Program for the Upgrade of all Manually-Issued Titles Within a 3-Year Period

January 26, 2016

LRA CIRCULAR NO. 001-16

 

WHEREAS, the Land Registration Authority ("LRA") is a government agency under the Department of Justice ("DOJ") mandated by law to preserve the integrity of the land registration process, protect the sanctity of the Torrens System, and act as the central repository of records relative to original registration of lands titled under the Torrens System, including subdivision and consolidation plans of titled lands and, through its Registry of Deeds ("RD") Offices nationwide, be the repository of records of instruments affecting registered and unregistered lands and chattel mortgages in the province and the city wherein such office is situated;

WHEREAS, to support its mandate, LRA has substantially implemented in its Registries of Deeds nationwide the Land Titling Computerization Project ("LTCP" or the "Project"), which, seeks among others, to maintain on-line information on titles that is current, complete and accurate; maintain the security and integrity of records by safeguarding these from tampering or destruction and deter substitution or insertion of questionable data; ensure the integrity of the land titling registration system by moving from a largely paper-based to a largely paperless system; protect land titles from loss due to fire, theft, natural disasters and the normal ravages of time; and implement more reliable and predictable land registration procedures;

WHEREAS, even with the implementation of the LTCP, LRA and title holders may not receive the above-stated benefits of the Project due to the continuing existence of Certificates of Title that were issued prior to the LTCP (the "manually-issued titles") along with its associated problems;

WHEREAS, LRA realized the need to further strengthen the security for manually-issued titles to counter techniques of fraud and theft that are getting more sophisticated;

WHEREAS, LRA has acknowledge challenges that still need to be addressed when it comes to dangers arising from the external environment such as fire, earthquake and typhoon; especially in times of increasing risk of natural calamities and the danger it brings in the safety and integrity of land titles kept in the RDs and knowing that several past incidents, where fire, typhoon and earthquake occur, have caused not only damage to Registries of Deeds but also the destruction of manually-issued titles stored inside the Registries of Deeds;

WHEREAS, LRA recognized that despite the implementation of the LTCP, manually-issued titles are still subject to natural problems when it comes to storage such as the natural deterioration of manual titles due to paper decay and termites as well as loss of productive space and land due to large volumes of titles occupying a large space;

WHEREAS, LRA noted that there are administrative and labour costs identified in searching misplaced or lost documents as well as delays in transaction processing due to the need in searching for physical copies of land titles;

WHEREAS, on December 20, 2011, LRA issued LRA Circular No. 27-2011 with subject: "Implementation of the LRA Voluntary Title Standardization Program for the Conversion of Manually-issued Title into Electronic Certificates of Title Upon Request of the Registered Owner or other Client Representing the Registered Owner, or his/her Interest. Thereof, wherein LRA provided the requirements in relation to the voluntary conversion of manually-issued certificates of title into certificates that are issued by the Computerized System ("eTitle")", with the objective of providing benefits to the public, to wit: (i) It shall further ensure faster processing of transactions, as RD personnel do not need to retrieve the physical original copies of the certificates of title subject of transaction; (ii) It shall protect original copies of titles from loss by storing the titles in electronic original form which are regularly backed-up, and owners shall no longer go through the expensive and tedious process of reconstitution; and, (iii) It shall ensure clearer Certified True Copies as compared to Certified True Copies issued on scanned images of the manually-issued on scanned images of the manually-issued certificates of title;

WHEREAS, on October 3, 2014, to further promote the eTitle Program, LRA issued LRA Circular No. 16-2014, wherein LRA, with the intention to fast-track the implementation of the conversion of manually-issued titles to eTitles, with the objective of ensuring that the benefits of the LTCP are felt by a greater majority of the public, allowed the conversion, upon the request of the client, of manually-issued certificates of title into eTitles, when such certificates of title are subject of a voluntary transaction which shall not cause the cancellation of the subject title; CAIHTE

WHEREAS, LRA assessed and accepted that the existing programs available to convert manually-issued titles into eTitles may not be sufficient in imposing upon the mandatory conversion of manually-issued titles to eTitles on land owners and title holders, which is needed due to the benefits it brings in increasing the overall welfare of society as well as eliminating the problems associated with manual copies. The benefits in digitizing manual titles include: (i) eliminating errors and risks of overlapping and duplication of titles by generating a system that can be a single source of truth; (ii) developing a system that can immediately detect and identify erroneous and fraudulent land titles thus, reducing chances of theft and fraudulence; (iii) enhancing the security and safety of land titles from dangers associated with the external environment such as fires, typhoons, and earthquakes; (iv) resolving problems commonly associated with storage such as natural decay and deterioration as well as the loss of productive space; and, (v) cutting administrative and labour costs associated with finding loss and/or misplaced documents as well as loss in time caused by delays in processing of transactions;

WHEREAS, considering the above-stated problems that continually plague the storage of manually issued titles and the overwhelming benefits of converting manually-issued titles to eTitles, this Authority has recognized the imperative need to immediately commence the phasing-out of all manually-issued titles by converting these into eTitles (the "Title Upgrade Program" or the "Program"), and shall provide the policies, support, processes and resources required for this Program.

