AGRICULTURAL PUBLIC LAND POLICY IN THE PHILIPPiNES
DURING THE AMERICAN PERIOD
ALICE
MORRISSEY
McDIARMID
'"
While the upheaval in the Far East since World War II exhibits
local characteristics in each country, it displays one common feature-political
and social unrest centering around the distribution
of agricultural income and of land ownership.
Communist propaganda has fanned agrarian discontent, and the United States has
had to concern itself directly with land reform in Japan and Korea,
and to a lesser extent in other countries of Southeast Asia. In the
Philippines, the Hukbalahaps, the fighting arm of the local Communist movement, find their greatest support in the provinces which in
the past have been the locale of agrarian uprisings.
To many Americans, it is a shock to learn that agrarian discontent has a long history in the Philippines.
After all the United
States was sovereign there for almost fifty years. Did the United
States fail to reform an unjust landholding system inherited from
the Spanish?
Did the Filipinos lack the capital and the skill to
utilize their natural resources for the betterment of their common
jot? Or did these factors, combined with shortcomings of the American land administration, maintain a system of agriculture and landholding that did not satisfy large groups within the country?
At the inception of American rule, the public lands of the Philippines were estimated to comprise at least half the area of the
archipelago; a few years later, after further exploration, they were
believed to amount to 83.5 per cent of the total area.'
By a treaty
of peace, these public lands belonging to the crown of Spain passed
into the possession of the United States.s It is clear that the disposal
of such a large proportion of the lands of the islands might greatly
affect the landholding pattern of the country. In view of the predominance of agriculture, the handling of the agricultural public
lands, i.e., the public lands which were not timber or mineral lands,
constituted the most important part of American public land policy
in the Philippines.
When the United States acquired the archipelago, modes of land
acquisition, customs of life, and patterns of agriculture had already
been established under the Spanish. The time-honored method of
land acquisition was occupation, or in plainer words, squatting.
* Ph.D.
(History & International Law).
Report of Philippine Commission, 1900, vol. IV, p. 91; ibid, 1903, Pt. 2, p. 623.
2 Treaty of Paris of December 10, 1898, Art. VIII, Public Laws of the Philippine
Commission, vol. 1, App., pp. 1047-1051, esp. p. 1049.
1
852 .
PHILIPPINE
LAW JOURNAL
So common was the practice that the law provided a regular procedure for the legalization of title based on possession, but in actual
fact few holders took the necessary steps to obtain legal title. 3
Land was generally worked in small plots which were regarded in
some cases as belonging to their cultivators and in others to landlords.s Large tobacco and sugar estates were possessed by a few
business corporations, and especially in the Visayan sugar areas
there were some large individual or family properties."
Three of
the principal religious orders active in the Philippines were large
holders of land in the best developed provinces." Their control had
been challenged in various outbreaks in the late Spanish period and
during the struggle for the extension of American control over the
islands. The situation was so dangerous that the American army,
which was protecting the lives of the friars, refused to permit them
to return to their parishes or to attempt to collect rents."
Whatever their ownership, the settled portions of the Philippines were cultivated by primitive agricultural methods and produced for export abaca, low-grade sugar, tobacco, and copra." Rice
and corn were grown for domestic consumption but in insufficient
quantities so that rice was frequently imported. The principal agricultural regions were the great plain of Central Luzon and some of
the Visayan islands. The mountain tribes of Luzon and the Moros
of Mindanao had effectively discouraged both Spaniards and Christian Filipinos from settling in their territories and were pursuing
their own types of agriculture and community life with little reference to the central authority.
Between and beyond the occupied
lands were lands which certainly belonged to the public domain, but
no one at the time was certain of their area or location.
In addition to gathering information about its new possession,
the United States had to deal with three questions in order to formulate a public land policy. First was the problem of devising some
Report of Philippine Commission, 1901, Pt. 2, p. 320.
Census of Philippine Islands, 1903, (4 vols., U.S. Bureau of Census, Washing.
ton, 1905) vol. IV, pp. 189-198. This census is considered inaccurate to the point
of being untrustworthy, but it seems adequate on a general point like this.
5 Report
of Philippine Commission, 1900, vol. IV, pp. 51-52; U.S. Cong., 61st
Cong., 3d sess., H. R. Report 2289, Administration
of Philippine Lands, (2 vols.,
Washington, Government Printing Office, 1911) vol. 2, pp. 732-733; Henry Parker
Willis, Our Philippine Problem, (Henry Holt, New York, 1905) p. 339.
6 Report of Phil. Com., 1900, vol. IV, P: 91; and Report of Taft Philippine
Commission. (56th Cong., 2d sess., S. Doc. 112, Washington, Government Printing Office,
1901) p. 27 (Report dated November 30, 1900).
7 Report of Phil. Com., 1901, Pt. 1, pp. 24-25.
8 Report of Phil. Com., 1900, vol. Ill, pp. 14-151; and ibid., vol. IV, pp. 11·13.
3
4
AGRICULTURAL
PUBLIC LAND POLICY DURING AMERICAN
PERIOD
853
method of segregating private from public lands. In the treaty with
Spain, the United States had pledged itself to respect private property and rights." In order to delimit the public lands, therefore, it
would be necessary to sift private land claims, which in most cases
were unsupported by legal documents. The second problem was the
necessity of deciding the nianner of disposing of unoccupied public
lands and the size of the unit to be offered. Third was the problem
whether the public lands should be reserved to Filipinos or opened
to Americans.
Before a public land policy could be defined, however, it was
necessary to establish general principles governing the relation of
the United States to the Philippines. Whether or when the Philippines should become independent remained a moot question in American politics for a long time, but from the beginning it was assumed
that the Philippines would not be assimilated. In tariffs, currency,
and public finance, the islands were kept separate from the United
States. Amid a welter of conflicting attitudes in the United States,
there emerged acceptance of the idea that the Philippines should be
prepared as rapidly as possible for self-government.w
Regarding its
direct control as transitory and unwilling to expend large federalfunds for strictly Philippine purposes, the United States quickly admitted Filipinos to a share in their own government and expected
that government to pay its own way. Within twenty years both
chambers of the elective legislature were Filipino and exercised
power over the purse.!!
Even before this the United States en9Treaty of Paris of December 10, 1898, Art. VIII, Public Laws of Phil. Com.,
vol. I, App., p. 1049.
10 For a recent discussion of the formulation
of American policy, see GAREL A.
GRUNDER
AND WILLIAM
E.
LIVEZEY,
THE
PHILIPPINES
AND THE
UNITED
STATES,
(University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1951), pp. 27-83.
11 Philippine
governmental development was marked by the gradual increase of
Filipino participation and growing but not complete control over governmental functions. The non-Christian areas in the mountains of Luzon and Mindanao were treated
differently from the rest of the territory.
The first stage of American rule was military though local Filipino governmental
units were organized as rapidly as possible. The first Philippine Commission under
Jacob Gould Schurman, which was in the Philippines in 1899, had no governmental
powers. In September, 1900, the central government was established with a military
governor as chief executive and the Taft Commission as the legislative bcdy but also
exercising certain executive functions. Civil government of all the organized provinces
was established under the Second Philippine Commission with Willi<lm Howard Taft
as Civil governor on July 3, 1901. (In 1905 the title was changed to governor-general.)
This Commission, originally composed of five Americans, was enlarged in September,
1901 by the addition of three Filipino members. Each of the American members of
the Commission became head of one of 'the executive departments of the government,
and the Commission acting as a body served as the legislature.
854
PHILIPPINE
LAW JOURNAL
deavored to exercise its sovereignty without doing great violence to
Philippine customs.
In 1900 while the political battle over the retention of the Philippines was still going on in Congress, President McKinley di-spatched
to the islands a commission headed by William Howard Taft. This
Philippine Commission was to establish a civil government and to
act for a time as both the executive and the legislature of the Philippines. In the famous instructions to this Commission, it was
charged to "bear in mind that the government which they are establishing is designed not for our satisfaction or for the expression of
our theoretical views, but for the happiness, peace, and prosperity
of the people of the Philippine Islands, and the measures adopted·
should be made to conform to their customs, their habits, and even
their prejudices, to the fullest extent consistent with the accomplishment of the indispensable requisites of just and effective government." The United States intended, however, to make the changes
"essential to the rule of law and for the maintenance of individual
freedom." 12 The question of public lands was not mentioned, perhaps because Congress had not yet passed laws permitting their disOn October 16, 1907 the Philippine Assembly, composed of representatives elected
by the Christian Filipinos, was inaugurated as the lower house of the Philippine Legislature,
The Commission acted as the upper house. It also exercised exclusive legislative and executive power over the non-Christiana.
In 1914, a majority of Filipinos was
appointed to the Philippine Commission.
In 1916 with the Jones bill, the! Philippine Commission came to an end, and the
Philippine Legislature thereafter consisted of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Both houses were composed of senators and representatives elected by Christian
Filipinos plus two senators and nine representatives appointed by the Governor-General
for the non-Christian
districts.
The Governor-General
and the vice-governor were
Americans
appointed
by the President
of the United
States with the consent
of the United States Senate.
The Governor-General
had the right to veto all acts
of the legislature.
All laws enacted by the legislarure were reported to the Congress
of the United States which reserved the power to annul them. In certain fields, notably
public lands, acts passed by the legislature did not have the force of law until approved
by the President of the United States.
If the appropriations
for the fiscal year
were not passed, the sums appropriated in the last appropriation bills were deemed to
be reappropriated
f.or the same purposes.
Executive power was vested in the Governor-GeneraL
The vice-governor exercised all the powers of the Governor-General
in case of vacancy, disability, or temporary absence. The vice-governor, by the Jones bill, was the head of the department
of public instruction, which included the bureau of education and the bureau of health.
He might also be assigned other executive duties. All the heads of other executive
departments were Filipinos, appointed by the Governor-General
with the consent of
the Philippine Senate.
This form of government lasted until the inauguration of the Commonwealth i.n
1935.
12 OFFICIAL GAZETTE, Preliminary
Number, January 1, 1903, P: 30.
AGRICULTURAL
PUBLIC LAND POLICY DURING AMERICAN
PERIOD
855
position. The instructions, however, treated the friar land problem
and in so doing expressed the philosophy which was to underlie much
of American policy on land questions. The Commission was directed
to investigate titles and claims and to seek a just settlement of controversies.t" It was reminded of the provision of the Treaty of Paris
on private rights and of the American principle that private property could not be taken without due process of law; "the welfare of
the people of the Islands which should be the paramount consideration shall be attained consistently with this rule of property right
* '" "'" This emphasis on private rights meant that private claimants had nothing to fear under American rule and that only those
13 Authority to buy the friar lands and to sell or lease them was conferred upon
the Philippine government (at that time the Philippine Commission) by the Philippine
bill. (See sees. 63-65). Actual settlers and occupants of these lands were to have
preference over all others in the acquisition of their holdings. By the terms of the
Philippine bill, the Philippine legislation regarding these lands did not require approval
of the United States.
The Friar Lands Act (Act No. 1l20) passed by the Philippine Commission on
April 26, 1904 specifically declared that these lands were not public lands in the sense
in which the term was used in the Public Land Act (Act No. 926) (because they
were not lands belonging to 'the crown of Spain at the time of cession) and laid down
conditions for their disposal. The law provided for sales or leases to occupants without
restriction as to the size of holdings. With regard to vacant lands, the act originally
provided that they should be disposed of on the same terms as public lands. Later,
however, in an effort to speed the disposition of these lands, the law was amended to
remove these restrictions (Act No. 1847, June 3, 1908 and Act No. 1933, May 20,
1909), and a few large tracts were sold or leased. In 1910-1911, as a result of complaints by Representative John A. Martin of Colorado, where beet sugar was an important product, the House Committee on Insular Affairs conducted an extensive investigation into the administration of Philippine lands. (See U. S. 61st Cong., 3d
sess., H. Report 2289, Administration of Philippine Lands.) The sale of friar lands
in larger tracts than public lands was halted by order of the Secretary of War. (U.s.,
61st Cong., 3d sess., House Doc. 1261, Special Report of Secretary of War [J. M.
Dickinson], P: 17). In the Congressional hearings, the opposition of Filipinos to the
sale of friar lands in large tracrs was brought out clearly. (See H. Report 2289,
Administration of Philippine Lands, pp. 967-968 and 977-978 and also House Doc.
1261, Special. Report of Secretary of War, pp. 14, 84, and 91.) The reports of the
Congressional committee stated sharply divided views on the basic legal contention of
the Philippine Commission that the limitations of the sale of public lands did not
apply to the friar lands. In 1914, the question was laid to rest by an act of the Philippine legislature (Act No. 2379, February 28, 1914), forbidding the sale of friar
lands in larger tracts than public lands.
The whole controversy reflects the emphasis of the Philippine Commission on
the desirability of economic development, the opposition of Philippine leaders to
large scale foreign investment in land, and the conflicting Congressional views on proper
American economic policy in the Philippines. (For a succinct account of the investigarion, see GRUNDERAND LIVEZEY,THE PHILIPPINESAND THE UNITED STATES,
pp. 131-133; for a fuller account, see DEAN C. WORCESTERAND JOSEPH RALSTON
HAYDEN,THE PHILIPPINES,PAST AND PRESENT,New York, Macmillan, 1930).
856
PHILIPPINE
LAW JOURNAL
lands to which no private rights attached would be considered public
lands.
