Land Registration Authority (Philippines)

Last updated
Land Registration Authority
Pangasiwaan sa Patalaan ng Lupain
Land Registration Authority.svg
LRA seal
Agency overview
Formed1903
Jurisdiction Government of the Philippines
Headquarters Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines
Annual budget₱1.27 billion (2023) [1]
Agency executive
  • Atty Gerardo P. Sirios, Administrator
Parent agency Department of Justice
Website www.lra.gov.ph

The Land Registration Authority (LRA; Filipino : Pangasiwaan sa Patalaan ng Lupain) is an agency of the Philippine government attached to the Department of Justice responsible for issuing decrees of registration and certificates of title and register documents, patents and other land transaction for the benefit of landowners, agrarian reform-beneficiaries and the registering public in general; providing a secure, stable and trustworthy record of land ownership and recorded interests therein so as to promote social and economic well-being and contribute to the national development.

Contents

History

Sir Robert Torrens originated the system of land registration known today worldwide as the Torrens system of land registration. As the commissioner of customs in South Australia, Torrens was inspired by the comparative facility with which ships or undivided shares therein were negotiated and transferred in accordance with the Merchant Shipping Acts. Becoming a register of deeds, he advised a scheme of registration of title that improved the old system of registration of deeds. He adopted a procedure under the Merchant Shipping Acts with appropriate modifications. When he became a member of the First Colonial Ministry of the Province of South Australia, he introduced in the parliament a bill providing for the adoption of his scheme of land registration. The measure was passed and came to be known as the "Torrens System".

On November 6, 1902, the Philippine Commission enacted Act 496 known as the Land Registration Act. This provided for the creation of the Court of Land Registration (CLR), the offices of the Register of Deeds and the institution in this country of the Torrens system of registration whereby real estate ownership may be judicially confirmed and recorded in the archives of the government. The system, however, actually took effect on February 1, 1903, on which date LRA may be said to have taken roots. Five judges were appointed by the Governor-General with the advice and consent of the Philippine Commission, one of whom was designated as Judge of Court and the other as Associate Judges, all of whom could be removed by the Governor-General with the advice and the consent of the Philippine Commission.

On February 11, 1913, the Cadastral Law Act (Act 2259) was enacted for compulsory registration of land titles with private ownership. Under this Act, registration of titles was judicial in nature.

The Court of Land Registration exercised jurisdiction over all applicants for the registration of titles to land or building in the Philippines, with the power to hear and determine all questions arising upon such applications.

On July 1, 1876 by virtue of Act No. 2347, the jurisdiction over land registration cases of the Court of Land Registration was transferred to the Court of First Instance. A new office, known as the General Land Registration Office (GLRO), was charged with the functions, among others, of looking into the effective implementation of the land registration law. The offices of the Register of Deeds were, per Section 192 (a) of the Revised Administrative Code, placed under the administrative supervision of the GLRO.

However, Republic Act No. 1151 abolished the GLRO and created in its stead, the Land Registration Commission (LRC), on June 17, 1954. The Commissioner of Land Registration took over the powers and functions of the GLRO, including those of the judge of the Fourth branch of the Court of First Instance of Manila. The Land Registration Commission operated under the supervision of the Department of Justice, and exercised direct supervision and control of all Registers of Deeds as well as the Clerks of Court of First Instance in land registration cases.

A registry of deeds was established in every city and every province and branch registry where legally feasible, charged with the functions of registering deeds under the Torrens System. Registers of Deeds of the different provinces and chartered cities who were appointed by the President, were under the administrative supervision and control of the Land Registration Commission.

On February 9, 1981, President Ferdinand Marcos issued Executive Order No. 649 reorganizing the LRC into the National Land Titles and Deeds Administration (NLTDRA). Operating under the administrative supervision of the Ministry of Justice, NLTDRA was implementing the laws governing the Torrens System of land registration in the Philippines.

Land Registration Authority, Pampanga Provincial Capitol branch PampangaLRAjf.JPG
Land Registration Authority, Pampanga Provincial Capitol branch

In the President's Memorandum Circular of September 30, 1988, the latest of these changes was effected. The National Land Titles and Deeds Registration Administration (NLTDRA) became the Land Registration Authority (LRA) which was tasked to continue exercising NLTDRA's powers and functions under existing laws. This was in line with Executive Order No. 292 dated July 25, 1987, instituting the Administrative Code of 1987, which took effect on November 3, 1989.

Related Research Articles

Torrens title is a land registration and land transfer system, in which a state creates and maintains a register of land holdings, which serves as the conclusive evidence of title of the person recorded on the register as the proprietor (owner), and of all other interests recorded on the register.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Recorder of deeds</span> Office or position that maintains property ownership records

Recorder of deeds or deeds registry is a government office tasked with maintaining public records and documents, especially records relating to real estate ownership that provide persons other than the owner of a property with real rights over that property.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Supreme Court of the Philippines</span> Highest court in the Philippines

The Supreme Court (Filipino: Kataas-taasang Hukuman; colloquially referred to as the Korte Suprema, is the highest court in the Philippines. The Supreme Court was established by the Second Philippine Commission on June 11, 1901 through the enactment of its Act No. 136, an Act which abolished the Real Audiencia de Manila, the predecessor of the Supreme Court.

