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Republic of the Wlipp
House of Represeutatives
Duero City, Metee ariln

TWENTIETH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILL NO. 297

Introduced by REPRESENTATIVE ALYSSA MICHAELA “MICA” M. GONZALES

AN ACT REORGANIZING THE LAND REGISTRATION AUTHORITY,
BROADENING ITS POWERS AND FUNCTIONS, CREATING FOR THE PURPOSE
THE OFFICE OF LAND ADJUDICATOR, AMENDING PRESIDENTIAL DECREE
NO. 1529, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE PROPERTY REGISTRATION DECREE
AND OTHER RELATED LAWS AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

The Constitution provides for the right to ownership of land. Thus, a
competent law is imperative in ensuring that said right is protected.

It has been about forty-seven (47) years since Presidential Decree No. 1529
took effect. This signifies the need to revisit and amend the said law in order to
strengthen the Land Registration Authority, its laws, procedures and regulations.
This will also allow this institution to keep up with how the times have changed.

This important piece of legislation aims to streamline processes and
procedures by adding significant offices and appropriate manpower who shall
enforce the mandate of their respective offices. Further, the establishment of the
Office of the Land Adjudicator will ease the people from tedious procedures
whenever a need arises to settle claims, administratively reconstitute and correct
certain entries in certificates of title, as provided by this law, and at the same time,
take away the heavy load of dockets from the judiciary.

In this light, the swift passage of this Bill is being respectfully sought.

REP. ALYSSA HICHAELA ‘MICA” M. GONZALES

3“ District, Pampanga


CONGRESS OF THE PHILIPPINES
TWENTIETH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

297

HOUSE BILL NO.

Introduced by REPRESENTATIVE ALYSSA MICHAELA “MICA” M. GONZALES

AN ACT REORGANIZING THE LAND REGISTRATION AUTHORITY,
BROADENING ITS POWERS AND FUNCTIONS, CREATING FOR THE PURPOSE
THE OFFICE OF LAND ADJUDICATOR, AMENDING PRESIDENTIAL DECREE
NO. 1529, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE PROPERTY REGISTRATION DECREE
AND OTHER RELATED LAWS AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in
Congress assembled:

CHAPTER |
GENERAL PROVISIONS

Section 1. Short Title. - This Act shall be known as the “Property
Registration Act”.

Section 2. Declaration of Policy. - The State recognizes the need for the
preservation of the integrity and indefeasibility of land titles once claim to ownership
is established. Toward this end, the State needs to strengthen the Torrens System
through the adoption of safeguards to prevent anomalous titling of real properties
and ensure a streamlined and simplified registration proceedings.

CHAPTER II
PROPERTY REGISTRATION AUTHORITY, COMPOSITION

Section 3. Land Registration Authority Renamed. - The Land Registration
Authority is hereby renamed to Property Registration Authority (PRA).

Section 4. Regional, Provincial or City Property Registration Authority
Office and Officers. - Each executive region, province, and city shall have a
respective Property Registration Authority Office.

Section 5. Composition of the Property Registration Authority. -The
Property Registration Authority shall be headed by an Administrator, who shall be
appointed by the President. He shall have the same rank and qualifications as that of
the Presiding Justice of the Court of Appeals.

There shall be four (4) Deputy Administrators who shall handle operations,
administration, adjudication, and information technology, respectively. The four (4)
Deputy Administrators shall be appointed by the President, upon recommendation of


the Administrator. They shall possess the same qualifications, as that of the
Associate Justices of the Court of Appeals.

Section 6. Tenure.- The Administrator and Deputy Administrators shall
serve for a term of seven (7) years fram assumption of office and shall be entitled to
full retirement benefits upon the expiration of their term.

Section 7. Qualifications, Salaries, Benefits and other Emoluments. —
The Administrator shall have the same rank, salary, privileges, and benefits as that
of the Presiding Justice of the Court of Appeals.

The Deputy Administrators shall have the same rank, salary, privileges and
benefits as that of the Associate Justice of the Court of Appeals.

The Regional Registers of Deeds shall have the same qualifications, rank,
salary and, privileges and benefits as that of the Judges of the Regional Trial Courts.

The Provincial and City Registers of Deeds shall possess the same
qualifications, rank, salary and, privileges and benefits as that of the Judges of the
Municipal Trial Courts.

The Metropolitan Registers of Deeds shall possess the same qualifications,
tank, salary and, benefits and privileges and benefits as that of the Judges of the
Municipal Trial Courts.

The Deputy Registers of Deeds shall have the same rank, salary and benefits
and privileges as those of the Judges of the Municipal Trial Courts.

