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ACT No. 2711

REVISED ADMINISTRATIVE CODE

ARTICLE I

ORGANIZATION OF BUREAU

Section 1843.Chief Official of Bureau of Lands. - The Bureau of Lands shall have one chief (andone assistant chief), to be known (respectively) as the Director of Lands (and the Assistant Directorof Lands).

Section 1844.Powers and Functions of Bureau of Lands . - The Bureau of Lands shall be chargedwith the administration of all laws relative to public lands not classified as timber lands, (the minerallands), the friar lands, and of all other public real property not placed under the control of any other

branch, department, bureau or office of the Government by legislative enactment or competentadministrative authority.

As custodian and administrative of the public lands classified by the Bureau of Forestry as non-timber lands, and of other real property of National Government, the Director of Lands, with theapproval of the Department Head, shall have power to regulate the occupation or provisional usethereof specifying in its regulation what kinds of licenses shall be issued by the Director of Lands,including licenses for the taking of stone, sand, gravel, and earth from lands of the public domain orfrom the beds of seas, rivers, streams, creeks, and other public waters, where such taking is nototherwise regulated under existing law; Provided, That the amount which may be collected forlicenses to take such materials shall accrue to the road and bridge fund of the province concerned;and provided, further, That for the purposes of this Act, provincial treasurers are designated deputies

of the Director of Lands.

The officers and employees of the Bureau of Lands shall have police authority of lands classified bythe Bureau of Forestry as non-timber public lands, and other public real property under the custodyand control of said Bureau and declared to be of the public domain of the courts, and shall havepower to execute the decisions, resolutions decrees of the Bureau of Lands relative thereto, unlesssuch decisions, resolutions and decrees are revoked or suspended by order of the Court of FirstInstance of the province in which the public land or real property in question is situated.

The said Bureau shall conduct surveys of the public domain and other public property, cadastralsurveys, and official surveys of private property and shall exercise such other powers as arehereinafter conferred.

All existing records of Spanish grants and concessions of agricultural (or mineral) lands shall bepreserved in the Bureau of Lands.

The Director of Lands shall furnish, or cause to be furnished, to any private person or personsapplying for the same, one or more copies of such records in which such person or persons may bepersonally concerned and to which he or they may be entitled, the same to be accompanied by acertificate of its correctness, if desired, on payment of the following fees:

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For each certificate of correctness with seal of office, one peso.

For each folio, or fraction thereof, consisting of a sheet approximately two hundred and sixteen bythree hundred thirty millimeters with proper heading, double space, and approximately threecentimeters a margin, one peso.

Section 1845.Authority of Officers to Administer Oaths and Take Testimony. - The Director ofLands, (the Assistant Director of Lands), and the Chiefs of division in the Bureau of Lands, areauthorized to administer oaths and take acknowledgments in matters of officials business, and totake testimony in official investigations conducted under the authority of the laws and regulationsrelating to the Bureau of Lands.

A local land officer, (mining recorder) and any person designated by the Director of Lands as friar-land agent, chief of a survey party, or inspector of the Bureau of Lands may administer oaths andtake acknowledgments as aforesaid, and, when thereunto deputed by the Director of Lands, mayexercise the same authority to take testimony as other officers hereinabove named.

ARTICLE II

LAND DISTRICTS

Section 1846.Land Districts. - With the approval of the Department Head, the Director of Landsmay establish land districts, which shall be, so far as practicable, coextensive with the territory of therespective provinces; but when the local conditions so require, two or more provinces or parts ofprovinces may be included in the same land district.

Section 1847.Local Land Officer. - In each land district there shall be a local land officer, who,under the supervision of the Director of Lands, shall perform such duties relative to publicagricultural lands as may be prescribed by law or regulation.

When no other officer is designated as local land officer, the provincial treasurer shall perform theduties of such office for the land district which comprises his province; and when two or moreprovinces or parts of provinces are included in the same land district, the Director of Lands shalldesignate the provincial treasurer who shall perform such duties.

Section 1848.Mining Recorder. - In land district where there are sufficient mining interest to warrantthe appointment, there shall be a mining records, who shall keep such records and perform suchduties relative to public mineral lands as may be prescribed by law regulations.

Where no other officer is designated, the duties of mining recorder shall be performed by thesecretary of the provincial board.

