Condoning Back Rentals Due from Lot Buyers and Awardees of the Garcia Estate in Davao City

January 24, 1980

ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER NO. 445

CONDONING BACK RENTALS DUE FROM LOT BUYERS AND AWARDEES OF THE GARCIA ESTATE IN DAVAO CITY

WHEREAS, the Garcia Estate situated in Davao City was purchased by the government in 1961, pursuant to the Constitution and Republic Act 1400 for subdivision into residential lots and resale to the tenants-occupants and other persons qualified to acquire homelots of their own;

WHEREAS, in the sale of the lots, the occupant-buyer are required to pay back rentals and interest up to the time that they purchase their lots;

WHEREAS, the rentals and interest have accumulated to such an extent that the occupants-applicants cannot pay the same, thereby delaying the execution of sales and issuance of titles in their favor;

WHEREAS, the failure of the tenants and occupants to pay the rentals and interest was due partly to their conviction that they were to pay the cost of the land and not for the use thereof, since the estate was primarily acquired by the government in their behalf;

WHEREAS, the collection of rentals is tantamount to a continuance of the tenant-landlord relationship which the Constitution and the land reform laws contemplate to replace with land ownership scheme;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by law and the best interests of the Government so requiring, do hereby order:

That the outstanding rentals of tenants and occupants found qualified under the law, rules and regulations to acquire homelots in the GARCIA ESTATE, Davao City, as well as rentals in arrears and interest thereon of promises in agreements to sell are hereby condoned and said persons relieved therefrom.

DONE in the City of Manila, this 24th day of January, in the year of Our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and Eighty.