Since little was known in the United States about Philippine
land problems, the first role of the new Philippine Commission was
to send home information and recommendations.
The earlier Philippine Commission, headed by Jacob Gould Schurman, had already
made an extensive report on the Philippines.
In it, this commission
had taken the view that the public lands would form "a large reserve
source of revenue for the benefit of the government of the islands."14
The first report of the new Taft Commission touched on the disposal
of these lands. It called attention to the necessity of public land
surveys but suggested that a system of disposal could be worked out
without waiting for years while the survey was completed. Applications from Americans indicated that there would be a market.
The size of the unit to be offered also came up for consideration.
The Commission observed that "there should, of course, be restrictions preventing the acquisition of too large quantities by any individual or corporation, but those restrictions should only be imposed
after giving due weight to the circumstances that capital cannot be
secured for the development of these islands unless the investment
may be sufficiently great to justify the expenditure of large amounts
for expensive machinery and equipment. Especially is this true in
the cultivation of sugar land."15 A few months later, the Taft Commission began to suggest the outlines of a comprehensive land policy-homesteads,
sales, and the p.erfection of incomplete titles.!"
The Commission also' took a stand on the possibility of public
land grants to encourage the building of railroads in the islands.
It called attention to the governmental aid extended to the early
railroads of the United States and to the fact that sp.ecial encouragements were generally required to get railroads built in undeveloped
areas. But it recalled that land grants had not always led to construction and were now prohibited by many state constitutions.
Reviewing the arguments for and against such grants, the Commission advised against them partly because of the opposition to them
that had developed in the United States and partly because, in the
absence of government surveys or clear titles in the Philippines, they
would lead to collisions with private claimants.t? In this respect,
their recommendations were followed, and land grants for "public
improvements" were not made in the Philippines.
Report
Report
J.<l Report
17 Report
14
15
of
of
of
of
Phil.
Taft
Phil.
Phil.
Com., 1900, vol. IV, p. 91.
Philippine Commission, p. 34.
Com., 1901, Pt. 1, pp. 29-30.
Com., 1901, Pt. 1, pp. 60·66.
AGRICULTURAL
PUBLIC LAND POLICY DURING AMERICAN
PERIOD
857
At the same time the Commission was sending general recommendations to Washington, it was coming to grips with the chaotic
land title situation. The obvious lacks were good public surveys
and settled titles. Since an adequate survey was beyond the existing
financial capacity of the Philippines, the Commission pressed for
and from the United States.t" To provide a method of establishing
good legal titles to lands already in private hands, it passed the Land
Registration Act.19 Modeled upon the Torrens system in Australia,
the act established a Court of Land Registration and set up a procedure for original registration and subsequent recording of all transactions involving the land so registered. The procedure was voluntary; land claimants were under no obligation to register their titles
at all or to have recourse to this type of registration if their lands
had been registered under the older Spanish system."? The new system was expected to be attractive, however, because it resulted in
guarantee by the government of properly registered titles." Since the
system was not compulsory and involved considerable expense for
surveyors' and attorneys' fees, it was not popular at first. Despite
18 Report
of Phil. Com., 1902, Pt. 1, p. 584; ibid., 1904, Pt. 2, pp. 470-475;
ibid., 1905, Pt. 2, pp. 41-42. Subsequently, the Commission undertook to train surveyors. Ibid., 1906, Pt. 2, p. 40.
1& Act No. 496, November 6, 1902.
20 The older Spanish system was a system for the registration of titles and all
documents relevant thereto in accordance with the Spanish Mortgage Law of December 1, 1889, amended in 1893. (See FRANCISCO
VENTURA,LANDREGISTRATION
AND
MORTGAGES,
Community Publishers, Manila, 1947, pp. 35-38). In this form of registration a special registration page is set aside in the books prescribed for each parcel
of real property registered. On this page must be entered a reference to all legal documents by which the right to ownership of the property is constituted, transmitted, modified, or extinguished. Registered rights are valid against third persons while unregistered rights cannot prejudice third parties. FOila discussion of the Spanish Mortgage
Law and the Land Registration Act, see "Practical Difficulties in the Registration of
Agricultural Land in the Philippines," Appendix contributed by the law firm of Quisumbing, Sycip, Quisumbing and Salazar to the Report of the [Bell] Economic Sur'l'ey
Mission to the Philippines, Washington, D.C., October 9, 1950, (Philippine Association, Inc., Manila. 1950) Appendix, pp. ]8-]9.
21 The new system involved an application by the claimant, a check by examiners
of title, and a hearing by the Court of Land Registration. If the applicant's claim
was proved, the Court issued a decree confirming said claim and declaring that the s:ud
applicant was the registered owner in fee simple of the property. The same decree
was entered in a registration book in the registry office and an original certificate of tide
was issued to the applicant, embodying the said decree. The decree clears the land of
all claims including those that are unknown to the claimant. All transactions relative
to the property must be annotated on the back of the certificate in order to be valid
and binding on the land. However, with respect to sale or any other kind of conveyance, the procedure followed was not by annotation on the certificate. The title
of the vendor was cancelled and a transfer certificate of title issued to the purchaser.
858
PHiLIPPINE
LAW JOURNAL
the Commission's hope, therefore, it did little to improve the chaotic
title situation or to distinguish private from public lands.rShortly before the passage of this law, Congress in 1902 enacted
the basic. American legislation for the civil government of the Philippines, usually referred to as the Philippine Bill.23 The public
lands, except as designated for military or other reservations, were
"placed under the control of the government of said islands to be
administered for the benefit of the inhabitants thereof * * *" Z4 The
law laid down the broad lines and the limitations within which the
government of the Philippines was to legislate with respect to the
public lands. The approval of the President and the Congress of
the United States was required, however, before such legislation was
to have the force of law.
In the Philippine bill, Congress took the important action of
preserving the three-fold Spanish classification of all Philippine public lands as forest, mineral, or agricultural lands.s" As in Spanish
times, lands primarily valuable for forestry products were not to be
alienated, and the taking of timber was to be by government license.w
With respect to mineral lands, the Spanish system of granting mining
concessions was changed, but public lands valuable for minerals were
reserved from sale except as expressly provided by law.s" Americans were already actively prospecting in the Philippines, and
Americans as well as inhabitants of the Philippines were expressly
permitted to explore and to acquire mining claims. These rights
were hedged about with restrictions to prevent the taking up of
large holdings and to ensure the development of claims.
22 The Court of Land Registration, which started in 1903, had by 1910 issued only
3,902 titles out of an estimated 2,300,000 parcels in the islands. (Report of Phil.
Com., 1910, P: 10). Furthermore, since many of these titles were found to be based
on faulty surveys, there was possibility of litigation over boundaries even after regis.
tration.
23 U.S. Public 235.
32 Stat. at L. 691.
24 Sec. 12.
25 Mapa
y. Insular Government (1908), 10 Phil. 175; and Kriyenko y. Register
of Deeds of Manila (1947), 44 O. G. 471.
26 See Sec. 18.
Li Seng Giap and Co. y. Director of La/Ids (1934),69 Phil. 689,
quoting Maura law in force in the Philippines during the last years of the Spanish
regime.
27 See Sec. 27.
For the Spanish mining concessions, see Report of GovernorGeneral, 1925, p. 187. The Philippine bill provided that, when lands which had been
entered and occupied as agricultural but not patented were found to have mineral
deposits, the working of these deposits was forbidden until additional payments had
been made equal to the charges for mining claims (sec. 21).
AGRICULTURAL
PUBLIC LAND POLICY DURING AMERICAN
PERIOD
859
For the disposition of agricultural
public lands, Congress laid
down basic policies.r" These lands were to be disposed of by homesteading, sales, and leases to actual occupants and settlers.
Free
patents were to be issued to occupants without titles, and provision
was to be made for the completion of imperfect Spanish titles.
Running through the legislation was the intention to limit the development of large plantations so common in the colonial empires of Southeast Asia. This was due partly to the efforts of anti-imperialists,
partly to the fears of American sugar interests of Philippine comThe size of a homestead or a land purchase by an indipetition.s"
vidual was limited to 16 hectares; 30 sales to corporations
were
restricted to not more than 1024 hectares.
Regulations
were included to ensure that land acquired from the government should not
be held idle or immediately resold but should be developed for use.
Interestingly,
the limitation on corporations
appears twice, once in
the section dealing with the powers of the Philippine Government to
dispose of public lands 31 and again in a section dealing with corporations.s- In the latter, all corporations except those organized
for irrigation were limited to holdings of not more than 1024 hectares, whether the land was acquired from the government or private persons.
Under this act of Congress, the Philippine
Commission was
authorized to enact a public land law within the limitations
laid
down. The Commission now had some idea of the magnitude of the
task.
Though no one could say with any precision where the public
lands were or how extensive they might be, the Chief of the Bureau
of Public Lands in 1903 estimated the total area of the islands at
73,000,000 acres and the area in private ownership at 12,000,000
acres.
Out of the 61,000,000 acres thought to be public lands,
40,000,000 acres were estimated to be forest lands, leaving 21,000,000
as agricultural.t"
On the basis of these figures, therefore, the projected public land law would deal with over 28 per cent of the whole
28 Congress
did not expressly define the term "agricultural public lands."
When
the Philippine Supreme Court was obliged to do so, it derived from section 13 of the
Philippine bill the definition that the term means the public lands acquired from Spain
which are not timber or mineral lands. Mapa Y. Insular Government (1908), 10 Phil.
175, 182.
29 W. CAMERON FORBES, THE PHILIPPINF ISLANDS, (2 vols., Boston
and Nes,
York, Houghton Mifflin, 1928, vol. I) pp. 323-4; WILLIS, OUR PHILIPPINE PROBLEM,
p. 368; GRUNDER AND LIVEZEY, THE PHILIPPINFS AND THE UNITED STATES, pp. 133·
136.
30 1 hectare === 2.471 acres.
31 See. 15.
82 Sec. 75.
33 Report of Phi!. Com., 1903, Pt. 2, p. 623.
860
PHILIPPINE LAW JOURNAL
area of the country. But since a large part of these lands were
unexplored, their resources and suitability for settlement were highly
eonjectural.
The Commission was convinced that, no matter what the difficulties, economic development was the crying need of a povertystricken land with great unexploited agricultural resources. Before
Congress had passed the act under which the Commission was to
operate, it had urged that capital and advanced agricultural methods
be brought to the islands by permitting individuals or corporations
to buy large tracts of land.s- The maximum of 1024, hectares set
by Congress seemed far too restrictive to the Commission,and until
its personnel was replaced in the Wilson administration it continued
to urge that sales of 10,000 hectares, or later 6,000, be permitted.r"
But since the limit for the public lands written into the organic law
in 1902 was never changed, the Commission was obliged to incorporate it in the Philippine Public Land Law which it now proceeded
to pass.,36
The desire of the Commission to attract outside capital was
probably responsible for the most important stipulation of the new
law that was not specifically authorized by Congress. This was the
opening to Americans of the same opportunities as Filipinos in the
acquisition of homesteads or the purchase or lease of public lands,
a right that exists even to the present day.37 Since pioneering in the
24
Report of Taft Phil. Com., P: 34, and Report of Phil. Com., 1901, Pt. 1,
p.30.
35 See Report of Phil. Com., 1902, Pt.
1, pp. 7·8; ibid., 1903, Pt. I, p. 10;
ibid., 1904, Pt. 1, p. 30; ibid., 1905, Pt. 1, p. 77; ibid., 1906, Pt. I, p. 72; ibid., 1909,
p.49 (6000 hectares); ibid., 1910, p. 18 (6000 hectares); ibid., 1911, p. 10 (6000 hectares); ibid., 1912, p. 12 ( (6000 hectares); ibid., 1913, p. 9 (6000 hectares).
36 Act No. 926, October 7, 1903.
The original draft of the bill was made in the
Bureau of Public Lands. The Solicitor General was consulted on the condition of
inchoate Spanish titles, and the judges of the Court of Land Registration on the
adjudication of inchoate titles. See Report of Phil. Com., 1903, Pt. 2, P: 625 and
ibid., 1904, Pt. 2,: p. 468. See also Philippine Commission, Public Sessions, Minutes
of Philippine Commission, Sept. 1, 1903 to Sept. 1, 1904 [certified typescript in Library of American Association of the Phliippines, U. S. Embassy, Manila, Philippines), pp. 30·31.
37 The Public Land Law (Act No. 926, enacted October 7, 1903) went into effect
after approval by the United States on July 26, 1904. With regard to placing Americans on an equal footing with Filipinos, the Philippine bill (sec. 15), in speaking of
the granting, sale, or conveyance of public lands, used the term "actual occupants and
settlers and other citizens of said Islands." There was no expectation that Americans
would acquire Philippine citizenship and at that time no procedure by which they could
do so. In the minority report of the Congressional committee investigating Philippine
lands in 1911. the discrepancy between Congressional and Philippine legislation was
AGRICULTURAL
PUBLIC LAND POLICY DURING AMERICAN
PERIOD
861
"Philippine bush to acquire a homestead of 16 hectares 38 appealed
only to a few discharged soldiers, this opportunity was mainly important with regard to sales and leases, especially to American corporations.s?