A profit, in the law of real property, is a nonpossessory interest in land similar to the better-known easement, which gives the holder the right to take natural resources such as petroleum, minerals, timber, and wild game from the land of another. Indeed, because of the necessity of allowing access to the land so that resources may be gathered, every profit contains an implied easement for the owner of the profit to enter the other party's land for the purpose of collecting the resources permitted by the profit.

His Majesty's Land Registry is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's Government, created in 1862 to register the ownership of land and property in England and Wales. It reports to the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government. The registry contains 87% of land in the UK as of 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deeds registration</span>

Deeds registration is a land management system whereby all important instruments which relate to the common law title to parcels of land are registered on a government-maintained register, to facilitate the transfer of title. The system had been used in some common law jurisdictions and continues to be used in some jurisdictions, including most of the United States.

In the United States Code, the term color of law describes and defines an action that has either a “mere semblance of legal right”, or the “pretense of right”, or the “appearance of right”, which adjusts and colors the law to the circumstance, whilst the apparently legal action is itself illegal. In U.S. and U.K. jurisprudence, an action realized under color of law is an act realized by an official as if he or she were authorized to take the apparently legal action not authorized by statute or common law.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Land Registration Act 2002</span> United Kingdom legislation

The Land Registration Act 2002 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which repealed and replaced previous legislation governing land registration, in particular the Land Registration Act 1925, which governed an earlier, though similar, system. The Act, together with the Land Registration Rules, regulates the role and practice of HM Land Registry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">General Register Office</span> Civil registries in Commonwealth-related nations

General Register Office or General Registry Office (GRO) is the name given to the civil registry in the United Kingdom, many other Commonwealth nations and Ireland. The GRO is the government agency responsible for the recording of vital records such as births, deaths, and marriages, which may also include adoptions, stillbirths, civil unions, etc., and historically, sometimes included records relating to deeds and other property transactions.

Land registration is any of various systems by which matters concerning ownership, possession, or other rights in land are formally recorded to provide evidence of title, facilitate transactions, and prevent unlawful disposal. The information recorded and the protection provided by land registration varies widely by jurisdiction.

Australian property law, or property law in Australia, are laws that regulate and prioritise the rights, interests and responsibilities of individuals in relation to "things" (property). These things are forms of "property" or "rights" to possession or ownership of an object. Property law orders or prioritises rights and classifies property as either real and tangible, such as land, or intangible, such as the right of an author to their literary works or personal but tangible, such as a book or a pencil. The scope of what constitutes a thing capable of being classified as property and when an individual or body corporate gains priority of interest over a thing has in legal scholarship been heavily debated on a philosophical level.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Department of Justice (Philippines)</span> Executive department of the Philippine government

The Department of Justice is under the executive department of the Philippine government responsible for upholding the rule of law in the Philippines. It is the government's principal law agency, serving as its legal counsel and prosecution arm. It has its headquarters at the DOJ Building in Padre Faura Street, Ermita, Manila.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Professional Regulation Commission</span> Government commission in the Philippines

The Professional Regulation Commission is a three-man commission attached to Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE). Its mandate is to regulate and supervise the practice of the professionals who constitute the highly skilled manpower of the country. As the agency-in-charge of the professional sector, the PRC plays a strategic role in developing the corps of professionals for industry, commerce, governance, and the economy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solicitor General of the Philippines</span> National law officer

The Office of the Solicitor General of the Philippines, formerly known as the Bureau of Justice, is an independent and autonomous office attached to the Department of Justice. The OSG is headed by Menardo Guevarra.

Formalities in English law are required in some kinds of transaction by English contract law and trusts law. In a limited number of cases, agreements and trusts will be unenforceable unless they meet a certain form prescribed by statute. The main kinds of formality that a statute can require are to put the transaction in writing, to make a deed, or to register it at a government registrar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">English land law</span> Law of real property in England and Wales

English land law is the law of real property in England and Wales. Because of its heavy historical and social significance, land is usually seen as the most important part of English property law. Ownership of land has its roots in the feudal system established by William the Conqueror after 1066, but is now mostly registered and sold on the real estate market. The modern law's sources derive from the old courts of common law and equity, and legislation such as the Law of Property Act 1925, the Settled Land Act 1925, the Land Charges Act 1972, the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996 and the Land Registration Act 2002. At its core, English land law involves the acquisition, content and priority of rights and obligations among people with interests in land. Having a property right in land, as opposed to a contractual or some other personal right, matters because it creates priority over other people's claims, particularly if the land is sold on, the possessor goes insolvent, or when claiming various remedies, like specific performance, in court.

Link Lending Ltd v Bustard [2010] EWCA Civ 424 is an English land law case, concerning actual occupation in registered land and the vulnerable, in this case a defrauded person suffering from a mental syndrome who would have had little concept of what was occurring.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Regional Trial Court</span> Regional trial courts in the Philippines

The regional trial courts are the highest trial courts in the Philippines. In criminal matters, they have original jurisdiction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Registered land in English law</span>

Registered land in English law accounts for around 88 per cent of the total land mass. Since 1925, English land law has required that proprietary interests in land be registered, except in cases where it is necessary to protect social or family interests that cannot reasonably be expected to be registered. English law also runs a parallel system for around 12 per cent of land that remains unregistered.

<i>Krivenko v. Register of Deeds</i>

Alexander A. Krivenko v. The Register of Deeds, City of Manila was a landmark case decided by the Philippine Supreme Court, which further solidified the prohibition of the Philippine Constitution that aliens may not acquire private or public agricultural lands, including residential lands. The decision was promulgated on November 15, 1947.

References