DENR Survey Standards and Procedures 1990

Legal basis, purpose, and program objectives

DENR Administrative Order No. 72 adopts survey standards, equipment, and procedures to enhance the capability, efficiency, and effectiveness of DENR survey verification and monitoring functions.
The order is intended to meet increasing demands for varied land maps used in implementing the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program and other related technical services by both government and private sectors.
The order establishes that survey methods and procedures will follow existing land surveying standards except where superseded by new policy guidelines and procedures introduced by this order or later issuances.
DENR Administrative Order No. 72 directs that survey verification and approval standards govern map production and related technical work within DENR.

Governing manuals, baseline rules, and supersession

Cadastral surveys must follow the Lands Administrative Order No. 4 dated 3 July 1980, known as the Manual for Land Surveys in the Philippines.
Survey conduct for cadastral work must also follow the Most Recent Version of Instruction to Bidders adopted by the Department.
Supersession rule: procedures are governed by the referenced manuals/instructions except for provisions superseded by new policy guidelines and procedures introduced by this Administrative Order or any later issuance.
Mineral and isolated survey work must use survey standards consistent with isolated land surveys under the Manual for Lands Surveys of the Philippines.

Core coverage: survey categories and map work

The order provides standards for Cadastral Land Surveys covering extensive areas, timberland delineation, classified A & D lands delineation, political boundary delineation, and individual lot surveys for registration and other purposes.
The order provides standards for Survey of Integrated Social Forestry (ISF) Areas including perimeter surveying, concurrent boundary work with A & D areas, and parcellary mapping of ISF awards.
The order provides standards for Mineral Land Surveys covering quarry applications, sand and gravel concessions, mining claims, coal and petroleum, and other mineral lands executed for quarry license/permit, location, patent, lease, concession, production sharing agreement, and other mining agreements.
The order provides standards for Land Classification Surveys including delimitation of classified forests with tertiary precision, marking requirements, and the preparation of Land Classification Maps (LC Maps).
The order establishes responsibilities for NAMRIA for land classification surveying and Forest Management Sector for land use/capability survey.
The order sets standards for Geodetic Control Survey network control points and for Field Network Survey Parties tasked with geodetic densification and monument correction/transformation.
The order establishes Standard Maps responsibilities and map assignment rules across Lands Service, Mines Service, Forestry Service, and NAMRIA, including projection and coordinate system usage.

Cadastral land surveys requirements

Cadastral surveys cover survey of extensive land areas for accurate delineation of timberland and classified A & D lands within a municipality.
Cadastral surveys also cover political boundary delineation.
Cadastral surveys include individual survey of lots for registration proceedings, agricultural development, or other purposes deemed necessary.
The method, conduct, and terms of survey are governed by the Manual for Land Surveys in the Philippines and the Most Recent Version of Instruction to Bidders adopted by the Department, subject to supersession by later guidelines under this order or subsequent issuances.

ISF perimeter and parcellary surveying standards

The perimeter survey of ISF areas must be executed with the procedures, precision, and standards prescribed for the kind of survey and must use calibrated and registered surveying instruments that can deliver the required precision.
For ongoing cadastral projects, the perimeter survey of ISF areas must be surveyed concurrently with lot boundary surveys in A & D areas, and plotted in Cadastral or Social Forestry Maps.
Perimeter survey of ISF areas must be conducted upon issuance of survey authority by the RED, and it must be based on sketches prepared by the Land Evaluation and Survey Team with guidance of the Forestry Officer assigned by the RED to the project.
ISF surveys must be tied to reference points established by a circuit or loop traverse of tertiary precision.
If EDM is used, it must be periodically tested over a line of known length to verify the instrument constant and to check for frequency drift.
Prominent boundary turns must be marked with concrete monuments 15 x 15 x 50 cm, marked on top “ISF” and the monument number below it, set 40 cm in the ground.
If concrete monument iron spikes are not practicable, corners must be “X” marks on immovable or fixed hard rocks or boulders with exposed surfaces of more than one meter in diameter, or on trees of the first group or indigenous or living edible fruit trees.
Parcellary mapping of individual ISF awards must be undertaken by the Administration using instruments of lesser precision or lower standards such as tachimetry or stadia methods.

Social Forestry map preparation rules

For perimeter and parcellary surveys of ISF areas in municipalities previously cadastrally and not yet cadastrally surveyed, surveys must be plotted on the isolated survey plan form using the survey symbol “SF-Region Code Number”.
For these isolated survey cases, the plan and survey record must be verified and certified correct only by the Chief, Regional Surveys Division after its verification to prevent its use in titling.
For ongoing cadastral cases, an overlay of the cadastral map segregating forest land must be prepared, called SFM instead of CM.
In SFM overlays, the ISF parcels must be plotted and numbered consecutively as “ISF-Parcel 1, ISF-Parcel 2, etc.”.

