Policy and purpose
- The Executive Order legalizes the use and occupancy of farm lots by bona fide so-called native Igorot vegetable farmers presently occupying and cultivating areas within the two specified reservations.
- The Executive Order extends the Administration’s land policy of providing land for the landless by addressing occupants who were bypassed or overlooked by a prior forestry land classification survey and those who entered after Executive Order No. 180, series of 1956.
- The Executive Order promotes soil, water and forest conservation in the covered areas.
- The Executive Order directs action against alien and non-native farmers and against Filipino dummies and their alien exploiters for violations of public land, anti-dummy, and internal revenue laws.
Coverage: who may qualify and where
- The Executive Order applies to native Igorot Filipino vegetable farmers presently occupying and cultivating farm lots within Mount Data National Park Reservation and Central Cordillera Forest Reserve.
- The Executive Order also covers native Igorot farmers who entered after Executive Order No. 180 was promulgated but before June 30, 1966.
- The Executive Order covers claimants who were bypassed or overlooked by the Forestry land classification survey in 1953-54.
- The Executive Order sets a separate rule for alien and non-native occupants or operators of farm lots in the same reservations, requiring them to vacate by December 31, 1967.
Core conservation and land-use restrictions
- Water, soil and forest conservation must be strictly observed so that waters draining from the covered vegetable farms do not carry grain or particles of soil to rivers, and are as clean and pure as spring water.
- All new claims, clearings or openings, and any extensions or expansions whatsoever are absolutely banned and prohibited in the two reservations.
- All persons covered by the Order must prevent entry, trespass, or further incursion into either reservation by anyone whomsoever within view of their occupancy.
- Covered occupants must report immediately any person who enters by force or stealth to the local officer of the Parks and Wildlife Office or Forestry District Officer, as the case may be.
- Failure to prevent or report required entries results in cancellation or forfeiture consequences: a land claim or parcel acquired under the Order is subject to cancellation or forfeiture and reversion to the public domain.
Ten-year occupancy, improvement, and eligibility conditions
- Native Igorot Filipino vegetable farmers who fall within the coverage are allowed, under either an existing forestry permit or a tax declaration, to continue occupancy and use of the farm lots for a period of ten (10) years.
- After the ten (10) years, the claimant may acquire patent or title in accordance with the Public Land Act, subject to conditions and terms stated in the Executive Order.
- The claimant must completely improve and terrace the parcel applied for within three (3) years from the date of this Order, with no extension; any parcel or remaining portion that is not improved and unterraced at the end of that period automatically reverts to the public domain.
- Deliberately tended or cared-for vegetation is considered an improvement.
- Terracing and planting rules apply by terrain:
- If the top or crown of a hill or mountain is more or less flat and level while slopes are steep and rocky, the top must be terraced, improved and cultivated to prevent soil erosion, and steep hillsides must be planted to trees and/or paspallum grass and other vegetation cover.
- If mountain or hilltops are steep and pointed while slopes have a gentle grade, the sides must be terraced, and the peaks must be planted to trees and/or paspallum grass and other vegetation cover.
- The lot under claim must be immediately surveyed upon promulgation of the Order by a competent surveyor, and the survey must be completed not later than three (3) months from January 1, 1968, at the expense of the claimant.
- The survey area is limited to the area actually occupied and cultivated by the claimant as found and confirmed jointly by a team of six (6) inspectors (the same members of the screening committee), and confirmed further by a photogrammetric survey executed by the Philippine Air Force and the Division of Surveys, Bureau of Lands, prior to screening committee inspection.
- Any occupant found not qualified must be notified and forthwith ejected from the premises.
- Immediately after or simultaneous with the photogrammetric survey of lots under claim, the Philippine Air Force and the Bureau of Lands must execute the same aerial photogrammetric survey of the remaining undisturbed virgin mossy forests within the entire Central Cordillera Forest Reserve for permanent conservation.