In other respects, the public land law followed closely the outline laid down by Congress. The Commission took for its model the
United States public land law in force at the time.s? In the United
States, however, after three centuries of land settlement, the wouldhe homesteader was able to move into land which had been surveyed
and divided into sections. The situation in the Philippines was more
comparable to that existing on the American frontier in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries before the country had been explored
and surveyed. Since the basic surveys of the Philippines had not
been made, the Commission was forced to improvise methods for
the selection of lands. What it did essentially was to put upon the
homesteader, buyer, or lessee the burden of finding a plot of agricultural public land and designating its boundaries.
Any citizen of the
Philippines, or of the United States, or its insular possessions over
21 years of age or the head of a family might apply for a homestead
on unoccupied, unreserved, unappropriated agricultural public land
not more than 16 hectares in area. In doing so, he had to declare
pointed out and the view taken that the sale of lands was restricted by Congress to
citizens of the Philippines. The minority considered this view reinforced by the provisions of the same act of 1902 dealing with mineral lands (sec. 21), for the citizens
of the United States and of the Islands were specificallyauthorized to occupy and
purchase mining claims, (U. S., 61st Cong., 3d sess., H. R. Report 2289, Administration of Philippime Lands, Pt. 2, P: 5). Though this would appear to have been
a contention of some merit, the President and Congress approved the public land act
as passed by the Philippine Commission, and the law was never upset in the courts.
The current right of Americans to buy Landon the same terms as Filipinos rests
or. Ordinance Appended to the Constitution of the Philippines, see n. 139.
38 Roughly 40 acres.
39 U.S.,
63d Cong., 3d sess., Hearing on H. R. 18459, An Act to Declare the
Purpose of the People of the United States as to the Future Political Status of the
People of the Philippine Islands and to Provide a More Automcmous Government for
the Islands, (2 vols., Washington, Government Printing Office, 1941) vol. I, P: 26.
See also WILLIS,OUR PHILIPPINEPROBLEM,
P: 374.
40 Taft, speaking in the public session of the Philippine Commission on the proposed bill, said that it had been modeled on the U.S. public land law then in force
with the changes which different conditions required. (Philippine Commission, Public
Sessions, Minutes of Philippine Commission, Sept. 1, 1903 to Sept. 1, 1904, p. 31).
At this public session, it was proposed from the floor that the period of occupancy to
obtain a homestead title should be reduced from seven to five years. The Bureau of
Public Lands had originally proposed ten years "it being thought that in view of the
peculiar conditions of the country it might be advisable to induce as many people as
possible to establish themselves in one place and stay there." (Ibid., pp. 36-37) In
the final bill, the period was reduced to five years. In the United States at that time
the period was three years.
862
PHILIPPINE
LAW JOURNAL
that (a) the land was for his own use for the purpose of actual
settlement and cultivation; (b) the land was non-mineral, did not
contain valuable deposits of coal or salts, and was more valuable
for agricultural than for forestry purposes; and (c) was not occupied by any other person. The application also had to show as accurately as possible the location and boundaries of the land sought.
When the application was filed, the Chief of the Public Lands Bureau inquired of the Forestry Bureau and the available land records
whether the land described was "prima facie subject under the law
to homestead settlement," and if nothing to the contrary was found
the applicant was permitted to enter after payment of a fee of 10
pesos. Five years of residence and cultivation were required before
the applicant became entitled to apply for a patent. Another fee of
10 pesos was required on the award of a patent.
If the applicant
complied with all requirements, he did not receive a patent until the
land was surveyed and platted under the direction of the Bureau
of Public Lands. The cost of the survey was borne by the Philippine Government.
If, at any time after the filing of the application
and before the expiration of the legal period for the making of final
proof, it was proved to the Bureau of Public Lands that the land
was under the law not subject to homestead entry, or that the applicant was not a qualified person, or that the homesteader had failed
to comply with the law as to residence and cultivation, the entry
was to be cancelled. A person proving charges against the applicant had a preferred right of entry for sixty days.
The procedure for the sale of public lands likewise put the burden and risk of selection upon the applicant.
The only individuals
permitted to buy were those who had the qualifications of homestead
applicants.
The corporations allowed to purchase were those organized under the laws of the Philippines, the United States, or its
insular possessions. This last opened opportunities for Hawaiian
sugar corporations.
An individual might purchase 16, a corporation
1024 hectares.
A purchaser, like a homesteader, had to locate and
apply for a suitable tract.
The Bureau of Public Lands, after
making its checks, appraised the land and advertised it for sale by
public bidding. No bid for less than the appraised value of the land
was acceptable. The applicant who had started the proceedings did
not receive the land unless his bid was at least equal to the highest
received. Part of the purchase price might be paid in deferred payments over five years. No patent was issued until the lands had
been surveyed and platted.
If the lands had not already been surveyed, the cost of the survey was to be borne by the purchaser if a
corporation, by the government if an individual. No patent was
issued until five years after the award, and before its issuance the
AGRICULTURAL
PUBLIC LAND POLICY DURING AMERICAN
PERIOD
863
purchaser was required to show actual occupancy, cultivation, and
improvement for five years. In case of abandonment for more than
one year or failure to comply with other requirements, the land
reverted to the government, and all payments were forfeited.
The
protection afforded by the law to any actual occupants of land applied for was that, if the land was occupied by a person qualified to
apply for a homestead or for a free patent, the person was to be
personally served with notice of his rights and allowed a preference
right for 120 days in which to make entry or apply for a patent.
To ensure that the legal maximum was not exceeded, additional purchases were not permitted, and no person was allowed to participate
in more than one corporation holding agricultural lands.
When the Commission was drawing up the public land law provisions, it found that Congress had failed to enact a limitation on
the amount of land an individual might lease. Two extremes were,
therefore, theoretically open to the Commission. It might write
into its law the limitation of 16 hectares which had been fixed for
homesteads and sales, or it might go against the spirit of the act
of Congress and permit very large and very long leases. Rejecting
both these courses, it leaned towards large leases, making the limit
on the individual the same as on the corporation, namely, 1024 hectares.s! The conditions of application and the procedure of granting a lease were similar to those for a sale, but there, was no bidding
for leases. The rental per hectare was to be fixed by the government but never to be less than 50 centavos or more than 1.50 pesos
per hectare.
This apparently low rent was for uncleared land which
the lessee was expected to improve. Leases were to run for 25 years
and might be renewed for another 25 years. Noland was to be
leased without a, survey, the cost of which was to be borne by the
lessee.
The Public Land Act also provided that natives who had continuously occupied and cultivated a portion of the public lands since
August 1, 1898 or for three years previous to that date and continuously since July 4, 1902 might receive free patents for tracts not
exceeding 16 hectares.P
41
Philippine Commission,Public Session,Minutes of Philippine Commission, Sept.
1, 1903 to Sept. 1, 1904, pp. 32-33.
42 The public law (Act: No. 926)
did not define the term "native." There
were also great uncertainty as to who were citizens of the Philippines at 'this time. (On
this question, see Ramon M. Velayo, "Citizens at the Time of the Adoption of the
Constitution," Decisions Journal, V,oI. III (1947), pp. 61-65, and by the same
author, "Citizens of the Philippines under the Civil Code," ibid., pp. 261-264; and
Jose M. Aruego, "Citizens of the Philippines-Subjects of Spain April 11, 1899,
Native Inhabitants .of the Philippines," ibid., pp. 541-550.)
It seems, therefore, that
864
EHILIPPINE
LAW JOURNAL
Liberal provisions were also made for the perfecting of inchoate
or incomplete Spanish titles. This liberality was extended not only
to persons who had taken various steps under the Spanish regime to
obtain legal titles but also to persons who had been "in open, continuous, exclusive and notorious possession and occupation of agricultural public lands ~, * * under a bona fide claim of ownership except as against the Government for a period of ten years next preceding the taking effect of this Act, except when prevented by war
or force majeure * * *" 43 Persons who had taken legal steps under
Spanish law were obliged to prove by official documents that proceedings had been taken and necessary conditions complied with.
An occupant who was obliged by Spanish law to pay for the land
was required by the public land act to pay the same amount. Persons whose claim was based on possession only were conclusively
presumed to have performed all the conditions necessary to obtain
2. government grant and were entitled to a certificate of title under
the act. Such claimants were not required to pay for their land.
Naturally most land holders preferred to base their claims on possession especially in view of the widespread destruction of public
records.sThe procedure of perfecting incomplete titles, unlike that
for free patents, might result in title to a large tract." The presumption that persons who had been in possession for ten years had complied with the conditions for the acquisition of legal Spanish titles
seems to have been in accordance with the facts of Spanish titlegranting though the Commission had qualms about it.46 Almost
immediately the Director of Lands found persons claiming lands to
"native" was more liberal than "citizen" would have been. Occasionally, natives of
China and Spain attempted to obtain the benefits of the free patent provisions but
were not permitted to do so. (Report of Phil. Com., 1908, Pt. 2, P: 251). This chapter was especially helpful to non-Christians since property holders in the more civilized
areas could obtain title under the chapter on unperfected titles discussed below.
(Re·
port of Phil. Com., 1906, Pt. 2, p. 143-)
.3 Sec. 54.
4-4 Report- of Phil. Com., 1906, Pt. 2, p. 144.
45 Act .No. 926 is silent on the maximum
area that may be granted.
Spanish decrees in force in the 1890's did not recognize any grant of public land in excess of
1000 hectares.
Samchez Y. Director of Lands, 63 Phil. 378 and Valdez v. Director of
Lands, 62 Phil. 362.
46 On the Spanish
requirements for land title, see Report of Phil. Com., 1901, Pt.
2, P: 321. The Commission thought that it might be stretching the power Congress had
given it by providing «that open, continuous, exclusive and notorious possession and occupation of public lands" should furnish "a conclusive presumption" but considered the
Court of Land Registration "a very suitable body for passing upon the question whether
the claims of title come within the restrictions of this Act."
(Philippine Commission,
Public Session, Minutes of the Philippine Commission, Sept. I, 1903 to Sept. 1, 1904,
p.35.)
AGRICULTURAL
PUBLIC LAND POLICY DURING AMERICAN
PERIOD
865
which they had no right or attempting to extend the boundaries of
their claims by the pasturage of cattle.s?
To remedy abuses, he
recommended that the chapter be amended to require cultivation
like the chapter on free patents.s"
Failure to do this, he thought,
would discourage agriculture by putting title to large tracts in hands
that would allow them to continue to lie idle and by preventing small
holders from obtaining possessions of land they occupied. No amendment was made, but the evil was attacked by pressing in the courts
for strict interpretation of the law.49 Nevertheless, under this provision, large amounts of land which were actually public passed into
private hands.s?
This first public land act also provided for the establishment of
town sites within which residential and business lots might be sold.
Put in primarily to facilitate the development of Baguio as a healthful mountain retreat on the model of the hill stations in British
India.s- this chapter provided the one legal way by which public
lands could be disposed of for residential or business purposes without delay or; compliance with the cultivation requirements under the
homestead or sales provisions. 52
The immediate results of the public land law of 19·03 were disappointing.
The total number of homestead applications received
between July 26, 1904, when the law went into effect, and June 30,
19113was 19,313. Of this small number, 4,470 were rejected, cancelled, or withdrawn.
On June 3{), 1913, over half (3,333) the applications pending were being held for the reports of the forestry bureau, and others for correction of the application (1,018) or payment
47 Report of Phi!. Com., 1906, Pt. 2, p. 144; ibid., 1907, Pt. 2, p. 207; ibid.,
1908, Pt. 2, P: 252. By the Reorganization Act: (Act No. 1407, October 26, 1905),
the duties imposed by law on the Chief of the Bureau of Public Lands were to be
performed by the Director of Lands.
48 Report of Phil. Com., 1907, Pt. 2, 207; and ibid., 1908, Pt. 2, p. 252.
49 Report of Phil. Com., 1907, Pt. 2, p. 207.
50 Report of Phil. Com., 1913, p. 155.
51 Philippine Commission, Public Sessions, Minutes
of Philipp;ne Commission,
Sept. 1, 1903 to Sept. 1, 1904, p. 34.
52 Report of Phil. Com., 1909, P: 116. A somewhat humorous result of the
rigidity of the law in this respect related to cemeteries. The Commission took the
position that "ordinary parking is 'cultivation,' but no one wants to live in!a cemetery,
and the provision for occupation is, therefore, difficult of fulfillment." (Ibid., 1910,
p. 117).
Another provision for businessproperty was embodied in the foreshore act of 1907
(Act No. 1654, May 18, 1907). This act provided that title to the foreshore and
"all Government or public lands made or -reclaimedby the Government by dredging
or filling or otherwise" should remain in the government, but such lands might be
leased for commercialpurposes.
866
PHILIPPINE LAW JOURNAL
of the fee (1,636).
In the nine years, 8,225 entries had been allowed,
and 58 patents for homesteads totalling 213 hectares had been
granted.
In the same period, 89·2 applications for sales had been
filed, and 170 sales completed; the total area sold was 11,4012 hectares.
During these years, 722 free patents for 3,967 hectares were issued.s"
Clearly the public domain of something like 1,250,000 hectares of
agricultural land was not being rapidly disposed of.54
In taking note of the poor initial response to the public land
law, it should be borne in mind that there is no evidence that Filipinos
wanted it. The Commission, in advising Washington about land
problems, never referred to any demand by Filipinos for public lands.
Its emphasis was upon inquiries received from Americans and the
desirability of attracting American capital to develop the country."
