized in the Philippines whose charters authorize them to do so: Provided, however, That this prohibition shall not be applicable to the conveyance or acquisition by reason of hereditary succession duly acknowledged and legalized by competent courts; Provided, further, That in the event of the ownership of the lands and improvements mentioned in this section and in the last preceding section being transferred by judicial decree to persons, corporations or associations not legally capacitated to acquire the same under the provisions of this Act, such persons, corporations, or improvements shall be obliged to alienate said lands or improvements to others so capacitated within the precise period of five years; otherwise, such property shall revert to the Government.
Section 124
Any acquisition, conveyance, alienation, transfer, or other contract made or executed in violation of any of the provisions of sections one hundred and eighteen, one hundred and twenty, one hundred and twenty-one, one hundred and twenty-two, and one hundred and twenty-three 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.
Section 125
The provisions of sections twenty-two, twenty-three, thirty-three, one hundred and twenty-two, and one hundred and twenty-three of this Act, and any other provision or provisions restricting or tending to restrict the right of persons, corporations, or associations to acquire, hold, lease, encumber, dispose of, or alienate land in the Philippines, or permanent improvements thereon, or any interest therein, shall not be applied in cases in which the right to acquire, hold or dispose of such land, permanent improvements thereon or interests therein in the Philippines is recognized by existing treaties in favor of citizens or subjects of foreign nations and corporations or associations organized and constituted by the same, which right, insofar as it exists under such treaties, shall continue and subsist in the manner and to the extent stipulated in said treaties, and only while these are in force, but not thereafter.
Section 126
All public auctions provided for in the foregoing chapters in the disposition of public lands shall be held, wherever possible, in the province where the land is located, or, in the office of the Bureau of Lands in Manila.