Section 1. There is created a corporation composed of five persons to be known
as "National Land Settlement Administration." They shall act as members
of the Board of Directors in charge of the management of the
Corporation and shall be appointed every three years by the President
of the Philippines, with the consent of the Commission on Appointments
of the National Assembly. The Corporation shall enjoy the general
powers mentioned in the Corporation Law, shall be subject to the
provisions thereof insofar as the same are compatible with the
provisions of this Act, and for attaining the purposes of the same, may
perform any act which a corporation, co-partnership, or natural person
is authorized to perform under the laws existing or which may be
hereafter enacted. This Corporation shall have its main office in the
City of Manila.
Section 2. The Corporation shall serve as an agency of
the Commonwealth Government for the attainment of the following
objectives:
(a) To facilitate the acquisition, settlement and
cultivation of lands whether acquired from the Government or from
private parties;
(b) To afford opportunity to own farms to tenant
farmers and small farmers from congested areas, and to trainees who
have completed the prescribed military training.
(c) To encourage migration to sparsely populated
regions, and facilitate the amalgamation of the people in different
sections of the Philippines.
(d) To develop new money crops to take the place of
the present export crops which may suffer from the loss of preferences
which they enjoy in the American market.
Section 3. To carry out these purposes, the
Corporation shall have the following powers:
(a) To hold without limitation as to area public
agricultural lands for a period not exceeding twenty-five years,
renewable by the President of the Philippines for another period of not
exceeding twenty-five years;
(b) To recommend to the. President of the Philippines
the reservation of public lands, preferably those situated along
national highways, and to provide for the clearing, breaking, and
cultivation of the lands so reserved for subsistence farming, or for
money crops, or for both, on a cooperative basis or under such
arrangements as may prove beneficial to the settlers, and for their
survey into convenient lots, and to set aside such area or areas as may
be deemed desirable for townsites, roads, government building sites,
parks, and other public improvements. The expenses incurred in
connection with the survey and subdivision of lots for allotment to
settlers or for their initial cultivation shall be chargeable to the
fund herein appropriated and shall be prorated among the lots of the
subdivisions and charged against the corresponding
settlers.
(c) To dispose of the lands so reserved, held,
surveyed, or subdivided to persons qualified under the Constitution and
the Public Land Act and who possess such other qualifications as may be
prescribed by the Board of Directors. The disposition and final grant
of the land shall be made subject to the limitations prescribed in the
Constitution and the Public Land Act and to the compliance of all
conditions as may be imposed by the Board of Directors. Within a period
of ten years after such final grant, the land shall not, except by
inheritance, be encumbered, alienated or transferred, nor shall it
become liable to the satisfaction of any debt contracted, prior to the
expiration of said period; but the improvements or crops on the land
may be mortgaged or pledged to the credit agencies created under the
provisions of this Act. No settler shall be entitled to hold a lot more
than twenty-four hectares, and no officer or employee of the
corporation shall be permitted to acquire, directly or indirectly, any
land within the reservation, unless with the specific approval of the
Board of Directors in each case. The applicants shall be recruited from
all provinces in proportion to their respective population, and in case
a province shall not be able to fill the quota assigned; the unfilled
portion of the quota may be covered from other provinces having greater
number of applicants.
(d) To acquire from private parties those lands that
are necessary to enable it to carry out the purposes for which it is
created, for roads, highways, streets, and avenues, or those private
lands surrounded by or adjacent to the public land acquired by the
corporation.
(e) To make contracts and. enter into such
arrangements or contracts as it may consider convenient and
advantageous to the common interest of the settlers and the Government
for the development, exploitation, and operation of any of its
properties;
(f) To establish and operate credit agencies to
extend credit to the settlers upon the security of rights acquired by
them as settlers on the crops raised or improvements made by them. The
rate of interest on such loan shall not exceed six per centum per annum.
(g) To establish and operate electric light and water
plants, water supplies, irrigation systems, trading stores or
cooperatives to engage in the buying and selling of commodities and
other services or improvements which in the judgment of the Board will
promote the well-being of the settlers;
(h) To act as agent, broker, commission merchant, or
representative of the settlers in the marketing of the products raised
or made by such settlers;
(i) To borrow, issue bonds, or otherwise raise funds
for carrying out the objects of this corporation, whenever it is deemed
necessary for the interest of the settlers, giving its property as
security therefor;
(j) To engage in manufacturing, milling, lumbering,
retailing, and in such business enterprises or industries as may be
necessary and desirable to insure the success of the land settlement
projects;
(k) To adopt such uniform rules and regulations as
may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act.
Section 4. The Board of Directors shall elect its
chairman from among its members. Three members of the board shall
constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. The members, if
not Government officials or employees, shall each receive such per
diems as may be determined by the board, not to exceed thirty pesos for
each day of meeting actually attended by them.
Section 5. Subject to the approval of the President of
the Philippines, the board shall appoint a manager and fix his
compensation, which shall not exceed eighteen thousand pesos per annum.
The Manager shall, subject to the approval of the board, appoint such
technical, clerical, and other employees as may be necessary: Provided,
That all appointments for positions with compensation of two thousand
four hundred pesos per annum or more shall be subject to the approval
of the President of the Philippines.
Section 6. The capital of the corporation shall be
twenty million pesos, to. be subscribed by the Government of the
Commonwealth of the Philippines.
Section 7. There are appropriated out of the proceeds
of the coconut oil excise tax or out of any other available funds in
the Philippine Treasury such sums as may be necessary to pay for such
part or parts of the capital as may be required from time to time by
the Board of Directors with the approval of the President of the
Philippines, but the aggregate value of which shall not exceed four
million pesos in any one year.
Section 8. The corporation shall submit its annual
report and balance sheet to the President of the Philippines and the
National Assembly as provided for in sections five hundred and
seventy-four to five hundred and seventy-seven, inclusive, of the
Administrative Code.
Section 9. This Act shall take effect upon its
approval.
Approved: June 3, 1939. |