EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS )
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES )
First Regular Session )

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Introduced by Representative Rufus B. Rodriquez
5018

House Bill No.
EXPLANATORY NOTE

Property rights are important to the country's growth and development. Unclear and
unenforceable rights to property could lead to underinvestment, undervalued properties, land
grabbing, fake titling and lack of access to credit. Land title is a clear proof of ownership and
is important to protection of one's property rights.

In the Philippines, title to land can be obtained through either administrative mode or
judicial mode. In 2010, under Republic Act No. 10023 (Residential Free Patent Act),
Congress liberalized the titling process in residential lands by allowing administrative
issuance of free patents to those who have been in actual occupation of residential public
lands for a period of 10 years. Congress simplified the process of titling of residential lands,
set a shorter period of possession for applicants to comply and at the same time, imposed
upon the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) a period of 120 days
to process applications. The law is an instant success and thousands of citizens filed free
patent applications, with the DENR processing record breaking numbers in its first years of
implementation with more than 382,523 titles issued to date.

However, government data on public land titiing show that only 5,174 titles were
confirmed by the courts in the last 10 years. Court titling has steadily declined, with only
around 140 titles issued in 2017

The steady decline in court-issued titles was due to the court's recent strict and literal
interpretation on land laws. Although the court recognizes the countrywide phenomenon of
untitled lands and the problem of informal settlement, the court puts the burden in Congress
to improve land tenure in the country saying that

“It could only be up to Congress to set forth a new phase of
land reform to sensibly regularize and formalize the settlement of
such lands, which in legal theory are lands of the public domain,
before the problem becomes insoluble. This could be
accomplished, to cite two examples, by liberalizing the standards
for judicial confirmation of imperfect title, or amending the Civil
Code itself..."

Moreover, Republic Act No. 9176 that allows titling through judicial and
administrative legalization of titles is about to expire on December 31, 2020, which means
that titing will come to a grinding halt.

The proposed law aims to improve the efficiency of land titling by adopting the
processes introduced under RA. No. 10023 to Agricultural Free Patent under Section 44 of
Commonwealth Act (CA) No. 141 (Public Land Act), integrate and liberalize court
confirmation of imperfect titles under the provisions of Presidential Decree (PD) No. 1529
(Property Registration Decree) and CA No. 141, and remove the time period for application
on rae patent and confirmation of imperfect title that is about to expire on December
31, 202

In view of the foregoing, immediate approval of this measure is earnestly requested.

RYFUS B. Ri IGUEZ


EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS,
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES }
First Regular Session

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Introduced by Representative Rufus B. Rodriguez
5018

House Bill No.

AN ACT
IMPROVING CONFIRMATION OF IMPERFECT TITLES UNDER SECTION 14 OF
PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 1529, IMPROVING THE PROCESSING OF
AGRICULTURAL FREE PATENT UNDER SECTION 44 OF COMMONWEALTH ACT NO.
141 AND REMOVING THE PERIOD TO FILE APPLICATIONS THEREAT UNDER
REPUBLIC ACT NO. 9176

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

SECTION 1. Declaration of Policy. - It is the declared policy of the State to simplify, update
and harmonize similar and related provisions of land laws in order to simplify and remove
ambiguity in its interpretation and implementation. It is also the policy of the State to provide
land tenure security by continuing judicial and administrative titling processes.

SECTION 2. Judicial Confirmation of Imperfect Title, - The qualifications provided in Section
14 of Presidential Decree No. 1529 and Sections 47 and 48, Chapter VII of Commonwealth
Act No. 141, as amended, shall be amended to read as follows:
"The following persons may file at any time, in the proper Regional
Trial Court an application for registration of title to land, not
exceeding twelve (12) hectares, whether personally or through
their duly authorized representatives:
(1) Those who by themselves or through their predecessors-in-
interest have been in open, continuous, exclusive and notorious
possession and occupation of alienable and disposable lands of
the public domain under a bona fide claim of ownership for at
least thirty (30) years immediately preceding the filing of the
application for confirmation of title except when prevented by war
or force majeure. They 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 this Section.
(2) Those who have acquired ownership of private lands or
abandoned river beds by right of accession or accretion under the
existing laws.
(3) Those who have acquired ownership of land in any other
manner provided for by law.

SECTION 3. Certification that the land is Alienable and Disposable. -To comply with this
requirement, it is sufficient that the applicant submit a projection map prepared and signed
by a licensed geodetic engineer and verified and approved by DENR official designated by
the DENR Secretary showing that the land is within Alienable and Disposable lands of the
public domain. The projection map shall contain a swom statement by the geodetic engineer
that the land is within the alienable and disposable lands of the public domain and shall state
the applicable Forestry Administrative Order, DENR Administrative Order, Executive Order,
Proclamations and the Land Classification Project Map covering the land.


SECTION 4. Administrative legalization (Free Patent). - Section 44 paragraph 1 and Section
45 of Chapter VI of Commonwealth Act No. 141, as amended, is hereby amended to read as.
follows:

"SECTION 44. Any natural-born citizen of the Philippines who is
not the owner of more than twelve (12) hectares and who, for at
least thirty (30) years prior to the filing of his/her application, has
continuously occupied and cultivated, either by himself/herself or
through his/her predecessors-in-interest a tract or tracts of
alienable and disposable agricultural public lands subject to
disposition and who shall have paid the real estate tax thereon

shall be entitled to have a free patent issued to him/her for
such tract or tracts of such land not to exceed twelve (12)
hectares.

"SEC. 45. Period for Application. All applications shall be filed at
any time after the effectivity of this Act before the Community
Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) or region of
the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
The CENRO is mandated to process the application within one
hundred and twenty (120) days to include compliance with the
required notices and other legal requirements, and forward his/her
recommendation to the Provincial Environment and Natural
Resources Office (PENRO), who shall have five (5) days to
approve or disapprove the patent. In case of approval, the patent
shall be issued; in case of conflicting claims among different
claimants, the parties may seek the proper judicial remedies.
Provided, that in provinces with no CENRO, the application shall
be filed with the PENRO.

SECTION 5. Removal of Restrictions. - The provisions of Republic Act No. 11231 shall be
applicable to Free Patents issued under this Act

SECTION 6. Implementing Rules and Regulations. - Within sixty (60) days from the
effectivity of this Act, the Director of the Land Management Bureau of DENR shall
promulgate the Implementing Rules and Regulations to carry out the provisions of this Act,
and shall see to it that such are gender responsive.

SECTION 7. Repealing Clause. - All laws, decrees, executive orders, executive issuances or
letters of instruction, rules and regulations or any part thereof inconsistent with or contrary to
the provisions of this Act are hereby deemed repealed, amended or modified accordingly.

SECTION 8. Separability Clause. - If, for any reason or reasons, any part or parts of this Act
shall be declared unconstitutional or invalid by any competent court, other parts of this Act
shall be thereby shall continue to be in full force and effect.

SECTION 9. Effectivity Clause. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days following its
publication in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation.

Approved,