- The Executive Order covers expansions or extensions:
- It covers extension or expansion of areas already inspected and delimited, as well as areas previously included and considered under Executive Order No. 180, when such expansions or extensions were done between May 10, 1956 and before June 30, 1966.
- It grants an inextendible period of three (3) years from the date of this promulgation for complying with conditions for patent or title; compliance entitles continued occupancy; otherwise the forestry permit or tax declaration is canceled and the lot is withdrawn with eviction.
Survey completion and screening committee determination
- The Executive Order entrusts the determination of whether an applicant for title within the two reservations is legally entitled to a screening committee.
- The screening committee is composed of resident representatives of:
- the Director of Forestry,
- the Director of Parks and Wildlife,
- the Mountain Province Development Authority,
- the Reforestation Administration,
- the Bureau of Public Highways, and
- the National Power Corporation.
- Surveying and screening operate together with photogrammetric confirmation, and qualification determinations control whether continued occupancy proceeds.
Application for title and continuing conditions
- The claimant may file an application for grant of title at any time after ten (10) years from the date of the Executive Order for the lot covered by the claim.
- Applications must be filed on a form and in a manner determined and prescribed by the Director of Lands, in accordance with the Public Land Act.
- After the three (3) year period for compliance with conditions, and at any time within the following seven (7) consecutive years, the Mountain Province Development Authority (MPDA) determines whether continuing occupancy and eventual grant conditions have been or are being complied with.
- If continuing conditions are satisfied, permit for continued occupancy and eventual grant of patent or title may be issued by the MPDA.
- If continuing conditions are not satisfied, possession is declared illegal and the claimant is evicted.
- Exclusion of areas applied for from the reservations must be affected before the application proceeds, by Presidential proclamation, with the prior, simultaneous or subsequent concurrence of Congress.
- All requisite conditions for grant and issuance of title must be enforced even after grant and issuance of title, and these conditions must be expressly stated in the patent or title.
- If conditions are breached after issuance, the affected lot must revert to the public domain.
Publicity, bans on new entrants, eviction of aliens
- The Executive Order requires that it be given as wide publicity as possible.
- The Executive Order mandates that all new clearings, openings, and expansions in the covered reservations are prohibited and that such acts be prosecuted or penalized to prevent future extensions of lands already surveyed and the occupancy of new ones.
- Alien and non-native occupants or operators are required to vacate by December 31, 1967.
- The required vacating is without prejudice to prosecution of aliens and their Filipino dummies for violations of the Public Land, Anti-Dummy and Internal Revenue laws.
Investigation, prosecution, and implementing authority
- The National Bureau of Investigation, the Anti-Dummy Board, the Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources are directed to work jointly and collaborate in investigating and prosecuting aliens and Filipino dummies for violations of the Public Land, Anti-Dummy and Internal Revenue laws related to occupancy and/or operation of alien farm lands within the reservations.
- The Mountain Province Development Authority is designated as the principal office responsible for implementation of the Executive Order.
- The MPDA has authority to coordinate and require all other participating offices to comply with their respective obligations and assignments and to fulfill the objectives and compliance with the Executive Order’s periods.
- The MPDA’s implementation role includes prosecution of violations directly or indirectly.
Restrictions on disposal and anti-bribery forfeiture
- After a parcel is patented or titled, the land cannot be disposed of except by right of succession within a period of fifteen (15) years from the date of issuance of the patent or certificate of title.
- After the fifteen (15) years disposal restriction period ends, the land remains subject to re-purchase by the direct heirs of the direct patentee within ten (10) years from the disposition.
- Any attempt at bribery by a land claimant or any attempt to exact a bribe by a public officer acting under the Executive Order triggers immediate land consequences.
- Bribery discovered by screening committee members and verified by the Municipal Court causes:
- cancellation of the application, or
- forfeiture of the land of the culpable applicant,
without prejudice to criminal action covering the bribery and other related acts.
Definitions used in the Executive Order
- The term “Native Igorot” includes so-called cultural minorities within the Mountain Province.
- The term “Non-Native” refers to and includes Filipino nationals who do not belong to or do not come within