REPUBLIC ACT No. 4388
AN ACT AMENDING SECTIONS TWENTY-FOUR, THIRTY-THREE, THIRTY-FOUR, THIRTY-SEVEN, FORTY-SEVEN, SIXTY-ONE, SIXTY-TWO, SIXTY-EIGHT, SEVENTY-THREE, SEVENTY-SIX, PARAGRAPH (A), EIGHTY-ONE, EIGHTY-NINE, AND NINETY-ONE OF COMMONWEALTH ACT NUMBERED ONE HUNDRED THIRTY-SEVEN, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE MINING ACT, AS AMENDED.
Section 1. Sections twenty-four, thirty-three, thirty-four, thirty-seven, forty-seven, sixty-one, sixty-two, sixty-eight, seventy-three, seventy-six, paragraph (a), eighty-one, eighty-nine and ninety-one of Commonwealth Act Numbered One hundred thirty-seven, as amended, are further amended to read as follows:
"Sec. 24. Prospector may prospect for themselves, or for other persons, associations, corporations, or other entities qualified to locate mining claims and to acquire leases of mineral lands under the provisions of this Act. A proper power of attorney in writing shall, in each case, be given by the employer to his prospector which power of attorney shall be duly acknowledged and shall be recorded in the office of the mining recorder concerned on or before the recording of the declaration of location. A power of attorney not registered on or before the recording of this declaration of location shall make the mining claim or claims null and void. Regardless of the number of claims located by the prospector for the same principal in the same province of mining district, he shall be required to record but one power of attorney in any such province or district.
"Sec. 33. Within thirty days from the date of discovery of mineral the discoverer or locator shall complete the acts of location of a mining claim in accordance with the provisions of this Act, covering the land where the mineral has been discovered. A location made after such period, shall be null and void.
"Sec. 34. Within thirty days after the completion of the acts of location of a mining claim, as hereinafter provided, the locator thereof shall record the same with the mining recorder of the province or district within which the claim is situated. A claim recorded after the prescribed period shall be null and void.
"Sec. 37. In the case of first, second, fourth, and fifth groups of mineral lands, no locator, applicant or lessee shall be entitled to hold or lease in his, its or their own names or in the name of any person, association, corporation, sociedad anonima, or partnership more than the maximum area specified in Section seventy-six of this Act: Provided, however, That in the case of lode or placer grounds containing extensive disseminated low-grade ore bodies belonging to the first and fifth groups of mineral lands, whether or not in place, an individual, corporation, sociedad anonima or partnership shall be entitled to hold and lease in his, its or their own names, not more than two hundred and fifty placer mining claims on the same lode or placer ground. Extensive disseminated low-grade ore bodies as used in this Act shall mean ore bodies containing minerals in a mass deposit the average aggregate value of the commercially recoverable metals or minerals of which does not exceed the equivalent in value, at the time leased, of ore containing by weight three per centum of copper alone. The Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources shall, thru the Director of Mines, determine at the time of the granting of the lease or leases whether the mining claims for which lease is applied come under the provisions of this section.
"Sec. 47. The record of a lode or placer claim shall consist of a declaration of location which shall contain, among others, the name of the claim, the name of each locator, the date of location, the names of the sitio, barrio, municipality, province and island, in which the claim is situated, the words written on the number one and number two posts in the case of lode claims, and a true copy of the notice posted on the placer claim and shall recite all the facts necessary to the identification of the lode or placer claim, as well as a description of the claim as staked and monumented, showing the length the approximate compass bearing, as near as may be, of each side or course thereof, and stating in what manner the respective corners are marked, whether by standing tree, rock in place, post, or stone, and giving in detail the distinguishing marks that are written or cut on each, and also stating as accurately as possible the bearing and distance of corner post number one to the tie point, which shall be a permanent and prominent object: Provided, That in the location of contiguous claims by the same locator, the tying of corner post number one of any of the said claims will constitute substantial compliance with this provision. The declaration of location that has no bearing and distance to a tie point as herein described shall be null and void.