WHEREFORE, premises considered, this Authority shall implement the Title Upgrade Program for the conversion of manually-issued titles into electronic certificates of titles, as follows:

ARTICLE I

The LRA Title Upgrade Program

SECTION 1.1 The Program shall be formally called the "LRA Title Upgrade Program", and shall cover the conversion of all manually-issued titles into eTitles.

SECTION 1.2 The Program shall be implemented within three (3 years) from the effective date of this Circular, and shall cover all manually-issued Certificates of Title.

SECTION 1.3 Voluntary transactions on manually-issued titles that are not yet converted into eTitles after such period shall no longer be accepted for processing in LRA and its Registries of Deeds, and must undergo conversion into eTitles prior to transaction processing.

SECTION 1.4 The Program shall be implemented subject to the following rules:

a. The LRA Title Upgrade Program shall be in line with previously approved and published Implementing Guidelines issued in relation to the LTCP;

b. The Owner's Duplicate of the manually-issued Certificate of Title which shall be converted to an eTitle, and all original copies of the issued Co-owner's Duplicated thereof, as the case may be, shall be surrendered to the Registry;

c. The Program shall only be available for Certificates of Title that have undergone the data conversion process and are already in the database. The Program shall not be used to cause the data conversion of Certificates of Titles, which are still not in the database. Likewise, the Program shall only be available for Certificates or Title where the corresponding Original (Vault) Copy of the Title is intact and physically available at the RD. It shall be the responsibility and obligation of the Registers of Deeds and Deputy Registers of Deeds to ensure that the valid Original (Vault) Copy of the manually-issued Certificate of Title subject of the Program is physically available before converting this into an eTitle.

d. If the title to be converted into an eTitle is subject of an ongoing voluntary transaction, where the Owner's Duplicate Copy and all original copies of the issued Co-owner's Duplicate thereof, as the case may be, are required to be presented, and considering that the presentation of the same is also required for the conversion to eTitles, the voluntary transaction and the request for conversion shall both be put on hold and be subject of LRA's investigation, as provided in existing policy issuances of the Authority, considering the need to authenticate said subject titles.

e. The eTitle resulting from the Program shall, in all respects, contain exactly the same information as that of the manually-issued Title, and in no case shall there be an amendment of any kind and form on any of the entries thereon, except for: DETACa

1. The annotation that shall be affixed on the newly-issued eTitle, as provided in Section 3.2 (m) (2), Section 4.3 (b) (3) (ii), and Section 5.3 (f) (2), hereof;

2. The transfer of any entry from the title subject of the transaction to the eTitle, which is considered as illegible despite diligent efforts to interpret the same, in which case the procedure provide in Section 1.4 (f) hereof shall apply; and,

3. Change in the information provided in the title subject of the transaction by virtue of the implementation of a registered Court Order for the amendment of such information. 

f. In case any entry, annotation, or memorandum thereon is illegible or unreadable, the following options may be availed of:

1. In cases where only a small portion of the entry, annotation or memorandum is illegible or unreadable, the legible entry, annotation, or memorandum shall be copied en toto and, for portions that are deemed illegible, the same may be replaced by putting the letter "X" for each illegible or unreadable entry; and,

2. In cases where majority of the entry, annotation, or memorandum is illegible or unreadable, the notation below shall be used:

 "Illegible entry, annotation, or memorandum. Please refer to preceding title for details."

g. In case of an omitted entry, annotation, or memorandum in the resulting eTitle, the party-in-interest may avail of the appropriate remedy under LRA Circular No. 2013-51 (i.e., LRA Policy and Standards — Request for System Update) to cause its re-annotation.

h. LRA shall convert manually-issued titles into eTitles after verification of the Title History through trace-back. The trace-back shall be conducted for two generations, and the trace-back shall conform with the LRA Circular as regards "Query/Verification Service — Title Trace-Back", as follows:

1. The trace-back shall be based only on the existing title information in the computerized database.

2. If a preceding title does not exist in the database, then the trace-back shall only be up to that particular title, and the System shall indicate that further trace-back cannot be completed and the possible reason why the particular title is not in the database.

