TORREVILLAS
There are 24.5 million land titles all over the country, a fraction of which are currently being converted as digitized titles. The roadshows are meant to accelerate conversion from physical paper land titles to their digitized equivalents – which will achieve security and safety of land titles.
A significant percentage of land owners who opted for the digitized titles now feel secure with documents that certify their ownership of their lands. This is true for individuals, as this is also true for corporate land owners.
The road shows are set on Nov. 22 and 29 at the Sulo Riviera Hotel, Quezon City.
On Nov. 27, the roadshows will be held at the Bankers’ Association of the Philippines (BAP) office. The Nov. 22 and 27 roadshows will target banks and financial institutions while the Nov. 29 roadshow will orient LRA’s partner GOCCs and real-estate developers on the advantages of switching to e-titles.
LRA Deputy Administrator Robert Nomar Leyretana told me that the Title Upgrade Program was launched “to safeguard the security and integrity of the certificate.” It is after all the “best proof of ownership over a piece of land,” he pointed out.
The Title Upgrade is actually part of LRA’s Land Titling Computerization Project (LTCP). Storing our land titles in cyberspace will truly secure all paper documents, have them converted into digital copies and establish an electronic database parallel to the physical copy.
The good news is LRA’s title upgrade program is currently being implemented in 24 Registry of Deeds offices (RDs), namely: Dagupan City, Legaspi 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.
The process is simple. Landowners and title holders should present an annotation transaction with the Register of Deeds. Then, 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 is now working with banks, real estate developers and GOCCs, after signing a memorandum of agreement to set in motion the 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.
Ortile said the eTitle will contain exactly the same information as that of the manually issued title including both the names of the Registrar who issued the manually issued title and the eTitle itself.
Ahardcopyofthenewowner’sduplicateand/orco-owner’s duplicate copies of the eTitle shall then be issued when conversion is completed.
Leyretana added: “The title upgrade program is for the general public as well, since this will accelerate the process for GOCCs and real-estate developers.”
On this growing advocacy to make land governance in this country – and in other countries – favorable to our women, let our policy makers and legislators work on the details of such a policy move.
* * * Email: dominitorrevillas@gmail.com