Replacement of Lost Duplicate

Certificate of Title
Filed Under: Land Titles
Section 109. Notice and replacement of lost duplicate certificate. - In case of
loss or theft of an owners duplicate certificate of title, due notice under oath
shall be sent by the owner or by someone in his behalf to the Register of Deeds
of the province or city where the land lies as soon as the loss or theft is
discovered. If a duplicate certificate is lost or destroyed, or cannot be produced
by a person applying for the entry of a new certificate to him or for the
registration of any instrument, a sworn statement of the fact of such loss or
destruction may be filed by the registered owner or other person in interest and
registered.
Upon the petition of the registered owner or other person in interest, the court
may, after notice and due hearing, direct the issuance of a new duplicate
certificate, which shall contain a memorandum of the fact that it is issued in
place of the lost duplicate certificate, but shall in all respects be entitled to like
faith and credit as the original duplicate, and shall thereafter be regarded as
such for all purposes of this decree. (PD 1529)
What law governs the issuance of new owners duplicate certificates of
title in lieu of lost ones?
Section 109 of P.D. 1529 is the law applicable in petitions for issuance of new
owners duplicate certificates of title which are lost or stolen or destroyed (but
the original title is still with the Registry of Deeds).
Where should the petition be filed?
The petition should be filed with the Regional Trial Court of the province or city
where the land lies.

Who should be notified?

The notice of the petition should be sent to all persons interested in the
property as shown in the encumbrances annotated in the original certificate on
file with the Registry of Deeds.

Is there a need to notify the Solicitor-General?

Nothing in the law requires that the Office of the Solicitor General be notified
and heard in proceeding for the issuance of an owners duplicate certificate of
title. In contrast, 23 of the same law, involving original registration
proceedings, specifically mentions the Solicitor General as among those who
must be notified of the petition. Similarly, 36 provides that the petition for
registration in cadastral proceedings must be filed by the Solicitor General, in
behalf of the Director of Lands.(Republic vs CA, G.R. No. 128531, October 26,
1999)
Is ownership an issue in a petition for the issuance of a second owners
duplicate certificate of title in replacement of a lost one?
No. The ownership of the property is not in issue.
In a petition for the issuance of a new owners duplicate copy of a certificate of
title in lieu of one allegedly lost, the RTC, acting only as a land registration
court, has no jurisdiction to pass upon the question of actual ownership of the
land covered by the lost owners duplicate copy of the certificate of title.
Possession of a lost owners duplicate copy of a certificate of title is not
necessarily equivalent to ownership of the land covered by it. The certificate of
title, by itself, does not vest ownership; it is merely an evidence of title over a
particular property.
In both species of reconstitution under Section 109 of P.D. No. 1529 and R.A.
No. 26, the nature of the action denotes a restoration of the instrument which
is supposed to have been lost or destroyed in its original form and condition.
The purpose of the action is merely to have the same reproduced, after proper
proceedings, in the same form they were when the loss or destruction
occurred, and does not pass upon the ownership of the land covered by the lost
or destroyed title. It bears stressing at this point that ownership should not be

confused with a certificate of title. Registering land under the Torrens System
does not create or vest title because registration is not a mode of acquiring
ownership. A certificate of title is merely an evidence of ownership or title over
the particular property described therein. Corollarily, any question involving
the issue of ownership must be threshed out in a separate suit... The trial
court will then conduct a full-blown trial wherein the parties will present their
respective evidence on the issue of ownership of the subject properties to
enable the court to resolve the said issue. (Macabalo-Bravo vs Macabalo, G.R.
No. 144099, September 26, 2005)
What are the issues to be resolved in a petition for the issuance of a second
owners duplicate certificate of title?
The only issues to be resolved are:
1. Whether or not the owner's original duplicate copy had indeed been lost; and
2. Whether the petitioner seeking the issuance of a new owner's original
duplicate title is the registered owner or other person interested. ((MacabaloBravo vs Macabalo, ibid.)
What are the procedure for the replacement of a lost duplicate
certificate?
1. The registered owner or other person in interest shall send notice of the loss
or destruction of the owners duplicate certificate of title to the RD of the
province or city where the land lies as soon as the loss or destruction is
discovered;
2. The corresponding petition for the replacement of the loss or destroyed
owners duplicate certificate shall then be filed in court and entitled in the
original case in which the decree of registration was entered;
3. The petition shall state under oath the facts and circumstances surrounding
such loss or destruction;
4. The court may set the petition for hearing, after due notice to the RD and
other interested parties as shown in the memorandum of encumbrances noted
in the Original Certificate of Title or Transfer Certificate of Title on file in the
office of the Register of Deeds;
5. After due notice and hearing, the court may direct the issuance of a new
duplicate certificate which shall contain a memorandum of the fact that it is

issued in place of the lost or destroyed certificate and shall in all respects be
entitled to the same faith and credit as the original duplicate.
Does a court have jurisdiction to issue a new owners duplicate of a
Torrens certificate of title if it is shown that the existing owners copy has
not, in fact and in truth, been lost or destroyed?
If a certificate of title has not been lost but is in fact in the possession of
another person, the reconstituted title is void and the court rendering the
decision has not acquired jurisdiction.
Where the certificate of title sought to be replaced was not in fact lost or
destroyed, there was no necessity for filing a petition for the issuance of a new
owners duplicate certificate of title. Said court never acquired jurisdiction to
order the issuance of new certificates. Hence, the newly issued duplicates are
themselves null and void. (New Durawood Co, Inc. vs CA, G.R. No. 111732,
February 20, 1996)
Section 109, P.D. 1529 vs. R.A. 26
Section 109 of P.D. 1529 is the law applicable in petitions for issuance of new
owners duplicate certificates of title which are lost or stolen or destroyed. On
the other hand, R.A. 26 applies only in cases of reconstitution of lost or
destroyed original certificates on file with the Register of Deeds. (New Durawood
Co, Inc. vs CA, ibid.)
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