Public Land Act regulating public domain lands

Classification, delimitation, and what opens

Section 6 directs the Governor-General, upon the Secretary’s recommendation, to classify public domain lands into (a) Alienable or disposable, (b) Timber, and (c) Mineral lands, and allows transfer from one class to another in the same manner and for government and disposition purposes.
Section 7 requires the Governor-General, upon recommendation, to declare what alienable or disposable lands are open to disposition or concession.
Section 8 requires that only lands that have been officially delimited and classified and, when practicable, surveyed, may be declared open, and prohibits opening lands that are reserved or appropriated for public or quasi-public uses, or appropriated, or have become private property, or where a private right may be claimed under valid law.
Section 8 allows the Governor-General to open lands before boundaries are established or surveyed for reasons of public interest, or to suspend concession or disposition until lands are again declared open by duly published proclamation or by Act of the Legislature.
Section 9 classifies alienable or disposable lands by intended use into (a) Agricultural, (b) Commercial, industrial, or for similar productive purposes, (c) Educational, charitable, and other similar purposes, and (d) Reservations for town sites and for public and quasi-public uses, and allows transfers among these classes by the Governor-General on recommendation.
Section 10 defines “alienation,” “disposition,” or “concession” as methods authorized by the Act for acquisition, lease, use, or benefit of public domain lands other than timber or mineral lands.

Agricultural lands: allowed modes only

Section 11 limits disposal of public lands suitable for agricultural purposes to (1) homestead settlement, (2) sale, (3) lease, and (4) confirmation of imperfect or incomplete titles through administrative legalization (free patent) or judicial legalization.
Section 12 allows a citizen of the Philippine Islands or of the United States, who is at least eighteen years old or the head of a family, and who does not own more than twenty-four hectares of land in those countries or has not had the benefit of a gratuitous allotment of more than twenty-four hectares since occupation of the Philippine Islands by the United States, to enter a homestead of not exceeding twenty-four hectares of agricultural public domain land.
Sections 13 to 21 govern homestead application, entry fees, working/cultivation requirements, notice and proof, cancellation grounds, transfers, and limits on additional homesteads.
Sections 22 establishes a separate permit-of-occupation framework for non-Christian natives on certain “non-Christian tribes” reservations.

Homestead: entry, work, proof, and limits

Section 13 requires that upon filing a homestead application, if the Director of Lands finds it should be approved, he must approve and authorize the applicant to take possession upon payment of ten pesos, Philippine currency, as an entry fee.
Section 13 requires the homesteader to begin working within six months from and after approval, or to lose prior right to the land.
Section 14 requires that no certificate or patent issues until the land is improved and cultivated, and sets cultivation period at not less than two nor more than five years from approval of the application.
Section 14 requires the applicant to notify the Director upon readiness to acquire title, and requires proof by affidavits of two credible witnesses that the homesteader resided in the municipality where the land is located or an adjacent municipality and cultivated continuously since approval, that no part was alienated or encumbered, and that all requirements were met, in order to become entitled to a patent upon payment of ten pesos.
Section 15 allows fee payment by annual installments at the applicant’s option, payable to the municipal treasurer, forwarded to the provincial treasurer, and authorizes the Director of Lands to cancel the application sixty days after delinquency occurs, but after twenty days for payment of the sum due.
Section 16 authorizes the Director of Lands to cancel entry before the final proof period ends if it is proven to the Director’s satisfaction (after due notice) that the land is not subject to homestead entry, that the homesteader changed residence, that the homesteader voluntarily abandoned the land for more than six months at any one time during required years, or that the homesteader otherwise failed to comply.
Section 17 requires public due notice of intended final proof, including homesteader details, land description with boundaries and area, witness names, and the time/place and officer for the proof.
Section 18 allows final proof to be offered and submitted by the legally representing person when the homesteader suffers mental alienation or is incapacitated for personal exercise of rights.
Section 19 limits each person to not more than one homestead, but allows an additional homestead on an adjacent tract if the first homestead area is less than twenty-four hectares, provided the total of both parcels does not exceed twenty-four hectares and conditions are met.
Section 20 provides that cancellation not due to the applicant’s fault is not a bar to applying for another homestead.
Section 21 permits transfer of homestead rights and improvements before patent issuance when the applicant proves compliance but cannot continue without fault and there is a bona fide purchaser, subject to the Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources’ prior approval; it makes any transfer made without prior approval null and void, resulting in cancellation of entry and refusal of the patent.
Section 21 further provides that a transfer of rights may be followed by another application for a new homestead.