"For the purpose of this section, a permanent and prominent object used as a tie point may be an intersection of known roads; a junction of known rivers or creeks, a known public or private structure; a corner of approval public, private or mineral land survey; a kilometer post of public road; or location monument or triangulation station established by the Bureau of Lands, Bureau of Mines, Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Coast and Geodetic Survey, or other government agencies.
"Sec. 61. Conflicts and disputes arising out of mining locations shall be submitted to the Director of Mines for decision: Provided, That the decision or order of the Director of Mines may be appealed to the Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources within thirty days from receipt of such decision or order. In case any one of the parties should disagree from the decision or order of the Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources, the matter may be taken to the Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court, as the case may be, within thirty days from the receipt of such decision or order, otherwise the said decision or order shall be final and binding upon the parties concerned. Findings of facts in the decision or order of the Director of Mines when affirmed by the Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources shall be final and conclusive, and the aggrieved party or parties desiring to appeal from such decision or order shall file in the Supreme Court a petition for review wherein only questions of law may be raised.
"Sec. 62. Any qualified person making a valid location of a mining claim or claims, his successors and assigns, acquires thereby the right of exploration and occupation from the date of the registry of the claims in the office of the mining recorder; and if he applies for lease of said claim or claims and, no written protest is filed in the Bureau of Mines against such application subject to the rules and regulations that the Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources may prescribed, he shall be entitled, before the lease is granted as provided in this Act, to a temporary permit, to be issued by the Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources within forty-five days from the date application for such permit is filed, accompanied by the necessary technical description and survey plan of the mining claim or claims, to mine, extract, and dispose of minerals from said claims or claims for commercial purposes, subject however, to the filing of a surety bond for such amount and under such terms and conditions to be determined by the Director of Mines and approved by the Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources and to the payment of royalties provided in the National Internal Revenue Code, as amended, for claims covered by lease: Provided, however, That if the mining claim applied for is involved in a conflict as herein provided, the party in whose favor a decision has been rendered shall be granted the temporary permit applied for upon the filing of a surety bond doubled the amount as required herein: Provided, further, That the holders of mining claims located under the Act of Congress of July one, nineteen hundred and two, as amended, who may apply for a lease or leases thereon under the provisions of Section sixty-eight of this Act, as amended, subject to the rules and regulations that the Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources may prescribe, may extract minerals therefrom for commercial purposes without such temporary permit until such time as the leases applied for are granted, subject, however, to the payment or royalties provided for in the National Internal Revenue Code, as amended, of the claims covered by leases and to the conditions that the claims to be developed or exploited shall first be properly surveyed: Provided, finally, That the Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources may at any time cancel for violation of laws and regulations and after due hearings the temporary permit granted under the provisions of this Act, and in case of unpatented mining claims located under the Act of Congress of July one, nineteen hundred and two, as amended, stop the extraction of minerals therefrom for commercial purposes, without any responsibility on the part of the Government as to the expenditures for development works or exploitation purposes that might have been incurred by the applicants, pending the determination of their applications for lease.
"Temporary permits issued under the authority of this section shall be for a period of one year.
"Sec. 68. Applications for a lease and/or survey of mining claims shall be filed within three years from the date of recording of the claim in the office of the mining recorder. Failure to file such application within the period above-mentioned may be deemed an abandonment of the mining claim, and the land embraced within such claim shall thereupon be open to relocation in the same manner as if no location of the same had ever been made: Provided, That the original locator, his heirs or his signs, who has or have thus failed to file any of such applications on the claim shall not be entitled to relocate directly or indirectly, the land embraced within such claim, or in any part thereof.
