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PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 1073
PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 1073 -
EXTENDING THE PERIOD OF FILING APPLICATIONS FOR ADMINISTRATIVE
LEGALIZATION (FREE PATENT) AND JUDICIAL CONFIRMATION OF IMPERFECT AND
INCOMPLETE TITLES TO ALIENABLE AND DISPOSABLE LANDS IN THE PUBLIC
DOMAIN UNDER CHAPTER VII AND CHAPTER VIII OF COMMONWEALTH ACT NO. 141,
AS AMENDED, FOR ELEVEN (11) YEARS COMMENCING JANUARY 1, 1977
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WHEREAS,
under the provisions of Section 45, Chapter VII and Section 47, Chapter
VII, Commonwealth Act No. 141, as amended, otherwise known as the
Public Land Act, the period fixed in the entire Archipelago for filing
applications for free patent and judicial confirmation of imperfect and
incomplete title to alienable and disposable lands of the public domain
will expire on December 31, 1976; chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
WHEREAS, there is still a substantial number of Filipino citizens and
member of the National Cultural Communities who are entitled to the
benefits of the aforementioned law but have not been able to take
advantage of the period for filing their application because the lands
occupied and settled by them have not been surveyed or they are located
in municipalities that have not been reached by the cadastral survey
program of the government; and
WHEREAS, it has always been the policy of the State to hasten the
settlement, adjudication and quieting of titles to unregistered lands
including alienable and disposable lands of the public domain in favor
of qualified Filipino citizens who have acquired inchoate, imperfect
and incomplete titles thereto by reason of their open, continuous,
exclusive and notorious occupation and cultivation thereof under bona
fide claim of acquisition of ownership for a number of years prescribed
by law:cralaw:red
NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines,
by virtue of the powers vested in me by the Constitution, do hereby
decree as part of the law of the land, the following:cralaw:red
Section 1. Section 45, Chapter VII, of Commonwealth
Act No. 141, as amended is hereby further amended to read as
follows: chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
"Sec. 45. The President of the Philippines (Prime
Minister), upon recommendation of the Secretary of Natural Resources,
shall from time to time fix by proclamation the period which
applications for free patents may be filed in the district, chartered
city, province, municipality or region specified in such proclamation,
and upon the expiration of the period so designated, unless the same be
extended by the President (Prime Minister) all the land compromised
within such district, chartered city, province, municipality or region
subject thereto under the provisions of this chapter may disposed of as
agricultural public land without prejudice to the prior right of the
occupant and cultivator to acquire such land under this Act by means
other than free patent. The time to be fixed in the entire Archipelago
for the filing of applications under this Chapter shall not extend
beyond December 31, 1987, except in the provinces of Agusan del Norte,
Agusan, del Sur, Cotabato, South Cotabato, Bukidnon, Lanao, del Norte,
Lanao del Sur, Davao, del Norte, Davao del Sur, Davao Oriental, Sulu,
Mt. Province, Benguet, Kalinga-Apayao, and Ifugao where the President
of the Philippines, upon recommendation of the Secretary of Natural
Resources, shall determine or fix the time beyond which the filing of
applications under this Chapter shall not extend. The period fixed for
any district, chartered city, province, or municipality shall begin to
run thirty days after the publication of the proclamation in the
Official Gazette and if available in on newspaper or general
circulation in the city, province or municipality concerned. A
certified copy of said proclamation shall be furnished by the Secretary
of Natural Resources within 30 days counted from the date of the
presidential proclamation to the Director of Lands and to the
provincial board, the municipal board or city council and barangay
council affected, and copies thereof shall be posted on the bulletin
board of the bureau of Lands at Manila and at conspicuous places in the
provincial building and at the municipal building and barangay hall or
meeting place. It shall moreover, be announced by government radio
whenever available, in each of the barrios of the municipality."
Section 2. Section 47, Chapter VIII, of Commonwealth
Act No. 141, as amended, is hereby further amended to read as follows:cralaw:red
"Sec. 47. The persons specified in the next
following section are hereby granted time, not to extend beyond
December 31, 1987 within which to take advantage of the benefit of this
chapter: Provided, That this extension shall apply only where the area
applied for does not exceed 144 hectares: Provided, further, That the
several periods of time designated by the President in accordance with
section forty-five of this Act shall apply also to the lands comprised
in the provisions of this chapter, but this section shall not be
construed as prohibiting any time prior to the period fixed by the
President."
Section 3. The judicial confirmation of incomplete
titles to public land based on unperfected Spanish grants such as
application for the purchase, composition or other forms of grant of
lands of the public domain under the laws and royal decrees in force
prior to the transfer or sovereignty from Spain to the United States
shall no longer be allowed. However, this Section shall not be
construed as prohibiting any person claiming the same land from acting
under Section 48(b) and Section 48(c) if he meets the conditions
prescribed for judicial confirmation of his incomplete title thereunder.
Section 4. The provisions of Section 48(b) and
Section 48(c), Chapter VIII of the Public Land Act are hereby amended
in the sense that these provisions shall apply only to alienable and
disposable lands of the public domain which have been in open,
continuous, exclusive and notorious possession and occupation by the
applicant himself or thru his predecessor-in-interest, under a bona
fide claim of acquisition of ownership, since June 12, 1945.
Section 5. Any law or executive order or part thereof
contrary to or inconsistent with this Decree is hereby amended or
repealed accordingly. chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
Section 6. This Decree shall take effect upon its
promulgation.
Done in the City of Manila,
this 25th of January, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and
seventy-seven.
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