Purpose and declared policy
- Presidential Decree No. 1998 authorizes release of otherwise restricted lands so that occupants and claimants can obtain titles to their holdings.
- The decree is intended to solve the titling problem in cultivated and developed areas with 18% in slope or over, while not endangering national programs on reforestation and conservation.
- The decree bases its action on the peculiar terrain of Cebu and Benguet, where wide areas with 18% in slope or over are already cultivated for agricultural crops and/or developed as townsites.
Legal basis and relationship to prior rule
- Presidential Decree No. 1998 is justified by Presidential Decree No. 705, as amended, which prohibits classifying public lands with 18% in slope or over as alienable and disposable.
- Presidential Decree No. 1998 authorizes a land classification and/or re-classification mechanism despite the prohibition in Presidential Decree No. 705, as amended, for the specific lands and criteria stated in the decree.
Coverage: where and which lands
- Section 1 covers lands with eighteen percent (18%) in slope or over located in the Provinces of Cebu and Benguet.
- Section 1 covers both classification and re-classification by the Minister of Natural Resources of qualifying areas as alienable and disposable.
- Section 1 applies only when the specified criteria are met and the required surveys and possession requirements are satisfied.
Eligibility criteria for alienable/disposable classification
- Section 1 requires that the land eighteen percent (18%) in slope or over in Cebu and Benguet be classified and/or reclassified as alienable and disposable by the Minister of Natural Resources if the land meets any or all of these criteria:
- Developed agricultural area planted to agricultural crops using effective erosion control practices or measures like terracing; and/or
- Established and developed townsite within barangays or communities where basic structures (such as roads, schools, and church) already exist.
- Section 1 mandates a prior land assessment: a land capability and suitability survey must be conducted first by the Composite Land Classification Team over the areas in question.
- Section 1 limits qualification by requiring that the existing land use conforms with the criteria stated in Section 1.
Possession condition for claimants
- Section 1 requires that claimants or occupants must have had continuous possession of the area on or before May 19, 1975.
- Section 1 uses this possession condition as a prerequisite to the issuance of the title subject to the additional conditions enumerated in the decree.
Mandatory conditions on titles and use restrictions
- Section 1 requires that in the title to be issued—whether administratively, judicially or otherwise—the following additional conditions must appear.
- Section 1 requires that the existing land condition when the area was classified as alienable and disposable shall continue to be maintained and environmentally improved at all times.
- Section 1 requires specific reforestation/vegetative-cover measures depending on hill or mountain features:
- If the top or crown of the hill or mountain is more or less flat and level, but the slopes are steep and rocky, the steep hillsides must be planted to trees and/or other appropriate vegetative cover.
- If the slopes of hills or mountains have a gentle grade while the hilltops are steep and pointed, the peaks must be planted to trees and/or other appropriate vegetative cover.
- Section 1 preserves the Government’s timber administration and protection right: the right of the Government to administer and protect the timber found thereon shall be maintained.
- Section 1 allows limited timber use: the grantee or his heirs may cut and utilize timber as needed for their personal use.
- Section 1 restricts permitted use: the land granted shall not be used for any purpose other than the existing use for which it was classified as alienable and disposable under Section 1.
- Section 1 provides the consequence of improper land-use change: any change in land use, except with the approval of the Minister of Natural Resources, constitutes a sufficient ground for:
- cancellation of the title, and
- reversion of the land to the mass of public forest.
Public interest actions and consequences
- Section 2 authorizes that when public interest so requires, steps shall be taken to expropriate/cancel titles, reject public land application, or eject occupants.
- Section 2 treats these actions as government measures to respond to public interest needs affecting the relevant lands and occupancy/title situations.
Implementing role of the Minister of Natural Resources
- Section 1 places the authority to classify and/or reclassify qualifying lands with the Minister of Natural Resources.
- Section 1 requires Minister of Natural Resources approval for any land-use change outside the existing use for which the land was classified as alienable and disposable.
- Section 2 operates through government actions in the context of public interest, including expropriation/cancellation, rejection of applications, and ejection of occupants.