Enthusiastic over economic opportunities in the Philippines, the Commission ignored the fears of American sugar and tobacco interests
over competition with Philippine products.w
When it found that
Americans did not flock to take up land, the only reason it could see
was the restriction on the size of holdings laid down by Congress. 57
The fact that there was economic opportunity at home and that
Americans were not yet greatly interested in overseas investment does
not seem to have been sufficiently considered. 58 The Commission also
brushed aside "the firm belief of the Filipinos that the ownership of
large tracts of land by foreigners constitutes a menace to the indepencience, both political and economical, of the archipelago." 59 This
53 Report of Phil. Com.,
1913, pp. 154-165. Between 1907 and the end of fiscal
year 1913, nine leases of foreshore property had been executed. Ibid., 1914, p. 103.
54 The agricultural public lands have been so variously estimated at different times
that it seemed proper here to use a contemporary figure. The figure of 30,000,000 acres
(approximately 1,250,000 hectares) was taken from the testimony of the Chid of the
Bureau of Insular Affairs in U.S., 63d Cong., 3d sess., Hearings on H. R. 18459, vol.
I, p. 25.
.
55 Report
of Taft Phil. Com., P: 34; Report of Phil. Com., 1901, Pt. 1, p. 30;
and ibid., 1902, Pt. 1, p. 7.
56 The opposition of American interests to the expansion of Philippine production
for the American market is discussed by PEDROE. ABELARDE,
AMERICANTARIFFPOLICY TOWARDTHE PHILIPPINES,1898-1946 (New York, King's Crown Press, 1947),
pp. 41-95. Abelarde relies chiefly upon the Congressional Record. See also WILLIS,
OUR PHILIPPINE PROBLEM,p. 368; and GRUNDERAND LIVEZEY,THE PHILIPPINES
ANDTHE UNITED STATES,pp. 133-136.
57 Report
of Phil. Com., 1905, Pt. 2, pp. 38-39; ibid., 1906, Pc. 1, p. 69; ibid.,
1909, p. 115; ibid., 1910, p. 116; ibid., 1911, p. 99.
58 Report of Phil. Com., 1906, Pt. 1, pp. 65-67 and Report
of Governor-General,
1919, p. 10.
59 U. S., 61st Cong., 3d. sess., House Doc. 1261, Special Report
of Secretary of
War (]. M. Dickinson), Appendix F, Letter of Manuel L. Quezon, Resident Commissioner to the United States for the Philippines, September 1, 1910, p. 91.
AGRICULTURAL
PUBLIC LAND POLICY DURING AMERICAN
PERIOD
867
political opposition to closer economic ties with the United States came
out both in connection with the Payne-Aldrich tariff and the Commission's effort to sell unoccupied friar lands in large estates.v?
The economic reasons why Filipinos did not rush to take' advantage of the act are fairly clear. The country had just emerged from
a period of war and civil disorder, had lost a large part of its working cattle in epidemics of rinderpest, and had experienced some especially destructive typhoons. Markets were dislocated by the change
in sovereignty, and free access to the American market was not
achieved until 1909.61 Until settled conditions were attained and
goods crops brought an investment surplus, agriculture could hardly
expand. The credit structure was so primitive that borrowing on
land was either almost impossible or ruinous." Population pressure
virtually did not exist.v"
Successful homesteading, furthermore, presupposes the existence
of a group with sufficient capital for animals and implements with
which to clear land and a food supply to maintain the homesteader
until the first harvest.
It also required cash, for two fees of 10
pesos each had to be paid to obtain a homestead title. But in the
Philippines, the majority of agricultural workers lived at a very low
subsistence Ievel.v- Homesteading, furthermore, was an alien institution not in harmony with Philippine customs. During the Spanish
period, a Filipino who wanted to take up new land occupied it with60 For the Philpipine Legislature's opposition to the Payne-Aldrich
tariff, see
Phil. Como, 1909, p. 40 or Commissio-,r;,Journal, Ist Phil. Legis., 2d sess., February 1,
1909 to May 20, 1909, P: 264. For Resident Commissioner Pablo's opposition to the
tanff bill in 1909, see ABELARPE,AMERICANTARIFF POLICYTOWARDSTHE PHILIp.
PINES,p. 99. For additional Philippine opposition to the sale of friar lands in large
tracts, see U. S., 61st Cong., 3d sess., H. Report 2289, Administration of Philippine
Lands, pp. 967-968 and 977·978 and Commission. Journal, 2d Phil. Legis., Special Session, 1910 and 1st sess., January 1, 1910 to February 3, 1911, pp. 303-304 and 431432; and Commission Journal, za Phil. Legis, 2d sess., and Special Session of 1912,
February 4, 1911 to February 1, 1912, pp. 354-355 and 385-387.
61 For agricultural distress, see Report
of Phil. Com., 1901, Pt. p. 49; ibid.,
1902, Pt. 1, pp. 4-5; ibid., 1903, Pt. 1, p. 47; for markets, see ibid., 1904, Pt. 1, p. 26;
ibid., 1905, Pt. 1, pp. 60, 70-72; ibid, 1906, Pt. 1, pp. 42-44, 62.65; ibid., 1907, Pt. 1,
pp. 62-63. The Payne-Aldrich tariff of 1909 did not in law give free access to the
American market, but its quotas were high enough that they were not reached.
<32 Report
of Phil. Com., 1900, vol. II, pp. 208 and 309; ibid., vol. IV, P: 46;
ibid., 1905, Pt. 1, pp. 7-8; ibid., 1906, Pt. 1, pp. 487-500.
<33 The Schurman Philippine Commission listed smallness of population as one of
the reasons for the backwardness of agriculture.
(Report of Phil. Com., 1900,
vol. IV, pp. 5-6). The Director of Lands in 1906 pointed out that Filipinos could
work on the lands in large haciendas on a share basis without going to the extra expense and trouble of clearing newlands. Ibid., 1906, Pt. 2, p. 142.
64 Report of Phil. Com., 1900, vol. IV, p. 6.
868
PHILIPPINE
LAW JOURNAL
out legal formalities.s"
An ordinary Filipino was unable to fill out
the application required by the new law.66 In addition to the clerical
task, he had the burden of selecting a piece of unoccupied, unreserved, unappropriated agricultural public land and describing its
boundaries in a legal fashion. The unit offered was much larger than
the normal Philippine farm, and often beyond his ability to cultivate."? He not only had to cultivate it but to forego his custom of
living in a village for five years in order to receive a paper title-in
a land where the importance of land titles was generally unrecognized. Throughout the process there was the chance that error in
land selection or failure to comply with conditions would deprive him
of the land and any improvements he had made on it. In addition,
the administration of the act required so much handling of the application that the process was very slow and discouraging, requiring
approximately eight years.?s Where land hunger was not intense,
the system could hardly be appealing.
The Commission was inclined at first to attribute the poor response to the reluctance of Filipinos to live on farms instead of' in
<;5 In theory, in the Spanish period, all lands belonged to the Crown, and private
ownership could be founded only on royal concession-royal grant, sale by the stare,
or adjustment title (composicion con el estado), which in etfect legalized unlawful
entry provided that the land was occupied and cultivated within a fixed period, usually
not less than ten years. (VENTURA,LANDREGISTRATION
ANDMORTGAGES,
pp. 4-29).
~6 Instances were uncovered where exorbitant fees were charged by private persons
for this clerical work. Report of Phil. Com., 1906, Pt. 2, p. 142. furthermore, as
the figures on land application for this period show, supra, a great many of the applications were incomplete or incorrect.
~7 The census of 1903, admittedly inaccurate, reported that the average size of
all farms in the Philippines was 3.468 hectares (Census of Philippine Islands, 1903,
voL IV, p. 181). This census treated all agricultural holdings as farms even if they
were very small. The Summary Report an the 1948 Census of Agriculture (Manila
Bureau of Printing, 1952), P: 46 shows that 1,111,953 out of a total of 1,638,634
farms in the Philippines or 67.81 per cent (author's calculation) are less than 3 -hectares in area and 1,282,920 or 78.29 per cent are less than 4 hectares. The 1948
census counted as a farm any parcel or parcels of land at least 1000 square meters in
area, worked by one person, "either by his own labor or with the assistance of his family or hired employees." (Ibid., p. ix).
It should be noted that the would-be homesteader could apply for less than 16
hectares and that most of them at this time did so. In 1907, the Secretary of the
Interior reported that the average area applied for was about 11 hectares "which is
doubtless more than the average man will be able to cultivate." (Report of Phil.
Com., 1907, Pt. 2, p. 41). The average size of homesteads actually patented between
1904 and 1913 was 3.64 hectares (author's calculation from figures in REpORTOF
PHIL. CoM., 1913, p. 158). Until 1919, an applicant could not make a second application if his first was for less than the legal maximum.
68 Report of Phil. Com., 1914, pp. 40 and 101.
AGRICULTURAL
PUBLIC LAND POLICY DURING AMERICAN
PERIOD
8.6.9
farm villages.v? Later, as it grew more cognizant of the economic
conflicts within Philippine society, it began to lay more stress on the
necessity of informing persons of their opportunities and encouraging and defending would-be homesteaders."? It found, on the one
hand, that tenants sometimes filed applications to set up rival claims
against landlords and, on the other, that large landholders sometimes
advanced vague claims to discourage applicants.I!
Sometimes landholders endeavored to keep their tenants from becoming homesteaders
by· offering them improvements in their tenancy terms. There appeared a regrettable tendency to file homestead claims to take advantage of improvements made by persons without title.72
Not all homestead claims were made in good faith; some were filed by landlords in
the names of tenants in order to increase their own holdings; others.
were sold without shadow of right after one harvest; and still others
were used. illegally to strip lands of valuable timber and then abandoned.?"
To prevent or remedy abuses, the Philippine government tried to
help applicants directly and to stimulate land settlement. The earliest form of guidance supplied to applicants was: through traveling
public-land inspectors who demonstrated the proper methods of obtaining public land. The Bureau of Lands also lent its attorneys to
defend the rights of homesteaders in court.r- By 1913, frequent rice
shortages led to the initiation of an ambitious program of land settlement.:" In that year, the legislature passed a law 76 to increase the
production of rice and other food cereals, to equalize the distribution
of population, and to afford opportunities for land ownership and the
cultivation of vacant public lands through the establishment of agricultural colonies. Between 1913 and 1917, several colonies were. established in Mindanao and one each in Bohol and Cagayan, Luzon. The
government advanced to the colonist the cost of transportation, housing, implements, animals, and the like. The purchasing of supplies
and the marketing of produce was to be handled by the government.
611 Report
of Phil. Com., 1906, Pt. 1, P: 69. The men who were actually engaged in public lands work realized that the problem was more complicated. (See
Report of Director of Lands for the same year in Ibid., Pt. 2, pp. 142-143.)
70Report of Phil. Com., 1907, Pt. 2, p. 41; ibid., 1908, Pt. 2, p. 51; ibid., 1913,
p. 155.
71 Report of Phil. Com., 1906, Pt. 2, pp. 142-143 and ibid., 1918, Pt. 2, p. 246.
72Report of Phil. Com., 1908, Pt. 2, p. 246.
73 Report of Phil. Com., 1907, Pt. 2, p. 202.
7-l Report of Phil. Com., 1906, Pt. 2, p. 143; ibid., 1907, Pt. 2, pp. 41 and 201·
202; ibid., 1908, Pt. 2, pp. 51 and 246; and ibid., 1913, p. 155.
75 Report of Phil. Com., 1913, p. 36.
76 Act No. 2254.
870
PHILIPPINE
LAW JOURNAL
Persons who joined a colony were to acquire lands under the homestead system and to payoff gradually the advances made to them.
Judged by the objectives of opening new lands and demonstrating
that Christians and Moros could live in harmony, the colonies were
quite successful, but from the financial aspect they proved discouraging since most of the loans by the government were not repaid.??
The founding of new colonies was therefore discontinued by the national government.
Another attempt of the Philippine government to clarify the
public land situation was the initiation of cadastral surveys designed
to hasten the registration of land claimed by private parties. By
19,1:0, it was clear that the system of land registration inaugurated
by the Land Registration Act 78 was not keeping pace with the increase in the number of occupied parcels to which land titles were
lacking.tv It was planned, therefore, to make a government survey
of a whole municipality instead of isolated parcels and then to hold
there a special session of the Court of Land Registration during
which all titles in the ar.ea might be adjudicated at once. Claimants
were to be required to prove their rights in a friendly suit brought
by the government.
At first the Philippine legislature was reluctant
to go along with the plan, but in 1913 it enacted a law providing for
cadastral surveys.s"
Surveys were begun, but no increase in the number of judges in the Court of Land Registration was authorized, and
in 1914 the court itself was abolished.P!
Land registration then became one of the tasks of the courts of first instance, already heavily
burdened with other business. Arrears of cases began to accumulate
at an alarming rate.82
The number of titles issued increased greatly
after the cadastral system was inaugurated, but the objective of
11 Report of Phil. Com., 1915, pp. 278.283; Report
of Governor-General, 1916,
pp. 72-73; ibid., 1917, pp. 38, 67-71, 156-158; ibid., 1918, pp. 193-196; ibid., 1928,
pp. 203-205; ibid., 1930, p. 237.
