Photo from Unsplash | Van Tay Media
The following post does not create a lawyer-client relationship between Alburo Alburo and Associates Law Offices (or any of its lawyers) and the reader. It is still best for you to engage the services of a lawyer or you may directly contact and consult Alburo Alburo and Associates Law Offices to address your specific legal concerns, if there is any.
Also, the matters contained in the following were written in accordance with the law, rules, and jurisprudence prevailing at the time of writing and posting, and do not include any future developments on the subject matter under discussion.
A certificate of title is an absolute and indefeasible evidence of their ownership of the property. It serves as evidence of an incontrovertible title to the property in favor of the person whose name appears therein. The real purpose of the Torrens System of land registration is to quiet title to land and put stop forever to any question as to the legality of the title.
However, ownership is not the same as a certificate of title. Registering a piece of 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. The indefeasibility of the Torrens title should not be used as a means to perpetrate fraud against the rightful owner of real property.
Good faith must concur with registration, otherwise, registration would be an exercise in futility. A Torrens title does not furnish a shield for fraud, notwithstanding the long-standing rule that registration is a constructive notice of title binding upon the whole world. The legal principle is that if the registration of the land is fraudulent, the person in whose name the land is registered holds it as a mere trustee.
Sources: MAMERTO DY, VS. MARIA LOURDES ROSELL ALDEA, G.R. No. 219500. August 09, 2017; SPOUSES ELVIRA ALCANTARA AND EDWIN ALCANTARA VS. SPOUSES FLORANTE BELEN AND ZENAIDA ANANIAS, G.R. No. 200204. April 25, 2017
Read also: Basics of land titles, transactions, and real property registration
Alburo Alburo and Associates Law Offices specializes in business law and labor law consulting. For inquiries regarding taxation and taxpayer’s remedies, you may reach us at info@alburolaw.com, or dial us at (02)7745-4391/0917-5772207.
All rights reserved.