Section 8. Appointment. - The Registrars and Deputy Registrars shall be
appointed by the President upon the recommendation of the Administrator.

CHAPTER Ill
THE LAND ADJUDICATOR, ITS JURISDICTION AND FUNCTION

Section 9. Office of the Land Adjudicator; Regional Land Adjudication
Officer, Qualifications, Salaries. - There is hereby created in each executive
region Office of the Land Adjudicator (OLA), headed by a Regional Land
Adjudication Officer (RLAO), which shall be attached to the Property Registration
Authority.

The Land Adjudicator (LA) must have been engaged in the practice of law for
at least ten (10) years. The LA in each region shall have the same rank, salary and,
privileges and benefits as that of the Judges of the Regional Trial Courts.

The Deputy Administrator for Adjudication who shall act as Adjudicator
General, who shall have administrative supervision over all the Land Adjudicators.

Section 10. Jurisdiction of the Office of the Land Adjudicator. —The Office
of the Land Adjudicator shall have exclusive original jurisdiction over the following:


a.) Petitions for correction, amendment, alteration, and revision of entries in
certificates of title on any of the grounds provided under Section 108 of
Presidential Decree No. 1529

b.) Petitions questioning the validity of subdivision and consolidation plans
approved by the Administrator of the Property Registration Authority
Pursuant to Section 6 (f) of Presidential Decree No. 1529 as well as similar
plans approved by the Director of the Land Management Bureau.

¢.) Petitions for replacement of lost or destroyed owner's duplicate certificate
Of title under Section 109 of Presidential Decree No. 1529.

4.) Petitions for reconstitution of lost or destroyed original or registry copies of
certificate of title. Provided that the manually issued copies are still existing
in the Registry Office concerned.

Section 11. Resolution of Petitions. — The petitions under Section 10 (a)
shall be withdrawn from the Regional Trial Courts and transferred to their respective
RLAO who shall then have exclusive original jurisdiction over the same.

Resolution of petitions under Section 10 (a), (c) and (d) shall be appealable to
the Court of Appeals within the same period provided under Rule 43 of the Revised
Rules of Court.

Resolution of petitions under Section 10 (b) shall be appealable to the Court
of Appeals within the same period provided under Rule 43 of the Revised Rules of
Court. Provided, that plans registered with the Register of Deeds pursuant to Section
50 of Presidential Decree No. 1529 shall only be questioned or assailed by way of
Consulta in accordance with the provisions of Section 117 of the same Decree.

Section 12. Subpoena and Contempt Powers. ~ The Land Adjudication
Officer shall have the authority to issue a subpoena duces tecum to direct a person
requiring him to bring with him any books, documents, or other things under his
control relevant to the proceedings pending before the OLA.

The Regional Land Adjudication Officer shall likewise have the authority to
issue a subpoena ad testificandum to require a person to attend and testify at any
proceeding pending before the OLA.

Failure to comply with the subpoena duces tecum or subpoena ad
testificandum shall authorize the filing of a case for indirect contempt with the
Regional Trial Court pursuant to Rule 71 of the Revised Rules of Court.

Section 13. Payment of Fees. — The Regional OLA shall acquire jurisdiction
‘over the petitions under Section 10 of this Act upon Payment of the filing fees by the
petitioners.

The filing fees shall be fixed in the Implementing Rules and Regulations. The
Property Registration Authority may increase the said fees as the need arises
without need of further legislative authority.

CHAPTER IV


CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS,
ADMINISTRATIVE RECONSTITUTION

Section 14. Clerical and Typographical Errors, Request for System
Update. - Clerical and typographical errors committed by encoders at the Registry
Offices that are discovered after the printing of the certificate of title but before the
release from the Release Module of the Computerized System of Registration may
be electronically corrected at the instance of the Register of Deeds concemed by
sending a Request for System Update (RSU) to the Registry of Deeds Operations
(RD Ops) in the Property Registration Authority Central office.

The duty of the RD Ops to approve of the aforementioned RSU shall be
ministerial in character. Provided, that the transaction is still pending in the Release
Module. Any delay incurred by the RD Ops at this stage shall be deemed as a
violation of republic Act No. 9485 or the Anti-Red Tape Act (ARTA) and shall be
dealt with accordingly.

To ensure that only typographical and clerical errors discovered before the
release of the transaction from the Release Module can be corrected by way of RSU,
the Computerized System for Registration shall be programmed in a way that no
RSU process can be made to institute corrections on titles after their release from
the Release Module.

Effecting corrections or changes in a title by way of a RSU after the
transaction has been released from the Release Module shall amount to introducing
corrections upon a certificate of title without prior approval from the Office of the
Land Adjudicator.