In 1919, the provinces were authorized to organize agricultural colonies and to
furnish colonists cattle, implements, and other assistance (Act No. 2806, approved
February 28, 1919). A few colonies were subsequently established under provincial
auspices.
(Karl J. Pelzer, Pioneer Settlement in the Asiatic Tropics [Institute
of
Paci.~c Relations] New York, 1945), p. 132, n. 6.
18 Act No. 496.
19 See n. 22.
so Act No. 2259. Report of Phil. Com., 1910, pp. 10-11; ibid., 1913, p. 21;
FORBES, PHILIPPINE ISLANDS, vol. I, pp. 315-323.
81 Report of Phil. Com., 1913, p. 21; ibid., 1914, p. 41.
82 "Now
at the close of 1914, the accumulated arrears number 59, 239, adjudications for which would require 20 years more at the present and past rate, regardless
of the enormous number of additional parcels which the survey will continue to cover
year ::tf~er year." Report of Phil. Com., 1914, p. 100.
AGRICULTURAL
PUBLIC LAND POLICY DURING AMERICAN
PERIOD
871
clearing all existing titles was not achieved.s"
By 1919, inadequate
appropriations for cadastral surveys and a clerical force insufficient
to prepare patents had seriously slowed down cadastral work. 84
While these efforts to hasten the disposal of public lands through
agricultural colonies and to make clear which lands were public were
being made, the administration of Woodrow Wilson brought a change
of political climate. The members of the Philippine Commission who
had been active in the administration of the Philippines from the
beginning of the American period were replaced by new men, of
whom in 1914 the majority were Filipinos. Congressional support for
Philippine independence increased, and in 1916·resulted in the Jones
bill which established a Philippine government with two elected Filipino chambers and an American governor-general. 85 "I'he Jones bill
also gave the Philippine government the right to legislate with regard
to the public lands subject only to the stipulation that acts of the
Philippine legislature with reference to agricultural, mining, and timber lands should not have the force of law until approved by the
President of the United States. This grant of power involved two
changes from the Philippine bill of 1902. The Philippine government now had the right to change the basic limitations on land ownership laid down by Congress in that act, and its measures no longer
had to be laid before Congress as well as the American executive.s"
In other words, after the Jones bill, the agricultural public land
policy followed in the Philippines was subject in the final analysis
to the American control but was no longer a matter of American legislation. The American Governor-General could urge, as Francis
B. Harrison did in 1916, the more rapid settlement of the public lands
while maintaining "firmly the policy of dividing your public lands
among small holders" and avoiding "the tendency of having the unoccupied lands of the Philippines fall into the hands of large corporations." 87 He could also veto laws, and the President could disapprove laws he sanctioned, but Filipinos had the initiative and a large
Report of Governor-General, 1921, pp. 27·29 and 147.
Report of Governor-General, 1919, pp. 31, 165, and 171.
8~ Public 240-64th
Congo 39 Stat. at L. 545.
86 The Chief of the Bureau of Insular Affairs said, in testifying on the Jones bill,
that the power to legislate regarding the public lands was being given because for ten
years Congress had failed to act despite recommendations of the Philippine govern.
ment, i.e., the Philippine Commission, and the United States House of Representatives
(U.S., 63d Cong., 3d sess., Hearings on H. R. 18459, pp. 50.51). Despite the fears
of some Senators that the Filipinos would use their power to dispose of lands in large
tracts (ibid., pp. 51·52), the power was given.
87 Message of Governor-General
Harrison to 4th Phil. Legislature, 1st sess., October 16, 1916 (Manila, Bureau of Printing, 1916), p. 12.
83
84
H72
PHlLIl'l'INlll LAW JQUR:NAL
measure of the responsibility.
Furthermore, though the execution of
the laws passed was the responsibility of the Governor-General, the
actual administration came increasingly into the hands of Filipinos.
Meanwhile the general economic situation of the Philippines had
also changed markedly. The American market had been opened by
the Payne-Aldrich and Underwood tariffs, and agricultural production began to expand, both in copra, which was on the free list, and
sugar, which now enjoyed a preference in the American market on
the same footing as sugar from Puerto Rico and Hawaii.s"
Then
World War I, after an initial period of adjustment, gave a great stimulus to Philippine agricultural staples.s''
German beet sugar disappeared from the world market, and the demand for Philippine sugar
appeared insatiable. Shortage of shipping plus war demand for fats
and oils led to the processing of copra in the islands, greatly increasing the shipments of coconut oil. Hemp was in heavy demand. The
growth of Philippine prosperity led wealthy Filipinos to interest
themselves in Philippine investments.s?
Laws were passed in an effort to improve agricultural credit facilities.vThe sugar centrals
which the Philippine Commission had hoped to foster by raising the
limits in land holdings now came into being through liberal loans by
the newly, organized Philippine National Bank.n.
88 U. S. Tariff Commission, United
States-Philippine Tariff and Trade Relations,
Report No. 18, 2d series (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1931), pp. 31-35.
89 Report
of Phil. Com., 1914, pp. 48-53; ibid., 1915, pp. 37-38; Report of
Governor-General, 1916, p. 17; ibid. 1917, p. 5.
90 Report of Governor-General,
1917, P: 5.
91 When the United States acquired the Philippines, there was a dearth of agricultural credit facilities. (Report of Phi!. Com., 1900, vol. I, pp. 149, 157-159;
ibid., vol. II, pp. 208, 213, 308-309; ibid., vol. IV, p. 46). The first major effort to
supply this lack was the establishment of an Agricultural Bank as a governmental
institution in 1908. (Report of Phil. Com., 1905, Pt. 1, pp. 8 and 75; ibid., 1906,
Pt. 1, pp. 487-500; ibid., 1908, Pt. 1, p. 12). Loans were made on property registered under the land registration act, first at 10 and later at 8 per cent, and the bank
was thought helpful in reducing usury in the provinces, While its net result, particularly in helping the small fanner, who seldom had a registered title was probably
small, the bank was in a prosperous condition when it was taken over by the Philippine
National Bank on its organization in 1915. (Report of Phil. Com., 1909, p. 166;
ibid., 1910, p. 154; ibid., 1911, p. 145; ibid., 1912, p. 206; ibid., 1913, p. 223; ibid.,
1914, p. 211, ibid., 1915 p. 9).
In 1915 a move was made to meet the credit needs of the small farmer by the
authorization of agricultural credit cooperativeassocaitions (Act No. 2508, February 5,
1915) supplemented by the passageof a usury law (Act No. 2655, February 24, 1916).
In 1919, there was established a rice and com fund of Pl,OOO,OOO to be lent in small
amounts through the cooperativesfor the breaking and cultivating of new rice and corn
lands (Act No. 2818, March 4, 1919). By 1926, grave abuses became evident among
the cooperatives. (Report of the Governor-General, 1926, p. 197.)
92 The first modem centrifugal sugar factory in the Philippines came in 1910
(U.S. Tariff Com., United States-Philippine Tariff and Trade Relations, p. 29), but
AGRICULTURAL
PUBLIC LAND POLICY DURING AMERICAN
PERIOD
873
The period from 1913 to 1920 was a period of increased activity
in the disposal of public lands. Assessment of the parts played in
this by increased familiarity with the system, encouragements by the
government, and war-time demand for Philippine agricultural products is not possible. But the figures for homestead applications rose
from 4,962 in 1913 to 9,561 in 1920; sales applications from 353 to
1025, and lease applications from 96 to 332.93 The figures on patents
issued also rose, but alas did not keep pace with applications despite
the introduction of the cadastral system. In 1920, a record-breaker
at the time, 739 patents for homesteads were issued and five for sales.
In 1919, under the new government of the Philippines, came the
first basic revision of the Public Land Law of 1903.94 Any fear that
Filipinos would exercise their new powers to permit larger corporate
holdings proved groundless.vThe amendments were designed to
make the existing system more workable and, in details, more harmonious with Philippine customs. The first major change was an
attempt to prevent hit-or-miss settlement.
Instead of turning a land
seeker loose to select a piece of land, the new law introduced the concept that applicants should be directed to lands which had been declared open for settlement.
Public lands were to be classified as
more followed during the war years. (Report of Phil. Com., 1915, pp. 6-7; Report
of Govemor-General, 1919, p. 7.)
93 Report of Governor-General,
1921, P: 207. The detailed figures from 1910
to 1920 are as follows:
Year
Homesteads
Applications
Patents
1910
1911
1912
1913
1914
1915
1916
1917
1918
1919
1920
(No figures
94
Sab
Applications
Patents
Leases
Applications
2,210
1
63
66
2,995
1
164
2
73
3,706
27
220
3
120
4,962
106
353
4
96
5,552
160
337
4
98
7,466
515
431
7
78
8,198
192
354
1
103
8,922
322
683
3
166
8,259
309
716
14
317
7,026
326
732
1
237
9,561
739
1,025
5
332
are given in idem. for leases awarded and no data on acreage.)
Act No. 2874.
The fear of some Senators, see n. 77, 'that Filipinos would use their liberty to
remove the limitation on corporate holdings hardly seems to have been well founded.
When the Philippine legislature in 1914, composed as it then was of a Filipino lower
house with the Philippine Commission, which had a Filipino majority, as its upper
house, had an opportunity, it prohibited the sale of friar lands in tracts larger than
permitted by the public land law (Act No. 2379, February 281 1914).
95
874
PHILIPPINE
LAW JOURNAL
alienable, timber, or mineral lands, and insofar as possible only those
lands which had been officially delimited and classified as disposable
were to be declared open to alienation.?"
The idea of land classification was not new; in fact it had been contained in the act of 1902
establishing- civil government, but the attempt to direct settlers to
certain areas was an innovation. By guiding the settlers, it was
hoped to reduce the bureaucratic delays in finding out whether a given
parcel was open for disposition and to cut the expense to the government of conducting many isolated surveys. Fear that work of
classifying and surveying lands might not keep pace with demand led,
however, to insertion of the provision that the Governor-General
might, "for reasons of public interest, declare lands of the public
domain open to disposition before the same have had their boundaries
established or been surveyed. ,* * *" 97
The other major innovation was to restrict on grounds of nationality the persons who might apply for agricultural lands. The
privilege of acquiring a homestead was now restricted to citizens of
the Philippines and of the United States, with no mention of its insular possessions. Sales might be made and leases granted to such
citizens and to citizens of countries the laws of which granted citizens
of the Philippines the same right to acquire public land as their own
citizens. But the chief restriction was the tightening of nationality
requirements relating to corporations.
The original public land law
had permitted corporations organized under the laws of the Philippines, the United States, or its insular possessions to purchase or
lease public lands. The new law required incorporation in the Philippines, the United States, or any state thereof. The law of 1919
also introduced the stipulation, which was to be incorporated in slightly different form in much subsequent Philippine legislation, that at
least 61 per cent of the stock of the corporation must belong to citizens of the Philippines or of the United States if the corporation was
to buy or lease public lands. This stipulation, coupled with the nationality laws in force, prevented aliens, particularly Chinese and
Japanese, even though resident in the Philippines, from acquiring
public lands through corporate organization.vs.
An exemption was
made, however, in favor of persons or corporations whose right to
hold land was recognized by treaty.
A minor but economically important exception to the principle of national control was that persons
96 The alienable or disposable public lands mentioned in Act No. 2874 were the
agricultural public lands. Krivenko '1'. Register of Deeds of Manila (1947),44 O. G.
471,478.
9T Sec. 8.
98 See Report
of Governor-General, 1919, p. 32 and ibid., 1926, p. 202.
or corporations disqualified from purchasing public land for agricul-
AGRICULTURAL
PUBLIC LAND POLICY DURING AMERICAN
PERIOD
875
or corporations disqualified from purchasing public land for agritural purposes might purchase or lease lands for industrial or residential use.
The law of 1919 further attempted to remove certain obstacles
to the disposal of public lands which had appeared during the operation of the old law. The attempt to change the Filipino custom of
living in farm villages was given up. The requirement of actual
residence on the land for at least two years was changed to residence
in the municipality in which the land was located or in an adjacent
municipality.
The minimum cultivation requirements were reduced
both as to area and time. The original requirements had been that
the whole area should be cultivated continuously for five years after
the filing of the application.
In 1919, the stipulation was that more
than one-half should be cultivated for not less than two or more than
five years after approval of the application.
Payment of fees in annual installments was permitted.
Various protections were extended to land seekers. For example, a homestead applicant who was unable to continue was permitted,
with the approval of the appropriate officials to transfer his rights
End improvements to another qualified applicant instead of forfeiting
them. The sales applicant who had made the original application for
1\ piece of land was permitted to make his bid equal to that of the
highest bidder, and if he did so was to receive the land. To prevent
landholders from reaping advantage from a settler's improvements,
the law provided that an owner of uncultivated land who did not
protest an application and permitted cultivation for one year could
assert his claim only through the courts and had to pay an indemnity
for the cultivation and improvements.
Finally, the new land law increased the amount of land that might
by acquired by homesteading from 16 to 24 hectares and the amount
purchasable by an individual from 16 to 1'00 hectares. It allowed
persons who had acquired land under the old law to acquire additional
land up to the new maximum. The limit on corporations remained
unchanged at 1024 hectares, however. In view of the new latitude
on the proportion to be cultivated by the homesteader, this increase
in the size of a holding did not increase the burden of cultivation.
The increase in the amount purchasable does not seem excessive
though 100 hectares is a large holding in the Philippines.
