Sale of Certain Portion of Government-Owned Land in Benguet to Actual Occupant-Tillers Thereof

October 28, 1978

LETTER OF INSTRUCTIONS NO. 758

WHEREAS, the government has limited implementation of its tenant emancipation program under P.D. No. 27 to tenanted private agricultural lands primarily devoted to rice or corn; cd i

WHEREAS, it has come to my attention that there is a tract of land owned by the Province of Benguet under OCT No. 23 a portion of which consists of seven (7) hectares, more or less, occupied from time immemorial by several Igorot families and cultivated for vegetables and other crops;

WHEREAS, these occupants-tillers in lands owned by the government or its instrumentalities, or lessees, as the case may be, deserve to be extended the benefits of the Land Reform Program of the government by making them owner-cultivators of their respective landholdings;

NOW, THEREFORE, and in view of my earnest desire to implement fully the Land Reform Program even in government-owned lands, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Republic of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by the Constitution, do hereby order:

1. The Provincial Government and the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Benguet to segregate from the land covered by Original Certificate of Title No. 23 of the land records of Benguet, a portion thereof identified on Survey Plan (LRC) Psd-35170 as Lot 1-A-2 to Lot 1-A-9, inclusive, containing an area of 6.7848 hectares, more or less, and transfer the same by way of sale at nominal cost to the actual occupant-tillers thereof in accordance with their areas of occupancy and cultivation.

2. The Minister of Agrarian Reform to undertake the consolidation-subdivision survey of the said portion in accordance with the actual area of occupancy and cultivation by each occupant-tiller.

3. The Register of Deeds of Benguet to register the deeds of conveyance executed in favor of each occupant-tiller and issue corresponding transfer certificates of title to them free from any fee, premium or tax of any kind whatsoever.

DONE in the City of Manila, this 28th day of October, in the year of Our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and Seventy-Eight.