The Department of Environment and Natural Resources relaxed its protocols on registering land titles for residential buildings in DENR Administrative Order 2025-35 this Tuesday.

The order focuses on revising guidelines stated under R.A. 10023, referred to as “An Act Authorizing the Issuance of Free Patents to Residential Lands,” in an effort to expedite the process of land titling.

It also aims to address particular policy gaps in the act’s implementation and to better administer the registration of alienable and disposable lands.

DENR Secretary Raphael M. Lotilla noted that this order seeks to assist families that have experienced extensive struggles in registering their ancestral land.

“A title is more than a document – it is stability, dignity, and protection from abuse. Our duty is to ensure that land governance is not only efficient but truly responsive to the realities ordinary Filipinos face,” he explained.

Aside from easing its protocols on land registry, the order also seeks to clearly define who qualifies as an actual occupant in order to properly accomplish the residential titling process.

Based on its definitions, an actual occupant may be identified under four particular circumstances: a person who has inherited the land and used it primarily as their residence; persons who have vacated the property because of work or marriage; a person whose occupation of the property is hindered by external factors; and persons who live within a mother lot that was subsequently subdivided.

The department also stressed that by making land titling more accessible for residents, more people would be able to receive assistance when their homes are damaged by calamities.

Under this new mandate, the timeframe for titling land is limited to a period of 120 days, with a 90-day period for deferred submission of the Land Registration Authority Certification.

It also strictly enforces that the application fee for the service be standardized at P150 to protect applicants from unexpected charges.