QuestionsQuestions (Act No. 2652.)
The primary function of the Director of Public Works under Act No. 2652 is to prepare lists of appropriations of water according to priority, examine streams and irrigation works, issue certificates of appropriation, supervise construction and maintenance of irrigation systems, and regulate the use of public waters.
Claimants are notified through a notice published three times a week for three consecutive weeks in newspapers in English and, when advisable, in Spanish and the local dialect. Notices are also posted in municipalities affected and published by bandillos or public criers. Additionally, blank forms are sent to known claimants to furnish details of their claims.
Claimants must include their name and address, nature of use or title of claim, date of commencement of use, and if for irrigation, details like dates of survey, construction, enlargement, dimensions of ditches, amount of land irrigated, soil character, crops cultivated, and compliance with laws regarding priority rank.
The claimant will be barred and estopped from asserting any prior rights to the water claimed and is deemed to have forfeited all rights to use the water of that stream or body of water.
The Director of Lands is responsible for cadastral surveys and maps showing the streams, dams, ditches, canals, and irrigated land divisions. These surveys are paid for according to the provisions of Act Numbered Twenty-two hundred and fifty-nine and its amendments.
Upon approval, the Secretary of Commerce and Police publishes the list of priorities. The Director of Public Works issues certificates to appropriators which are sent by registered mail to the provincial register of deeds. The certificates are recorded in a special book for a two peso fee. Failure to pay the fee within one year results in loss of the priority right.
Administration is temporarily carried out by the municipal council if the system is within one municipality; by the provincial board if it involves multiple municipalities; and by the Director of Public Works if multiple provinces are affected. Costs incurred are treated as liens on crops and lands.
Non-payment results in a lien on crops first, then land, with preference over other liens except taxes and Philippine Agricultural Bank mortgages. After one year of default, the municipal president, provincial governor, or Director of Public Works files a list with the court leading to public auction of the land to satisfy the lien. The owner has one year to redeem the land.
The application must include the applicant’s name and address, source, place of diversion, amount of water, description of works, purpose, description of land to be irrigated (if applicable), and names/addresses of other interested persons.
Conditions include organization of landowners as a corporation or association, approval of articles by Secretary of Commerce and Police, determined water rights, cadastral surveys, loan made only on lands with Torrens titles, corporation deposits half the cost, loans limited to 50% of land value, and repayment with interest over up to 20 years.