After the initial shock of post-war adjustment, the 1920's were
in general boom times in the Philippines.v?
Increased duties on
99 The Armistice of 1918 brought a serious though temporary collapse in the export market, followed by a more serious adjustment in 1920 and 1921. (Report of
Governor-General, 1919, p. 5; ibid., 1920, pp. 5-11; ibid., 1921, pp. 109.110).
This
876
PHILIPPINE
LAW ,TOURNAI.
foreign sugar in the American market where Philippine sugar remained free helped substantially.
A duty on foreign coconut oil,
first imposed in 1921, gave Philippine coconut oil a preference in the
American market, and a duty on desiccated coconut in 1922 practically created the Philippine industry.w?
The figures on applications for public land marched with the trend
of agricultural prosperity.
Down in 1921 to about the level of 1914,
the homestead applications soon began to climb and reached their
highest levels between 1925 and 1930, sinking back when depression
struck.wThe rise in the number of homestead applications was pain turn caused severe financial strain upon the government because the currency reserves
of the country had been transformed into investments principally in export industries.
The government delayed contraction of the currency to save the Philippine National
Bank with its large loans to the sugar industry. (Report of Governor-General,
1921, pp. 5-8; ibid., 1922, pp. 14-20and GEORGEF. LUTHRINGER,GOLD EXCHANGE
STANDARD
IN THE PHILIPPINES,Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1934, pp. 96198.) In the long run, the treasury, the bank and the exporter were saved, however,
by rapid recovery of export markets and prices. (Report of Governor-General, 1923,
pp. 123 and 144; ibid., 1924, p. 96; ibid., 1925, pp. 2 and 105).
100 U. S. Tariff Commission, United States-Philippine Tariff and Trade Relations,
pp.7-8.
101 Homestead Applications
Year
Number
Area (in hectares)
1921
6,672
1922
8,572
150,005
1923
7,535
124,045
1924
7,093
109,753
1925
8,105
129,057
1926
13,473
223,318
1927
12,756
215,879
1928
10,005
164,469
1929
13,903
236,615
1930
12,300
209,680
1931
9,000
152,046
1932
8,848
149,498
1933
7,861
134,032
1921
1922
1923
1924
1925
1926
1927
1928
1929
1930
1931
Sales (Agri. Lands) Applications
573
26,550
.. 499
13,889
452
15,333
419
13,987
445
17,311
712
37,881
1,725
117,124
1,136
99,450
1,837
123,461
1,559
102,124
1,204
64,266
AGRICULTURAL
PUBLIC LAND POLICY DURING AMERICAN
PERIOD
877
ralleled by a rise in the area applied for. No longer were would-be
homesteaders seeking the small plots their fathers sought.t'> It
seems likely that the land law of 1919 with its easier cultivation requirements must have played a part here.
As the demand for public land grew, the administration of the
public land system became a matter of constantly growing concern.
In the first decade, from 1904 to 1914, the delay and legal uncertainty
which surrounded the granting of public lands had been serious
enough but had not been a major cause of complaint. During this
period, furthermore, it was hoped that as private claims were settled
and titles registered, there would be fewer conflicts and delays in
disposing of public lands.I°3 Unfortunately, however, the process
Year
1932
1933
1921
1922
1923
1924
1925
1926
1927
1928
1929
1930
1931
1932
1933
Number
1,140
1,164
Area (in hectares)
44,374
39,868
Leases (Agri. Lands) Applications
137
31,234
194
113,444
151
25,019
115
23,041
125
31,183
289
75,799
443
119,983
350
63,743
435
134,837
350
92,090
247
41,791
197
31,147
182
15,198
Report of Governor-General, 1921, p. 207; ibid., 1922, pp. 68-169; ibid., 1926,
p. 203; ibid., 1927, p. 248; ibid., 1929, p. 181; ibid., 1931, p. 264; ibid., 1933, pp. 96-97.
Detailed figures were not published foOr1934 and 1935. Data from the Bureau
of Lands show that a total of 11,881 applications for public lands with an area of
168,736 hectares were received in 1934 and 13,182 applications for 191,432 hectares
were filed in 1935. The high was 20,811 applications for 509,443 hectares in 1929.
102 See note 67 for small size of homesteads down to 1913.
In 1929, the peak
year, the average for homestead applications was 17 hectares (author's calculation from
Report of Governor-General, 1929, P: 181).
103 In 1913, when the cadastral system was inaugurated, rt was hoped to cover
each year 100,000 parcels in private hands "which would dispose of the estimated area
in private ownership in about 25 years."
(Report of Phil. Com., 1913, P: 21).
This figure was never even remotely approached.
(See Report of Governor.
General, 1921, p. 147; ibid., 1928, p. 162). Whether the reconstitution of the Court
of Land Registration would have helped, as the Wood· Forbes mission thought (ibid.,
1921, pp. 28-29), it is impossible to say with scientific assurance. It is interesting,
however, that this recommendation was renewed by a government committee in 1951.
(Office of Economic Coordination, Report of the Special Committee on Land Settlement and Title Issuance and Clearance, Manila, 1951, pp. 18-20.)
878
PHILIPPINE
LAW JOURNAL
of segregating private lands from public never kept up with the need,
and the disposal of public lands continued to be hampered by the necessity of examining and deciding conflicting claims.wThe special
mission, composed of General Leonard Wood and former GovernorGeneral W. Cameron Forbes, sent to the Philippines in 1921 by President Harding to investigate the readiness of the Philippines for
independence, found the land titles situation serious.t?>
In the same
year, the Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources attributed
a large part of the falling off in applications during that year to
"the realization by the public that no stability whatever is offered
by the government to the possession of their landholdings due to lack
of means for determining the status of the land, thus resulting in the
majority of cases either that two or more applicants contest for the
same piece of land, or that afterwards it is found that the land is
private property***" 106
The new public land law of 1919 had taken cognizance of the
problem by attempting to hold back settlement in areas where the
lands had not been classified and delimited though it made its bow
to hard reality by permitting settlement in those areas after proclamation by the Governor-General.'?"
The administration of the act
was handicapped by insufficient funds to the point that the Bureau of
Lands reported in 1920 that it was "as yet-almost absolutely helpless
in carrying out the real spirit of the new public land act***" 108 In
1921, the bureau estimated that it would "take at least 12 years for
In a somewhat desperate effort to reduce the chaos in land titles, the legislature
in 1919 passed a law (Act No. 2837) providing that no instrument or deed affecting
rights to real estate not registered under Act No. 496 should be valid except as between
the parties until it was recorded in a special register to be kept by the register of deeds.
(In 1926 this system was modified [(Act No. 3344) so that it applied to land not
registered under Act No. 496 or the Spanish Mortgage Law.) This in effect established a third system .of registration, not of land titles but of instruments of, for
example, sale, mortgage or lease relating to lands without titles. It did not prejudice
the interests of a third party with a better right.
W4 Report
of Governor-General, 1921, pp. 204·205.
105 Report of Governor-General,
1921, p. 28.
106 Report
of Governor-General, 1921, p. 207.
"107 The Bureau of Lands at first held without action applications for lands in
regions not open to disposition. (Report of Governor-General,
1920, P: 133).
The number of such applications mounted so high that in 1925 all lands applied for
up to December 31, 1924 were declared open for disposition (Ibid., 1925, p. 182).
In 1928, the Bureau adopted the policy of returning applications for lands not yet
classified. (Ibid., 1928, p. 190). Since 1936, by presidential proclamation (Proc. 71,
S.1936) all unsurveyed lands of the public domain have been withdrawn from settlement or disposition with the exception of those classifiedas more suitable for residential, commercial, or industrial purposes.
108 Report
of Governor-General, 1920, p. 131.
AGRICULTURAL
PUBLIC LAND POLICY DURING AMERICAN
PERIOD
879
this bureau to complete the delimitation and subdivision of public
lands already classified by the bureau of forestry at the end of
1921." 109 The government did its best to accelerate its work of surveying and laying out legal sub-divisions in which lots could be obtained and counter-claims avoided.P"
All the governors-general of
the period expressed concern over the problem.PLarger appropriations, reorganizations of the bureau of lands, and the appointment of additional judges for land registration work followed, but
the land office continued to fall behind. In 1931 Dwight F. Davis,
the governor-general who devoted most attention to the problem,
reported the following rueful conclusions in a message to the legislature:
"One condition which retards settlement of the public lands is the
delay and uncertainty
in obtaining titles.
Administrative
delays, ignorance of the applicant, fraud,
and cultivation requirements,
failure of applicants to complete residence
wrongful efforts of piratical claimants to
reap the benefit of others' pioneer work, and court delays, all combine to
retard the granting of titles.
The whole system has been against the title
seeker, whose efforts, if aided, would change unused lands into taxable
property.
Desirable pioneers refrain from taking up lands because of distrust, suspicion, and discontent growing out of present delays.
"While a great impetus has been given to action on land cases, and
the number of cases lying untouched has been reduced materially, the fact
remains that there were in the bureau of lands on the first day of this
month more than 121,000 cases on which action has not been initiated;
160,000 more are in the courts of first instance; more than 100,000 are
pending publication in the general land registration
office; while 42,000
cases are there awaiting issuance of title.
"I am convinced that something further must be done in this most
important matter.
I am not prepared at the present moment to ask for
definite legislation to correct the defects. Adding additional personnel and
effecting a change here and there only complicates an already involved
system. I do not blame the personnel.
I am convinced that we must speed
up the machinery even faster, based upon the conception of getting the
land into the hands of the people and of converting it into taxable property. Numerous studies of the system have been made, but the finished
product appears to come out of the mill about as reluctantly as water
runs uphill." 112
Report of Governor-General, 1921, p. 217.
Report of Governor-General, 1928, p. 190.
111 Report
of Governor-General, 1922, p. 24 (Wood); ibid., 1927, p. 17
(Gilmore, acting); ibid., 1928, p. 28 (Stimson); ibid., 1929, p. 16 (Davis); ibid.,
1932, p. 12 (Roosevelt); ibid., 1933, p. 13 (Murphy).
112 Report of Governor-General,
1931, p. 72.
ros
110
880
PHILIPPINE
LAW JOURNAL
Davis's hope of presenting suggestions for improvement was not
realized, and the problem of land titles has continued to plague the
Philippines.P"
Aside from these unrewarding efforts to speed up the process
of granting land to persons who applied, the government also continued to direct and encourage land settlement.
Under the aegis
of the Bureau of Labor, beginning in 1917, the government financed
inter-island migration and set up propaganda committees to direct
immigrants to desirable public lands particularly in Mindanao and
Mindoro.u- An effort was made in 1918 to subdivide lands in Mindanao into homestead plots adjacent to larger units suitable for
plantation purposes. When a person with sufficient capital became
interested in a plantation site, new arrivals were guided to the homestead areas with the expectation that they could obtain supplementary employment on the plantation.
In this way, it was hoped that
communities might be established on new lands without the investment of large public funds.P"
With the immediate post-war slump,
however, inter-island migration fell off, and the work of the Bureau
of Labor in this field was suspended in 1921 and 192,2, and its propaganda work curtailed.U"
It was resumed in 1923, and during the
remainder of the 1920's the government transported a considerable
number of persons to settle in Mindanao.P"
The American Governors-General of this period emphasized the
desirability of disposing of the public domain more quickly to increase the national wealth and to promote social stability.
GovernorGeneral Leonard Wood was eager to get public lands into the hands
of the people, believing that "the strength and stability of a government are found largely in a contented citizenry living on their own
land." 118 Like the Philippine Commission of old, however, he urged
that the restrictions on large corporate holdings be eased in order to
attract capital and encourage new crops, particularly rubber.
The
specific proposal made to the legislature was that the public land
law be amended to permit the leasing of tracts up to 50,000 acres
(over 20,000 hectares) or "roughly speaking, 80 square miles, for
.
Report
to the
114 Report
115Report
116Report
~13
Mission
of ~~e l!resident
of the United
States by the (Bell)
Economic
Survey
Philippines, Washington, October 9, 1950, pp. 43-44.
of Governor-General, 1917, p. 179; ibid., 1918, p. 209.
of Governor-General, 1918, p. 94.
of Governor-General,
1919, P: 199; ibid., 1921, p. 245; and ibid.,
1922, p. 196.
117.Report of Governor-General,
118Report of Governor-General,
1923, p. 237; and ibid., 1930, p. 283.
1922, P: 57.
AGRICULTURAL
PUBLIC LAND POLICY DURING AMERICAN
PERIOD
881
a period of 25 years with the right to renew for a similar period."l19
Though this proposal came to nothing, Wood continued to "feel that
every effort should be made to secure legislation which, while protecting public interests, will permit the growing of rubber on a large
scale." 120
Wood's concern about rubber coincided with the British attempt
to maintain an artificially high price for Malayan rubber and an
American search for alternative sources of supply. One phase of
this search was a proposal in Congress for the separation of Mindanao and Sulu from the rest of the Philippines with a view to their
permanent retention by the United States as a possible domestic
source of rubber.v=
While the measure had no support in Congress,
its power to alarm the Filipinos was quickly recognized by the
Coolidge administration.t-s
A special representative
of the President, who was investigating the deadlock between Wood and the
legislature, recommended unqualifiedly that any change in the laud
law to induce rubber interests to enter the country should be made
by the Philippine legislature.