3. There are situations where different titles have the same title type and number as the preceding title, and in such cases, the trace-back shall branch out and the System shall generate a trace-back for each of the Repeating Title Number ("RTN") title.

i. The eTitle shall include the name of the Registrar who issued the manually-issued Title, and the name of the Registrar issuing the eTitle as a result of this Circular.

j. Once the manually-issued title has been converted to an eTitle, it shall be deemed as deactivated; henceforth, all succeeding transactions pertaining thereto shall be processed using the resulting eTitle.

ARTICLE II

Program Implementation

SECTION 2.1 The Program shall be implemented in the following cases:

a. For titles subject of a voluntary transaction for interests less than ownership ("annotation-type transaction") — conversion to eTitle shall be implemented during the processing of the annotation-type transactions; and,

b. For titles not subject of any annotation-type transaction in the Registry of Deeds — conversion to eTitle shall be implemented upon surrender of the Owner's Duplicate of the manually-issued Certificate of Title, and all issued Co-owner's Duplicate thereof, as the case may be, and the submission of the prescribed Conversion Request Form.

SECTION 2.2 The Program shall be implemented subject to the issuance of the appropriate Memorandum by the Administrator.

SECTION 2.3 The Program shall cover all Patents and Awards issued by the Department of Agrarian Reform and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in the implementation of their respective mandates. The Registries of Deeds shall issue the corresponding eTitles upon the registration of such Patents and Awards, subject to the applicable Joint Memorandum Circular that shall be issued by LRA and the Agencies. aDSIHc

SECTION 2.4 This Circular hereby repeals the following Circulars:

a. LRA Circular No. 27-2011 with subject: Implementation of the LRA Voluntary Title Standardization Program for the Conversion of Manually-issued Titles into Electronic Certificates of Title Upon Request of the Registered Owner or other Client Representing the Registered Owner, or his/her Interest thereof, dated December 20, 2011;

b. LRA Circular No. 16-2014, published on October 03, 2015; with subject: Amendment to the Implementing Guidelines on Electronic Registration of Land Titles and Deeds published on July 5, 2009; and,

c. LRA Circular No. 22-2015, dated November 11, 2015, with subject: Title Trace-back in the Implementation of the LRA Voluntary Title Standardization Program.

 The above enumerated Circulars are thus deemed ineffective immediately upon effect of this Circular.

ARTICLE III

Procedure for the Conversion to eTitle during the Processing of a Voluntary Transaction, which shall not cause the Cancellation of the Subject Title (the "Annotation-type Transaction")

SECTION 3.1 The following additional rules shall apply for the conversion to eTitles of manually-issued titles subject of an Annotation-type Transaction, during the processing thereof:

a. In the case of conversion during the processing of voluntary transactions for interests less than ownership covering manually-issued titles, regardless of the result of the processing of the voluntary transaction, an eTitle shall be issued, except if the ground for the denial is on the basis of questionable authenticity of the Judicial Form, and other similar or analogous cases;

b. LRA shall convert the manually-issued title subject of voluntary transactions for interests less than ownership regardless of the identity of the Transactor presenting the title and the document for registration (e.g., Registered Owner, authorized representative, etc.); and,

c. The annotation resulting from the registration of the voluntary transaction on the current title shall form part of the eTitle to be issued.

SECTION 3.2 The following procedure for the conversion of manually-issued Certificates of Title, during the processing of voluntary transaction for interests less than ownership covering such titles, shall be observed in the Registries of Deeds:

a. The registered owner or his duly authorized representative shall submit the Owner's Duplicate Copy of the title subject of the transaction, and all Co-owner's Copies thereof, as the case may be, together with the required documents. All basic information from documents received supporting the transaction shall be entered into the Electronic Primary Book for Registered Land ("EPEB-RL"). The date, hour and minute of reception of all instruments in the order in which they were received shall likewise be noted. The document shall be automatically assigned with an entry number as its control or reference number.

b. The fees shall be automatically computed by the System and the corresponding electronic receipt generated upon payment. In default of payment, the entry in the EPEB-RL shall be rendered of no force and effect. The following fees shall be charged in addition to the fees to be paid for the transaction, as follows:

1. LRA Fees for the —

i. Issuance of Title — for each certificate of title issued;

ii. Issuance of Title — for each Additional Page of the title;

iii. Issuance of Title — for each Additional Copy of the Owner's Duplicate; and,

iv. Inscription of Annotation — for the inscription of the annotation indicated in Section 3.2 (m) (2) hereof. Annotation Fees for the inscription of all other annotations as a result of the eTitle conversion shall not be charged. However, for clarity, Annotation Fees for the inscription of annotations arising from the voluntary transaction shall be charged.

