Agrarian Reform Policies
AMERICAN COLONIZATION:
THE TORRENS SYSTEM
Presented by Kerby Libres
American Colonization
• After Spain, the United States of America took over in colonizing the Philippines.
• During their rule, the Torrens System was implemented.
The Torrens System
• In the Torrens System, land was officially registered, and the owner was given the title
certificate signifying his legal ownership of such land.
• It enabled non-filipinos to own lands in the Philippines legally.
• Locals lost their ancestral domains to foreigners, worsening the Filipino farmers' situation.
• Owning lands became exclusive to those who could afford to buy land and pay the fees to
register and acquire titles for their property.
The Torrens System
• The Torrens System was started by Robert Richard Torrens in South Australia in 1858.
• In June 1857 Torrens introduced his Bill to the South Australian Parliament, with its main
features being:
a. simple, standardised forms would eliminate the need for a solicitor except in complex
cases
b. the title would be surrendered on sale and a new grant issued registration alone would
provide validity to land dealings.
• The Bill faced minimal opposition and was passed in 1857 resulting in the Real Property Act
1858.
• Once the new system was in place, Torrens toured the other states advocating its use. By
1870 the new system had already been adopted throughout Australia and was being
implemented in New Zealand. The system has since been adopted or partially adopted
internationally as a simple system of land title management.
The Torrens System
• The Philippines adopted the system on November 6, 1902, under Act No. 496 or “The Land
Registration Act,” that created the Court of Land Registration (CLR) and the office of the
Registers of Deeds.
• The Cadastral Act or Act. No. 2259 speeds up the issuance of Torrens titles. This was done
by surveying a municipality and presented the result to the land registration court.
• The Law institutionalized the Torrens System of registration whereby real estate ownership
may be judicially confirmed and recorded in the archives of the government.
• The system took effect on February 1, 1903.
• The purpose of this offspring of the torrens system in the Philippine Islands is, like the
torrens system itself, for the purpose of affording incontestability of title.
• A title once registered cannot be impugned, altered, changed, modified, enlarged, or
diminished unless there is a direct proceeding permitted by law, usually for the protection of
innocent third persons.
Significant
The Philippine Bill of 1902
legislation in
The Land Registration Act of 1902
terms of land
reform enacted The Public Land Act of 1903
during American
The Tenancy Act of 1933
colonization
The Philippine Bill of 1902
• This legislation set ceiling on the portions of land that private individuals and corporations
may acquire.
• Private individuals were allowed to own a maximum of 16 hectares of land and 1,024
hectares for corporations.
• This also gave the rights to the Americans to own agricultural lands.
The Land Registration Act of 1902 (Act No. 496)
• An act to provide for the adjudication and registration of titles to lands in the Philippine
Islands
• Enacted on November 6, 1902.
• Created the Court of Land Registration (CLR) and the office of the Registers of Deeds.
• This act provided for a comprehensive registration of land titles under the Torrens system.
The Public Land Act of 1903
• Under William Tipton's supervision, the Bureau of Public Lands planned out a system for
the survey of the archipelago and in 1903 implemented Act 926 or the first Public Land Act
of the country which became the basis of public land disposition thereafter.
• Enacted on October 7, 1903.
• This legislation introduced the homestead system in the Philippines intended to stimulate
economic development by utilizing previously unoccupied lands for agriculture as well as
relieve congestion in populated areas of the country.
• Homestead Patent is a mode of acquiring alienable and disposable lands of the public
domain for agricultural purposes conditioned upon actual cultivation and residence.
The Tenancy Act of 1933 (Act No. 4054 and 4113)
• An act that regulated relationships between landowners and tenants of rice and sugar
cane lands through 50-50 sharing system.
• Act No. 4054 is also known as "The Philippine Rice Share Tenancy Act."
• Enacted on February 27,1933.
• The Rice Share Tenancy Act of 1933 or Act. No. 4054, first legislation regulating the
relationships of landlord and tenants and the first law to legalize a 50-50 crop sharing
arrangement.
• Act No. 4113 was approved on December 7, 1933.
• The Sugarcane Tenancy Contracts Act of 1933 or Act
No. 4113 regulated the relationship of landlord and
tenants in the sugarcane fields and required tenancy
contracts on land planted to sugarcane.
Other agrarian laws introduced by
the Americans
The First Public Land Act or Act No. 926
• Provided rules and regulations for selling and leasing portions of the public domain,
completing defective Spanish land titles, and canceling and confirming Spanish
concessions.
The Second Public Land Act of 1919 or Act 2874
• Limits the use of agricultural lands to Filipinos, Americans and citizens of other countries.
Act. No. 141
• Amended the Second Public Act of 1919 or Act No. 2874. A temporary provision of equality
on the rights of American and Filipino citizens and corporations. It also compiled all pre-
existing laws relative to public lands into a single instrument.
The Friar Land Act or Act. No. 1120
• Provided the administrative and temporary leasing and selling of friar lands to its tillers.
Thank
you for
listening!
References
• Kagikan: Readings in Philippine History
• https://dti.sa.gov.au/history-of-the-torrens-system
• https://lra.gov.ph/history/
• https://www.liberalista.org/the-torrens-system-of-land-registration/
• https://lmb.gov.ph/index.php/
• https://phlconnect.ched.gov.ph/admin/uploads/da4902cb0bc38210839714ebdcf0efc3/
04-Handout-3.pdf