Homestead permit for non-Christian natives

Section 22 allows any non-Christian native desiring to live upon or occupy land on “non-Christian tribes” reservations to request a permit of occupation for a tract of public domain open to homestead entry not exceeding ten hectares, without applying for a homestead.
Section 22 requires permit applicants to cultivate and improve the land, and provides that failure to begin cultivation within six months from permit grant results in ipso facto cancellation.
Section 22 sets the permit term at five years.
Section 22 gives priority to the permit holder to apply for a homestead upon expiration of the five-year term or earlier, including the portion granted by the permit; it provides that the land reopens to disposition at the expiration of five years if homestead priority is not exercised.
Section 22 requires payment of five pesos for each permit, payable in annual installments.

Sale of agricultural lands: who may buy

Section 23 authorizes sales of agricultural public lands to: (a) individual citizens of lawful age of the Philippine Islands or of the United States, and (b) qualifying corporations/associations with at least sixty-one per centum of capital stock or interest wholly belonging to Philippine or U.S. citizens, organized under Philippine or U.S. laws and authorized to transact business in the Philippines, plus certain corporate bodies authorized under charters to do so.
Section 23 limits individual purchases to not to exceed one hundred hectares and limits corporation/association purchases to not to exceed one thousand and twenty-four hectares.
Section 23 allows partnerships to purchase up to one hundred hectares for each member, but caps total partnership purchases at one thousand and twenty-four hectares.
Section 23 grants reciprocity purchase rights to nationals of countries whose laws grant Philippine citizens the same right, but only while those laws remain in force and only with express authorization of the Legislature, and caps such purchase at not in excess of one hundred hectares.
Section 24 prohibits any person, corporation, association, or partnership not covered by Section 23 from acquiring or owning agricultural public land or other non-industrial, non-residential public domain lands (and permanent improvements thereon and real rights therein).
Section 24 protects existing holders at the Act’s effectivity who acquired under then-existing laws/regulations by allowing them to continue holding as if qualified, but forbids encumbrance, conveyance, or alienation to unauthorized persons except by hereditary succession, duly legalized and acknowledged by competent courts.

Sale of agricultural lands: appraisal, notice, and bidding

Section 25 requires appraisals for lands sold under the sale chapter in accordance with Section 114 (cross-reference).
Section 25 requires the Director of Lands to announce sales by publishing notice once a week for six consecutive weeks in the Official Gazette, and in two newspapers (one published in Manila and one in the municipality or province where the land is located, or a neighboring province), and posting notice on Bureau of Lands bulletin boards and at conspicuous places in provincial and municipal buildings; it requires notices to be published in English and Spanish, and to set a date not earlier than ten days after the last Official Gazette publication for award to the highest bidder or for public bids or other action under the chapter.
Section 26 requires sealed bids addressed to the Director of Lands, with cash, or a certified check, or post-office money order payable to the Director of Lands for twenty-five per centum of the bid amount, retained if accepted as part payment.
Section 26 prohibits consideration of bids below the appraised value.
Section 27 requires awarding to the highest bidder upon opening bids.
Section 27 provides a tie rule: if there are two or more bidders with equal highest bids and one is the applicant, the applicant’s bid is accepted.
Section 27 allows the Director of Lands to submit the land for public bidding if the applicant’s bid is not among the equal highest bids, and provides that no bid is finally accepted until the bidder deposits twenty-five per centum of the bid as required in Section 26.
Section 27 preserves the applicant’s option to raise the bid to equal the highest bidder’s bid, and makes the land awarded to the applicant in that case.
Section 27 authorizes delegation to the provincial treasurer to receive bids, hold auction, and recommend for final decision when tracts offered have no area in excess of twenty-four hectares.

