AFP MUTUAL BENEFIT ASSOCIATION V. SANTIAGO (REMEDIAL, CIVIL)

The NOTICE OF LEVY ON ATTACHMENT in favor of petitioner may be annotated on the title. Levin v. Bass provided the distinction between voluntary registration and involuntary registration.

In Voluntary Registration, such as sale, mortgage, lease, etc, if the owner's duplicate certificate be not surrendered and presented or if no payment of registration fees be made within 15 days, entry in the day book of the deed of sale does not operate to convey and affect the land sold.

In Involuntary Registration, such as an attachment, levy upon execution, lis pendens, etc, entry thereof in the day book is a sufficient notice to all persons of such adverse claim.

Under the Property Registration Decree (PD 1529), the act of registration is the operative act to convey or affect the land insofar as third persons are concerned. Constructive notice is also created upon registration or every conveyance, mortgage, lease, lien, attachment, order, judgment, instrument, or entry affecting registered land.

In this case, the preference created by the levy on attachment is not diminished by the subsequent registration of the prior sale to respondent. The attachment that was registered before the sale takes precedence over the latter. Superiority and preference in rights are given to the registration of the levy on attachment; although the notice of attachment has not been noted on the certificate of title, its notation in the book of entry of the Register of Deeds produces all the effects which the law gives to its registration or inscription.

Respondent cannot be considered an innocent purchaser for value. Under the rule of notice, it is presumed that the purchaser has examined every instrument of record affecting the title. Such presumption is irrebutable. He is presumed to know every fact shown by the record and to know every fact which an examination of the record would have disclosed. This presumption cannot be overcome by proof of good faith or innocence. Otherwise, the very purpose and object of the law requiring a record would be destroyed.

The rule that all persons must take notice of the facts which the public record contains is a rule of law. The rule must be absolute; any variation would lead to endless confusion and useless litigation. For these reasons, a declaration from the court that respondent was in bad faith is not necessary in order that the notice of levy on attachment may be annotated on the title.

The fact that the notice of levy on attachment was not annotated on the original title on file in the Register of Deeds, which resulted in its non-annotation on the title, should not prejudice petitioner. As long as the requisites required by law in order to effect attachment are complied with and the appropriate fees duly paid, attachment is duly perfected. The attachment already binds the land. This is because what remains to be done lies not within the petitioner's power to perform but is a duty incumbent solely on the Register of Deeds.

In this case, since the respondent refuses to surrender the owner's duplicate certificate so that the attachment lien may be annotated, a court order is necessary in order to compel the respondent to surrender her title. As a rule, the functions of the Register of Deeds are generally regarded as ministerial and said officer has no power to pass upon the legality of an order issued by a court of justice.