Creation of Land Settlement and Development Corp

Corporate purposes and core functions

Section 2(a) requires LASEDECO to facilitate the acquisition, settlement and cultivation of agricultural lands.
Section 2(b) allows LASEDECO to afford opportunity to own farms to: tenant farmers and small farmers from congested areas, graduates of agricultural schools and colleges, trainees who have completed the prescribed military training, veterans and members of guerrilla organizations, and other persons determined by the Board of Directors with the approval of the Secretary of Economic Coordination.
Section 2(c) empowers LASEDECO to encourage migration to sparsely populated regions and facilitate the amalgamation of people in different sections of the Philippines.
Section 2(d) authorizes LASEDECO to acquire by grant from the Republic unrestricted areas of public agricultural lands to carry out its objectives, including authority to: survey, subdivide, and set aside lots/areas for farming, townsites, roads, parks, government centers, recreational centers, and other public and civic improvements; and to dispose of farm lands and townsite lots to qualified persons subject to constitutional and Public Land Act limits, and subject to prices, terms and conditions prescribed by the Board with the approval of the Secretary of Economic Coordination—with disposition proceeds accruing to the Corporation.
Section 2(d) imposes a ten-year restriction after the final grant: farm lands and townsite lots shall not, except by inheritance, be encumbered, alienated, or transferred, and shall not become liable for satisfaction of any debt contracted before the end of that period; improvements or crops may be mortgaged or pledged to credit agencies authorized by the Board of Directors.
Section 2(e) requires or empowers LASEDECO to establish and operate credit agencies, electric light and water plants, water supplies, irrigation systems, cooperative enterprises for buying and selling commodities, and other services or conveniences for settlers’ well-being.
Section 2(f) empowers LASEDECO to encourage mechanized farming by operating tractor and agricultural machinery pools and maintaining training centers for operation and repair of agricultural machinery and tractors.
Section 2(g) authorizes LASEDECO to assist in establishing agricultural and other vocational schools within its territorial jurisdiction and to allocate definite portions of farm lands and townsite lots to enable students completing prescribed courses to eventually acquire title thereto.
Section 2(h) authorizes LASEDECO to do all other acts and transact business directly or indirectly necessary, incidental, or conducive to its purposes.
Section 2(i) authorizes LASEDECO to generally exercise corporate powers under the Corporation Law, provided they are not inconsistent with the Executive Order.

Capital, liability, and fiscal responsibility

Section 3 sets LASEDECO’s capital as the net worth of the National Land Settlement Administration, the Rice and Corn Production Administration, and the Machinery and Equipment Department of the National Development Company, as determined under Section 13.
Section 3 includes, within the capital computation, the appraised value to be determined by the Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources of lands ceded under Section 14.
Section 3 allows LASEDECO capital to include such appropriations as may be authorized by law.
Section 3 provides that the Government of the Republic of the Philippines shall not be liable for any debt, liability, obligation, or damage that might be contracted, incurred, or caused by the corporation.

Board management structure and duties

Section 4 vests management of LASEDECO in a Board of Directors consisting of a chairman and six members.
Section 4 requires that directors be appointed by the President of the Philippines with the consent of the Commission on Appointments.
Section 4 provides that directors serve for terms of one, two, and three years, respectively, from the date they qualify and assume office.
Section 4 provides that successors are appointed for three-year terms, except a person chosen to fill a vacancy serves only the unexpired term of the member succeeded.
Section 4 requires directors to receive per diem of twenty-five pesos for actual attendance at meetings.
Section 5 tasks the Board with prescribing, amending, and repealing by-laws, rules, and regulations with approval of the Secretary of Economic Coordination, including mechanisms and committees to facilitate business and expedite disposition and issuance of titles over farm lands and townsite lots under Section 2.
Section 5 empowers the Board to appoint and fix the compensation of the General Manager (subject to President approval) and to appoint and fix compensation of other officers (subject to the approval of the Secretary of Economic Coordination).
Section 5 allows the Board, by a majority vote of all members, to suspend the General Manager for cause, and with President approval, remove the General Manager.

General Manager powers and reporting

Section 6(a) requires the General Manager to direct and manage the Corporation’s affairs and business on behalf of the Board, subject to Board control and supervision.
Section 6(b) allows the General Manager to sit in all Board meetings and participate in deliberations but without the right to vote.
Section 6(c) requires the General Manager to submit an annual report within sixty days after the close of each fiscal year through the Board to the Secretary of Economic Coordination.
Section 6(d) authorizes the General Manager to appoint and fix the number and salaries of subordinate personnel with approval of the Board, and—also with Board approval—to remove, suspend, or otherwise discipline subordinate employees for cause.
Section 6(e) requires the General Manager to perform other duties assigned by the Board from time to time.

