Section 1. The Director of Lands is hereby authorized to
assigned to the private surveyors such cadastral surveys as may have
been ordered by the Governor General, whenever such measure is required
for the prompt adjudication of the title to said land: Provided,
however, That before making such assignment, the Director of Lands
shall satisfy himself:
(a) That such private surveyors have incorporated
under Act Numbered Fourteen hundred and fifty-nine and that on the
board of directors of such corporations there are at least three
private surveyors who have practiced for an uninterrupted period of
five years prior to the making of such assignment, competent and able
to conduct and carry out a cadastral survey under this Act, in
accordance with the rules, technical requirements and standard of the
Bureau of Lands: Provided, That it shall not be necessary for the
purpose of this Act that all the members of the board of directors,
other officers and stockholders of the corporation be private surveyors.
(b) That said corporation of private surveyors has
filed with the municipal council the proper cadastral project, together
with the amount, conditions and terms of paying their fees, and that
the same has been sanctioned and approved by said municipal council and
by the provincial board concerned, and endorsed to the
Governor-General, thorough the Director of Lands, recommending the
project as reasonable and the amount, conditions, and terms of payment
of the fees are equitable: Provided, however, That in case of cadastral
survey previously requested by the municipal council under Act Numbered
Twenty-two hundred and fifty-nine and authorized by the
Governor-General prior to the approval of this Act, the approval of the
Director of Lands of the amount, conditions and terms of payment of the
fees contained in such cadastral projects, submitted to the Director of
Lands by a corporation of private surveyors, shall be sufficient in
order that said Director of Lands may make the assignment of such
cadastral survey requested prior this Act.
(c) That said corporation of private surveyors has
given a bond satisfactory to the Director of Lands, in an amount
representing not less than ten per centum of the estimated cost of the
cadastral project to be made under this Act, to guarantee the faithful
execution of the work by the said corporation and to cover the cost of
any correction work that may have to be done by the Bureau of Lands.
Sec. 2. The fees for surveys made by a corporation
of private surveyors in accordance with this Act shall constitute a
first lien on the land of the occupants or claimants the payment of
which shall be obligatory for each of them, in conformity with the
terms of the project concerned: Provided, however, That none of the
provisions of this section shall be construed to oblige the Government
to pay fees to corporation of private surveyors for surveys of public
lands surrounded by private lands claimed in the same cadastral
proceedings: Provided, further, That the provisions of section eighteen
of Act Numbered Twenty-two hundred and fifty-nine, as amended, shall
not be applicable to cadastral projects made in accordance with the
provisions of this Act, except so far as the cost of the judicial
registration proceedings is concerned.
Sec. 3. The municipal treasurer in municipalities
where cadastral surveys are made under this Act are made ex-officio
delegates of the Director of Lands, for the collection of the fees
specified in any cadastral project and it shall be their duty to make
the occupants or claimants of the land pay such fees, subject to the
terms prescribed in said project, and the funds so collected shall be
paid into the Insular Treasury, in accordance with the usual procedure,
and during the first five days of each month a statement of the moneys
collected during the preceding month shall be forwarded to the Director
of Lands: Provided, however, That for delinquent payments the procedure
shall be same as the used for delinquent land taxes: And provided,
further, That with regard to the amount of the fees as well as that of
the penalties, the municipal treasurers shall follow the instructions
of the Director of Lands regarding the matter of computing them, as
hereinafter provided. The Insular Treasurer, upon the certificate of
the Director of Lands, shall pay the sums collected in accordance with
the terms and conditions of the contract, to the corporation of
surveyors to whom the cadastral survey was assigned.
Sec. 4. The Director of Lands is hereby authorized
to issue regulations for observance by the municipal treasurers,
subject to the approval of the Insular Auditor, in the rendering of the
proper accounts to his Bureau, in accordance with section three of this
Act, particularly concerning the manner of computing fees and penalties
in conformity with the terms stipulated in the project as sanctioned
and approved by the municipal council concerned or the Director of
Lands, as the case may be.
Sec. 5. Corporations of private surveyors to which
the execution of any cadastral survey has been delegated under this Act
are hereby strictly prohibited from collecting any money for cadastral
survey fees from the occupants or claimants of land within the
cadastral zone. The violation of this prohibition shall be sufficient
cause, upon its being proved, for the cancellation of the assignment of
the project to the corporation and the forfeiture of the bond furnished
under section one, sub-section (c) of this Act.
Sec. 6. There is hereby appropriated, out of any
funds in the Insular Treasury not otherwise appropriated a sum not to
exceed one hundred thousand pesos, which shall be at the disposal of
the Director of Lands, for the making of loans in cases of duly
established necessity and in the manner hereinafter prescribed,
exclusively to corporations of private surveyors formed in accordance
with this Act, in order to aid the same in the completion of the survey
work on a cadastral project or projects being executed by such
corporations.
Sec. 7. The Director of Lands is hereby authorized
to grant loans to corporations of private surveyors to whom cadastral
surveys have been assigned in accordance with this Act, out of the fund
created by the preceding section, with legal interest, on the security
of the fees computed, collected, and to be collected by the municipal
treasurers from the occupants or claimants of the lots included in
cadastral proceedings submitted to and approved by the Bureau of Lands:
Provided, That such loans shall not in any case exceed seventy-five per
centum of the total of such fees collected and outstanding, as provided
in this section, and shall be repaid with the fees collected and to be
collected by said municipal treasurers in connection with said
cadastral proceedings.
Sec. 8. Upon the approval by the Director of Lands
of any cadastral survey made under this Act in which the fees collected
by the municipal treasurer are not subject to any guarantee given by
the corporation of surveyors, it shall be the duty of said Director of
Lands to give orders for the payment of such fees, upon request, to the
corporation concerned, and the monthly payment of the monies being
collected until completion of the payment of the fees pertaining to the
cadastral survey or surveys not encumbered by any loan.
Sec. 9. Thirty days after publication of the
inception of a cadastral survey in accordance with this Act, it shall
be obligatory for every occupant or claimant of land included within
the cadastral zone to cooperate in the monumenting of the corners of
each lot or part thereof occupied or claimed by him, with concrete
monuments to be furnished by the local cadastral office, under the
direction and supervision of a surveyor or surveyors of said office or
their assistants.
Sec. 10. All provisions of Act Numbered Twenty-two
hundred and fifty-nine not inconsistent herewith shall be applicable to
the execution of any cadastral survey made in accordance with this Act.
Sec. 11. The Director of Lands shall exercise
strict supervision over the field and office work of such cadastral
surveys to assure faithful compliance with all provisions of law and
the regulations of the Bureau of Lands.
Sec. 12. Act Numbered Twenty-nine hundred and
eighty-nine is hereby repealed: Provided, however, That the present Act
shall not apply to private cadastral surveys being made at the time of
its approval until their completion, unless the private surveyors in
charge of such cadastral surveys incorporate in accordance with the
provisions of this Act.
Sec. 13. This Act shall take effect on its
approval.
Approved: December 6, 1926
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