2. IT Service Fees for the —

i. Issuance of Title — for each certificate of title issued and for each Additional Copy of the Owner's Duplicate, fee shall be as published by the Authority; and,

ii. Printing of Annotations — for the printing of the annotation indicated in Section 3.2 (m) (2) hereof. Fees for the printing of all other annotations as a result of the eTitle conversion shall not be charged. However, for clarity, IT Service Fee for the Printing of Annotations for annotations arising from the voluntary transaction shall be charged.

 All LRA Fees and IT Service Fees shall be based on the rate published by the Authority.

c. In case where the basis of a transaction is a decision of a court together with the certificate of finality or entry of judgment, the Registry shall verify with the court concerned on the authenticity of such court decision.

d. In case of the registration of a court order to amend the title, and the order is for the amendment of the technical description, the transaction shall be subject to a verification process provided under Section 27 of the Implementing Guidelines on Electronic Registration of Land Titles and Deeds and Processing of Central Office Transaction, as published by LRA on December 21, 2010, prior to its registration. In case of an adverse certification from the Central Office ("CO"), the Registry of Deeds shall make the necessary manifestation to the proper court, and coordinate with the LRA Legal Division for appropriate action.

e. In case of the registration of a court order for the inscription of the technical description on a title, the transaction shall be subject to a verification process provided under Section 28 of the Implementing Guidelines on Electronic Registration of Land Titles and Deeds and Processing of Central Office Transactions, as published by LRA on December 21, 2010, prior to its registration. In case of an adverse certification from the CO, the Registry of Deeds shall make the necessary manifestation to the proper court, and coordinate with the LRA Legal Division for appropriate action.

f. All pertinent data on the title subject of the transaction shall be encoded, while the corresponding annotation(s) of the pending transaction shall be made using the formats and templates provided in the Computerized System. All annotations, whether subsisting or cancelled, on the manually-issued Title subject of the transaction, shall be copied en toto on the draft eTitle. In case any entry, annotation, or memorandum thereon is illegible or unreadable, the options enumerated in Section 1.4 (f), hereof, may be availed of by the Registry of Deeds:

g. The encoded data, as well as the pertinent documents, shall then be examined, thereafter, upon finding that the same are complete, it shall be transmitted to the Approving Authority. 

h. A 2-generation title trace-back as provided under Section 1.4 (h) hereof shall be done during the Examination and Approval process.

i. If the voluntary transaction is approved, the documents shall be stamped and signed by the Approving Authority.

j. If the voluntary transaction is denied, a Notice of Denial shall be issued to the client who may, without withdrawing the documents, elevate the transaction en consulta within five (5) days from the receipt of notice of such denial in accordance with the pertinent provision of Presidential Decree 1529. Otherwise, the denial shall be considered final.

k. Both the Original and Duplicate Copies of the title subject of the transaction shall be stamped on each and every page thereof the following:

 "DEACTIVATED pursuant to LRA Circular No.: <Number of the Circular> with subject: "PROGRAM FOR THE UPGRADE OF ALL MANUALLY-ISSUED TITLES WITHIN A 3-YEAR PERIOD", published on: <Circular Publication Date>."

l. The Owner's Duplicate of the title subject of the transaction and all the documents submitted by the client shall be scanned, and the resulting images shall be uploaded in the database. After scanning, the documents shall be kept in the vault for safekeeping.

m. Regardless of the result of the transaction, a new Owner's Duplicate Copy and/or Co-owner's Copy of the eTitle shall be printed with a unique system-generated title number, subject to the provisions of Sections 1.4 and 3.1 (a) and (b) hereof, which shall bear an annotation that it was issued by virtue of this Circular, as follows:

1. For the title subject of the transaction:

 Entry No.:

 Entry Date and Time:

 Certificate of Title No.: <Subject Title Number> has been DEACTIVATED by virtue of LRA Circular No.: <Number of the Circular> with subject: "PROGRAM FOR THE UPGRADE OF ALL MANUALLY-ISSUED TITLES WITHIN A 3-YEAR PERIOD", published on: <Circular Publication Date>, and SHALL NO LONGER BE USED IN TRANSACTION PROCESSING. Henceforth, transactions shall be processed on the basis of PHILARIS-generated <Original/Transfer/Condominium> Certificate of Title No.: <New Title Number>.

