LRA speeds up upgrade for 24.5 M land titles in series of roadshows

The Land Registration Authority (LRA) has recently accelerated its efforts for a nationwide launch of the Title Upgrade Program (TUP) by holding a series of roadshows with its key stakeholders. These roadshows will serve as venues for LRA to consult and discuss with banks, real estate developers and government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) the enhancements on the security and safety of land titles when land owners upgrade their manually issued land titles into eTitles.

There are 24.5 million land titles all over the country, a fraction which are currently being converted as digitized titles.

The roadshows are set on November 22 and 29, 2017 at the Sulo Riviera Hotel, Quezon City and on November 27, 2017 at the Banker’s Association of the Philippines (BAP) office. The November 22 and 27 roadshows will target banks and financial institutions while the November 29 roadshow will cater to LRA’s partner GOCCs and real-estate developers.

“The Title Upgrade Program was launched to safeguard the security and integrity of the certificate of land title, which is the best proof of ownership over a land,” LRA Deputy Administrator Robert Nomar Leyretana said.

Leyretana adds that the program is part of LRA’s Land Titling Computerization Project (LTCP) which seeks to secure all paper documents, have them converted into digital copies and establish an electronic database parallel to the physical copy. “With this, LRA is pursuing a better way to safely store, archive and retrieve land records,” he said.

The title upgrade program is currently being implemented in 24 Registry of Deeds Offices (RDs), namely: Dagupan City, Legazpi City, Laguna, San Carlos, Batangas, Romblon, Mindoro Occidental, Catanduanes, Quezon City, Marikina City, Iloilo, Iloilo City, Cebu, Cebu City, Cotabato City, Biliran, Gingoog City, Misamis Occidental, Maguindanao, Camiguin, Lanao del Sur, Zamboanga del Sur, and Agusan del Sur.

When landowners and title holders present an annotation transaction with the RD, the manually issued titles will be automatically upgraded into an eTitle. Once digitized, the vault copy of the title will be free from the risk of theft, loss or damage. Unlike paper titles, eTitles are secured from natural and man-made disasters.

LRA intends to work with banks, real estate developers and GOCCs through a signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) to set in motion the Authority’s efforts for more efficient and reliable land registration procedures.

“We hope to forge partnerships with our stakeholders so that the public will be able to find easier access in converting their manually issued titles to eTitles,” LRA Deputy Administrator Ronald Ortile pointed out.

Through the MOA signing with its key stakeholders, millions of the manually issued titles will undergo data conversion process and be stored in LRA’s database prior to conversion to eTitles.