REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

REGIONAL TRIAL COURT

7TH JUDICIAL REGION
BRANCH__, LAPU-LAPU CITY

IN THE MATTER OF THE PETITION

FOR THE CANCELLATION OF DECREE
NO. 459322 COVERING LOT NO. 2309,
RE-ISSUANCE OF A NEW DECREE
AND ISSUANCE OF AN ORIGINAL
CERTIFICATE OF TITLE PURSUANT
TO THE RE-ISSUED DECREE,

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PETITION

PETITIONERS, by the undersigned counsel, unto this Honorable Court

respectfully state:

1. Petitioners are of legal ages, Filipino citizens, and residents of Barangay

Basak, Lapu-lapu City; while respondents are government agencies
created by virtue of the law of the Philippines, Land Registration
Authority is holding office at East Avenue corner NIA Road, Quezon City;
while the Register of Deeds of Lapu-lapu City is holding office at Hall of
Justice, Lapu-lapu City; where they maybe serve with summons and other
court processes;

2. BLAS SOROÑO was the absolute owner of a parcel of land located at Lapu-
lapu City known as Lot No. 2309 consisting of 12,442 square meters; copy
of the Technical Description, the Sketch Plan are hereto attached as
Annexes “A” and “B”, respectively;

3. A Decree was issued under the name of BLAS SOROÑO over Lot No. 2309
known as Decree No. 459322; Certified true copy issued by the Land
Registration Authority and a copy of Decree dated November 29, 1929 is
hereto attached as Annex “C” and “D”, respectively;

4. Lot No. 2309 was not sold by BLAS SOROÑO and his wife; and after their
death, their children who are the petitioners in this case succeeded them.
A copy of the tax declaration under the name of their predecessors is
hereto attached as Annex “E”;

5. That the Department of Environment and Natural Resources issued a

Certification that Lot No. 2309 is not covered by any existing public land
application; copy of which is hereto attached as Annex “F”;
6. The Community Environment and Natural Resources issued a
Certification with Sketch at the back thereof stating among others that Lot
No. 2309 is within the alienable and disposable block; copy of which is
hereto attached as Annex “G”;

7. The names and addresses of the adjoining owners of Lot No. 2309; are the
following:
NORTH: LOT NO. 2294 - Venancia Apa
SOUTH: LOT NO. 2311 - Alejandro Ompad
SOUTH: LOT NO. 2312 - Eugenio Mamos
EAST: LOT NO. 2296 - Tito Dignos

8. Indisputably, BLAS SOROÑO and his wife were issued Decree No. 459322
covering Lot No. 2309. Despite the issuance of the Decree, an Original
Certificate of Title was never issued in their names. Copy of the
Certification issued by the Land Registration Authority that no original
certificate of title are existing on file with the registry for Lot no. 2296
located at Basak, Lapu-Lapu City is hereto attached as ANNEX “H”;

9. As such, and pursuant to the provisions of the Property Registration

Decree (PD 1529), there is a need to cancel Decree No. 459322 covering
Lot No. 2309, and to re-issue a new decree. This proceeding is based on
the provision of PD 1529, particularly, Sections 39 and 40, quoted
hereunder, to wit:

“Section 39. Preparation of decree and Certificate of title. After the

judgment directing the registration of title to land has become final.
The court shall, within fifteen days from entry of judgment, issue an
order directing the Commissioner to issue the corresponding decree of
registration and certificate of title. The clerk of court shall send, within
fifteen days from entry of judgment, certified copies of the judgment
and of the order of the court directing the Commissioner to issue the
corresponding decree of registration and certificate of title, and a
certificate stating that the decision has not been amended,
reconsidered, nor appealed, and has become final. Thereupon, the
Commissioner shall cause to be prepared the decree of registration as
well as the Original and duplicate of the corresponding certificate of
title. The original certificate of shall be a true copy of the decree of
registration. The decree of registration shall be signed by the
Commissioner, entered and filed in the Land Registration Commission.
The original of the original certificate of title shall be sent, together
with the owner’s duplicate certificate, to the Register of Deeds of the
city or province where the property is situated for entry in his
registration book.(Emphasis supplied)
 Section 40. Entry of Original Certificate of Title. Upon receipt by the
Register of Deeds of the original and duplicate copies of the original
certificate of title the same shall be entered in his record book and shall
be entered in his record book and shall be numbered, dated, signed and
sealed by the Register of Deeds with the Seal of his office. Said
certificate of title shall take effect upon the date of entry thereof. The
Register of Deeds shall forthwith send notice by mail to the registered
owner that owner’s duplicate is ready for delivery to him upon
payment of legal fees.”

