GUEST COLUMNIST
CREBA SPEAKS
By Charlie A. V. Gorayeb
It is common knowledge that over the years, our country has been plagued by all sorts of land fraud perpetrated with the use of fake land titles, survey plans and tax declarations. Numerous court cases attest to the fact that records pertaining to land ownership have been seriously compromised.
There has also been incessant public clamor for more efficient, effective and speedy delivery of services. To its credit, the Land Registration Authority has taken the initiative of submitting legislative proposals for some of the urgently needed reforms in the last Congress. Yet, despite technological advancements, processing of land transactions in some Registers of Deeds and agencies is still beset with interminable, even whimsical bureaucratic delays that hamper economic activity and social welfare.
Only recently, a property-owner bewailed the requirement of one unscrupulous RD somewhere in Southern Luzon for undocumented payment, mind you, of ₱10 to transfer every square meter of agricultural land, no less. Imagine the tremendous cost this imposes upon hapless small-time buyers and sellers of a mere hectare of agri land and how big a business this has become for corrupt government people and land syndicates. This practice must stop as it stifles the free-flow of huge economic benefits from legitimate land transactions which is crucial to our collective recovery.
Thus, to our mind, institution of meaningful reforms is way past due, and the agencies concerned must be empowered to pursue this with the full might of an enabling law. This should repair the frayed mantle of protection afforded by the Torrens system of land registration, and exploit to the fullest extent possible the benefits offered by technology.
For instance: the loss of a certificate of title prevents the registration of transactions or interests in the subject land. To resolve this, the law can allow the use of technology that now exists – i.e. the electronic database of land titles – rather than continuing to rely on the lengthy, and costly process of judicial reconstitution or reinstituting the discredited process of administrative reconstitution.
Clerical errors in certificates of title, which needlessly result in land controversies, are under the jurisdiction of the courts. With sufficient safeguards against exploitation for nefarious purposes, correction of such errors can be safely relegated to the agencies concerned.
Registration of frivolous adverse claims – against which there are no effective deterrents in the law – has been rampantly used by the crooks for harassment or extortion. Effective deterrents that will not prejudice the interest of legitimate claimants can be incorporated in the law.
The manual processes or procedures prescribed in the law were devised at a time when pen or typewriter was the only tool. Employing a system of electronic processes would reduce human intervention to the bare minimum, and thus minimize if not eliminate opportunities for wrongdoing, enhance efficiency and productivity, and easily detect wrongful acts.
And while the relatively light penalties no doubt embolden perpetrators of land/title fraud, the agencies concerned have proven incapable of policing their own ranks and ridding themselves of elements that facilitate land or title fraud. Endowing a high-level, independent and disinterested oversight body or “watchdog” with investigatory powers specifically for such purpose may give nefarious elements pause.
These salient features of the CREBA-proposed Land Registration and Administration Act, so crafted as to achieve a balance between the need for convenience and the need to protect rights, may finally pave the way for restoration of public faith. We hope that the current Congress gives this proposal due consideration.
(Charlie A. V. Gorayeb is the national chairman of CREBA, the largest umbrella association of developers, builders, contractors, supplies manufacturers and professionals engaged in housing and various types of real estate development. With close to 30 chapters all over the Philippines, it has served as the ‘vanguard’ of the property sector since its inception in 1973.)