Restrictions on acquisition of land

Section 7 prohibits any officer or employee of LASEDECO from acquiring, directly or indirectly, any land within the territorial jurisdiction of the Corporation.

Auditor General oversight and audit reporting

Section 8 requires the Auditor General to appoint a representative as the Auditor of LASEDECO, and necessary personnel to assist in performance of duties.
Section 8 authorizes the Auditor General to determine the number and salaries of the Auditor and personnel, subject to appropriation by the Board.
Section 8 provides that if there is disagreement, the matter is submitted to the President of the Philippines, whose decision is final.
Section 8 requires LASEDECO to pay the Auditor’s salaries and all expenses of maintaining the Auditor’s office.
Section 9 requires LASEDECO’s financial transactions to be audited in accordance with law, administrative regulations, and principles and procedures applicable to commercial corporate transactions.
Section 9 requires a report of audit for each fiscal year to be submitted within sixty days after the close of the fiscal year by the Auditor General representative through the Auditor General to the Board of Directors.
Section 9 requires copies of each audit report to be furnished to the President of the Philippines, the Secretary of Economic Coordination, and the Presiding Officers of the two Houses of Congress.
Section 9 requires the audit report to include: the audit scope; statement of assets and liabilities; statement of capital and surplus or deficit; surplus or deficit analysis; statement of income and expenses; statement of sources and application of funds; and comments, information, and recommendations, including a report of any impairment of capital.
Section 9 requires the audit report to show specifically any program, expenditures, or other financial transaction or undertaking observed during audit that, in the Auditor’s opinion, was carried on or made without authority of law.

Appointments, civil service status, removals

Section 10 requires that merit and efficiency serve as bases for appointment and promotion of officers and employees.
Section 10 prohibits prescribing or considering any political test or qualification for appointments or promotions.
Section 10 requires removal from office of any appointee of the Board or General Manager found by the Secretary of Economic Coordination to be guilty of violating the merit-and-efficiency requirement.
Section 11 provides that all officers and employees of LASEDECO are subject to the Civil Service Law, rules, and regulations.
Section 11 exempts certain positions by allowing the President, upon recommendation of the Board of Directors and the Secretary of Economic Coordination, to declare positions policy-determining, primarily confidential, or technical in nature.

Dissolution and transfer of predecessor functions

Section 12 dissolves the National Land Settlement Administration, the Rice and Corn Production Administration, and the Machinery and Equipment Department of the National Development Company.
Section 12 provides that references in existing law or Executive Orders, Administrative Orders, or Proclamations to the dissolved entities are deemed references to LASEDECO for duties or functions assumed by LASEDECO.
Section 13 transfers to, vests in, and assumes by LASEDECO the personnel, records, properties, equipment, assets, rights, choses in action, obligations, liabilities, and contracts of the dissolved entities.
Section 13 requires that an inventory and valuation of the transferred items be made by the Auditor General.
Section 13 requires accountable officers of the dissolved entities to remain fully accountable for inventory and valuation work until actual physical transfer to and acceptance by corresponding accountable officers of LASEDECO.
Section 13 requires reappointment of the transferred personnel in LASEDECO, and provides that those not reappointed within sixty days from the effective date of the Executive Order are considered separated from service.
Section 13 requires LASEDECO to undertake, manage, and continue the agricultural activities of the Rice and Corn Production Administration only within areas now under cultivation until disposition under Section 2, but in case of a period longer than five years from the effective date of the Executive Order.
Section 14 provides for cession to LASEDECO of all surveyed portions of public agricultural lands previously transferred or reserved for use and operation of the dissolved entities and/or those later transferred by the President of the Philippines to LASEDECO.
Section 14 requires the President to issue patents or other deeds transferring title to LASEDECO from time to time, in accordance with the Public Land Act and rules and regulations promulgated to facilitate transfer of title to the Corporation.

By-law, repeal, separability, effectivity

Section 15 repeals or modifies acts and portions of acts, and Executive Orders, Administrative Orders, and Proclamations or portions thereof, that are inconsistent with the Executive Order’s provisions.
Section 16 provides separability: invalidity of any provision does not affect the other provisions.
Section 17 sets effectivity on October twenty-third, nineteen hundred and fifty.