Council closes down Office of the Register of Deeds

CEBU, Philippines —  The Cebu City Council has approved an ordinance abolishing the Office of the Register of Deeds.

“The Office of the Register of Deeds is hereby abolished,” Section 1 of ordinance authored by Councilor Jocelyn Pesquera reads.

The Sangguniang Panlungsod enacted City Ordinance No. 498 on October 19, 1964 creating the Office of the Register of Deeds which serves as the public depository of records of documents affecting the title of lands in the City of Cebu.

According to the ordinance, CO 498 was in contravention of Republic Act No. 1151, which created the Land Registration Commission (LRC) and conferred upon the Commissioner of the Land Registration to take direct control of the Register of Deeds (RDs) and established in every city and every province a branch registry.

“Currently, the Register of Deeds of the City of Cebu is under the jurisdiction of the Land Registration Authority and the functions of the Office of the Register of Deeds created under Ordinance No. 498 are the mandated functions of the former. Hence, it is imperative to abolish the Office of the Register of Deeds,” states the ordinance.

Section 2 provides that the vacant positions under the Office of the Register of Deeds are hereby abolished. The other positions, which are already filled up, are considered abolished once vacated.

Pesquera explained that the regular employees under the said office will still continue as regular employees until such time they will resign, retire, or be transferred to another office, still with a regular position.

“But once they will no longer be there, the position will be considered abolished,” she said.

The council’s committee on laws, ordinances, and styling, in its committee report, stated that considering that CO 498 is in conflict or inconsistent with RA 1151 and also with the subsequent law, Presidential Decree No. 1529, it is deemed repealed.

Section 7 of PD 1529 states that there shall be at least one Register of Deeds for each province and one for each city.

PD 1529 was issued in 1978 and it expressly declared that: "Section 120. Repealing Clause.-- All laws, decrees, orders, rules and regulations, or parts thereof, in conflict or inconsistent with any of the provisions of this Decree are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.” — GMR (FREEMAN)