Legal Sanctions Against Transfer of Lands Under Land Reform Program

April 18, 1985

BATAS PAMBANSA BLG. 870

AN ACT PROVIDING LEGAL SANCTIONS AGAINST TRANSFER OF LANDS ACQUIRED UNDER PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NUMBERED TWENTY-SEVEN OF THE LAND REFORM PROGRAM OF THE GOVERNMENT AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

SECTION 1. Any person who, having acquired ownership of lands under the provisions of Presidential Decree Numbered Twenty-seven or the Land Reform Program of the Government and having been issued emancipation patent or title, transfers or conveys such land or any portion thereof in violation of said Presidential Decree Twenty-seven, shall lose ownership thereof, and the person, natural or juridical, in whose favor the land or portion thereof has been transferred or conveyed shall acquire no valid right or title thereto.

SECTION 2. The land or portion thereof sold, transferred or conveyed in violation of Section 1 hereof shall be forfeited in favor of the State and the owner-beneficiary shall not be entitled to a refund of whatever he shall have paid by way of amortization.

SECTION 3. The Solicitor General or his authorized representative, upon the recommendation of the Minister of Agrarian Reform, shall institute the necessary proceedings for any violation of this Act with the Regional Trial Court of the province where the land involved is situated.

The action under this section shall prescribe within ten years from the time that the Minister of Agrarian Reform shall have official knowledge of such violation.

SECTION 4. The Minister of Agrarian Reform shall re-allocate the land so forfeited to qualified and deserving farmers in accordance with existing laws, rules and regulations within one year from the date of the decision declaring the forfeiture of the land in favor of the State becomes final and executory.

SECTION 5. The Minister of Agrarian Reform shall promulgate rules and regulations to carry out the provisions of this Act.

SECTION 6. Any provision of law, decree, executive order or administrative rule or regulation inconsistent with the provisions of this Act is hereby repealed, amended, or modified accordingly.

SECTION 7. If any provision of this Act, or its application to any person or situation is declared unconstitutional, the other provisions hereof and their application to other situations shall not be affected and shall remain in full force and effect.

SECTION 8. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

Approved: April 18, 1985

Published in the Official Gazette, Vol. 81 No. 26 Page 2674 on July 1, 1985.