Reserving for Settlement Purposes of the MAR Certain Parcels of Land of Public Domain in Pinabacdao, Western Samar

May 21, 1983

PROCLAMATION NO. 2292

RESERVING FOR SETTLEMENT PURPOSES CERTAIN PARCELS OF LAND OF THE PUBLIC DOMAIN SITUATED IN THE MUNICIPALITIES OF BASEY, STA. RITA AND PINABACDAO, PROVINCE OF WESTERN SAMAR, UNDER THE ADMINISTRATION AND DISPOSITION OF THE MINISTRY OF AGRARIAN REFORM

WHEREAS, it is the declared policy of the State to provide a massive agricultural resettlement program and a systematic public land distribution and development in order to create a truly viable, social and agricultural national structure of the country;

WHEREAS, it is a priority program and also primary concern of the State to accelerate the development of all public agricultural lands which have remained idle in the isolated and depressed provinces to upgrade the economic growth and general well being of the people;

WHEREAS, the government has taken steps to effectuate the emancipation of tenant farmers of private agricultural lands, and to uplift the economic and special well being of our deserving landless farmers by providing them with lands from the vast areas of potentially productive agricultural public lands for development and cultivation under government supervision and guidance;

WHEREAS, there are certain parcels of fertile and potentially productive lands of the public domain, classified and unclassified in the interior portions of the Municipalities of Basey, Sta. Rita and Pinabacdao, Province of Western Samar, which have been identified and found to be suitable for agricultural resettlement project by the Ministry of Agrarian Reform, Ministry of Natural Resources and the National Resettlement Survey and Review Committee coordinated by the Development Coordinating Council for Leyte and Samar (LOI 576);

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by law, and upon recommendation of the Minister of Agrarian Reform after due consultation with the Minister of Natural Resources, do hereby reserve for settlement purposes under the administration and disposition of the Ministry of Agrarian Reform, certain parcels of land of the public domain situated in the Municipalities of Basey, Sta. Rita and Pinabacdao, Province of Western Samar, and more particularly bounded and described as follows:

Beginning at a point marked "1" on plan (based on BOGS maps) being longitude 11 deg. 30'N and latitude 125 degree 1.92'E.

thence, S. 84 deg. 15'E.,	15,500 m. to point 2
thence, S. 04 deg. 00'E.,	9,125 m. to point 3
thence, S. 13 deg. 30'W.	5,625 m. to point 4
thence, S.  80 deg. 00'W.,	9,000 m. to point 5
thence, N. 35 deg. 20'W.,	7,500 m. to point 6
thence, N. 13 deg. 20'W.,	11,187 m. to point of

beginning, containing an area of NINETEEN THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED NINETY THREE (19,893) hectares, more or less.

In order to accelerate the development of the area subject of this proclamation, the Bureau of Forest Development is hereby directed to undertake immediately the necessary land classification survey of said area to delineate areas available for release as alienable and disposable lands.

The Ministry of Agrarian Reform is hereby authorized to cut, remove and dispose of the timber within the alienable and disposable portions of the reservation to be used in the development of the settlement and to fill the timber needs of qualified settlers therein, subject however to the Bureau of Forest Development rules and regulations on the matter.

With respect to those lots for which certificates of title were already issued, the Ministry of Agrarian Reform is hereby authorized to expropriate the said areas and/or negotiate for their acquisition pursuant to the provisions of Republic Act No. 3844, as amended by Republic Act No. 6389, if such areas are very necessary for the overall development of the settlement. The amounts necessary for the purpose shall be taken out of the funds of the Ministry of Agrarian Reform to finance the acquisition of the private properties covered by this proclamation.

The Ministry of Agrarian Reform is hereby directed to organize a Plans and Programs Committee, composed of representatives from the Bureau of Forest Development, the Bureau of Lands and the Bureau of Soils, which shall prepare the area development plan, work program, cost estimates and other technical plans and designs necessary for the total development of the settlement.

Since permanent agricultural and profitable farming ventures necessitate a sustained sufficient water supply for irrigation purposes as well as the adoption of measures to prevent soil erosion, the areas marked "B-1", "E", "F" and "G" in the attached sketch plan being within the proposed Sohotan Natural Bridge Reservation, timberland and unclassified areas respectively, should be retained as permanent forest lands to be reserved as watersheds.

To maximize land use and development as well as to avoid any land speculation, the Ministry of Agrarian Reform is hereby directed to observe the leasehold system in the distribution of the land covered by this proclamation, and similarly observe and/or adopt the cooperative system of management and development.

DONE in the City of Manila, this 21st day of May, in the year of Our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Three.