Sale of agricultural lands: payment, transfers, forfeiture

Section 28 requires purchase price payment as follows: after deducting the bid deposit, the balance may be paid in full upon award or in five annual installments from the date of award.
Section 29 allows conveyance or encumbrance of purchaser rights to legally qualified purchasers after at least the second installment is paid and cultivation has begun, but only with Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources approval, and only without affecting Government rights.
Section 29 makes conveyances or encumbrances without prior approval null and void, annulling acquisition and reverting property and rights to the Government, and forfeiting all purchase price payments already made to the Government.
Section 30 requires that before a patent issues, the purchaser must show actual occupancy, cultivation, and improvement of the land up to the date of final payment.
Section 31 provides that if, after award and before patent issuance, it is proven to the Director of Lands’ satisfaction after due notice that the purchaser has voluntarily abandoned the land for more than one year at any one time, or otherwise failed to comply with law requirements, the land reverts to the Government and prior purchase money payments are forfeited.
Section 32 prohibits acquiring or possessing title that, combined with other holdings, exceeds the maximum area allowed by purchase under the Act; it provides that excess and all rights arising from such excess revert to the Government.
Section 32 allows persons authorized by the Act to make loans upon real estate security and purchase real estate necessary for recovery of loans; it then requires disposal of excess lands within five years once excess occurs.
Section 32 imposes a surtax on excess lands while not disposed: fifty per centum additional to the ordinary tax in the first year, and fifty per centum added to the last preceding annual tax rate for each succeeding year until disposed.
Section 32 requires the owner to determine the portion to be segregated when excess occurs, and authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources to request the Attorney-General (or officer acting in his stead) to institute proceedings in proper court to determine the excess portion and disposal for Government’s exclusive interest.
Section 33 allows only one purchase of the maximum amount under the chapter by the same person/corporation/association/partnership, and bars persons or entities whose members received benefits of this chapter or the two preceding chapters from purchasing any other public lands under this chapter.
Section 33 permits, after last payment and cultivation, purchasing additional adjacent (or not distant) agricultural land to the extent needed so that the total does not exceed the chapter maximum, provided conditions are complied with for the first purchase.
Section 32 and 33 operate as area-cap and repetition limitations for agricultural public land acquisitions.

Lease of agricultural lands: who may lease

Section 34 authorizes lease of agricultural public lands to: (a) citizens of lawful age of the Philippine Islands or the United States, and (b) qualifying corporations/associations with at least sixty-one per centum of capital stock or interest wholly belonging to Philippine or U.S. citizens, organized under Philippine or U.S. laws and authorized to transact business in the Philippines.
Section 34 caps total leased area at not exceeding one thousand and twenty-four hectares.
Section 34 grants reciprocity lease rights to nationals of countries whose laws grant Philippine citizens the same right to lease public land, but only while those laws remain in force and only with express authorization of the Legislature, and caps each lease at not in excess of one thousand and twenty-four hectares.
Section 34 prohibits leasing that interferes with prior claims by settlement or occupation unless the occupant/settler consents or the claim is legally extinguished.
Section 34 prohibits leasing unless the land is reasonably necessary to carry on the individual’s business or the business for which the corporation/association was lawfully created and may lawfully pursue in the Philippines.
Section 34 authorizes corporations/associations not meeting the preceding paragraph’s requirements to lease agricultural public lands only with express legislative authorization, capped at not exceed one thousand and twenty-four hectares.