2. For the eTitle resulting from the transaction:

 Entry No.:

 Entry Date and Time:

 Certificate of Title No.: <New Title Number> is issued based on <Original/Transfer/Condominium> Certificate Title No.: <Subject Title Number>, printed on Serial No.: <Serial No.> (if applicable), by virtue of LRA Circular No.: <Number of the Circular> with subject: "PROGRAM FOR THE UPGRADE OF ALL MANUALLY-ISSUED TITLES WITHIN A 3-YEAR PERIOD", published on: <Circular Publication Date>.

n. The newly-issued Owner's Duplicate Copy of the eTitle and/or Co-Owner's Copy thereof, and the duplicate of the documents shall then be received by the registered owner or his duly authorized representative, who shall sign the Acknowledgment Slip generated  by the Computerized System, which shall include an advisory in case the 2-generation title trace-back as provided under Section 1.4 (h) was not successfully completed. cSEDTC

ARTICLE IV

Procedure for the Conversion to eTitle of Titles not subject of a Transaction (MOA-based Conversion)

SECTION 4.1 LRA shall allow juridical entities having large volume of manually-issued titles in their possession who have entered into a Memorandum of Agreement with LRA for converting these titles into eTitles (the "LRA Partner") the use of a special process for this purpose (the "MOA-based Conversion"). The rules and procedures provided below shall apply on titles that are not subject of any Annotation-type Transaction in the Registry of Deeds.

SECTION 4.2. The following additional rules shall apply for the conversion to eTitles of manually-issued titles subject of a MOA-based Conversion request from an LRA Partner:

a. In the implementation of this Circular, and in situations where the LRA Partner is not the Registered Owner of the property, the LRA and its Registries of Deeds shall recognize and accept the LRA Partner as the authorized representative of the Registered Owner subject to the following conditions:

1. The LRA Partner is in possession of the Owner's Duplicate of the Certificate of Title and all issued Co-owner's Duplicate of the Certificate of Title, as the case may be;

2. The LRA Partner has an interest on the title as evidenced by its registered right on the title; and,

3. The LRA Partner has secured the authorization from the Registered Owner to convert the manually-issued title into an eTitle.

b. The LRA Central Office shall issue Memorandum Orders addressed to the appropriate Registry of Deeds for the conversion of the titles therein specified. The Memorandum Order shall be the main documentary requirement to be entered in the Registry of Deeds. All other documents submitted by the LRA Partner shall be deemed as attachments of the Memorandum Order.

c. For MOA-based Conversion, the LRA shall allow the conversion of the manually-issued titles into eTitles on the basis of a copy of the Owner's Duplicate of the Certificate of Title, and all issued Co-owner's Duplicate of the Certificate of Title, as the case may be, which shall be verified by an LRA Authorized Representative (the "Verified Copy"). However, the Owner's Duplicate of the Certificate of Title (and all issued Co-owner's Duplicate of the Certificate of Title) shall be surrendered to the Registry of Deeds prior to the examination of the eTitle by the LRA Partner. Should the LRA Partner fail to surrender the Owner's Duplicate of the Certificate of Title (and all issued Co-owner's Duplicate of the Certificate of Title), the eTitle shall not be approved and the same shall not have any force and effect.

SECTION 4.3. The following procedures for the conversion of manually-issued Certificates of Title through MOA-based Conversion shall be observed by the LRA Central Office and the Registries of Deeds:

a. The LRA Partner shall submit the Conversion Request Form to the LRA Central Office for the conversion of manually-issued titles registered in the name of the LRA Partner ("Own Title"), and manually-issued titles, which are not in the name of the LRA Partner but are in the LRA Partner but are in the LRA Partner's possession and custody as security collateral for loans that are already registered with the appropriate RD (the "Collateral Title"), for MOA-based Conversion under the LRA Title Upgrade Program. In the case of Collateral Titles, the LRA Partner shall indicate in the letter-request that it has obtained the consent of the Registered Owner of the title for the conversion of the same.

b. The LRA Central Office designated eTitle Processing Team shall commence the conversion of the manually-issued titles into eTitles (the "Preliminary Processing"), as follows: SDAaTC

1. An entry shall be electronically made into the EPEB-RL of the corresponding Registry of Deeds.

2. All pertinent data on the manually-issued Title shall be encoded and the corresponding annotations shall be made using the format and templates provided in the Computerized System, except for annotation already existing in the manually-issued Title, which shall be copied en toto on the resulting eTitle.

