Section 1. Any citizen of the Philippines or of the United States of America,
who is more than eighteen years of age and who does not own more than
twenty-four hectares of land in the Philippines, nor who shares in the
benefits of any free distribution of any public land since the
occupation of the Philippines by the United States, may apply for the
cultivation of a lot of agricultural land of the public domain, which
is neither occupied nor reserved for public purposes, having an area of
twenty-four hectares, and obtain free title to the same, as provided
for herein, giving preference to those who are indigents as well as
those have any dependents to support.
Section 2. For the purposes of this Act, the Director
of Lands shall take steps for the classification and survey of
agricultural lands of the public domain, especially those bordering on
national highways. The lands thus classified shall be subdivided into
lots of twenty-four hectares each, and in order to speed up the survey
and subdivision work, the services of private surveyors duly qualified
may be employed, in which case the Director of Lands shall impose the
condition that not more than five thousand hectares in superficial area
shall be assigned to a surveyor, nor more than ten thousand hectares to
a partnership or group of surveyors. The survey work shall be given to
the best bidder and same shall not be adjudicated until the surveyor or
partnership or group of surveyors shall have furnished a bond
satisfactory to the Director of Lands in sum equivalent to thirty per
centum, at least, of the total value or amount agreed upon for the
survey work, to answer for its faithful performance.
Section 3. The Government, under the provision of this
Act shall furnish every applicant with work animals, seeds and
agricultural implements necessary for the clearing and cultivation of
his lot, and the sum of thirty pesos monthly for expenses, payable in
advance during the first six months in which the applicant has taken
possession of his lot of lands; Provided, however, That if the
applicant is in position to provide for himself all he needs for the
clearing and cultivation of his lot, he shall not be entitled to the
aid provided for in this section. The cost of the work animals, seeds
and agricultural implements, together with the sums of money advanced
to the applicant, shall be paid to the government without interest in
ten annual installments, the first installments to be payable after the
first year in which he has taken possession of and cultivated the land.
Section 4. In order to carry out the provisions of
section 3 hereof, the President of the Philippines shall include in the
appropriations for the following fiscal year after the approval of this
Act, and in each successive year thereafter, an amount which the
President may deem necessary, until such amounts reach a sum which the
President may consider sufficient for the creation of a revolving fund,
which shall be utilized by furnish capital to the applicants who are to
be benefited by this Act. The proceeds to the annual receipts derived
from the payments made by the applicants to the Government for the
advances given to them shall form part of the revolving fund which
shall be known as the "Revolving Fund of the Colonists.
Section 5. The "Revolving Fund of the Colonists"
mentioned in the preceding section and such appropriations as may be
approved for advance to the applicants, shall be administered by the
Bureau of Lands under the control and supervision of the Secretary of
Agriculture and Commerce, and the remaining unexpended balance of the
funds at the end of the fiscal year shall be added to the revolving
fund. As soon as the Auditor General shall have certified that all the
sums advanced by the Government have been paid back and the purposes of
this Act have been accomplished, the revolving fund herein created
shall revert to the General Funds of the National Treasury.
Section 6. The application for the cultivation of a
lot of agricultural land in accordance with this Act shall be filed
with the Director of Lands who, if he finds that the application should
be approved, shall do so and shall authorize the applicant to take
possession of the land. Within six months from the date of approval of
the application, the applicant shall commence cultivation of the land;
otherwise, he shall forfeit his right of preference to the said land.
Section 7. No certificate whatever shall be issued nor
shall any deed of ownership of the land applied for be extended until
at least one-fourth of the land has been improved and cultivated. The
period in which cultivation of the said land shall be made shall not be
less than one year nor more than five years, from the date of approval
of the application. The applicant, during that period, shall notify the
Director of Lands as soon as the said applicant is in readiness to
acquire the title. If on the date of said notification the applicant
proves to the satisfaction of the Director of Lands that he personally
or through a representative has cultivated continuously at least
one-fourth of the land since the date of approval of the application,
and subscribes to an affidavit that nor part of the said land has been
transferred or encumbered, and that he has fulfilled all the requisites
set forth in this Act, he shall then be entitled to a free title to the
said land.
Section 8. If within any time before the expiration of
the period allowed by law for the presentation of definite evidence it
should be proved to the satisfaction of the Director of Lands, upon
notification to the applicant, that said applicant has voluntarily
abandoned the land for more than six consecutive months during the
years required of its occupation, or that he has violated or failed to
comply in any other manner with the terms set by this Act, the Director
of Lands may cancel the application.
Section 9. Before any person claiming to have complied
with the provisions of this Act may present definite evidence as herein
above set forth due notice shall be given to the public of the
intention of said person to offer said proof, in the manner which the
Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce may prescribe, and in said notice
there shall be given the name and address of the applicant, the
description of the land as to its boundaries and area, the names of the
witnesses through whom it is proposed to justify the necessary facts,
and the time, place and name of the public official before whom said
evidence is to be presented and who may be the justice of the peace of
the municipality wherein the land is located, or the judge or the clerk
of the court of first instance of the province concerned, or any
official or employee of the Bureau of Lands who is authorized by law to
administer oaths.
Section 10. In case the applicant should suffer
from mental, derangement, or for any reason whatever he should be
incapacitated to exercise personally his rights, the person who may
legally represent him may offer and present the final evidence in
behalf of the said incapacitated person.
Section 11. If at any time after the approval of
the application but before the title is issued, the applicant should
prove, to the satisfaction of the Director of Lands, that the said
applicant has complied with all the requirements of the law, but that
it is impossible for him to continue with the cultivation of the land,
through no fault of his, and that there exists a purchaser in good
faith of the rights to and improvements made by the applicant on said
land, and that the transfer is not being made for speculative purposes,
the applicant, upon approval of the Secretary of Agriculture and
Commerce, may transfer his rights to the land and improvements thereon
to any person having legal qualification to apply for it; and
immediately after the transfer is made, the purchaser shall file an
application for the cultivation of the said land, and he shall succeed
into the rights and obligations of his predecessor from the date on
which said application of the buyer is approved. Whoever has so
transferred his rights cannot apply for the cultivation of a new lot of
land under this Act. Any transfer made without previous approval of the
Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce is null and void, and shall cause
the cancellation of the application and the issuance of the title shall
be denied.
Section 12. Except in favor of the Government or
any of its instrumentalities, agencies, or institutions, the lands
applied for under this Act shall not be subject to any lien or transfer
from the date of approval of the application and during the next
following five years from the date of issuance of the title or
concession, nor shall they stand for the payment of any obligation
contracted prior to the termination of said period; they may, however,
be encumbered to competent persons, associations or corporations in so
far as their improvements or crops are concerned.
Section 13. The provisions of the Public Lands
Act and regulations concerning public lands, which are not inconsistent
herewith, shall be understood as supplementing the provisions of this
Act.
Section 14. Any provisions of law to the
contrary notwithstanding, the agricultural lands of the public domain
which have been classified, surveyed and subdivided under previous
Acts, so far not disposed of, as well as those lots of said lands which
having been applied for or acquired as homesteads, or otherwise, had
reverted to the public domain in accordance with law, may be subdivided
anew for the purposes of this Act.
Section 15. There is hereby appropriated out of
any funds of the National Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum
of five hundred thousand pesos or so much thereof as may be necessary
to carry out the purposes of this Act.
Section 16. This Act shall take effect on its
approval.
Approved: October 15, 1945.
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