Titling and Women

As I worked on titling of public lands with local governments and DENR, I didn’t give much thought to how gender mattered in our work. Until a title distribution ceremony in Alburquerque, Bohol, when USAID Mission Director Gloria Steele noticed that most of the title claimants were women. That got me and my friends thinking about whether the percentage of women title holders has increased, what are the reasons for the increase, and whether owning titles has empowered women.

Eng’r Rhea Dealca sent me a copy of Kate Dalrymple and Brenda Batistiana’s paper, “Bringing Land and Gender Equity to the Surface”[1].  In it the authors presented data from the Department of Agrarian Reform and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) from 2003 to 2007, which said that in 2006 women received only 25% of the total number of Certificates of Land Ownership, and only 18% of leasehold contracts (for land areas exempted from agrarian reform).  From 2003 to 2007, women received only 39% of the public land patents issued by DENR were women.

This was even after DENR’s Department Administration Order No. 13 was issued in 2002. DAO 13-2002 removed gender bias in the acceptance and processing of homestead patent and other public land applications. Dalrymple and Batistiana explained that DAO 13-2002 repealed paragraph 8 of the Lands Administrative Order 7-1 (as amended), which disqualified unmarried women from applying for homestead patents. LAO7-1 also allowed married women to apply for these patents only if (a) she is living separately from her husband and is not dependent on him; (b) her husband is insane or physically incapacitated to work; and (c) her husband is in prison serving a term of such duration as would prevent him from complying with the requirement of residency or occupancy in the applied land. DAO 13-2002 changed all that; it made women, married or not, eligible to apply for patents.

Dalrymple and Batistiana also noted that Section 45 of the Property Registration Decree of 1978 requires that the names of both spouses should be included in the titling of conjugal properties.  In the case of Jocson vs Court of Appeals[2], the Supreme Court had ruled that the words “married to” in a land title merely describes the civil status of the owner and does not prove that the property is conjugally owned. Section 45 intends to clarify the conjugal ownership of properties and protects the interests of the wife.

Today the figures suggest improvements in gender awareness and empowerment in titling. While I don’t have access to national statistics, I was able to gather some Provincial level data on the number of titles issued, and how many of these titles were for women.

Eng’r Dealca ascertained from DENR records that in the Province of Bohol a total of 15,075 titles were issued in 2011.  Of those titles 40% were issued to females (6,039) titles and 60% (9,036 titles) were issued to males.

Loubert Tan, searching patent issuance records from the Office of PENRO-Cebu Richard Abella, reported that 967 Residential Free Patents have been issued since RA 10023 became law in 2010. Of the, 538 were issued to men (44%), while 538 were issued to women (56%).

I also had the good fortune of visiting Maramag, Bukidnon, which had been active in systematic adjudication since LAMP 2 (and now continues with LGU-led Titling under the provisions of DENR DAO 06-2011 and DILG MC 117-2011).  Assessor Evelyn Lantong told me that of the 1,284 land titles they helped to release, 675 were for males, 556 were for females, 8 were for spouses, and 4 were for joint heirs.

Vera Gesite, Consultant to the Mayor of Alburquerque in Bohol, conducted interviews with women title holders. She asked why it was the women who got the titles, and how it has benefited them.

Many of these women got the title by inheritance – apparently there is a tradition of leaving the land (and the ancestral home) to the youngest daughter.

The titles were used by some beneficiaries (not all) as collateral for business loans. The businesses included running a multicab (public utility vehicle), Tupperware distributorship, for retail of bulad (dried fish). One title holder took a loan to finance the training of her son, who is now employed as a seaman. Another used loan proceeds to pay for treatment for a daughter with heart ailment.

These loans ranged from 10,000.00 to 100,000.00.  These were taken out from neighbors, not financing institutions nor banks.

One beneficiary plans to build a lodging house on her property, which she can bequeath to her only son. Many beneficiaries are also planting trees (star apple, mahogany, gemelina, coconut, banana, ipil-ipil, mango, banana, ube, etc) on their property as investment. They sell the products of fruit-bearing trees.

At least one title holder is just waiting for prices to go up so she can sell one of her two lands, but most just want to pass the land on to their own children.

One lot owner said it was enough for her to feel secured about her ownership of her land.

Now in all my meetings with LGUs and DENR partners I make it a habit to bring up the gender aspect of titling. Talking about it tends to generate more awareness about how titling can empower women. And hopefully encourage our partners to take positive action to help more women get titles to their lands.

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[1] A paper presented by the authors during the 7th FIG Regional Conference, titled “Spatial Data Serving People: Land Governance and the Environment – Building the Capacity”, in Hanoi, Vietnam, on 19-22 October 2009.

[2] Agustina Jocson-Vasquez and Ernesto Vasquez; G.R. No. 55322, February 16,

1989)