Revoking SPAs

Revoking SPAs – Once upon a time, a broker was in a government office to process a title transfer. Upon submitting the documents, the following conversation transpired...

Officer: "Expired na SPA nyo!" (referring to the Seller's SPA authorizing his cousin to sign on his behalf)

Broker: "Saan po naka lagay sa batas na nag-eexpire ang SPA?"

Officer: "Bakit, san ba naka lagay sa batas na hindi nag eexpire ang SPA??"

An unspoken rule of government offices is to require SPAs to be executed within 6-12 months from the date of signing. Otherwise, the SPA is considered expired. Is this correct?

If we check Chapter 4, Article 1919 of the Civil Code, which discusses how these agencies are extinguished, it does not specify the 6-12 month timeline the Officer was pertaining to. In other words, the SPA was still good.

BUT...

I understand where the Officer is coming from, and if I were the buyer, I would also require the SPA to be executed within the 6-12 month time frame. The reason for this is, how do we know the Seller has NOT revoked the SPA? It's not as if there's a database we could check, right?

See, the proper way of authorizing someone else to sell a property is to have the SPA annotated on the title.

Sec 64 of Pres. Decree 1529 states..."Any person may, by power of attorney, convey or otherwise deal with registered land, AND THE SAME SHALL BE REGISTERED WITH THE REGISTER OF DEEDS of the province or city where the land lies. Any instrument revoking such power of attorney shall be registered in like manner."

If the SPA was annotated, its revocation would be more straightforward: have another annotation revoking it. This shall serve as ample warning to any buyer.

But since we don't have SPAs annotated on titles (probably because doing so will take a long time), the 6-12 month life is advisable.