Republic Act No.
11573
AN ACT IMPROVING THE CONFIRMATION PROCESS FOR IMPERFECT
LAND TITLES, AMENDING FOR THE PURPOSE COMMONWEALTH ACT NO.
141, AS AMENDED, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS “THE PUBLIC LAND ACT,” AND
PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 1529, AS AMENDED, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS
THE “PROPERTY REGISTRATION DECREE”
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
Philippines in Congress assembled:
Sec. 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.
SEC. 2. Section 44 of Commonwealth Act No. 141,
as amended by Republic Act No. 6940, is hereby
further amended to read as follows:
“Sec. 44. Any natural-born citizen of the Philippines who is not the owner
of more than twelve (12 hectares of land, and who, for at least twenty (20
years prior to the filing of an application for agricultural free patent, has
continuously occupied and cultivated, either personally or through a
predecessor-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, under the provisions of this Chapter,
to have a free patent issued for such tract or tracts of such land not to exceed
twelve (12 hectares.”
Sec. 3. Section 45 of Commonwealth Act No. 141, as
amended, is hereby further amended to read as
follows:
“Sec. 45. All applications for agricultural free patents shall be filed before
the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO of the
Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR . For provinces with
no CENRO, the application shall be filed with the Provincial Environment and
Natural Resources Office (PENRO .
“The CENRO or the PENRO, as the case may be, is mandated to process
the application within one hundred and twenty (120 days from filing,
including compliance with the required notices and other legal requirements.
The CENRO shall thereafter forward its recommendation to the PENRO if the
area of the land is below five (5 hectares; to the DENR Regional Director if
the area of the land is at least five (5 up to ten (10 hectares; and to the
Secretary of the DENR if the area of the land is more than ten (10 up to
twelve (12 hectares.
“Upon receipt of the recommendation from the CENRO, or upon the
completion of the processing of the application within the reglementary
period, the PENRO, DENR Regional Director, or the Secretary of the DENR, as
the case may be, shall approve or disapprove the application for agricultural
free patent within five (5 days. In case of approval, the agricultural free
patent shall forthwith be issued.
“In case of conflicting claims among different claimants, the parties may
seek the proper administrative and judicial remedies.”
Sec. 4. Section 47 of Commonwealth Act No . 141,
as amended by Republic Act No. 9176, is hereby
repealed.
Sec. 5. Section 48 of Commonwealth Act No. 141, as
amended, is hereby further amended to read as
follows:
Sec. 48. The following-described citizens of the Philippines, occupying
lands of the public domain or ‘claiming to own any such lands or an interest
therein, but whose titles have not been perfected or completed, may file a
petition at any time, whether personally or through their duly authorized
representatives, in the Regional Trial Court of the province where the land is
located, for confirmation of their claims and the issuance of a certificate of
title to land not exceeding twelve (12 hectares:
“(a) 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 agricultural lands of the public
domain, under a bona fide claim of ownership, for at least twenty (20 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 the provisions of this
Chapter.
“(b) Those who have acquired ownership of private lands or abandoned
riverbeds by right of accession or accretion under the provision of existing
laws; and
“(c) Those who have acquired ownership of land in any other manner
provided by law.”
Sec. 6. Section 14 of Presidential Decree No. 1529 is
hereby amended to read as follows:
“SECTION 14. Who may apply. The following persons may file at any time,
in the proper Regional Trial Court in the province where the land is “located,
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 not
covered by existing certificates of title or patents under a bona fide claim of
ownership for at least twenty (20 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
riverbeds by right of accession or accretion under the provisions of existing
laws.
“ 3 Those who have acquired ownership of land in any other manner
provided for by law.
“Where the land is owned in common, all the co-owners shall file the
application jointly.
“Where the land has been sold under pacto de retro, the vendor a retro
may file an application for the original registration of the land: Provided,
however, That should the period for redemption expire during the pendency
of the registration proceedings and ownership to the property consolidated in
the vendee a retro, the latter shall be substituted for the applicant and may
continue the proceedings.
“A trustee on behalf of the principal may apply for original registration of
any land held in trust by the trustee, unless prohibited by the instrument
creating the trust.”
Sec. 7. Proof that the Land is Alienable and
Disposable.
For purposes of judicial confirmation of imperfect titles filed under
Presidential Decree No. 1529, a duly signed certification by a duly designated
DENR geodetic engineer that the land is part of alienable and disposable
agricultural lands of the public domain is sufficient proof that the land is
alienable. Said certification shall be imprinted in the approved survey plan
submitted by the applicant in the land registration court. The imprinted
certification in the plan shall contain a sworn 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 Number covering the subject land.
Should there be no available copy of the Forestry Administrative Order,
Executive Order, or Proclamation, it is sufficient that the Land Classification
LC Map Number, Project Number, and date of release indicated in the land
classification map be stated in the sworn statement declaring that said land
classification map is existing in the inventory of LC Map records of the
National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA and is being
used by the DENR as land classification map.
Sec. 8. Penalties.
In addition to the penalties provided in the Revised Penal Code and in
Republic Act No. 8560, as amended, otherwise known as the “Philippine
Geodetic Engineering Act of 1998,” a geodetic engineer who shall prepare,
willfully or through gross inexcusable negligence, a projection map that
contains false, fraudulent, or incomplete data or information, and the DENR
official who shall certify and approve such projection map, shall be penalized
with a fine of not less than One hundred thousand pesos (P100,000.00 but
not more than Five hundred thousand pesos (P500,000.00 , or imprisonment
of not less than six (6 months but not exceeding six (6 years, or both, at the
discretion of the court.
Sec. 9. Removal of Restrictions.
The provisions of Republic Act No. 11231 shall be applicable to Free
Patents issued under this Act.
Sec. 10. Implementing Rules and Regulations.
Within sixty (60 days from the effectivity of this Act, the Secretary of
the DENR shall promulgate the implementing rules and regulations to carry
out the provisions of this Act.
Sec. 11. Separability Clause.
If any provision or part of this Act is declared invalid or
unconstitutional, the remaining parts or provisions not affected shall remain in
full force and effect.
Sec. 12. Repealing Clause.
All laws, decrees, executive orders, executive issuances, letters of
instruction, rules and regulations, or any part thereof which are inconsistent
with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed, amended, or modified
accordingly.
Sec. 13. Effectivity.
This Act shall take effect fifteen (15 days after its publication in the
Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation.
Approved: July 16, 2021
//pdf.by.the.Paksiteer.08.05.2021
