Wednesday, December 07, 2016, Page 1 of 3

GROUP 7
Members:

MALICDAN, JASPHEROSE P.
KUB-ARON, NESTOR W.
DALEN, GUSTAVO F.

Land Titles and Deeds

LLB 2-D

ANSWERS to Quiz Questions of Group 11

Part I
1. Under the provision of Section 118 of the Public Land Act, which states
SECTION 118. Except in favor of the Government or any of its branches, units,
or institutions, lands acquired under free patent or homestead provisions shall not be
subject to encumbrance or alienation from the date of the approval of the application
and for a term of five years from and after the date of issuance of the patent or grant,
nor shall they become liable to the satisfaction of any debt contracted prior to the
expiration of said period, but the improvements or crops on the land may be
mortgaged or pledged to qualified persons, associations, or corporations.
No alienation, transfer, or conveyance of any homestead after five years and
before twenty-five years after issuance of title shall be valid without the approval of the
Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce, which approval shall not be denied except on
constitutional and legal grounds.
The rationale for the prohibition, reiterated in a line of cases, first laid down
in Pascua v. Talens[20] states that x x x homestead laws were designed to distribute
disposable agricultural lots of the State to land-destitute citizens for their home and
cultivation. Pursuant to such benevolent intention the State prohibits the sale or
encumbrance of the homestead (Section 116, now Section 118) within five years after
the grant of the patent. x x x. It aims to preserve and keep in the family of the
homesteader that portion of public land which the State had gratuitously given to him.
2.

(a)
Yes. In Vallangca v CA, 173 SCRA 42, restrictions are thus imposed on the
conveyance of patented lands within five (5) years from the date of the issuance
of the free patent; the owner of the land is precluded from subjecting the same
to any encumbrance or alienation. After the lapse of five (5) years, such
prohibition is lifted, but the owner-vendor is entitled to repurchase the property
from the vendee within five (5) years from the date of the execution of the deed
of sale or conveyance. In fact, in Peralta, et al. vs. Alipio, it was held that since
the Public Land Law is silent as to the form and manner in which the right to
repurchase a homestead or land acquired under a free patent may be exercised,
any act which amounts to a demand for reconveyance should be sufficient.
(b)
No. The provision under Section 119 of the Public Land Act (C.A. No. 141)
of is expressed in the case of Rural Bank of Davao v CA, 217 SCRA 554, which
provides:
Every conveyance of land acquired under the free patent or homestead
provisions, when proper, shall be subject to repurchase by the applicant, his
widow, or legal heirs, within a period of five years from the date of the
conveyance.
Because of such underlying policy and reason, the right to repurchase
under Section 119 cannot be waived by the party entitled thereto, and applies
with equal force to both voluntary and involuntary conveyances.
(c)
In Sucaldito v Montejo, it was expressed the rule that land acquired by
free or homestead patent under Commonwealth Act No. 141 and later sold, may
be repurchased within five (5) years from the date of conveyance. Sec. 119,
Commonwealth Act No. 141 clearly grants them the right to repurchase the

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subject property covered by a free patent within five (5) years from the date of
its conveyance.
(d)

Only the vendor has the right to exercise the right of redemption

In Section 119 of the Public Land Act (C.A. No. 141) it provides that
conveyance of land acquired under the free patent or homestead provisions shall
be subject to repurchase by the applicant, his widow, or legal heirs, within a
period of five years from the date of the conveyance.
(e)
Yes, if the principal vendor dies, his/her widow and legal heirs may
exercise the right to redeem, as an exception to general rule as stipulated under
Section 119 of the Public Land Act (C.A. No. 141) it provides that ..conveyance
of land acquired under the free patent or homestead provisions shall be subject
to repurchase by the applicant, his widow, or legal heirs, within a period of
five years from the date of the conveyance.
(f)
Within the five year period from the date of conveyance. The five-year
period of redemption fixed in Section 119 of the Public Land Law of homestead
sold at extrajudicial foreclosure begins to run from the day after the expiration of
the one-year period of repurchase allowed in an extrajudicial foreclosure.
(Manuel vs. PNB, et al., 101 Phil. 968).
(g)
Yes. In the case of PNB v Delos Reyes, 179 SCRA 619, it was discussed
that pursuant to Section 119 of Commonwealth Act No. 141, the Public Land Act
which is the applicable law in this case, the mortgagor had five (5) years from
the date of conveyance within which to redeem the property. It is not even
necessary for the preservation of such right to repurchase to make an offer to
redeem, or tender payment of the purchase price within said period of five (5)
years. The filing of an action to redeem within that period is equivalent to a
formal offer to redeem. There is not even a need for the consignation of the
redemption price.
3.
The following is the procedure of appeal by consulta when an instrument is
denied:
(a) The Register of Deeds shall notify the interested party in writing, setting forth
the defects of the instrument or the legal ground relied upon for denying the
registration, and advising that if he is not agreeable to such ruling, he may, without
withdrawing the documents from the Registry, elevate the matter by Consulta to the
Administrator of the Land Registration Authority (LRA).
(b) Within five {5) days from receipt of notice of denial, the party-in-interest shall
file his Consulta with the Register of Deeds concerned and pay the consulta fee.
(c) After receipt of the Consulta and payment of the corresponding fee the
Register of Deeds makes an annotation of the pending consulta at the back of the
certificate of title.
(d) The Register of Deeds then elevates the case to the LRA Administrator with
certified records thereof and a summary of the facts and issues involved.
(e) The LRA Administrator then conducts hearings after due notice or may just
require parties to submit their memoranda.
(f) After hearing, the LRA Administrator issues an order prescribing the step to be
taken or the memorandum to be made. His resolution in consulta shall be conclusive
and binding upon all Registers of Deeds unless reversed on appeal by the Court of
Appeals or by the Supreme Court. (Section 117, P.D. 1529).

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3.
The registry of deeds shall make an annotation of the pending consulta at the
back of the certificate of title provided that there is a receipt of the consulta payment
of the corresponding fee.
4
Yes. Provided that a period of one year has already expired from the time a
certificate of title was issued pursuant to a public grant, said title does not become
incontrovertible but it shall be null and void if the property covered thereby is originally
of private ownership, and an action to annul the same does not prescribe. Further,
since herein petitioners are in possession of the land in dispute, an action to quiet title
is imprescriptible. Their action for reconveyance which, in effect, seeks to quiet title to
property in one's possession is imprescriptible. Their undisturbed possession for a
number of years gave them a continuing right to seek the aid of a court of equity to
determine the nature of the adverse claims of a third party and the effect on her title
as held in the case of Agne v Director of Lands, 181 SCRA 793..
5.
Yes, the action of the Solicitor General and the case for reconveyance filed by
Percival may prosper because the free patent have been granteded to Melvin and was
issued a certificate of title as well.
The law provides that a property subjected to a free patent application ceased to
be a part of the public domain and became private property over which the Director of
Lands has neither control nor jurisdiction when the application have been granted and
a certificate of titile has been issued.
Hence, the land covered thereby assumes the character of registered property in
accordance with the provisions of Section 122 of the Land Registration Act and the
remedy of the party who has been injured by fraudulent registration is an action for
reconveyance
Part II
1.TRUE
2.TRUE
3.TRUE
4.TRUE
5.TRUE
6.TRUE
7.TRUE
8.TRUE
9.FALSE
10.TRUE
11.FALSE
12.FALSE
13.FALSE
14.FALSE
15.FALSE
16.FALSE
17.TRUE
18.FALSE
19.FALSE
20.TRUE