10. From the afore-quoted provisions, the following procedures are

observed in the preparation of the decree and the original certificate of
title (OCT), thus:

First: Within 15 days from entry of judgment of the decision, the court
shall issue an Order directing LRA to issue the Decree of Registration
(OID) and the corresponding OCT.

Second: Upon receipt of the OID, the LRA through its registration
department, shall prepare the decree (in three copies) and the original
and duplicate copy of the corresponding OCT;

Third: The decree shall be assigned a decree number to be signed by

the Administrator, who will, at the same time, also affix his signature in
the original and duplicate copy of the corresponding OCT;(emphasis
supplied)

Fourth: One copy of the signed decree(already assigned a number) and

the original and duplicate copy of the corresponding OCT shall then be
transmitted to the local Registrar of Deeds. One copy of the decree shall
be retained with LRA an the other shall be transmitted of the Clerk of
Court of the originating court;

Fifth: Upon receipt of the Decree and the original and duplicate copy of
the corresponding OCT, the registrar shall now transcribe the same in
its Registration Book (it shall be entered in his record book and shall
be numbered, dated, signed and sealed by the Register of Deeds with
the seal of his office);

Sixth: Upon such transcription, the Register of Deeds shall forthwith

send notice by mail to the registered owner that his owner’s duplicate
is ready for delivery to him upon payment of legal fees;

Seventh: Meanwhile, the Registrar of Deeds shall transmit to the LRA

Central Office and Acknowledgement Form acknowledging the receipt
of the decree and the corresponding original and duplicate copy of the
 OCT notifying thereof the title number assigned to the corresponding
OCT;

11. In the third step, it is important that the decree and the corresponding
OCT must bear the signature of the Administrator, who shall sign both, all
at the same time. In other words, the Administrator who signed the
decree must also be the same administrator who shall sign the OCT
pursuant to that decree. This is the tenor of the highlighted provision of
Section 39 of PD 1529, thus: “The original certificate of title shall be a true
and faithful copy of the decree of registration”;

12. It should be stressed that, under Act No. 496, the precursor to PD 1529,
the procedure is entirely different. In the former, while it is the Chief-
GLRO(now LRA Administrator), who prepares the decree and retains a
copy of the decree with the LRA Central Office, it is the Register of Deeds
who prepares and signs the corresponding OCT.

13. In this case, Decree No. 459322 covering Lot No. 2309 was issued but the
corresponding original certificate of title was not issued. In the light of the
foregoing discussions, the said decree has to be cancelled, a new one be
re-issued, and the corresponding original certificate of title be issued in
order to comply with the provision of PD 1529, i.e., that the original
certificate of title shall be a true and faithful copy of the decree of
registration;

14. Inasmuch as the said decree have not yet transcribed (entered in the
Registration Book of the Register of Deeds) the court which adjudicated
and ordered for the issuance of such decree continues to be clothed with
jurisdiction. Moreover, Lot No. 2309 covered by Decree No. 459322 is not
subject to any land registration or cadastral case as shown in the
Certification issued by the Regional Trial Court of Lapu-lapu City; copy of
which is hereto attached as Annex “I”;

15. By virtue of legal succession, the heirs of the late BLAS SOROÑO the
adjudicatee of said decree, has the right to institute this petition.

PRAYER

WHEREFORE, premises considered, it is respectfully prayed of this

Honorable Court that a judgment/order be issued;

a. Directing the Land Registration Authority (LRA) to cancel Decree No.

459322 covering Lot No. 2309 under the name of ______;
b. Directing the Land Registration Authority (LRA) to issue a new decree
covering Lot No. 2309; and
 c. Directing the Land Registration Authority (LRA) to issue a
corresponding original certificate of title pursuant to the re-issued
decree.

Further relief is prayed for proper and equitable under the premises.

Cebu City, Philippines, June 24, 2019.