3. The resulting electronic original copy and the printed Owner's Duplicate Certificate of Title and/or Co-owner's Duplicate Certificate of Title shall bear an annotation that it was issued by virtue of this Circular, as follows:

i. For the title subject of the conversion:

 Entry No:

 Entry Date and Time:

 Certificate of Title No.: <Subject Title Number> has been DEACTIVATED by virtue of LRA Circular No.: <Number of the Circular> with subject: "PROGRAM FOR THE UPGRADE OF ALL MANUALLY-ISSUED TITLES WITHIN A 3-YEAR PERIOD", published on: <Circular Publication Date> and LRA Memorandum Order <Number of the Memorandum Order> with subject: LRA Title Upgrade Program, issued on <Memorandum Order Issue Date>, and SHALL NO LONGER BE USED IN TRANSACTION PROCESSING. Henceforth, transactions shall be processed on the basis of PHILARIS-generated <Original/Transfer/Condominium> Certificate of Title No.: <New Title Number>.

ii. For the eTitle resulting from the conversion:

 Entry No.:

 Entry Date and Time:

 Certificate of Title No.: <New Title Number> is issued based on <Original/Transfer/Condominium> Certificate Title No.: <Subject Title Number>, printed on Serial No.: <Serial No.> (if applicable), by virtue of LRA Circular No.: <Number of the Circular> with subject: "PROGRAM FOR THE UPGRADE OF ALL MANUALLY-ISSUED TITLES WITHIN A 3-YEAR PERIOD", published on: <Circular Publication Date> and LRA Memorandum Order <Number of the Memorandum Order> with subject: LRA Title Upgrade Program, issued on <Memorandum Order Issue Date>.

c. After Preliminary Processing, the LRA Central Office shall issue the corresponding assessment of the Total Assessed Fees to be paid by the LRA Partner, which shall be based on the corresponding effective rate, as published by LRA, of the following:

1. LRA Fees for the:

i. Entry into the Electronic Primary Entry Book — for each entry number issued;

ii. Issuance of Title — for each certificate of title issued;

iii. Issuance of Title — for each Additional Page of the title;

iv. Issuance of Title — for each Additional Copy of the Owner's Duplicate; and,

v. Inscription of Annotation — for the inscription of the annotation indicated in Section 4.3 (b) (3) (ii) hereof. Fees for the inscription of all other annotations as a result of the eTitle conversion shall not be charged.

2. IT Service Fees for the:

i. Issuance of Title — for each certificate of title issued and for each Additional Copy of the Owner's Duplicate; and,

ii. Printing of Annotations — for the printing of the annotation indicated in Section 4.3 (b) (3) (ii) hereof. Fees for the printing of all other annotations as a result of the eTitle conversion shall not be charged.

 All LRA fees and IT Service Fees shall be based on the rate published by the Authority. The Total Assessed Fees, net of the Preliminary Processing Fee discussed below, shall be paid by the LRA Partner in the applicable Registry of Deeds. 

d. The LRA Partner shall be requested to pay the Preliminary Processing Fee, on a per title-basis, which shall be in the amount equivalent to the:

1. LRA Fee for the issuance of Certification in the amount published by the Authority; and,

2. IT Service Fee for the Issuance of RD Certifications, in the amount published by the Authority.

e. The Preliminary Processing Fee shall be applied against the Total Fee assessed under Section 4.3 (c). Otherwise, in case where the title may not be processed further (e.g., Original (Vault) Copy cannot be located, etc.), the LRA shall issue a Certification of this fact and the Preliminary Processing Fee shall be applied against the same.

f. The LRA shall issue the appropriate Memorandum Order, which shall be sent electronically to the corresponding Registry of Deeds, and shall be the basis for the completion of the processing of the eTitles. The originally-signed Memorandum Order shall also be sent by the LRA Central Office to the Registry of Deeds. acEHCD

g. The LRA shall inform the LRA Partner of the entry of the Memorandum Order, and instruct the LRA Partner to bring to the Registry of Deeds the originals of all Owner's Duplicates of the Certificate of Title and all issued Co-owner's Duplicate of the Certificate of Title subject of the Memorandum Order, and present the same to the designated Examiner.

h. After submission of the originals of all Owner's Duplicates of the Certificate of Title and all issued Co-owner's Duplicate of the Certificate of Title subject of the Memorandum Order and all required documents the Registry of Deeds shall:

1. Verify the inputs coming from the Preliminary Processing;

2. Authenticate the submitted Owner's Duplicates of the Certificate of Title and all issued Co-owner's Duplicate of the Certificate of Title;

3. Verify title history through a 2-generation title trace-back as provided under Section 1.4 (h) hereof;

4. Approve the issuance of the eTitles;

5. Stamp on each and every page of both the original and duplicate copies of the manually-issued titles the following:

 "DEACTIVATED pursuant to LRA Circular No.: <Number of the Circular> with subject: "PROGRAM FOR THE UPGRADE OF ALL MANUALLY-ISSUED TITLE WITHIN A 3-YEAR PERIOD", published on: <Circular Publication Date>."

