LRA’s Philaris promises better land title registration

The computerization of the land titling operation of the Land Registration Authority (LRA) dubbed as Philippine Land Registration and Information System (PHILARIS) could be the answer to the problems plaguing the land administration system in the country. Once LRA’s Philaris is in place nationwide, the public can register land transfer titles in two hours or less – without paying fixer’s fee!

Studies show that the government has lost about P100 billion in potential revenues in the last decade of the 20th century allegedly due to corruption and red tape. Indeed, the bureaucratic processes involved in the registration of land transfers and the issuance of land titles result in poor turnout of land-related transactions. This means lost revenues for the government. The sheer number of land administration agencies that the public has to deal with and the multiple land titling and land transfers processes are enough reasons why, sometimes, the public opts not to document land transfer transactions in accordance with the existing land administration systems and laws.

The policy studies undertaken by national and international advisers on land administration under the auspices of the Philippines-Australia Land Administration and Management Project (AP-LAMP) report that the essential prerequisite for the operation of efficient and equitable land markets is an efficient land titling and registration system. The integration report of the policy studies stresses that it is the poorer sections of the community that absorb the costs of a dysfunctional land administration system and the informal transactions associated with it.

Recognizing the institutional and structural defects in land administration, LRA relentlessly pursues the implementation of its PHILARIS throughout the country. PHILARIS will, among others, ensure faster and more reliable process of land registration and titling, preserve accurate land information and records, link all levels of the LRA with the Central Office (CO), 16 Regional Registries of Deeds and 162 Registries of Deeds through a nationwide integrated computerization, and provide other sectors online and real time access to historical data and other knowledge bases for land titling and registration in various information formats for decision-making.

With the implementation of PHILARIS, LRA hopes to accomplish its mission to preserve the stability and integrity of land ownership and maintain the public trust and confidence in the Torrens System so as to achieve social and economic well-being and contribute to national development.

Work on LRA’s PHILARIS is in progress. LRA’s private sector prroject partner, the Land Registration Systems, Inc. (LARIS), has completed the project’s site and support facilities development phase for the registries of deeds of Quezon City and Parañaque City. Civil works for the Cebu City Registry of Deeds are ongoing. The data conversion and database build-up processes for certificates of title, supporting documents and municipal/provincial index maps have likewise been finished while survey and GIS layer database build-up is expected to be completed soon.