Section 1. The President of the Philippines is authorized to acquire private
lands or any interest therein, through purchase or expropriation, and
to subdivide the same into home lots or small farms for resale at
reasonable prices and under such conditions as he may fix to their bona
fide tenants or occupants or to private individuals who will work the
lands themselves and who are qualified to acquire and own lands in the
Philippines.
Section 2. The President may designate any department,
bureau, office, or instrumentality of the National Government, or he
may organize a new agency to carry out the objectives of this Act. For
this purpose, the agency so created or designated shall be considered a
public corporation.
Section 3. The corporation shall have power:
(a) To make small loans to farmers to finance the
operations of their farms;
(b) To organize, finance and manage farmers'
cooperatives;
(c) To do any and all things that may be necessary to
carry out the purposes of the corporation.
Section 4. The President shall pay for the lands
acquired in accordance with the provisions of this Act, in cash or by
installments, out of the funds made available under this Act, or with
the proceeds of the bonds issued in accordance with the provisions of
section six of this Act.
Section 5. The amounts appropriated under Commonwealth
Act Numbered Twenty, as amended by Commonwealth Act Numbered Three
hundred and seventy-eight, as amended by Commonwealth Act Numbered Four
hundred and twenty, are made available for the purposes of this Act.
Section 6. In case the amounts appropriated in section
five hereof are not sufficient to carry out the provisions of this Act,
the President is authorized to issue in the name and on behalf of the
Government of the Philippines, bonds to be known as "Social Security
Bonds," in an amount not exceeding twenty million pesos payable in
fifty years. The President shall determine the form of the bonds, the
date of issue thereof, and the rates and dates of payment of the
interest thereon, which rate shall not be in excess of five per centum
per annum. The bonds shall be registered in the Treasury of the
Philippines, where the principal and interest shall be payable in
Philippine currency or its equivalent in the United States currency at
the time of the payment, in the discretion of the Secretary of Finance.
The President of the Philippines is further authorized to sell said
bonds in the Philippines, only at a public auction through the
Treasurer of the Philippines upon such terms and conditions as in his
judgment are most favorable to the Government of the Philippines, and
he shall deposit the proceeds of the sale thereof with the Treasurer of
the Philippines, and use the same for the payment of lands acquired
under this Act, and for the carrying out of the purposes of the said
Act.
Section 7. The bonds authorized to be issued under
this Act shall be exempt from taxation by the Government of the
Philippines or any political subdivision thereof, and subject to the
provisions of the Act of Congress, approved March twenty-four, nineteen
hundred and thirty-four, otherwise known as the Tydings-McDuffie Act,
as amended, which facts shall be stated upon the face of said
bonds.
Section 8. A sinking fund is created for the payment
of the bonds issued under the provisions of this Act, in such manner
that the total amount thereof at each annual due date of the bonds
issued shall be equal to the total of an annuity of nineteen hundred
and thirty-seven pesos and thirteen centavos for each one hundred
thousand pesos of bonds, outstanding, accrued at the rate of interest
of three and one-half per centum per annum. Said fund shall be under
the custody of the Treasurer of the Philippines who shall invest the
same, in such manner as the Secretary of Finance may approve, in
accordance with the provisions of Act Numbered Three thousand and
fourteen which governs the investment of sinking funds, shall charge
all the expenses of such investment to said sinking funds, and shall
credit to the same the interest on investments and other income
belonging to it.
Section 9. A standing annual appropriation is made out
of any general funds in the National Treasury, of such sum as may be
necessary to provide for the sinking fund created in section eight and
for the interest on the bonds issued by virtue of this Act. A further
appropriation is made out of the general funds in the National Treasury
not otherwise appropriated, of a sufficient sum to cover the expense of
the issue and sale of the bonds authorized by this Act.
Section 10. The President may sell to the
provinces and municipalities portions of lands acquired under this Act
of sufficient size and convenient location for public squares or
plazas, parks, streets, markets, cemeteries, schools, municipal or town
hall, and other public buildings.
Section 11. All proceeds of the sale of the lots
or farms made to bona fide tenants or occupants, private individuals
and to the provinces and municipalities pursuant to the provisions of
this Act, shall be available for the purpose specified in section three
of the said Act.
Section 12. Commonwealth Act Numbered Twenty, as
amended by Commonwealth Act Numbered Two hundred and sixty, and
Commonwealth Act Numbered Three hundred seventy-eight, as amended by
Commonwealth Act Numbered Four hundred twenty, are hereby amended
accordingly.
Section 13. This Act shall take effect upon its
approval.
Approved: May 26, 1940. |