UP Law F2021 100 Zuñiga vs.

Vicencio
LTD–Other Proceedings After Issuance of Title Sec. 13, RA 26; Sec. 110, 1987 Sarmiento
PD 1529

SUMMARY
The procedure on judicial reconstitution under R.A. No. 26, including Section 13 thereof, has not been repealed or
modified, whether expressly or impliedly. That procedure remains unchanged and, therefore, still applies. Publication of
the notice of the hearing of the petition in a newspaper is not required. Publication of the notice in two successive issues
of the Official Gazette (with the required postings and the notice by registered mail or otherwise) suffices.

FACTS
 In 1978, petitioner Rogelio Zuñiga filed a petition for the reconstitution of an Original Certificate of Title issued to
one Fermin Almocera in 1933 by virtue of a homestead patent. He alleged that the original copy of the title, which
was on file in the Office of the Register of Deeds of the Province of Masbate and the owner’s duplicate certificate,
which was in the possession of the registered owner, had been lost or destroyed.

 It was only in 1981 when the respondent CFI Judge issued the Notice of Hearing on the petition. Respondent
Judge Vicencio, however, required the publication of the notice twice in the Official Gazette and another
publication specifically in the Sorsogon Newsweek, a newspaper published in Bulan, Sorsogon. This was objected
by Zuñiga, arguing that such publication was not required by law and it entailed unnecessary expense. The MR by
petitioner was denied by the respondent.

 Before the Court, Zuñiga was praying that the Notice of Hearing be set aside and a new one be issued in
accordance with Sec. 13 of RA 26 (An Act Providing a Special Procedure for the Reconstitution of Torrens
Certificate of Title Lost or Destroyed) in relation to Sec. 110 of PD 1529.

RATIO
W/N a publication of the Notice of Hearing of the petition for the reconstitution of a lost or destroyed original
of a Torrens certificate of title in a local newspaper is required by the law - NO
Sec. 13 of RA 26 provides:
SEC. 13. The court shall cause a notice of the petition, filed under the preceding section, to be published, at the
expense of the petitioner, twice in successive issues of the Official Gazette, and to be posted on the main entrance of
the provincial building and of the municipal building of the municipality or city in which the land is situated, at
least thirty days prior to the date of hearing. The court shall likewise cause a copy of the notice to be sent, by
registered mail or otherwise, at the expense of the petitioner, to every person named therein whose address is
known, at least thirty days prior to the date of hearing. xxx

Moreover, Sec. 110 of PD 129 restates the applicability of RA 26. What it abrogated in RA 26 is the provision on
administrative reconstitution. As such, publication of the notice of the hearing of the petition in a newspaper is not
required. What suffices is the publication of the notice in two successive issues of the Official Gazette.

The fear intimated by the respondent Judge that fake land titles might proliferate if petitions for reconstitution are not
published in a newspaper of general circulation is unfounded. By experience, hardly anybody reads the legal notices in
newspapers, published as they are in fine prints and buried in inconspicuous parts of the inside pages. Moreover, the
requirement for newspaper publication of notices of hearing has degenerated into a racket. The rates are scandalously
exhorbitant, which many litigants cannot afford.

FALLO
WHEREFORE, the Order on the publication of the Notice of Hearing, dated July 8, 1981, in the Sorsogon Newsweek, and
the Resolution, dated July 20, 1981, denying the Motion for Reconsideration filed by the petitioner, issued by the
respondent Judge in Special Proceedings No. 2800, are hereby ANNULLED and SET ASIDE. The Presiding Judge of the
Regional Trial Court in which the said proceeding is pending is hereby ORDERED to immediately issue another Notice of
Hearing of the petition in accordance with the provisions of Section 13 of Republic Act No. 26, requiring publication only
in two successive issues of the Official Gazette, plus the required postings and mailing, stating all the pertinent data
specified in the said Section 13, in order to comply with the requirements of due process. No costs.