Mineral land survey and submission controls

Mineral land surveys are surveys for quarry applications, sand and gravel concessions, mining claims, coal and petroleum, and other mineral lands executed for quarry license/permit, location, patent, lease, concession, production sharing agreement, and other mining agreements.
Mineral surveys must be executed consistent with standards and precision prescribed for isolated land surveys under the Manual for Lands Surveys of the Philippines.
Mineral surveys must be executed like isolated surveys tied to acceptable reference points of known position, using registered and calibrated instruments such as transit and tapes or Theodolite and EDM.
Mineral surveys must be plotted on the isolated survey plan form and assigned the appropriate survey symbol.
Previously approved property surface surveys and other occupancies must be plotted in dashes on the mineral land survey plan.
Mineral land survey returns must be submitted to the Regional Surveys Division through the Mines and Geo-Sciences Sector for verification and approval.
Mineral land survey plans must bear the words “Not for Registration in Court.”

Land classification surveying and responsibilities

Classified forests must be delimited by a survey of tertiary precision using at least Forestry Transits and prescribed tapes.
Photo maps or enlarged rectified aerial photographs may be used as guide before actual ground survey for forest delimitation.
Boundaries must be marked with parallelepiped concrete markers 15 x 15 x 50 cm set 40 cm below the surface of the ground, leaving 10 cm projection above ground with “FZ” and the marker number engraved on top, where concrete monument iron spikes are practicable.
Where concrete monument iron spikes are not practicable, corners must be “x” marks etched on big immovable boulders with exposed surface of at least one meter in diameter defined by natural features such as creeks and streams, with the centerline located by the intersection method or by stadia method.
Delimitation surveys must be plotted in a Land Classification Map (LC Map).
Land Classification surveys are under the responsibility of NAMRIA.
The land use/capability survey is under the responsibility of the Forest Management Sector.

Alternatives, geodetic control, and field parties

New methodologies and instrumentation such as photogrammetric method and satellite surveying may be accepted as alternate or supplemental survey methodologies, subject to approval by the Lands Management Bureau.
The establishment of first, second, and third order geodetic network control points is the responsibility of NAMRIA.
Field Network Survey Parties (FNSP) must densify existing geodetic control points from the 25 or 10 kilometer density establishment by NAMRIA to service the Cadastral Survey Program.
The FNSP must correct previously established Bureau of Lands Location Monuments (BLLMs), Barangay or Barrio Boundary Monuments (BBMs), Provincial Boundary Monuments (PBMs), Municipal Boundary Monuments (MBMs), and other reference points of cadastral surveys to Global Positioning System (GPS) for transformation into one system used in cadastral mapping.
The FNSP must be under the direct administrative control of the RED through the RTD for Lands, with the Surveys Division providing technical guidance and assistance.

Standard maps: jurisdiction, symbols, and projections

Only the listed agencies are responsible for maps acknowledged to be under their jurisdiction: Lands Service, Mines Service, Forestry Service, and NAMRIA.
Information coming from other agencies outside their acknowledged jurisdiction is deemed unofficial.
The symbology used, layout, and other information in a map are determined by the agency responsible for its preparation.
Symbols for common map features such as roads, railroads, bridges, etc. must be the same as those appearing in the topographic maps.
Map assignments, sizes, and scales are set as follows:
- Lands Service
  - Cadastral Maps: 54x54 cm, 1:4000; also 1:2000, 1:1000, 1:500, 1:250 (with remarks reflecting adoption status).
  - Barangay and Municipal Boundary Index Maps (BBIM, MBIM): 54x54 cm, 1:4000.
  - Isolated Survey Plan: 42x54 cm, 1:100 with verification and approval.
- Mines Service
  - Geologic Map: 75x55 cm, 1:50000.
  - Mineral Land Survey Map: 54x54 cm, 1:250000.
  - Phil. Mineral Rights Master Maps: 60x75 cm, 1:250000.
- Forestry Service
  - Integrated Social Forestry Maps: 54x54 cm, 1:4000 (except standard size).
  - Forest License Maps: 54x54 cm, 1:1000 (and its derivatives).
- NAMRIA
  - Land Classification Maps: Variable, 1:25000 (previously on scale 1:20000).
The maps must be identified by sheet number as explained in Annex A.
Traverse Mercator projection must be used in map production.
The UTM must be used for all topographic maps on scales 1:10000 and smaller.
A pair of PTM (PPCS) lines must be shown on topographic maps to aid local surveyors and other users familiar with the Philippine Plane Coordinate System.
For maps on scales larger than 1:10000, the PPCS system must remain in use.