QuestionsQuestions (Act No. 3081)
Act No. 3081 amends Sections 17 and 18 of Act No. 2259. It introduces modifications on (1) the collection of fees of the Register of Deeds for issuance of certificates of title, and (2) the assessment, apportionment, and manner of collection of costs of proceedings, survey, and monumenting in cadastral cases.
The value of the property shall be its last assessed value; in default thereof, its market value.
They are payable to the Register of Deeds upon delivery of the titles to the owners. However, the fees may be payable to the provincial treasurer or his deputies when the Register delegates the collection by delegation.
One-tenth is borne by the Insular Government; one-tenth paid by the province; one-tenth by the city/municipality/etc. where the land is situated (with the City of Manila treated both as a province and municipality); the remaining seven-tenths are taxed by the court against each and every lot included in the cadastral proceeding and apportioned according to area.
In no case shall less than five pesos be taxed against each lot.
When, in the judgment of the provincial board, the municipality (or municipal district/township/settlement) has not sufficient funds, its share may be paid by the province.
The taxed amounts are considered a special assessment of taxes against the respective parcels and constitute a first lien upon the land.
They are collected by the Director of Lands or duly authorized representatives in equal installments within five years, bearing interest at 6% per annum. The first installment is due at the same time as general land taxes for the year next succeeding the year of the CFI decision apportioning the costs, collected in the same manner; each succeeding installment follows the corresponding year’s general land taxes.
The clerk of the court must send to the officer in charge of collection a copy of the order of apportionment of costs.
Proportional shares representing costs taxed against lots surveyed at the owner’s request and expense (with a plan other than the cadastral plan made prior to the decision), lots registered under Act No. 496 prior to the cadastral decision, and lots declared public lands by the court are not subject to lien and cannot be collected from owners.
Yes. The owner may pay any installment of the costs taxed against his lot at any time before the installment becomes due.
The vendor or his legal representatives pay the costs in their entirety if the order apportioning the costs has already been issued in the cadastral proceeding in which the property is included.
The costs of registration proceedings are a sum equivalent to 10% of the cost of survey and monumenting. The amounts taxed cover services rendered by the General Land Registration Office and the clerk or deputies in cadastral proceedings, as well as expenses of publication, mailing, and posting notices, including notices of decision and the order apportioning costs—these latter are borne by the General Land Registration Office.
Amounts collected are covered into the Insular Treasury. However, provincial or municipal governments may, in their discretion with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, assume and pay the survey, monumenting, and registration costs taxed against lots/owners; if so, payments required of owners follow the same provisions and are covered into the provincial or municipal treasury as general funds.
The Chief of the General Land Registration Office forwards a statement of collections to the Insular Auditor and Insular Treasurer. The Treasurer is authorized to pay to the General Land Registration Office a sum equal to the collected cost of proceedings, and funds are appropriated from the Insular Treasury not otherwise appropriated, credited to appropriations for the General Land Registration Office for disbursement in other cadastral registration proceedings.
The Act has retroactive effect and applies to all cadastral proceedings in which the order apportioning costs had not yet been dictated at the time of promulgation of the Act.