Section 52. Constructive notice upon registration.

Every conveyance, mortgage, lease, lien, attachment, order, judgment, instrument or entry affecting registered land shall, if registered, filed or entered in the office of the Register of Deeds for the province or city where the land to which it relates lies, be constructive notice to all persons from the time of such registering, filing or entering. INVOLUNTARY DEALINGS Section 69. Attachments. An attachment, or a copy of any writ, order or process issued by a court of record, intended to create or preserve any lien, status, right, or attachment upon registered land, shall be filed and registered in the Registry of Deeds for the province or city in which the land lies, and, in addition to the particulars required in such papers for registration, shall contain a reference to the number of the certificate of title to be affected and the registered owner or owners thereof, and also if the attachment, order, process or lien is not claimed on all the land in any certificate of title a description sufficiently accurate for identification of the land or interest intended to be affected. A restraining order, injunction or mandamus issued by the court shall be entered and registered on the certificate of title affected, free of charge. Section 74. Enforcement of liens on registered land. Whenever registered land is solved on execution, or taken or sold for taxes or for any assessment or to enforce a lien of any character, or for any costs and charges incident to such liens, any execution or copy of execution, any officer's return, or any deed, demand, certificate, or affidavit, or other instrument made in the course of the proceedings to enforce such liens and required by law to be recorded, shall be filed with the Register of Deeds of the province or city where the land lies and registered in the registration book, and a memorandum made upon the proper certificate of title in each case as lien or encumbrance.

Registration
The act of registration shall be the operative act to convey or affect the land insofar as third persons are concerned, and in all cases under this Decree, the regsitration shall be made in the office of the Registrar of Deeds for the province or city where the land lies ( Sec. 51, 2nd par., P.D. 1529)

The act of registration creates constructive notice to the whole world of the fact of such conveyance. (Quilisadio vs. Court of Appeals, 1990, 182 SCRA 401 citing Heirs of Maria Marasigan vs. Intermediate Appellate Court, 1987, 152 SCRA 253). Where a party has knowledge of a prior existing interest which is unregistered at the time he acquired a right to the same land, his knowledge of the prior unregistered interest has the effect of registration as to him. The Torrens systme cannot be used as a shield for the commission of a fraud (Gustilo vs. Maravilla, 48 Phil 442). The law on registration does not require that only valid instruments shall be registered. Registration must first be allowed and the validity or effect be litigated afterwards. The purpose of registration is merely to give notice ( Gurbax Singh, Pablo & Co., et al. vs. Reyes et. al., 92 Phil 177 (1952)). The rule is well-established that registration in a public registry is a notice to the whole world. The record is constructive notice of its contents as well as all interests, legal and equitable, included therein. All persons are charged with knowledge of what it contains (People vs. Reyes, 1989, 175 SCRA 597, citing Legarda and Prieto vs. Saleeby 1915, 31 Phil 590, Garcia vs. Court of Appeals, G.R. Nos. L-48971 and 49011, January 22, 1980, 95 SCRA 380.) Registration means any entry made in the books of the registry including the cancellation, annotation and even the marginal notes. In its strict sense, it is the entry made in the registry which records solemnly and permanently the rights of ownership and other real rights (page 1, Register of Deeds' Manual of Registration). However, not all claims and alleged rights of ownership are registrable. Only those which prove to be supported by factual documents and based on existing rights, interest and claims are registrable. ( LRA Consulta No. 3119)

The Court has steadfastly adhered to the governing principle set forth in Sections 51 and 52 of Presidential Decree No. 1529:
[13]

SEC. 51. Conveyance and other dealings by registered owner. - An owner of registered land may convey, mortgage, lease, charge or otherwise deal with the same in accordance with existing laws. He may use such forms of deeds, mortgages, leases or other voluntary instruments as are sufficient in law. But no deed, mortgage, lease, or other voluntary instrument, except a will purporting to convey or affect registered land shall take effect as a conveyance or bind the land, but shall operate only as a contract between the parties and as evidence of authority to the Registry of Deeds to make registration. The act of registration shall be the operative act to convey or affect the land insofar as third persons are concerned, and in all cases under this Decree, the registration

shall be made in the office of the Register of Deeds for the province or the city where the land lies. SEC. 52. Constructive notice upon registration. - Every conveyance, mortgage, lease, lien, attachment, order, judgment, instrument or entry affecting registered land shall, if registered, filed or entered in the office of the Register of Deeds for the province or city where the land to which it relates lies, be constructive notice to all persons from the time of such registering, filing or entering.(Italics supplied) As the property in this case was covered by the torrens system, the registration of Strongholds attachment was the operative act that gave validity to the transfer and created a lien upon the land in favor of respondent.
[14] [15]