6. Scan the stamped original and duplicate copies of the manually-issued titles and the Memorandum Order;

7. Collect the additional fees to be paid and issue the Official Receipt for the full amount paid;

8. Print the Owner's Duplicates of the eTitles;

9. Release the eTitles to the LRA Partner Institutions' Authorized Representative, wherein the Acknowledgement Slip generated by the Computerized System shall include an advisory in case the 2-generation title trace-back as provided under Section 1.4 (h) was not successfully completed; and,

10. File all received titles and documents in the vault for safekeeping.

i. In case there is doubt in the authenticity of any of the submitted Owner's Duplicates, the Registry of Deeds shall immediately inform the LRA Central Office of such doubt, for its appropriate action, and withhold the processing of the Memorandum Order. The LRA and the LRA Partner shall thereafter jointly investigate the matter.

ARTICLE V

Procedure for the Conversion to eTitle of Titles not subject of a Transaction (Standard Conversion)

SECTION 5.1 The LRA shall allow individuals and juridical entities to have their manually-issued titles through the specified process for this purpose (the "Standard Conversion"). The rules and procedures provided below shall apply to titles that are not subject of any annotation-type transaction in the Registry of Deeds, and are not covered by the provisions of Article IV, hereof.

SECTION 5.2. The following additional rules shall apply for the conversion to eTitles of manually-issued titles subject of a Standard Conversion request from:

a. In the implementation of this Circular, and in situations where the transactor is not the Registered Owner of the property, the LRA and its Registries of Deeds shall recognize and accept the transactor as the authorized representative of the Registered Owner subject to the following conditions:

1. The transactor is in possession of the Owner's Duplicate of the Certificate of Title and all issued Co-owner's Duplicate of the Certificate of Title, as the case may be; and,

2. The transactor has secured the authorization, in the form of a notarized Special Power of Attorney, from the Registered Owner to convert the manually-issued title into an eTitle.

b. LRA shall allow the conversion of the manually-issued titles into eTitles on the basis of a copy of the Owner's Duplicate of the Certificate of Title, and all issued Co-owner's Duplicate of the Certificate of Title, as the case may be. However, the Owner's Duplicate of the Certificate of Title (and all issued Co-owner's Duplicate of the Certificate of Title) shall be surrendered by the transactor to the Registry of Deeds prior to the examination of the eTitle. Should the transactor fail to surrender the Owner's Duplicate of the Certificate of Title (and all issued Co-owner's Duplicate of the Certificate of Title), the eTitle shall not be approved and the same shall not to have any force and effect.

SECTION 5.3. The following procedure for the conversion of manually-issued Certificates of Title through Standard Conversion shall be observed by the LRA Central Office and the Registries of Deeds:

a. The transactor shall submit the Conversion Request Form and a copy of the Owner's Duplicate of the Certificate of Title to the designated LRA Receiving Outlets and pay the Preliminary Processing Fee, on a per title-basis, which shall be in the amount equivalent to the:

1. LRA Fee for the Issuance of Certification in the amount published by the Authority; and,

2. IT Service Fee for the Issuance of RD Certifications, in the amount published by the Authority.

b. The Preliminary Processing Fee shall be applied against the Total Fee assessed under Section 5.3 (h). Otherwise, in case where the title may not be processed further (e.g., Original (Vault) Copy cannot be located etc.), the LRA shall issue a Certification of this fact and the Preliminary Processing Fee shall be applied against the same.

c. The submitted copy of the Owner's Duplicate Title and all issued Co-owner's Duplicate Title shall be scanned and uploaded.

d. An entry shall be electronically made into the EPEB-RL of the corresponding Registry of Deeds.

e. All pertinent data on the manually-issued Title shall be encoded and the corresponding annotations shall be made using the format and templates provided in the Computerized System, except for annotations already existing in the manually-issued Title, which shall be copied en toto on the resulting eTitle.

f. The resulting electronic original copy and the printed Owner's Duplicate Certificate of Title and/or Co-owner's Duplicate Certificate of Title shall bear an annotation that it was issued by virtue of this Circular, as follows:

1. For the title subject of the transaction:

 Entry No.:

 Entry Date and Time:

 Certificate of Title No.: <Subject Title Number> has been DEACTIVATED by virtue of LRA Circular No.: <Number of the Circular> with subject: "PROGRAM FOR THE UPGRADE OF ALL MANUALLY-ISSUED TITLES WITHIN A 3-YEAR PERIOD", published on: <Circular Publication Date>, and SHALL NO LONGER BE USED IN TRANSACTION PROCESSING. Henceforth, transactions shall be processed on the basis of PHILARIS-generated <Original/Transfer/Condominium> Certificate of Title No.: <New Title Number>.