Section 1849.Designation of Person to Perform Duties of Local Land Officer (or Mining Recorder). -Until other provision shall be made for filling such offices, the President of the Philippines may by

executive order impose the performance of the duties of local land officer (or mining recorder) uponany official or employee in the public service.

ARTICLE III

CADASTRAL SURVEYS

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Section 1850.Order of Making Cadastral Survey. - When in the opinion of the President of thePhilippines, the public interest require that the title to any lands be settled and adjudicated, he mayto this end order the Director of Lands to make a survey and plan thereof.

Section 1851.Publication of Notice of Survey. - The Director of Lands shall, thereupon, give noticeto persons claiming an interest in the lands, and to the general public, of the day on which such

survey will begin, giving as full and accurate a description as possible of the lands to be surveyed.Such notice shall be published in two successive issues of the Official Gazette, and a copy of thenotice in the English and Spanish languages shall be posted in a conspicuous place on the chiefmunicipal building of the municipality, or municipal district in which the lands, or any portion thereof,are situated. A copy of the notice shall also be sent to the mayor of such municipality, or municipaldistrict and to the provincial board.

Section 1852.Notice of Commencement Survey. - The surveyor or other employee of the Bureau ofLands in charge of the survey shall give reasonable notice of the day on which the survey of anyportion of such lands is to begin, and shall post such notice in the usual placed on the chiefmunicipal building of such municipality or municipal district in which the lands are situated, and shallmark the boundaries of the lands by monuments set up at proper places thereon.

Section 1853.Right of Surveyor to Enter upon Lands. - It shall be lawful for surveyors and otheremployees of the Bureau of Lands to enter upon the lands whenever necessary for the making ofsuch survey or for the placing of monuments.

Section 1854.Duty of Claimants to Communicate Information Regarding Boundaries. - It shall bethe duty of every person claiming an interest in the lands to be surveyed, or in any parcel thereof, tocommunicate to the surveyor in charge upon his request therefor all information possessed by suchconcerning the boundary lines of any lands to which he claims title or in which he claims anyinterest.

Section 1855.Institution of Registration Proceedings. - When the lands have been surveyed andplatted, the Director of Lands, represented by the Solicitor-General, shall institute registrationproceedings, by petition against the holders, claimants, possessors or occupants of such lands orany part thereof, stating in substance that the public interest requires that the title to such lands besettled and adjudicated.

The petition shall contain a description of the lands and shall be accompanied by a plan thereof, andmay contain such other data as may serve to furnish full notice to the occupants of the lands and toall persons who may claim any right or interest therein.

Section 1856.Boundaries and Divisions of Lots. - If the lands contain two or more parcels held oroccupied by different persons the plan shall indicate the boundaries or limits of the various parcelsas correctly as may be. The parcels shall be known as "lots" and shall, on the plans filed in the case,be given separate numbers by the Director of Lands, which numbers shall be known as "cadastral

numbers." The lands situated within each municipality or municipal district shall, as far aspracticable, be numbered consecutively beginning with the number "one" and only one series ofnumbers shall be used for that purpose in each municipality or municipal district.

In cities or townsites a designation of the land holdings by block and lot numbers may be employedinstead of the designation by cadastral numbers and shall have the same effect for all purposes asthe latter.

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Section 1857.Cadastral Survey Funds. - Monthly Statements of Director of Lands. - The Director ofLands shall at the end of each month certify to the Auditor General and the Treasurer of thePhilippines a statement showing the amounts reimbursed or collected on cadastral surveys made bythe Bureau of Lands and the Treasurer of the Philippines is authorized and empowered to pay to theBureau of Lands an amount equal to the amounts so certified as having been collected, and thenecessary amounts to make such payments are hereby appropriated out of any fund in the National

Treasury not otherwise appropriated and such amount shall be credited to the appropriation to theBureau of Lands for further cadastral surveys.

ARTICLE IV

PRIVATE LAND SURVEYS AND SURVEYORS

Section 1858.Private Land Surveys. - The Bureau of Lands may, upon application therefor, makeprivate land surveys, for which a reasonable charge shall be made.

Private land surveys may also be made by private land surveyors, duly qualified as hereinafterprovided; but no plan of each survey, whether it be original or subdivision, shall be admitted in land

registration proceedings until approved by the Director of Lands.