Dispensing the surrender of the owner's duplicate copy of title

Section 80 of Presidential Decree No. 1529, provides: "Every court rendering judgment in favor of the plaintiff affecting registered land shall, upon petition of said plaintiff, order any parties before it to execute for registration any deed or instrument necessary to give effect to the judgment, and shall require theregistered owner to deliver his duplicate certificate to plaintiff or to the Register of Deeds to be cancelled or to have a memorandum annotated upon it." While Section 80 requires that the herein registered owner first surrender herduplicate certificates of title for cancellation, in Toledo Banaga vs Court of Appeals in G.R. No. 127941 (302 SCRA 331) the Supreme Court ruled that " as part of the execution process, it is ministerial function of the Register of Deeds to comply with the decison of the court to issue a title and register a property in the name of a certain person when the decision had attained finality... the formality that the registered owner first surrenders her duplicate certificate of title for cancellation per Section 80 of Presidential Decree No. 1529 bears no merit x x x If execution cannot be held just because the losing party will not surrender her titles, the entire proceeding in the courts, not to say the efforts, expenses and time of the parties, would be rendered nugatory." (LRA Consulta No. 3358 dated June 11, 2002)

THE LOWER COURT ERRED IN INTERPRETING SECTION 70 OF P.D. NO. 1529 IN SUCH WISE ON THE GROUND THAT IT VIOLATES PETITIONERS SUBSTANTIAL RIGHT TO DUE PROCESS. In the case of Landig vs. U.S. Commercial Co., 89 Phil 638 it was held that where a sale is recorded later than an attachment, although the former is of an earlier date, the sale must give way to the attachment on the ground that the act of registration is the

operative act to affect the land. A similar ruling was restated in Campillo vs. Court of Appeals (129 SCRA 513). xxx xxx xxx

The reason for these rulings may be found in Section 51 of P.D. 1529, otherwise known as the Property Registration Decree, which provides as follows: Section 51. Conveyance and other dealings by the registered owner.- An owner of registered land may convey, mortgage, lease, charge, or otherwise deal with the same in accordance with existing laws. He may use such forms of deeds, mortgages, leases or other voluntary instruments as are sufficient in law. But no deed, mortgage, lease or other voluntary instrument, except a will purporting to convey or affect registered land shall take effect as a conveyance or bind the land, but shall operate only as a contract between the parties and as evidence of authority to the Register of Deeds to make registration. The act of registration shall be the operative act to convey or affect the land in so far as third persons are concerned, and in all cases under the Decree, the registration shall be made in the office of the Register of Deeds for the province or city where the land lies. (Italics supplied by the lower court.)
Under the Torrens system, registration is the operative act which gives validity to the transfer or creates a lien upon the land. A person dealing with registered land is not required to go behind the register to determine the condition of the property. He is only charged with notice of the burdens on the property which are noted on the face of the register or certificate of title.

This can be deduced from the pertinent provision of the Rules of Court, to wit: Section 16. Effect of levy on execution as to third persons- The levy on execution shall create a lien in favor of the judgment creditor over the right, title and interest of the judgment debtor in such property at the time of the levy, subject to liens or encumbrances then existing. (Italics supplied) To hold otherwise would be to deprive petitioners of their property, who waited a long time to complete payments on their property, convinced that their interest was amply protected by the inscribed adverse claim.
Thus, the claim of the private respondent that the sale executed by the spouses was made in fraud of creditors has no basis in fact, there being no evidence that the

petitioners had any knowledge or notice of the debt of the Uychocdes in favor of the private respondents, nor of any claim by the latter over the Uychocdes properties or that the same was involved in any litigation between said spouses and the private respondent. While it may be stated that good faith is presumed, conversely, bad faith must be established by competent proof by the party alleging the same. Sans such proof, the petitioners are deemed to be purchasers in good faith, and their interest in the subject property must not be disturbed. At any rate, the Land Registration Act (Property Registration Decree) guarantees to every purchaser of registered land in good faith that they can take and hold the same free from any and all prior claims, liens and encumbrances except those set forth on the Certificate of Title and those expressly mentioned in the ACT as having been preserved against it. Otherwise, the efficacy of the conclusiveness of the Certificate of Title which the Torrens system seeks to insure would be futile and nugatory.[38] De Jesus vs. City of
Manila, 29 Phil. 73; Fule, et al. vs. De Legare, supra.