2. For the eTitle resulting from the transaction:

 Entry No.:

 Entry Date and Time:

 Certificate of Title No.: <New Title Number> is issued based on <Original/Transfer/Condominium> Certificate Title No.: <Subject Title Number>, printed on Serial No.: <Serial No.> (if applicable), by virtue of LRA Circular No.: <Number of the Circular> with subject: "PROGRAM FOR THE UPGRADE OF ALL MANUALLY-ISSUED TITLES WITHIN A 3-YEAR PERIOD", published on: <Circular Publication Date>.

j. *  The Total Fees to be paid by the transactor shall be assessed based on the corresponding effective rates, as published by LRA, of the following:

1. LRA Fees for the:

i. Entry into the Electronic Primary Entry Book;

ii. Registration of Deeds;

iii. Issuance of Title — for each certificate of title issued;

iv. Issuance of Title — for each Additional Page of the title;

v. Issuance of Title — for each Additional Copy of the Owner's Duplicate; and, HSAcaE

vi. Inscription of Annotation — for the inscription of the annotation indicated in Section 5.3 (f) (2) hereof. Fees for the inscription of all other annotations as a result of the eTitle conversion shall not be charged.

2. IT Service Fees for the:

i. Issuance of Title — for each certificate of title issued and for each Additional Copy of the Owner's Duplicate; and,

ii. Printing of Annotations — for the printing of the annotation indicated in Section 5.3 (f) (2) hereof. Fees for the printing of all other annotations as a result of the eTitle conversion shall not be charged.

 When applicable, the Preliminary Processing Fee shall be applied against the Total Assessed Fees, and the transactor shall be required to pay only the difference between the Total Assessed Fees and the Preliminary Processing Fee.

 All LRA Fees and IT Service Fees shall be based on the rate published by the Authority.

k. The LRA shall instruct the transactor to bring to the Registry of Deeds the originals of all Owner's Duplicates of the Certificate of Title and all issued Co-owner's Duplicate of the Certificate of Title subject of the Conversion Request, and present the same to the designated Examiner. Information on any additional fees to be paid shall also be sent.

l. After submission of the originals of all Owner's Duplicates of the Certificate of Title and all issued Co-owner's Duplicate of the Certificate of Title subject of the Conversion Request and all required documents, the Registry of Deeds shall: 

1. Verify the resulting eTitle against the vault copy on record;

2. Authenticate the submitted Owner's Duplicates of the Certificate of Title and all issued Co-owner's Duplicate of the Certificate of Title;

3. Verify title history through a 2-generation title trace-back as provided under Section 1.4 (h) hereof;

4. Approve the issuance of the eTitles;

5. Stamp on each and every page of both the original and duplicate copies of the manually-issued titles the following:

 "DEACTIVATED pursuant to LRA Circular No.: <Number of the Circular> with subject: "PROGRAM FOR THE UPGRADE OF ALL MANUALLY-ISSUED TITLES WITHIN A 3-YEAR PERIOD", published on: <Circular Publication Date>."

6. Scan the stamped original and duplicate copies of the manually-issued titles and the Memorandum Order;

7. Collect the additional fees to be paid and issue the Official Receipt for the full amount paid;

8. Print the Owner's Duplicates of the eTitles;

9. Release the eTitles to the title holder or his Authorized Representative, wherein the Acknowledgment Slip generated by the Computerized System shall include an advisory in case the 2-generation title trace-back as provided under Section 1.4 (h) was not successfully completed; and,

10. File all received titles and documents in the vault for safekeeping.

m. In case there is doubt in the authenticity of any of the submitted Owner's Duplicates, the Registry of Deeds shall immediately inform the transactor of such doubt and withhold the processing of the Conversion Request. The LRA shall thereafter investigate the matter.

ARTICLE VI

Common Provisions

SECTION 6.1. If any provision of this Circular, or any application thereof, is declared invalid or unconstitutional, the other provisions not affected thereby shall remain valid and subsisting.

SECTION 6.2. All orders, guidelines, circulars, rules and regulations inconsistent herewith, including LRA Circular No. 27-2011, LRA Circular No. 16-2014 and LRA Circular No. 22-2015, are hereby repealed or amended accordingly.

SECTION 6.3. This Circular shall take effect after fifteen (15) days from its publication in a newspaper of general circulation, the filing of three (3) copies hereof with the University of the Philippines Law Center, the implementation of which shall be subject to a Memorandum to be issued by the Administrator.

Issued January 26, 2016, Quezon City, Philippines.

Approved:

(SGD.) EULALIO C. DIAZ, IIIAdministrator

Published in The Philippine Star on January 29, 2016.