Section 15. Administrative Reconstitution. — Administrative reconstitution
of lost or destroyed original or registry copies of certificates of title under Republic
Act No. 6732 shall remain under the jurisdiction of the Property Registration
Authority. Provided, that these titles shall be limited to those that were manually
issued.

The Regional Trial Courts shall be divested of jurisdiction over petitions for
cancellation of the encumbrance imposed on administratively reconstituted titles
provided under Section 7 in relation to Section 9 of Republic Act No. 26. Instead,
jurisdiction over said petitions shall be vested on the Registry of Deeds exercising
jurisdiction over the property covered by the administratively reconstituted title.

CHAPTER V
ADVERSE CLAIM

Section 16. Adverse Claim. — Whoever claims any part or interest in
registered land adverse to the registered owner, arising subsequent to the date of
the original registration thereof, may, if no provision is made in this Decree for
registering the same, make a statement in writing setting forth fully his alleged right
or interest, and how or under whom acquired, a reference to the number of the
certificate of title of the registered owner, the description of the land in which the right
or interest is claimed.


The statement shall be signed and sworn to, and shall state the adverse
claimant's residence, and a place at which all notices may be served upon him. This
statement shalll be entitled to registration as an adverse claim on the certificate of
title. The adverse claim shall be effective only for a period of sixty (60) days from the
registration thereof. Before the lapse of the aforesaid period, the adverse claimant
may withdraw his adverse claim by filing with the Register of Deeds a swom
statement to that effect. In the event that he intends to pursue his claim, he may file
the proper petition before the Regional Trial Court having jurisdiction over the
property for the judicial determination of the validity of his claim or interest therein
The subsequent registration by the adverse claimant-petitioner of a Notice of Lis
Pendens shall automatically result in the cancellation by the Register of Deeds
concerned of the previous adverse claim annotation without the necessity of a Court
Approval.

Before the lapse of the sixty (60) day period, the registered owner may assail
the registration of the adverse claim on his title by way of Consulta pursuant to
Section 117 of Presidential Decree No. 1529. The Property Registration Authority
Administrator may uphold the registration of the adverse claim or reverse the action
of the Register of Deeds, Provided, however, that no presumption of malice or
conspiracy to cause undue damage on the part of the Register of Deeds shall arise
from such reversal alone. The registered owner may institute the appropriate legal
action against the adverse claimant for whatever damage he may have suffered by
reason of the registration of the adverse claim on his title before the Regional Trial
Court.

After the lapse of the sixty (60) day period and no petition was filed in court by
the adverse claimant, or the filing of the said petition did not result in the registration
of the corresponding Notice of Lis Pendens, the adverse claim shall, by operation of
law, cease to have any legal force and effect.

After the aforementioned cancellation of the adverse claim, no second
adverse claim based on the same ground shall be registered by the same claimant.

CHAPTER VI
FINAL PROVISIONS

Section 17. Implementing Rules and Regulations. - The Property
Registration Authority shall, in consultation with the Department of Justice, Office of
the Court Administrator of the Supreme Court, University of the Philippines Law
Center, Philippine Judges Association, and the Philippine Association of Registers of
Deeds, issue the necessary rules and regulations for the effective implementation of
this Act not later than three (3) months from the effectivity thereof.

Section 18. Transitory Provision. - The incumbent Administrator and
Deputy Administrators’ term of office shall commence upon the effectivity of this Act.
The First Deputy Administrator shall have a full term, the Second Deputy shall have
a term of six (6) years, the Third Deputy shall have a term of five (6) years, and the
Fourth Deputy shalll have a term of four (4) years.


The term of the subsequently appointed Deputy Administrators shall
commence upon the assumption of office.

Section 19. Appropriations. — The appropriation for the effective
implementation of this Act shall be sourced from the Land Registration Special Fund
pursuant to Section 111 of Presidential Decree No. 1529.

Section 20. Retroactivity Clause. — This act shall have retroactive effect
insofar as it does not prejudice nor impair vested or acquired rights in accordance
with the Civil Code and other existing laws.

Section 21. Separability Clause, — If any provision or the application of any
provision of this Act is declared unconstitutional, there remaining provisions not
affected thereby shall remain in full force and effect.

Section 22. Repealing Clause. — All laws, rules, regulations, decrees,
executive orders and other issuances or parts thereof which are inconsistent with
this Act are hereby repealed, modified or amended accordingly.

Section 23. Effectivity Clause. — This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days
after its publication in the Official Gazette or in two (2) newspapers of national
circulation.

Approved,