Lease application, rental, term, and conditions

Section 35 requires lease applicants to give notice by publication in the Official Gazette and other means required by the Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources, describing the land as definitely as practicable and stating the presentation date.
Section 36 requires annual rental not less than three per centum of the land’s value based on appraisal/reappraisal under Section 114.
Section 36 requires each lease contract to provide that reappraisal shall occur every ten years from approval if the lease term exceeds ten years, and permits lessees to notify within the six months preceding the reappraisal effective date to give up the contract if the lessee is not agreeable; it authorizes the Director of Lands to proceed under Section 93 if requested.
Section 36 requires yearly rental paid yearly in advance, accruing from the date of lease approval, with the first payment made in the Bureau of Lands on the date of approval of the lease application.
Section 37 sets lease duration at not more than twenty-five years, renewable for another period not to exceed twenty-five years, and allows additional renewal not to exceed twenty-five years if important improvements justify it in the Secretary’s discretion.
Section 37 requires that leases include an essential non-assignment condition: the lessee must not assign, encumber, or sublet rights without the Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources’ consent; violation avoids the contract.
Section 37 preserves legislative authority to allow assignment/encumbrance/subletting to persons not authorized to lease under the Act unless general or special legislation permits it.
Section 38 provides that leases do not confer rights to remove or dispose of valuable timber except under Bureau of Forestry regulations for cutting timber on such lands.
Section 38 prohibits removing or disposing of stone, oil, coal, salts, or other minerals, or medicinal mineral waters on leased lands.
Section 38 allows cancellation of the lease as to mineral parts after notice when the part is more valuable for mineral than for agricultural purposes.
Section 38 penalizes waste or forestry regulation violations: it forfeits the lessee’s last rent payment and makes the lessee liable to immediate dispossession and suit for damage.
Section 39 allows qualified lessees, after two or more rent payments and improvement when the original leased land is less than the maximum by law, to lease adjacent/nearby additional land, with the same total-area maximum and same conditions as the first lease.
Section 40 allows purchase of the leased land by a compliant lessee during the lease life if qualified under Section 23, subject to restrictions of Chapter Five (Sale).

Free patents and judicial confirmation limits

Section 41 entitles a native who has since July fourth, 1907 or earlier continuously occupied and cultivated an agricultural tract subject to disposition to a free patent not to exceed twenty-four hectares.
Section 42 authorizes the Governor-General, upon the Secretary’s recommendation, to fix by proclamation the period for filing free patent applications in specified districts/provinces/municipalities/regions, and sets an outer limit for the entire archipelago: not beyond December thirty-first, nineteen hundred and twenty-eight.
Section 42 requires each district’s filing period to begin thirty days after proclamation publication in the Official Gazette; it requires certified copies furnished to the Director of Lands and affected provincial and municipal boards, bulletin postings, and announcement by crier in each of the barrios.
Section 43 directs that after filing and investigation, if the Director of Lands is satisfied of the application’s truth and the applicant’s eligibility, he must cause a patent to issue to the applicant or legal successor for the occupied and cultivated tract, provided area does not exceed twenty-four hectares, subject to published notice in the municipality and barrio and opportunity for adverse claimants to present claims.
Section 44 grants persons described in Section 45’s coverage time benefits ending not beyond December thirty-first, nineteen and twenty-eight, and applies Governor-General filing periods under Section 42 to the chapter’s lands.
Section 45 authorizes applications to the Court of First Instance for confirmation of imperfect or incomplete titles and issuance of a certificate of title under the Land Registration Act for enumerated classes of claimants occupying or claiming U.S. public domain lands or interests therein, including:
- Section 45(a) applicants who before the sovereignty transfer from Spain to the United States applied for purchase/composition or other grants under then-existing laws and royal decrees and instituted proceedings but did not receive title, and whose applicants/grantees and heirs occupied and cultivated continuously since filing; and
- Section 45(b) those in open, continuous, exclusive, and notorious possession under a bona fide claim of acquisition since July twenty-sixth, eighteen hundred and ninety-four, except when prevented by war or force majeure, who are conclusively presumed to have satisfied essential conditions of a Government grant and are entitled to a certificate of title under the chapter.
Section 46 restricts chapter benefits by qualification: no person lacking the possession qualifications in the preceding section may apply.
Section 47 requires applicants (or legal representatives/successors in right) to present applications to the proper Court of First Instance praying inquiry into validity and issuance of a certificate of title under the Land Registration Act, with plan and documents evidencing rights; it requires the application to state citizenship and fully describe the claim and, for claims based on Spanish proceedings, to specify dates/forms of applications for grants, extent of compliance and reasons for noncompliance, time occupied, use, and nature of inclosure; it requires collection of Land Registration Act fees from applicants under the chapter.
Section 48 makes hearings subject to Land Registration Act procedures, except that notice and plan must be immediately forwarded to the Director of Lands, who may appear as a party, and prior to publication the papers are transmitted to the Attorney-General (or officer acting in his stead) to investigate; it requires the Attorney-General to return papers within three months.
Section 48 provides that the final court decree is the basis for issuance of the original certificate of title in favor of the entitled person under Section 41 of the Land Registration Act.
Section 49 allows in cadastral proceedings an answer or claim filing in place of an application, with the same effect as under the preceding sections.
Section 50 authorizes the Director of Lands, whenever the Governor-General deems public interest requires, to petition the proper Court of First Instance against the holder/claimant/possessor/occupant who did not voluntarily come in, to have title or boundaries or right to occupancy settled and adjudicated, following cadastral adjudication laws.
Section 51 provides that conflicting interests found in the land must be adjudicated and awarded to entitled persons under the law; if none is entitled or the person lacks qualifications, the decree favors the Government.
Section 52 requires payment of a non-gratuitous amount when it appears that under Spanish-era grant conditions the land would have required payment to the Government; it requires the court to determine the amount and certify to the Director for collection, and requires registration ordered only upon payment within a reasonable time fixed by the decree, with dismissal and Government ownership free from the applicant’s claim if payment is not made timely.
Section 53 requires certification to the Director of Lands by the court clerk upon finality of confirmation or other decrees, with certified copy of decree and technical land description.
Section 54 provides that no title or right or equity in public domain lands may thereafter be acquired by prescription, adverse possession, or occupancy, or under laws in effect prior to American occupation, except where later laws enacted after U.S. occupation expressly provide otherwise.

