Amendment to R.A. No. 5631 Re: Declaration of Paoay Lake in Ilocos Norte as National Park

June 11, 1978

PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 1554

AMENDING REPUBLIC ACT NO. 5631, WHICH DECLARED THE PAOAY LAKE AND ITS EXTREMITIES SITUATED IN THE PROVINCE OF ILOCOS NORTE A NATIONAL PARK, BY EXCLUDING A CERTAIN PORTION OF THE LAND EMBRACED THEREIN AND DECLARING THE SAME OPEN FOR DISPOSITION UNDER EXISTING LAWS

WHEREAS, pursuant Republic Act No. 5631, dated June 21, 1969, the entire Paoay and its extremities within one kilometer from said lake has been declared a national park; cdt

WHEREAS, the establishment of the said national park did not take into consideration, and has in fact prejudiced, the continuous, exclusive possession and occupation of the land area thereof under a bona fide claim of ownership since time immemorial by such possessors, claimants or occupants who are conclusively presumed to have performed all the conditions essential to government grant and are, therefore entitled to certificates of title thereto under provisions of existing laws; and

WHEREAS, over-riding considerations of equity and justice demand that such bona fide claims, possessions and occupations be excluded from the operation of the national park reservation established under the aforementioned law. cd i

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by the Constitution, do hereby decree and order the amendment of Republic Act No. 5631, by excluding from the operations of said Act all lands beyond the Paoay Lake proper at its highest water level, and declaring the same open to disposition/acquisition under the provisions of existing laws.

This Decree shall take effect immediately.

DONE in the City of the Manila, this 11th day of June, in the year of Our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and Seventy-Eight.

Published in the Official Gazette, Vol. 75 No. 4 Page 636 on January 22, 1979.