Page 6 - Property Rights in the Philippine A Time and Cost Study_July 2017

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

The study team searched for documents related to Free Patent issuance processes. Following is
a summary of these literatures.

Output of the November 8, 2016 Workshop with Region XIII CENROs.

Conducted by Loubert Tan and Dr. Dianne Apistar of FEF’s work on Partnership for Land Rights
and Governance (PLG) , this workshop discerned how the community level review and approval office, also
1
known as the Community Environment and Natural Resources Offices (CENROs), in Region XIII perform
Sporadic Adjudication.

The outputs showed that CENROs undertake similar sub-processes and activities. These include
verifying the potential of lot for titling, filling up of the Application Form, field inspection, submission of
required supporting papers, posting of the application in the locality/Barangay Hall, submission of a formal
Report by the Adjudicator, reception of the application by the Records Officer, and subsequent sub-
processes for processing in the CENRO. CENRO activities include re-validation of records to determine
the potential of the lot for titling, review of the technical description, etc. (one CENRO summarized all of
these as the “Signing Checklist”).

Four CENROs consider submission to the provincial level review and approval office, also known
as the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO), as the end of their processes. Two
other CENROs include the subsequent step of submitting to the Register of Deeds (ROD) where the titles
are registered and issued to the applicants.

Where the CENROs differ significantly is in their sequence of activities. Some start with verification
of the Land Classification, while others start with verification of lot disposition, or with review of the approved
survey plan.

They also varied in their requirements. For example, some CENROs require a Barangay
Chairperson’s certification before they allow an applicant to fill up the Application Form.

Study on the Cost and time to Secure and Issue Land Titles under Systematic and Sporadic Land
Titling Procedures
2

This Study is an output of the Land Administration Management Project (LAMP) – a project funded
by World Bank with technical Assistance from the Australian Agency for International Development
(AusAid). This study was written in August 2008.

The study compared processes, costs and duration for sporadic titling (“regular titling”) of
Agricultural Free Patents and Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), and the systematic titling
introduced by LAMP. The Systematic Adjudication process was applied to Agricultural Free Patents. The
processes described in this study are much different from the processes covered in this report because the
requirements and processes for Residential Free Patent (which was passed into law in 2010, after the
publication of this paper) are much different from those of Agricultural Free Patent. Certain LAMP practices,
like establishment of “Base Camps” is no longer practiced.
3

1 PLG is a partnership between FEF, TAF, and the Australian Embassy in the Philippines.
2 Written by Alicia A. Balagapo, Gabino P. Petilos, Ph.D., Manuel R. Espina, Ed.D., Malaquias A. Conde, Ph.D., Marcial M. Monge,
D.M., Leonardo G. Oñate, Ed.D., all of Leyte Normal University Tacloban City
3 A base camp refers to a temporary office established in a locality (covered by LAMP) which is used as base of Systematic
Adjudication Teams for all systematic adjudication activities. Public land applications are currently lodged at the CENROs or
Regional Office (for DENR National Capital Region).

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