"This body is in a position to keep
within reasonable limits the amount of land held by large companies,
and otherwise to protect the interests of the Philippine planters who
may be expected to develop small plots when the market is estab119 Report
of Governor-General, 1922, p. 25. See also ibid., P: 154 where the
Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources reported:
"As the productive quality of the soil in certain regions of the Philippine Islands
becomes more familiar to those who have at their command large amount [sic} of
funds for investment in agriculture, the maximum amount of land disposable under
the present public land law becomes small. It is believed, therefore, that a liberalization of the public land law so as to permit a larger amount of land to be acquired
through lease only by those bona fide Filipino and American corporations should be
allowed where it is shown that those desiring their acquisition have the necessary financial backing to carry out their projects."
120 Report
of Governor-General, 1925, P: 23_
121 FORBES,
PHILIPPINEISLANDS,vol. II, P: 48, citing U. S., 69th Cong., 1st
sess., Congressional Record, vol. 67, pp. 11956-11964.
122 Carmi A. Thompson, the special representative, wrote:
"I know of nothing which would shake the confidence of the Christian Filipinos
in the good faith of the United States more than the passage of an act which might
permanently segregate the southern islands from the remainder of the Philippine Archipelago. * * * Furthermore, it is my conviction that the southern islands of the
Philippines should not be permanently separated from the rest of the archipelago.
Their unoccupied lands afford a necesasry outlet for the rapidly increasing population
of the islands to the north and their natural wealth is very essential to the upbuilding
of the strong Philippine nation which it is the purpose of both Filipino people and the
United States to establish." U. S., 69th Cong., 2d sess., S. Doc. 180, Carmi A.
Thompson, Conditions in the Philip/Jine Islands, P: 7.
PHILIPPINE
882
LAW JOURNAL
lished." 123 With the collapse of the Malayan rubber combine, the
movement for large rubber production lost its impetus.
The next governor-general, Henry L. Stimson, pursued a conciliatory policy to heal the strained relations that had existed between Wood and Philippine political leaders.
He stressed the necessity of putting idle land into use to improve the health and welfare
of the people and to enable the government to provide better public
services. While recommending revision of the corporation laws to
attract capital, he recognized that "a general public sentiment
against * " * large landholdings * * * is one of the strongest political
sentiments which the average Filipino holds today."
Believing that
"it would be folly to disregard or attempt to defy" this deep-seated
feeling, Stimson urged "the coordinated production of large tracts
of land * * * by the cooperative efforts of a large number of hacenderos or landowners grouped about a common central which guides,
fosters, and finances them under contract rather than by large holdings in fee by single corporations." U4 This approach, modeled upon
the highly organized sugar industry, led to the introduction of the
pineapple industry.
A large corporation was permitted to take up
land, subject to the land law limitations, within an agricultural reservation and to finance public land applicants in the surrounding areas
who agreed to raise pineapples and sell their produce to the corporabon for processing.
In this way capital was obtained for economic
development without changing the statutory limitation on the size
of holdings.v=
The land law was changed, however, in certain respects during
the 1920's. A law of 1924 126 raised the amount of land purchasable
by an individual to 144 hectares, eased various conditions relating
to the purchase or lease of public lands by extendmg the period of
purchase payment, requiring leases to be awarded through public
bids, reducing to one-third the amount of land to be Drought under
cultivation within five years by purchasers or lessees, and various
other measures.
The law permitted one renewal of the lease for 25
years at the option of the lessee and another at the discretion of the
government.
After these changes, applications for sales and leases
increased both in number and in acreage.
After running around 500
in number through the first half of the 1920's, sales applications
12;;
U. S. 69th Cong., 2 sess., S. Doc. 180, Conditions
in the Philippine Islands,
pp.8-9.
Report of Governor-General, 1928, p. 4.
Report of Governor-General, 1928, pp. 177·178; and ibid., 1929, pp. 16 and 162.
12ti Act No. 3219, effective February 25, 1925.
124
125
9?IB;LDKLI9D
HL:*DB; D9F<
HGDB;P <LIBF?
9E=IB;9F
H=IBG<
550
[iadVU hc 4-. Zb -6.3 RbUfRb kV__cjVf ---- hYVfVRWhVf
VjVb UifZbX
hYVUVdfVggZcbmVRfg, DVRgVRdd_ZTRhZcbg
hcc] R gZaZ_Rfgdifh,H8
Bb SchYTRgVghYVRTfVRXV
Rdd_ZVU
WcfZbTfVRgVU
XfVRh_m(
Sih hYVRjVf*
RXVfVaRZbVUkV__SV_ck hYV_VXR_
aRlZaia,
Bb -6.6 hYVYcaVghVRURdd_ZTRbhSVbVWZhVU
Sm R fVUiThZcbZb
WVVg
RbU Zb Ti_hZjRhZcbfVeiZfVaVbhg SchY Rg hc hZaV RbU RfVR,-.5
KYZgRTh R_gc ZbhfcUiTVUR TYRbXVWfca dfVjZcig _Rkg kYZTYYRU
WcfSZUUVb
dRfhZTZdRbhg
Zb RXfZTi_hifR_TcfdcfRhZcbghc RTeiZfVchYVf
diS_ZT _RbUg, EVaSVfg( ghcT]Yc_UVfg(RbU hYV_Z]VaZXYh RTeiZfV
RXfZTi_hifR_diS_ZT_RbUibUVf hYVYcaVghVRURbU WfVVdRhVbhdfc*
jZgZcb Sih bch chYVfkZgV, 9h hYVgRaV hZaV Rb RaVbUaVbh hc hYV
TcfdcfRhZcb _Rk -.6 dVfaZhhVUR aVaSVf cWRb RXfZTi_hifR_TcfdcfR*
hZcbhc SVTcaVZbhVfVghVU
Zb chYVfRXfZTi_hifR_TcfdcfRhZcbgdfcjZUVU
YZgZbhVfVgh
Zb RbmcbV TcfdcfRhZcbUZUbch VlTVVU
-2 dVf TVbhcWhYV
TRdZhR_,9bchYVf RTh-0- RihYcfZnVU
hYVRdd_ZTRhZcb
cWhYVfVR_VghRhV
giSUZjZgZcbdfZbTZd_VZb gdRfgV_mZbYRSZhVU
dcfhZcbg cWhYVHYZ_Zd*
dZbVg, KYVJVTfVhRfmcW9XfZTi_hifV RbU FRhifR_ IVgcifTVg aZXYh
cfUVf hYV!gifjVm( UV_ZaZhRhZcb(
RbUgiSUZjZgZcb!cWRb RfVRcf aZXYh
Vbhfigh hc dfZjRhVgifjVmcfg cf R TcfdcfRhZcb hYVkcf] !ZbT_iUZbX
hYVZadfcjVaVbh cWhYV_RbU gc gifjVmVU RbU giSUZjZUVU,! KYV
VldVbgVgcWhYVgifjVm( UV_ZaZhRhZcb(
giSUZjZgZcb(RbU ZadfcjVaVbh
kVfV hc SVRddcfhZcbVURacbX R__hYVRdd_ZTRbhg
WcfhYV_RbU, NYVb
hYVkcf] !jRg UcbVSm dfZjRhVgifjVmcfg '*" R TcfdcfRhZcb(hYVmkVfV
hc Tc__VTh
cb_mRThiR_Tcgh d_ig .- dVf TVbh, HfcTVVUgkVfV hc Tcb*
ghZhihVR fVjc_jZbX WibUhc digY hYVkcf] WcfkRfU,
KYV T_cgZbXmVRfgcWhYV9aVfZTRb dVfZcUZb hYVHYZ_ZddZbVg
kVfV gYRUckVUSm hYVkcf_U*kZUVUVdfVggZcbSfZbXZbXkZhY ZhhYV
ifXV hckRfUg XcjVfbaVbhR_ VTcbcam RbU ZbTfVRgZbX
hYVacaVbhia
SVYZbU
hYVUfZjVZb hYVLbZhVUJhRhVgWcfHYZ_ZddZbV
ZbUVdVbUVbTV,k*
FVjVfhYV_Vgg(
diS_ZT_RbUdc_ZTm
kRg bch _cghWfca gZXYh, ?cjVfbcf*
?VbVfR_<kZXYh >, <RjZg( Rg bchVURScjV( hYfVk aiTY VbVfXmZbhc
hYVZadfcjVaVbh cWhYV_RbUhZh_V
gZhiRhZcb(RbU ?cjVfbcf*?VbVfR_
KYVcUcfVIccgVjV_h( Cf,( VbUVRjcfVUhc gRWVXiRfU
hYVZbhVfVghg
cW
hYVgaR__WRfaVfSm Rb VlVTihZjVcfUVf gVhhZbX
RgZUV
R__diS_ZT_RbUg
TcbhZXicig hc dfc[VThVUYZXYkRmg
Wcf YcaVghVRUZbX,KYZgkRg hc
TifS gdVTi_RhcfgkYc cShRZbVU
RUjRbTV]bck_VUXVRScih dfc[VThVU
_cRUgRbUWZ_VU
Rdd_ZTRhZcbg
WcfRU[RTVbh
d_chghc Yc_UhYVa WcfR fZgV
JVVbchV -- _,
JVV9Th Fc, 02-4,
-.,
9Th Fc, 02-5,
-0- 9Th Fc, 0340( VWWVThZjV
CibV.4( -60-,
-0- JVV9:=D9I<=(
9E=IB;9F
K9IB>> HGDB;P KGN9I<
-3. RbU ?ILF<=I
9F< DBM=Q=P(KA= HABDBHHBF=J9F<
-.4
-.5
-62q.-6,
KA= HABDBHHBF=J(
dd,
KA= LFBK=< JK9K=J(
-10
dd,
..,
HABDBHHBF=D9N CGLIF9D
Zb dfZTV,H! <ifZbX hYVRUaZbZghfRhZcbcW?cjVfbcf*?VbVfR_ >fRb]
EifdYm hYV RU[ighaVbh cW dc_ZhZTR_
RbU hfRUVfV_RhZcbgkZhY hYV
LbZhVUJhRhVg cjVfgYRUckVU R__V_gV,-00 FVjVfhYV_Vgg(
hYZgdVfZcU
gRk hYVVbRThaVbhcWR _Rk -01 kYZTYkRg ZbhVbUVU
hc WcghVfhYV
UVjV_cdaVbhcWEZbURbRc, KYVRThdfcjZUVUWcfgVhh_VaVbh
UZghfZThg
Zb kYZTY_RbUkRg hc SV T_VRfVU
RbU dfVdRfVUWcf Ti_hZjRhZcbRbU
RXfZTi_hifVhc SV TRffZVUcb ibUVf XcjVfbaVbh hihV_RXV
RbU giddcfh
ibhZ_ hYVRdd_ZTRbhg
fVdRZURUjRbTVgRbU RTeiZfVUhZh_Vg,KYVWibUg
gVhRgZUV
Wcf Tc_cbZnRhZcb
kVfV _RhVfUVjchVUhc fcRU SiZ_UZbX,H!RbU
R XcjVfbaVbh TcfdcfRhZcb Wcf _RbUgVhh_VaVbh
kRg giSgVeiVbh_mgVh
id,! -03
KYZgkRg R_gchYVdVfZcUcWhYVRUcdhZcbcWhYVHYZ_ZddZbV
;cb*
ghZhihZcbUVgZXbVU
hc gVfjV SchY hYV;caacbkVR_hY RbU hYV_RhVf
IVdiS_ZT( KYV KmUZbXg*ET<iWWZV
RTh ibUVf kYZTYhYVTcbghZhihZcb
kRg UfRkb id XRjV hYV>Z_ZdZbcgR WfVVYRbUfVXRfUZbXhYVdiS_ZT
BRbUg,H! KYVTcbghZhihZcbR_
dfcjZgZcbg fV_RhZbX
hc _RbUdc_ZTm(
hYVfV*
WcfV(fVdfVgVbhHYZ_ZddZbV
TYcZTV,:fZVW_m(hYVmdfcjZUVU hYRh R__
diS_ZT _RbUgRbU chYVf bRhifR_ fVgcifTVg cWhYVHYZ_ZddZbVg
SV_cbX
hc hYVghRhVRbU gYR__SV Vld_cZhVU
Sm TZhZnVbg
cWhYVHYZ_ZddZbVg
cf
TcfdcfRhZcbg Rh _VRgh3- dVf TVbhcWhYVTRdZhR_cWkYZTYgYR__SV
ckbVU SmgiTY TZhZnVbg,FRhifR_ fVgcifTVg VlTVdhdiS_ZTRXfZTi_hifR_
_RbURfVbch hc SVR_ZVbRhVU,AcaVghVRUgRfV_ZaZhVU
hc .1 YVThRfVg(
difTYRgVgSmZbUZjZUiR_g
hc -11 YVThRfVg(
RbU _VRgVg
hc --.1 YVThRfVg,
?fRnZbX _VRgVg(
YckVjVf( aRm fib hc .--- YVThRfVg,KYVHYZ_ZddZbV
;cbXfVgg kRg XZjVb hYVdckVf hc UVhVfaZbVSm _Rk hYVRacibh cW
dfZjRhV RXfZTi_hifR__RbUkYZTYZbUZjZUiR_g
cf TcfdcfRhZcbg aRm RT*
eiZfV RbU Yc_UgiS[VTh hc VlZghZbXfZXYhg,-05 LbhZ_ hYVWZbR_
kZhY*
,.- 37BACDA8 1AF7C<AC(17<7C59'-60.( H7-.,
KYVUVSRT_V
cWhYVRXfZTi_hifR_
TfVUZh
TccdVfRhZjV
RggcTZRbcbg
kRg gc Tcad_VhV
hYRh
R bVk RhhRT]
YRUhc SVaRUVidcb hYVdfcS_VacWfifR_ TfVUZh
kZhYhYVRaVbUaVbh
cWhYVigifm _Rk &9ThFc, 0665' RbUVWWcfhg
hc VlhVbUTfVUZh
hc gaR__WRfaVfg
ibUVf
hYVgidVfjZgZcbcWhYVHYZ_ZddZbV
FRhZcbR_:Rb] !37BACDA8 1AF7C<AC(17<7C59',0.-'
dd,6*--',
KYVHYZ_ZddZbV
FRhZcbR_
:Rb] kRg RihYcfZnVU
hc fVXi_RhV
hYVTfVRhZcb
RbU
cdVfRhZcb
cWfifR_ TfVUZh
RggcTZRhZcbg
&9ThFc, 0562' RbUhYVcfXRbZnRhZcb
cWfifR_
SRb]g &9ThFc, 0563', KYVgVjVbRggcTZRhZcbg
RbUhkc SRb]g kYZTYkVfVcfXRbZnVU
UZUbch _cbXgifjZjV(RbUhYVZf
fVTcfUg
kVfVUVghfcmVU
ZbNcf_U NRf BB, &BbWcfaRhZcb
gidd_ZVU
SmhYV;VbhfR_:Rb] cWhYVHYZ_ZddZbVg(
GThcSVf6( -62-,'
-00 EifdYm kRg(YckVjVf(
TcbTVfbVU
RScih_RbUhZh_Vg,
37BACDA8 1AF7C<AC(17<7C59'
-600( d, -0,
-01 9Th Fc, 1-64( RddfcjVU>VSfiRfm-.( -602,
-02 ;ca,
9Th Fc, -5( >VSfiRfm.( -603,
-03 ;ca,
9Th Fc, 11-( CibV0( -606, (
-04 L,J, HiS_ZT
9Th Fc, -.4( 40U;cbXc 15 4D5D)5D2) Hh,B(d, 123,
p05 KYVhVlhcWhYV
HYZ_ZddZbV
TcbghZhihZcb
Rg ZhkVbhZbhcWcfTV
Zb -602 aRm SV
WcibUZbL,J, 41hY;cbX,( -gh gVgg,(
J, <cT, 10, KYVdfcjZgZcbgcWhYVRfhZT_V
cb hYV
TcbgVfjRhZcb
RbUihZ_ZnRhZcb
cWbRhifR_fVgcifTVghYRhRfVfV_VjRbh
hc _RbUgRfVeichVU
9?IB;LDKLI9D
HL:DB;
D9F<
HGDB;P <LIBF?
