[ EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 87, September 22, 1967 ]
For the purpose of legalizing the use and occupancy of farm lots by bona fide so-called native Igorot vegetable farmers presently occupying and cultivating areas within the Mount Data National Park and Central Cordillera Forest reservations in the Mountain Provinces, thereby extending the policy of the Administration of providing land for the landless, with particular reference to occupants who do not fall within the purview and who came in after the promulgation of Executive Order No. 180, series of 1956, and at the same time to promote soil, water and forest conservation in said areas, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by law, do hereby promulgate the following rules and regulations in pursuance thereof:
1. All native Igorot Filipino vegetable farmers presently occupying and cultivating farm lots within the two reservations above mentioned, who had been bypassed or overlooked by the Forestry land classification survey in 1953-54, as well as those who entered these two reserves after Executive Order No. 180, was promulgated but before June 30, 1966, shall be allowed under either existing forestry permit or tax declaration to continue the occupancy and use thereof for a period of ten (10) years, and thereafter to acquire patent or title thereto in accordance with the Public Land Act upon fulfillment of the following conditions and subject to the following terms, to wit:
(a) The claimant must completely improve and terrace the parcel of land applied for by him within three (3) years from the date of this Order, without extension, otherwise said parcel of land, or whatever portion of it remains unimproved and unterraced at the end of this period shall automatically revert to the public domain, provided that vegetation deliberately tended or cared for shall be considered an improvement.
(b) If the top or crown of a hill or mountain is more or less flat and level, but its slopes are steep and rocky, the top shall be terraced, improved and cultivated to prevent soil erosion, while the steep hillsides shall be planted to trees and/or paspallum grass and other vegetation cover.
(c) If the slopes of hills or mountains are of gentle grade while the mountain or hilltops are steep and pointed, the sides should be terraced, while the peaks should be planted to trees and/or paspallum grass and other vegetation cover.
(d) The lot under claim shall immediately be surveyed upon promulgation of this Order by a competent surveyor, the survey to be completed not later than three (3) months from January 1, 1968, at the expense of the claimant the area to be surveyed shall be that actually occupied and cultivated by him as found and confirmed jointly by a team composed of six (6) inspectors who shall be the same members of the screening committee as constituted in paragraph three (3) hereof and as confirmed further by, a photogrammetric survey of each lot claim by the Philippine Air Force and the Division of Surveys, Bureau of Lands, executed prior to the inspection by the screening committee. Any occupant found not qualified shall be notified accordingly and forthwith ejected from the premises, PROVIDED, that in aid of the ultimate objective of this Order, immediately after or simultaneous with the photogrammetric survey of the lots under claim, the Philippine Air Force and the Bureau of Lands shall execute the same aerial photogrammetric survey of the remaining undisturbed virgin mossy forests, within the entire Central Cordillera Forest Reserve for the permanent conservation thereof.
(e) This Executive Order shall cover extension or expansion of areas already inspected and delimited as well as those previously included and considered under Executive Order No. 180, which expansions or extensions were done or performed after May 10, 1956, but before June 30, 1966. An inextendible period of three (3) years from the date of this promulgation is given for complying with the conditions for the grant of patent or title as verified by the MPDA, compliance with which shall entitle the claimant to continued occupancy of the lot claimed, otherwise the forestry permit or tax declaration, as the case may be, shall be canceled and the lot withdrawn from the claimant who shall be evicted from the premises.
2. At any time after ten (10) years from the date of this Order, the claimant may file the corresponding application for the grant of title to him over the lot covered by his claim upon a form and in the manner to be determined by and prescribed by the Director of Lands, in accordance with the provisions of the Public Land Act. Meanwhile, at any time after the three (3) year period fixed for complying with the conditions requisite for the grant of patent or title, and anytime within the seven (7) consecutive years following, the Mountain Province Development Authority shall determine whether the continuing conditions for occupancy and eventual grant of patent or title to the lot under claim have been or are being complied with, whereupon, permit for continued occupancy and eventual grant of patent or title to the lot under claim may be issued by the MPDA, otherwise the possession shall be declared illegal and the claimant evicted from his claim, The declared illegal and the claimant evicted from his claim, The exclusion of the areas applied for from the said reservations shall be affected before given due course to said application, by Presidential proclamation, with the prior, simultaneous or subsequent concurrence of Congress.
