QuestionsQuestions (Acts No. 1847)
It amends Sections 9 and 11 of the Friar Lands Act (Act No. 1120), specifically providing (1) the manner of sale of unoccupied/vacant lands and (2) the time and manner for deferred installment payments by purchasers of friar lands.
The Director of Lands must take possession and charge the vacant lands, and may either lease them for up to three years or offer them for sale, depending on what best serves the government’s interests.
It is discretionary. The Director “may either lease…or offer…for sale,” based on his judgment of the government’s best interests.
Section 9 directs that in making such sales, the Director shall proceed as provided in Section 11.
Any person who is the actual and bona fide settler and occupant of a portion of the lands at the time the lands are conveyed to the Government.
The purchase price equals what the land cost the government (not a market price), because the settler purchases at the government’s actual cost.
In equal annual or semiannual installments.
The entire amount of the purchase price with accrued interest must be paid at least one year before the maturity of the friar lands bonds issued under Act No. 1034—on or before February 1, 1933.
Deferred payments bear interest at the rate of four percent (4%) per annum.
The terms are agreed upon between the purchaser and the Director of Lands, subject to approval of the Secretary of the Interior.
Before the sale, the Director of Lands must notify the municipal president(s) of the municipality(ies) where the vacant lands are located.
Upon notification, the municipal president(s) must publish the notice for three consecutive days by “bandillos” in the poblacion and the affected barrio or barrios, then certify these acts to the Director of Lands.
He may proceed only after receipt of the municipal president’s certification of the required publication; he must not proceed before.
No. The law expressly provides that no such sale is valid or effective without the requisite publication.
The sale should be made with preference to the purchaser who has been a tenant or bona fide occupant at any time of the lands or part thereof.
It allows preference in favor of the “last tenant or occupant” (as reflected in the proviso’s wording about more than one occupant).
It takes effect on its passage.