Question & AnswerQ&A (EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 355)
LASEDECO is a public corporation created to facilitate acquisition, settlement, and cultivation of agricultural lands, and to provide opportunities for tenant farmers, graduates, veterans, and other qualified persons to own farms, among other functions.
The LASEDECO is established to exist for a period of twenty-five years from the effective date of the Order, October 23, 1950.
Key functions include facilitating acquisition and cultivation of agricultural lands, providing opportunities to own farms to qualified persons, encouraging migration to less populated areas, acquiring and disposing of agricultural lands, operating credit and utility services for settlers, promoting mechanized farming, and supporting agricultural and vocational schools.
Tenant farmers, small farmers from congested areas, graduates of agricultural schools and colleges, trainees who completed military training, veterans, members of guerrilla organizations, and other persons as determined by the Board with approval.
Within ten years after the final grant, the lands may not be alienated or transferred except by inheritance nor be liable for satisfaction of debts contracted prior to expiration of this period, though improvements or crops may be mortgaged to authorized credit agencies.
Its capital includes the net worth of the National Land Settlement Administration, the Rice and Corn Production Administration, and Machinery and Equipment Department of the National Development Company, plus appraised lands ceded to it, and any authorized appropriations by law. The government is not liable for corporate debts.
The Board consists of a chairman and six members appointed by the President with the consent of the Commission on Appointments, serving terms of one, two, and three years initially, then three-year terms thereafter.
They prescribe by-laws, appoint the General Manager and other officers with necessary approvals, amend rules and regulations, facilitate issuance of land titles, and remove the General Manager for cause with the President's approval.
The General Manager directs and manages the corporation's affairs on behalf of the Board, attends Board meetings without a vote, submits annual reports, appoints and removes staff with approval, and performs other assigned duties.
No officer or employee is permitted to acquire, directly or indirectly, any land within LASEDECO's territorial jurisdiction.
An auditor appointed by the Auditor General audits the corporation. Annual audit reports are submitted to the Board, President, Secretary of Economic Coordination, and the two Houses of Congress and must include financial statements and any irregularities.
Appointments and promotions are based on merit and efficiency without political tests. Violations subject appointees to removal by the Secretary of Economic Coordination.
The Civil Service Law governs employment except for positions declared by the President to be policy-determining, confidential, or technical, upon recommendations.
They are dissolved and their functions, personnel, properties, and assets are transferred and assumed by LASEDECO.
Such lands previously or hereafter transferred to LASEDECO by the President shall have patents or deeds issued in accordance with the Public Land Act and applicable rules to facilitate title transfer.