Law Summary
Executive Officers Charged with Administration
- The Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources is the chief executive officer for implementing the Act.
- The Director of Lands operates under the Secretary and exercises direct control over survey, classification, lease, sale, and disposition of public lands.
- Decisions of the Director are conclusive once approved by the Secretary.
- The Director, with the Secretary's approval, may issue forms, rules, and regulations to enforce the Act.
Classification and Delimitation of Public Lands
- The Governor-General classifies lands of the public domain into alienable or disposable, timber, and mineral categories.
- Transfer between classes can be made for governance and disposition purposes.
- Only lands officially delimited, classified, and preferably surveyed, and not reserved or private, may be declared open for concession.
- Under public interest, lands may be opened or suspended from disposition regardless of survey status.
- Alienable lands are further classified by intended use: agricultural; commercial, industrial or productive; educational, charitable, and similar purposes; and for town sites or public uses.
Forms of Concession of Agricultural Lands
- Agricultural public lands may be disposed of only by homestead settlement, sale, lease, or confirmation of imperfect titles via administrative or judicial legalization.
Homestead Entry Provisions
- Eligible applicants: Philippine or U.S. citizens over 18 years or heads of families without exceeding prior land ownership limits.
- Homestead size limit is twenty-four hectares.
- Requirements include payment of an entry fee, commencement of cultivation within six months, continuous cultivation for 2 to 5 years, and proof of residency and use.
- Extensions, transfer of rights (with government approval), and cancellation rules are prescribed.
- Non-Christian natives may obtain occupation permits for up to ten hectares on reservations, subject to cultivation and permit conditions.
Sale of Agricultural Public Lands
- Qualified purchasers include citizens, corporations, associations with majority Philippine or U.S. ownership, and authorized foreigners under reciprocity treaties.
- Size limits: 100 hectares for individuals, 1,024 hectares for corporations or associations.
- Lands must be appraised and sale properly advertised in multiple languages.
- Bids are sealed with a minimum amount as per appraised value; procedures for awarding land and payment terms are detailed.
- Conveyance rules require government approval, with unauthorized transfers void and result in forfeiture.
- Purchasers must demonstrate occupancy, cultivation, and improvement before patent issuance.
- Excess land ownership triggers penalties and mandatory disposal.
Leasing Provisions for Agricultural Lands
- Similar qualifications and size limits as sales.
- Leases last up to 25 years with possible renewals.
- Annual rental is 3% of appraised value; reappraisal occurs every ten years for leases exceeding this period.
- Lessees must not assign, encumber, or sublet without approval.
- Removal of timber or minerals is regulated; wasteful use may result in forfeiture.
- Lessees may lease additional adjacent land within the maximum allowed area.
- Lessees fulfilling obligations may purchase leased lands under sales provisions.
Free Patents for Native Cultivators
- Natives continuously occupying and cultivating agricultural land since before U.S. sovereignty may obtain free patents for land not exceeding twenty-four hectares.
- Application periods are proclaimed by the Governor-General with public notice requirements.
- Approval requires verification of occupation and cultivation and opportunity for adverse claims.
Judicial Confirmation of Imperfect Titles
- Provides remedy for persons with incomplete title claims, including pre-U.S. sovereignty applications and continuous possession claims.
- Applications made to Court of First Instance under the Land Registration Act.
- Procedures include verification, public notice, hearing, and possible payment of purchase price if applicable.
- Conflicting claims are adjudicated; government prevails if no qualified claimant exists.
- Illegal transfer documents originating from unauthorized tribal authorities are void.
Classification and Disposition of Lands for Commercial and Industrial Purposes
- Applicable to lands unsuitable for agriculture but fit for commercial, industrial, or similar purposes.
- Classifications: reclaimed lands, foreshore, marshy lands, and others.
- Disposal may be by lease or sale with size limits, but certain public entities may receive larger grants.
- Leases and sales have specific conditions including rental rates, improvements, term limits, and forfeiture clauses.
Concession for Educational, Charitable, and Similar Purposes
- Lands may be disposed of by government branches for these purposes by donation, sale, lease, exchange, or similar means.
- Use must adhere to approved purposes; unauthorized alienation is prohibited.
- Size limits of ten hectares apply, with cultivation requirements waived as seen fit.
Town Site Reservations
- Governor-General may reserve and survey lands for new towns.
- Reservation proclamation requires recording and public notice.
- Subdivision plans must provide for commercial, industrial, residential lots and reservations for public use.
- Sale of lots conducted at public auction with minimum bid thresholds and acquisition limits.
- Legislative power reserved to modify or cancel dispositions.
Reservations for Public and Semi-Public Uses
- U.S. military and naval reservations designated by Presidential order.
- Philippine Government may reserve lands for public or quasi-public uses.
- Special reservations for non-Christian natives with land use limitations and eventual integration into general public land laws.
- Agricultural colony reservations may be established, managed, and possibly turned over to private entities under terms.
Application Procedures and Legal Requisites
- Applications must be under oath and contain detailed personal, legal, and land information.
- False statements or omissions result in automatic cancellation.
- Director of Lands empowered to investigate, subpoena, and cancel concessions for bad faith or fraud.
- Land areas granted are determined by beneficial use rather than just application size.
- Land must conform to legal subdivisions and, if unsurveyed, rectangular shape standards.
- Costs of surveys generally borne by Government except in certain purchase and lease scenarios.
- Prior occupants have prescribed time to apply; failure to do so results in loss of prior right and forfeiture of improvements.
- Improvements may be appraised and sold to new applicants subject to reimbursement rules.
- Objections to applications are allowed and may result in denial and priority rights to objectors.
- Death of applicants results in succession by widow or heirs.
- Government may cancel applications or patents in public interest with compensation for improvements.
- Patents to bear Government and official signatures and require accurate surveying.
- Restrictions exist against grants injurious to adjacent lands or public easements.
- Mineral rights and certain natural resources are reserved to the Government regardless of patent.
- Properties subject to taxes despite Government title retention.
- Water rights subject to governmental regulation and prior vested rights.
- Reserved rights to water power exceeding fifty horsepower with possible land occupation exceptions and indemnities.
- Taxation and penalties for excess land holdings apply.
Ownership and Alienation Restrictions
- Encumbrance, alienation, or transfer is restricted to qualified persons or entities as defined by the Act and subject to specific conditions.
- Homeowners under free patent or homestead provisions face five-year alienation restrictions.
- Unauthorized conveyances result in nullity and reversion to Government.
- Reciprocal treaties may provide exceptions for foreign nationals.
Penal Provisions
- False applications and affidavits punishable as perjury.
- Malicious interference with land applications punishable as coercion.
- Unauthorized sale or withholding of application forms penalized.
- Fraudulent acquisition attempts penalized by fines, imprisonment, or both.
Effectiveness and Repeal
- Severability clause ensures parts held unconstitutional do not affect the remainder.
- Objections by the U.S. President or Congress suspend parts of the Act until legislative action.
- Prior conflicting laws, including the previous Public Land Act, are repealed.
- Effective date specified as July 1, 1919, or earlier by Governor-General proclamation.