GR 97282; (August, 1991) (Digest)
G.R. No. 97282 ; August 16, 1991
ATTY. PLARIDEL M. MINGOA, petitioner, vs. LAND REGISTRATION ADMINISTRATOR, respondent.
FACTS
Petitioner executed a deed of donation in favor of his children on July 15, 1987. He forwarded the deed by registered mail to the Register of Deeds of Romblon on September 9, 1988. The office received and entered it in the primary entry book on September 20, 1988, under Entry No. 181.
The Register of Deeds suspended registration, requiring petitioner to first secure clearances from the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR). This was based on Section 6 of Republic Act No. 6657 (Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law), which provides that dispositions of private agricultural lands executed prior to the law’s effectivity on June 15, 1988, are valid only if registered within three months therefrom, or by September 13, 1988. The Land Registration Administrator sustained the Register of Deeds’ position in a resolution dated November 27, 1990.
ISSUE
Whether the date of mailing via registered mail, rather than the date of actual receipt by the Register of Deeds, should be considered the date of filing for registration under the three-month period prescribed by R.A. No. 6657 .
RULING
The Supreme Court granted the petition. The legal logic hinges on the suppletory application of procedural rules to land registration. Section 34 of Presidential Decree No. 1529 provides that the Rules of Court apply in a suppletory character to land registration cases whenever practicable. Consequently, Section 1, Rule 13 of the Rules of Court is applicable. This rule explicitly states that the date of mailing of any paper, as shown by the post office stamp or registry receipt, is considered the date of its filing in court.
Applying this by analogy, the date of mailing an instrument to the Register of Deeds for registration is deemed the date of its filing and receipt. This date, not the date of physical receipt, should be entered in the primary entry book and regarded as the date of registration under P.D. No. 1529. Since petitioner mailed the deed on September 9, 1988, this date fell within the three-month deadline ending September 13, 1988. Therefore, the donation was timely registered, and the requirement for DAR clearances under the cited proviso in R.A. No. 6657 was inapplicable. The Court set aside the LRA resolution and directed the Register of Deeds to effect the registration.