REPUBLIC ACT NO. 440 - AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION FORTY-FOUR OF ACT NUMBERED FOUR HUNDRED AND NINETY-SIX, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE LAND REGISTRATION ACT.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress assembled:

SECTION 1. Section forty-four of Act Numbered Four hundred and ninety-six, is hereby amended to read as follows :

"SEC. 44. A registered owner of several distinct parcels of land embraced in a single certificate of title desiring to have in lieu thereof several new certificates each containing one or more parcels, may file a petition for that purpose with the register of deeds, and this officer, upon the surrender of the owner's duplicate, shall cancel it and its original and issue in lieu thereof the desired new certificates. So a registered owner of several distinct parcels of land in separate certificates desiring to have in lieu thereof a single certificate for the whole land or several certificates for the different portions thereof, may file a petition with the register of deeds, and this officer, upon the surrender of the owner's duplicates, shall cancel them and their originals and issue in lieu thereof new ones as requested.

"Any owner subdividing a tract of registered land into tots shall file with the Chief of the General Land Registration Office a subdivision plan of such land on which all boundaries, streets and passageways, if any, shall be distinctly and accurately delineated. If no streets or pas-sageways are indicated or no alteration of the perimeter of the land is made, and it appears that the land as subdivided does not need of them and that the plan has been approved by the Chief of the General Land Registration Office, or by the Director of Lands as provided in section fifty-eight of this Act, the register of deeds may issue new certificates of title for any lot in accordance with said subdivision plan. If there are streets and/or passageways, no new certificates shall be issued until said plan has been approved by the Court of First Instance of the province or city in which the land is situated. A petition for that purpose shall be filed by the registered owner, and the court after notice and hearing, and after considering the report of the Chief of the General Land Registration Office, may grant the petition, subject to the condition, which shall be noted on the proper certificate, that no portion of any street or passageway so delineated on the plan shall be closed or otherwise disposed of by the registered owner without approval of the court first had, or may render such judgment as justice and equity may require.

"A registered owner desiring to consolidate several lots into one or more, requiring new technical description, shall file with the Chief of the General Land Registration Office a plan on which shall be shown the lots to be affected, as they are before, and as they will appear after the consolidation. Upon the surrender of the owners duplicate certificate or certificates and the receipt of proper authority from the Chief of the General Land Registration Office, the register of deeds concerned shall cancel the old certificates and issue a new one for the consolidated lot or lots." SEC. 2. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

Approved, June 7, 1950.