Non-agricultural productive lands: classification and limits

Section 55 requires that any public domain tract neither timber nor mineral land, classified as suitable for residential or commercial/industrial/other productive purposes other than agricultural purposes, and open to disposition or concession, must be disposed of under this title and not otherwise.
Section 56 classifies disposables into: (a) lands reclaimed by the Government by dredging, filling, or other means, (b) foreshore, (c) marshy lands or lands covered with water bordering shores or banks of navigable lakes or rivers, and (d) lands not included in the foregoing classes.
Section 57 permits leases or sales to persons/corporations/associations authorized for agricultural purposes, but imposes a maximum land area of not exceed ten hectares based on the Secretary’s judgment of reasonable necessity for the requested purpose.
Section 57 exempts grants/donations/transfers to provinces, municipalities, or government branches/subdivisions for public-interest purposes from the ten-hectare limitation, but bars alienation/encumbrance/disposal affecting title except when leased/exchanged as required by public service with Governor-General approval or when Legislature disposes otherwise.
Section 57 allows persons/corporations/associations disqualified from purchasing agricultural public land to purchase or lease industrial or residence-purpose land under this title, but makes title/lease valid only while used for the allowed industrial or residence purpose.
Section 58 requires that lands in classes (a), (b), and (c) of Section 56 be disposed of to private parties by lease only, and not by sale, once the Governor-General declares such lands are not necessary for public service and are open under this chapter.
Section 58 allows class (d) lands to be disposed of by sale or lease under applicable provisions.
Section 59 requires surveying of reclaimed lands and authorizes division into lots and blocks with streets and alleyways upon Secretary approval, and requires public notice that unneeded lots/blocks for public purposes will be leased for commercial/industrial or similar purposes.
Section 60 provides that upon applications, if suited and not needed for public purposes, the Secretary must advertise that the Government will lease or sell specified lots/blocks for the applied purpose and subject to chapter conditions.
Section 61 requires leases to include contract conditions, including rental minimums: not less than three per centum of appraised/reappraised value generally, and not less than one per centum of appraised or reappraised value of improvements for foreshore/marshes/water-covered lands; reappraisal every ten years when the lease term exceeds; compliance with lease term under Section 37; and lessee obligation to commence permanent improvements within six months from contract execution.
Section 61 provides that upon lease expiration or extension, improvements made by lessee and successors become Government property.
Section 61 makes violations of contract conditions grounds for rescission; it authorizes waiver of rescission due to violation of the improvement commencement subsection (d) or extension of time for construction upon recommendation by the Secretary of Commerce and Communications subject to conditions prescribed by the Secretary.
Section 62 imposes sale conditions for class (d) lands, including permanent-character improvements appropriate to the purpose and commencement within six months, with Secretary rescission power; and cash down purchase price.
Section 62 allows additional conditions in the sale contract not inconsistent with the Act.
Section 63 requires the kind of improvements and