Going digital with land titles

Going digital has been fashionable for organizations. Yet computerization is easy if the data processed are not running into millions.

Yet, consider computerizing 25 million land titles. This is a revolution of sorts.

Speaking of changes for the better, would you believe that over the past few years, a silent revolution has been going on at the Land Registration Authority (LRA)?

The positive reforms have been taking place away from public view, because the LRA administrator has decided to keep a low profile until the objectives have been substantially if not fully achieved.

I am talking about the agency’s multibillion-peso computerization BOO (build-operate-own) project that is now complete save for the finishing touches.

As a small lot owner myself, I find this absolutely reassuring given the security that computerization guarantees for the state and the stakeholders, the landholders in particular.

The LRA’s computer network already covers 119 Register of Deeds (RDs) offices nationwide, equated to some 22.6 million out of the estimated 25 million titles converted to digital machine-readable format. The database has backup files stored in two undisclosed off-site locations “for the security of the land titles, and peace of mind for the landowners.”

I’m told among other things, that the computerization program was designed to cleanse the country’s land titling system of all shenanigans, notably the manufacture of fake titles that gave rise to land disputes which often led to costly court litigations if not bloodshed.

The computerization project basically involves the conversion of the paper-based titles produced through the old fashion and problem-laden manual operation to the digitalized format called “e-title.”

LRA administrator Eulalio Diaz III stresses that e-titles are free from damage or loss, adding that even if a register of deeds office is gutted by fire or other calamities, its data base can easily be retrieved from the mainframe computers at head office.

Neither can the data base be hacked because all its on-line registries have an access code, username, and password.

Diaz serves notice that anybody using the LRA computers can be tracked.

In the same vein, fictitious land titles and pertinent documents can easily be identified once the information is fed to the computer.

Corollary to this, the LRA has created Task Force Titulong Malinis which investigates fraudulent titles. The team reportedly enjoys broad-based support from other government agencies, including the Office of the Solicitor General for purposes of initiating cancellation proceedings against the spurious titles.

The public can also avail of the LRA’s A2A (meaning anywhere to anywhere) service whereby landowners can request for copies of their titles and other relevant information at the nearest register of deeds (RD) office, making it unnecessary for them to go to the particular RD where their documents are registered.

For instance, information stored in a RD vault in Davao City can be accessed in Quezon City, and vice versa, in a matter of minutes.

Well, that is what computerization is all about.

Diaz said, “We had an archaic system of recording personal and real properties which is no longer the effective approach of protecting the integrity and security of the Torrens system in a digital era.

“The computerization of the entire LRA operation is a necessity and the most appropriate considering that LRA is confronted with challenges providing speedy and effective services to the public and private sectors.”

And yes, the LRA no longer issues original copies of land titles in the physical or hard copy form. The original copies are retained in the data base as e-titles and an owner’s duplicate copy is delivered to the land owner.

It’s really about time we all go digital for our own good.

But I think Diaz should also devise a plan to make applying/registering for titles easy. How can the titling process be sped up and “fixers” inside concerned agencies eliminated?

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Recent visitors to Manila were my good friends Sony Robles-Florendo and her son Luis of Baltimore, Maryland. As I am wont to do with visiting friends, I took them to Sonja’s Garden in Tagaytay and Bangus Restaurant in Greenhills — two must-see-and-eat-at places for Balikbayans and Pinoys looking for good food and ambience.

Sonja’s Garden grows bigger and bigger each year, with several buildings being built for an endless and longer parade of diners. The regular menu consists of salad greens plucked from an organic garden and pasta with chicken or shrimp toppings and an array of dips (caviar, cheeses, pesto, etc.)  and a simple dessert. Sounds simple, eh? But people love it.

And what’s more, all around the garden are bows and arches of flowering and scented vines and ornamental plants. Walk farther down, and one comes upon the bed-and-breakfast section of wooden cottages with the daintiest linen from Vietnam, greenhouses, and a scented conservatory of exotic flowers. Truly, Sonja’s Garden is a tourist spot.

Bangus Restaurant (found in Greenhills and at the MOA Mall) is another favorite. Owned by the De Mesa sisters Erlinda, Diana and Ruby, it offers home-cooked dishes, from crispy pata to bulalo, to inihaw na baboy and many bangus recipes (sizzling belly, lumpia, crisp bangus skin, crisp belly, paksiw, etc.) and prawns in a bed of aligue, chicken relleno, pinakbet, and for dessert, tibok-tibok, halo-halo and leche flan.

I took Sony and Luis and Sony’s sisters Nitz and Agnes to Bangus because they themselves are excellent cooks, particularly Sony for her exquisite appreciation and promotion of Philippine cuisine. Sony liked Bangus’ food, and gave a grade of A-1 to its presentation of the dishes we ordered and devoured with gusto.  

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And who is Sony? Throughout her career in the US and the Philippines, she has been an advocate for the international promotion of Philippine cuisine. In October 2007, she received a prestigious award from the Filipina Women’s Network, a national organization, as one of the 100 Most Influential Filipina women in the USA, in the category of Founders and Pioneers. Cited among her accomplishments were her efforts through her family restaurant group in Baltimore, to promote Philippine cuisine to the global community, starting with mainstream America. She furthers this mission through her book, Signature Dishes of the Philippines, copies of which are available at National Bookstores.

From the 1970s to the 1990s, Sony and her son Luis, who has a degree in hotel administration from Cornell University, ran their group of Philippine restaurants in Maryland. Food critics rated her flagship, Sony’s Philippine Asian Restaurant, with 4 stars.

As a result of the restaurant’s visibility in the food community, Sony was also recruited to do research and product development work in the Philippines and the US for the food industry and USAID.

Sony was senior nutritionist and assistant director for the Baltimore City Health Department’s Women, Infant, and Children Nutritional Program. She earned her bachelor’s degree in nutrition and dietetics from the University of the Philippines.

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