3. The determination as to whether any applicant for title to any parcel of land within the Mount Data National Park and Central Cordillera Forest reservations is legally entitled thereto shall be entrusted to a screening committee composed of the following:
(a) A resident representative of the Director of Forestry
(b) A resident representative of the Director of Parks and Wildlife
(c) A resident representative of the Mountain Province Development Authority
(d) A resident representative of the Reforestation Administration
(e) A resident representative of the Bureau of Public Highways
(f) A resident representative of the National Power Corporation
4. Compliance with all the requisite conditions for the grant and issuance of title to the claimant of a farm lot within to two reservations above mentioned shall be exacted even after grant and issuance of title, which conditions shall be expressly stated therein. In case of failure to do so, the lot involved shall revert to the public domain.
5. Water, soil and forest conservation shall be strictly observed to the end that, as far as possible, the waters draining from vegetable farms herein covered shall not carry a grain or particle of soil to the rivers and shall be as clean and as pure as spring water.
6. This Executive Order shall be given as wide publicity as possible and hereafter all new claims, clearings or openings, as well as extensions or expansions whatsoever shall be absolutely banned and prohibited and shall be prosecuted or penalized, thus obviating in the future any further extension or expansion of lands already surveyed hereunder and the occupancy of new ones within the two reservations herein contemplated.
Every occupant within the purview of this Order shall be obliged to prevent any entry, trespass or further incursion, within view of his occupancy, by anyone whomsoever into either the Mount Data National Park or the Central Cordillera Forest Reserve. He shall report immediately anyone who enters by force or stealth to the local officer of the Parks and Wildlife Office or Forestry District Officer, as the case may be. Failure to so act on the part of one under obligation hereunder shall cause his land claim or parcel of land acquired hereunder to be canceled or forfeited and reverted to the public domain.
7. Once patented or titled the parcel of land subject hereof shall not be disposable, except by right of succession, within the period of fifteen (15) years from the date of issuance of patent or certificate of title thereto; and even following legal disposition thereof after the lapse of said period of fifteen (15) years, the same shall be subject to re-purchase by the direct heirs of the direct patentee within a period of ten (10) years from the disposition thereof.
8. Any attempt at bribery on the part of the land claimant, or. to exact bribe on the part of the public officer acting pursuant hereof, upon discovery by any members of the screening committee and verification by the Municipal Court shall immediately cause cancellation of the application or forfeiture of the land of the culpable applicant, without prejudice to a criminal action covering such act or other acts.
9. All alien and non-native occupants or operators of farm lot within the Mount Data National Park and Central Cordillera Forest reservations are hereby given until December 31, 1967, within which to vacate the premises presently being occupied or cultivated by them, without prejudice to their prosecution, together with their Filipino dummies, for any violation of the Public Land, Anti-Dummy and Internal Revenue laws.
10. The National Bureau of Investigation, the Anti-Dummy Board, the Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources are hereby directed to work jointly and collaborate in the investigation and prosecution of aliens and Filipino dummies for any violation of the Public Land, Anti-Dummy and Internal Revenue laws, arising from the occupancy and/or operation of aliens of farm lands within the aforesaid reservations.
11. In order to carry out efficiently and effectively all the intents and purposes of this Executive Order, the Mountain Province Development Authority is hereby designated and charged as the principal office responsible for the implementation hereof with authority to coordinate and require all other offices which have participation herein to comply with their respective obligations and assignments to the end that the objectives hereof shall be fulfilled, and the requirements of this Executive Order shall be complied with within the respective periods prescribed therefor, including the prosecution directly or indirectly of any violations of this Executive Order.
12. All directives or executive orders inconsistent herewith are deemed canceled, PROVIDED, finally, that the term Native Igorot is meant or intended to refer to or include any number of the so-called cultural minorities within. the Mountain Province, while the term Non-Native is meant or intended to refer to or include Filipino nationals who do not belong to or come within the term native Igorot and the term mossy forest is meant or intended to cover highland forest of scrub oak and stunted growth of trees and bamboos of no commercial value, or with vegetation like that found on the higher levels of Mount Data and Mount Pulog.
DONE in the City of Manila, this 22nd day of September, in the year of Our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and Sixty-Seven.1âшphi1