"Sec. 73. At any time during the period of publication, any adverse claim may be filed under oath with the Director of Mines, and shall state in full detail the nature, boundaries, and extent of the adverse claim, and shall be accompanied by all plans, documents, and agreements upon which such adverse claim is based: Provided, however, That no adverse claim from any person, association, partnership or corporation, whose protest filed under Section sixty-one of this Act has already been finally decided by the Director of Mines and/or the Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources, shall be entertained. Upon the filing of the adverse claim all proceedings except the publication of notice of application for patent or lease and the making and filing of the affidavit in connection therewith, as herein prescribed shall be stayed until the controversy shall have been settled or decided in accordance with Section sixty-one of this Act or the adverse claim waived.
"Sec. 76. Subject to the provisions of Article XIII of the Constitution, the maximum area that may be leased to a person, association, or corporation under the provisions of this Act in any one province shall be as follows:
"(a) For lands of the first group containing metals or metaliferous ores; not more than one hundred fifty claims containing minerals in vein or lode deposits for any individual, association, partnership, sociedad anonima or corporation, nor more than four hundred hectares containing minerals in placer deposits for any individual, nor more than three thousand two hundred hectares containing minerals in placer deposits for any corporation, association, sociedad anonima or partnership: Provided, however, That in no case shall the total number of lode claims that a lessee may lease exceed five hundred in the entire Philippines.
"Sec. 81. Any person, association, or corporation holding a lease under the provisions of this Act shall perform during each year, while the lease is in force, not less than four hundred pesos worth of labor, or improvements for each mining claim of the first and fifth group, and two hundred pesos worth of labor, or improvements for each mining claim of the second and fourth group: Provided, That in the case of the first and fifth group the total amount of labor or improvements required for the said group may be concentrated at the point or points of greatest advantage for any geologically related group of claims. The period within which the work required to be done annually for all mining claims shall commence on the first day of January succeeding the date of the granting of the lease on the said claim or claims, and shall be completed on or before the thirty-first day of December of the same year: Provided, finally, That failure to perform the annual labor or improvements required herein shall constitute abandonment on the part of the holder and the land shall be subject to relocation by other persons.
"Sec. 89. A bona fide holder of a mining claim or group of contiguous claims under this Act, shall have the gratuitous right to cut trees or timber within such mining claim or claims for the use in the development or operation of only the said claim or claims: Provided, That the cutting of said timber shall be in accordance with the rules and regulations prescribed by the Bureau of Forestry: And provided, further, That the land or lands covered by such mining claim or group of claims are not covered by existing timber concession granted by the Bureau of Forestry. In consideration of the exercise of such right, the lessee of mining claims will be obligated to perform reforestation work within the said mining claim or claims in accordance with forestry regulation applicable on the matter.
"Sec. 91. When any mine, or mining claim is so situated that for the more convenient enjoyment of the beneficial rights on the same, a road, railroad, waste dumpsite, warehouse and port facilities, tramway, electric transmission, telephone or telegraph line, or aerial transportation thereto or therefrom, or a ditch, canal, pipe line, flume, cut, shaft, or tunnel to drain or convey water, ore, waste, or tailing therefrom, or a shaft or tunnel for mining purposes, may be necessary for the better working thereof, which road, railroad, waste dumpsite, warehouse and port facilities, tramway, electric transmission, telephone or telegraph line, aerial transportation, ditch, canal, pipe line, flume, cut, shaft or tunnel may require the use or occupancy of a mining claim or claims or other lands, owned, occupied, possessed or leased by another or others than the person or persons or body corporate requiring an easement for any of the purposes hereinbefore enumerated, which purposes are hereby declared to be for the public use or benefit for which the right of eminent domain may legally be exercised, the owner, locators, or lessee of the mine or mining claim first abovementioned, shall be entitled to a right of way, entry and possession for the uses, purposes and privileges of such roads, railroads, waste dumpsite, warehouse and port facilities, tramway, electric transmission, telephone or telegraph line, aerial transportation, ditch, canal, pipe line, flume, cut, shaft or tunnel, in, upon, through, under and across such mining claims or other lands, upon compliance with the provisions of this Act hereinafter provided."
Section 2. All laws and regulations of this Act, are hereby are inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, are hereby amended or repealed.
Section 3. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
Approved: June 19, 1965
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