Section 1859.Procedure Incident to Making of Survey Notice to Adjoining Owners. - The surveyorsemployed to make surveys for registration purposes, or to prepare maps and plats of property inconnection therewith, shall give due notice in advance to the adjoining owners whose addresses areknown, of the data and hour when they should present themselves on the property for the purpose ofmaking such objections to the boundaries of the properties to be surveyed as they considernecessary for the protection of their rights.

Surveyors shall report all objections made by adjoining property owners and occupants or claimantsof any portion of the lands at the time of the survey and demarcation, giving a proper description ofthe boundaries claimed by such owners, occupants or claimants.

Section 1860.Demarcation of Boundaries. - Surveyors shall define the boundaries of the lands,surveyed for registration purposes, by means of moment placed thereon and shall indicate on themaps or plats the respective boundaries designated, both by the applicant for the survey andadverse claimants of adjoining properties; but the work of survey and demarcation of the boundariesof the lands as occupied by the said applicant need not be suspended because of the presentationof any complaint or objection.Section 1861.Expenses of Rectification of Errors. - If, in anyregistration preceding involving such survey, the court shall find the boundary line designated by anadverse claimant to be incorrect and that designated by the applicant to be correct, the expense ofmaking any extra survey over that required by the applicant shall be assessed by the court as costsagainst the adverse claimant.

Section 1862.Regulations Relative to Private Surveyors. - Private land surveyors employed in

making a survey hereinabove contemplated shall be subject to the regulations of the Bureau ofLands in respect to such surveys and shall execute the same in accordance with current instructionsrelative thereto as issued by the Director of Lands. Promptly upon contemplating their work, it shallbe their duty to send their original field notes, computations, reports, survey maps, and plats of theproperty in question to the Bureau of Lands, for verification and approval.

ARTICLE V

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APPRENTICE AND JUNIOR SURVEYORS

Section 1866.Certification of Students to be Trained as Surveyors. - At the beginning of eachschool year, the Director of Education shall certify to the Director of Lands the names of suchnumber of students as may be provided for in the annual appropriation Acts and as may be bestqualified to receive and profit by a course of instruction and education in surveying, for a term of five

years, under the direction of the Bureau of Lands.

To be eligible for certification, a student must be of sound physical condition, of good moralcharacter, and not less than seventeen years of age. He must also have education qualificationssuch as are obtained by the satisfactory completion of the second year of instruction in the ManilaHigh School or the second year high school work in a provincial school, normal school, or thePhilippine Nautical School.

Section 1867.Appointment as Apprentice Surveyor. - Each student so certified may be appointedas apprentice surveyor in the Bureau of Lands at such annual compensation as may be fixed by law;and when so appointed he shall continue in such school as the Secretary of Education shalldetermine, and during forenoons shall pursue therein a special course of study to be prescribed by

the Director of Public Schools.

During the afternoons of school days, as well as during regular office hours on Saturdays, andduring school vacations, apprentices shall be employed in the Bureau of Lands, perform such dutiesas may be assigned to them by the Director of Lands, such as office work, drawing, platting,practical computing, use of instruments, and similar work.

Section 1868.Examination after Completion of One Year of Service - Appointment as JuniorSurveyor. - Upon the completion of one year's service as apprentices, student surveyors shall beexamined by the Bureau of Civil Service as to their qualifications for appointment as juniorsurveyors, be required to sign an agreement, approved by his parents or guardian, if he be undertwenty-one years of age, to the effect that he will remain with the Bureau of Lands for the term offour years from date of appointment as junior surveyor and perform such duties as may beprescribed by the Director of Lands, unless sooner released.

Section 1869.Completion of Three Year's Service. - Appointment as surveyor. - Upon thecompletion of three year's service as junior surveyor, students shall be examined by the Bureau ofCivil Service as to their qualification for appointment as surveyors. Students qualifying in suchexamination shall be eligible for appointment as surveyors at such salaries as may be determined bycompetent authority. Students failing to qualify shall continue on the same basis until such time asthey shall qualify as surveyors in the manner herein prescribed or until separated from the service.

Section 1870.Consequences of Violation of Contract. - Upon the expiration of their contracts,students may leave the service of the Government without prejudice; but any student separatinghimself from the service during his term of contract without the approval of the Department Head

shall be debarred thereafter from holding any position in the Philippine Civil Service.

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