Question & AnswerQ&A (PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 410)
The main purpose of Presidential Decree No. 410 is to declare ancestral lands occupied and cultivated by National Cultural Communities as alienable and disposable, allowing these landless citizens to acquire full ownership of the lands occupied or cultivated by them for at least ten years prior to the decree's effectivity.
The beneficiaries are members of the National Cultural Communities, including landless Muslims and members of other cultural minority groups who have occupied and cultivated ancestral lands before the effectivity of this Decree.
Ancestral lands are defined as lands of the public domain that have been in open, continuous, exclusive, and notorious occupation and cultivation by members of the National Cultural Communities or their ancestors, under a bona fide claim of ownership according to their customs and traditions for at least thirty years before the date of approval of the Decree.
The provinces mentioned include Mountain Province, Cagayan, Kalinga-Apayao, Ifugao, Pampanga, Rizal, Palawan, Lanao del Sur, Lanao del Norte, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao, North Cotabato, South Cotabato, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga del Norte, Bukidnon, and Basilan.
No, lands reserved for settlement purposes under the Department of Agrarian Reform or other areas reserved for public or quasi-public purposes are excluded from disposition under this Decree.
The lands shall be subdivided into family-size farm lots not exceeding five (5) hectares each.
Yes, no land granted under this Decree can be transferred, sold, or otherwise alienated within ten years after acquisition, except in favor of cooperatives of which the owner is a member, or the Government or its agencies.
Violators may be fined up to one thousand pesos (P1,000), or imprisoned for up to six months, or both. Also, any land acquired in violation shall revert to the public domain and the violator is barred from acquiring land under this Decree or the Public Land Act.
Occupants are given a period of ten (10) years from the date of approval of the Decree to file applications to perfect their title, after which they lose their preferential rights.
The Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources is the implementing officer, assisted by the Director of Lands, the Director of Forest Development, and other government agencies.