Resolving the recurring issue on untitled land ownership and its business implications

College

Ramon V. Del Rosario College of Business

Department/Unit

Commercial Law

Document Type

Database

Source Title

9th Global Business Conference

First Page

160

Last Page

164

Publication Date

2-7-2015

Abstract

As the Philippines prepares for the ASEAN economic integration, the government needs to proactively address recurring legal concerns on property ownership, particularly in disputes involving many untitled lands affecting businesses, In the provinces, a significant portion of private lands remain untitled despite the security involved in land titling and registration and several government regulations providing for it. This is due to exorbitant costs of the process and worse, the unreliability issues on the supposed indefeasible land titles being issued by the government.
Even Philippine courts are oftentimes confronted with issues relative to these, complicated with certain realities on the ground including failure to fully consolidate Spanish land titles into the current system of land registration, The countrywide phenomenon of untitled private lands and the problem of informal settlement it has spawned remain at the helm of governance concerns that Philippine courts need to address in accordance with the laws and legal principles that have evolved without casting a blind eye on these endemic problems oftentimes confronted by established business entities in the country.
The research problem of the study is to resolve the recurring issue of who has the better right, as between the heirs of the owner of a Spanish title, on one hand, and the heirs of the long-time occupant for more than 60 years of the same land, on the other, to the untitled private land, for the purpose of removing the cloud of ownership thereon. The findings of this study shall assist business investors in scanning the legal environment where they intend to establish their businesses. The study shall also present the catalyzing effect on business stakeholders of government's reactive stance on the issue.
The study utilizes the conceptual framework of Feder and Nishio (1998) on land registration particularly the effect of land titles in enhancing tenure security and the advantage thereof in facilitating access to institutional credit as it analyzes policy implications in resolving similar legal issues. This framework is applied in the light of prevailing legal doctrines of indefeasibility of land titles and ownership acquired through prescription by way of decades of actual and uninterrupted possession of the land.
Utilizing this context, the government must come up with enabling regulatory framework for land registration and define clear legal framework for dispute settlement, and should cease making a reactive stance on this vey significant area of governance.

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Disciplines

Land Use Law

Keywords

Land titles—Philippines; Land titles—Registration and transfer--Philippines

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