9E=IB;9F
H=IBG<
552
UfRkR_ cW9aVfZTRb gcjVfVZXbhmcjVf hYVHYZ_ZddZbVg(
TZhZnVbg
RbU
TcfdcfRhZcbg cW hYVLbZhVUJhRhVgVb[cmVUR__hYVTZjZ_fZXYhgcW
TZhZnVbg
RbUTcfdcfRhZcbgcWhYVHYZ_ZddZbVg
RTTcfUZbX
hc Rb cfUZbRbTV
RddVbUVU
hc hYVTcbghZhihZcb, KYZgaVRbh RacbX chYVfaRhhVfg hYRh
9aVfZTRbg Vb[cmVUhYVgRaV fZXYhgRg >Z_ZdZbcg
kZhY fVgdVThhc hYV
RTeiZgZhZcb
cWdiS_ZTRXfZTi_hifR__RbUg, 9WhVfNcf_U NRf BB(R bVk
cfUZbRbTVRddVbUVUhc hYVTcbghZhihZcbdfcjZUVUhYRh(ibhZ_ Ci_m 0(
-641( !hYVUZgdcgZhZcb(
Vld_cZhRhZcb(
UVjV_cdaVbh(RbU ihZ_ZnRhZcb
cW
R__RXfZTi_hifR_(hZaSVf(RbUaZbVfR__RbUgcWhYVdiS_ZTUcaRZb & & &
gYR__(
ZWcdVb hc RbmdVfgcb( SV cdVb hc TZhZnVbg
cWhYVLbZhVUJhRhVg
RbU hc R__Wcfag cWSigZbVggVbhVfdfZgV
ckbVU cf Tcbhfc__VU(
UZfVTh_m
cf ZbUZfVTh_m(
Sm TZhZnVbg
cWhYVLbZhVUJhRhVgZb hYVgRaV aRbbVf
Rg hc( RbU ibUVf hYVgRaV TcbUZhZcbg
ZadcgVU idcb( TZhZnVbg
cWhYV
HYZ_ZddZbVg
cf TcfdcfRhZcbg cf RggcTZRhZcbg
ckbVU cf Tcbhfc__VUSm
TZhZnVbg
cWhYVHYZ_ZddZbVg,!
-06
KYVcb_maR[cf TYRbXV
kYZTYhYV;cbghZhihZcb aRUV Zb hYV_RbU
dc_ZTm
cih_ZbVUSmhYVLbZhVUJhRhVg;cbXfVgg Zb -6-. kRg hYRhaZbV*
SV_ck, DRhVfRaVbUaVbhg YRjVbch RWWVThVU
hYVhVlh cWhYZgRfhZT_V
hYciXY hYVmYRjV
ZhgbiaSVf,
Bh Zgbck 9fhZT_VOBBB,
!JVThZcb -, 9__ RXfZTi_hifR_(hZaSVf( RbU aZbVfR_ _RbUgcW hYVdiS_ZT UcaRZb(
kRhVfg(aZbVfR_g(TcR_(dVhfc_Via( RbU chYVfaZbVfR_cZ_g(R__WcfTVg
cWdchVbhZR_
VbVfXm(
RbU chYVfbRhifR_fVgcifTVgcWhYVHYZ_ZddZbVg
SV_cbXhc hYVJhRhV(RbU hYVZfUZgdcgZhZcb(
Vld_cZhRhZcb(
UVjV_cdaVbh(cf ihZ_ZnRhZcb
gYR__SV _ZaZhVU
hc TZhZnVbg
cWhYVHYZ_ZddZbVg(
cf hc TcfdcfRhZcbg cf RggcTZRhZcbg
Rh _VRghgZlhmB7C 67<DE; cW hYV TRdZhR_
cW kYZTY
ZgckbVU Sm giTY TZhZnVbg(
giS[VThhc RbmVlZghZbX
fZXYh(
XfRbh(_VRgV(
cf TcbTVggZcb
Rh hYV
hZaV cWhYVZbRiXifRhZcbcWhYV?cjVfbaVbh VghRS_ZgYVU
ibUVf hYZg;cbghZhihZcb, FR*
hifR_ fVgcifTVg(kZhYhYVVlTVdhZcbcWdiS_ZT RXfZTi_hifR__RbUg(gYR__bch SV R_ZVbRhVU(
RbU bc _ZTVbgV(
TcbTVggZcb(
cf _VRgV
WcfhYVVld_cZhRhZcb(
UVjV_cdaVbh(cf ihZ_ZnRhZcb
cW
Rbm cWhYVbRhifR_ fVgcifTVggYR__SV XfRbhVUWcfR dVfZcUVlTVVUZbX
hkVbhm*WZjV
mVRfg(
fVbVkRS_VWcfRbchYVfhkVbhm*WZjV
mVRfg(VlTVdhRg hc kRhVf fZXYhg(Wcf ZffZXRhZcb(
kRhVf
gidd_m( WZgYVfZVg(
cf ZbUighfZR_igVg chYVf "hYRbhYVUVjV_cdaVbh cW kRhVf dckVf( Zb
kYZTYTRgVg
SVbVWZTZR_
igV aRm SV hYVaVRgifV RbU _ZaZhcWhYVXfRbh,
!JVThZcb ., Fc dfZjRhVTcfdcfRhZcb cf RggcTZRhZcb
aRm RTeiZfV(_VRgVcf Yc_U
diS_ZT RXfZTi_hifR_
_RbUgZb VlTVggcWcbV hYcigRbU RbU hkVbhm*WcifYVThRfVg(
bcf aRm
Rbj ZbUZjZUiR_
RTeiZfVgiTY _RbUgSm difTYRgVZb VlTVggcWcbV YibUfVU RbU Wcfhm*Wcif
YVThRfVg(
cf Sm _VRgV
Zb VlTVggcWcbV hYcigRbU hkVbhm*WcifYVThRfVg(
cf Sm YcaVghVRU
Zb VlTVggcWhkVbhm*
Wcif YVThRfVg,
DRbUgRURdhVU
hc XfRnZbX(
bch VlTVVUZbX
hkc hYcigRbU
YVThRfVg(
aRm SV _VRgVU
hc Rb ZbUZjZUiR_(
dfZjRhVTcfdcfRhZcb(cf RggcTZRhZcb,
!JVThZcb 0, KYV FRhZcbR_9ggVaS_m aRm UVhVfaZbVSm _Rk hYVgZnVcW dfZjRhV
RXfZTi_hifR_
_RbUkYZTYZbUZjZUiR_g(
TcfdcfRhZcbg(cf RggcTZRhZcbg
aRm RTeiZfVRbToYc_U(
giS[VThhc fZXYhgVlZghZbX
dfZcf hc hYVVbRThaVbhcWgiTY _Rk,
!JVThZcb 2, JRjV Zb TRgVgcW YVfVUZhRfm
giTTVggZcb(bc dfZjRhVRXfZTi_hifR__RbU
gYR__SV hfRbgWVffVU
cf RggZXbVU
VlTVdhhc ZbUZjZUiR_g(
TcfdcfRhZcbg(cf RggcTZRhZcbg
eiRq
_ZWZVU
hc RTeiZfVcf Yc_U_RbUgcWhYVdiS_ZTUcaRZb Zb hYVHYZ_ZddZbVg,!
-06 KYZgZg hYV!HRfZhm9aVbUaVbh!
fVeiZfVUSm hYVHYZ_ZddZbV
KfRUp 9Th cW
-613 &L,J, HiS_ZT04- 46hY ;cbXc 3- 4D5D)5DD, -1-' RbU VaScUZVUZb Rb =lVTihZjV
9XfVVaVbh SVhkVVbhYVLbZhVUJhRhVgRbU hYVHYZ_ZddZbVg,
&JVV;ca, 9Th Fc, 400'
220
HABDBHHBF=D9N CGLIF9D
fR_ diS_ZT _RbUgTci_U bc _cbXVfSV R_ZVbRhVU,
KYV;cbXfVggZcbR_
_ZaZhRhZcb
cb TcfdcfRhV_RbUYc_UZbXg(
kYZTYYRUSVVbdfVgVfjVUSm
hYV>Z_ZdZbc
_VXZg_RhifV(
bck SVTRaVR HYZ_ZddZbV
TcbghZhihZcbR_
_ZaZ*
hRhZcb, KYVdfcjZgZcbg kfZhhVbZbhchYVdiS_ZT_RbU_Rk cW-6-6 hc
VbgifV hYVbRhZcbR_TYRfRThVf
cWTcfdcfRhZcbgVld_cZhZbX
HYZ_ZddZbV
bRhifR_ fVgcifTVg kVfV bck aRUV dRfh cW hYVWibURaVbhR__Rk,
KYVgVdfcjZgZcbg kVfV hZXYhVbVU
Zb cbV ZadcfhRbh fVgdVTh, BbUZ*
jZUiR_gRbU TcfdcfRhZcbgbch eiR_ZWZVU
hc difTYRgVdiS_ZT_RbUgWcf
RXfZTi_hifR_
igV Tci_Ubc _cbXVfdifTYRgVhYVaWcfZbUighfZR_
cf fVgZ*
UVbhZR_
difdcgVg, ;_VRf_mhYVRXfZTi_hifR_diS_ZT_RbUdc_ZTm
cWhYV
bVk ;caacbkVR_hY RbUgiSgVeiVbhIVdiS_ZTkRg ZbhVbUVU
hc fVaRZb
Rg ZhYRUSVVbZbhYV9aVfZTRb dVfZcU, NYZ_VZhaZXYhSVgiXXVghVU
hYRhhYVHYZ_ZddZbVg
RhhYZgghRXV
cWZhgbRhZcbR_
UVjV_cdaVbhTcbgZU*
VfVUZhibkZgV hc TYR__VbXV
hYVLbZhVUJhRhVgSm UfRghZT
TYRbXVg(
hYV
TYRbXV
fVXRfUZbX
aZbVfR__RbUggiXXVghg
hYRhhYVRXfZTi_hifR_
diS_ZT
_RbUdc_ZTm
Rg ZhYRUUVjV_cdVU
ZbhYV9aVfZTRb dVfZcUkRg gRhZgWRT*
hcfm Rh_VRgh
hc hYVdc_ZhZTR__m
ZadcfhRbh >Z_ZdZbcg,
Bb fVhfcgdVTh(
ZhZgVRgmhc gVVkYm hYZgkRg gc, KYV9aVfZTRb
RTeiZgZhZcb
cWhYVHYZ_ZddZbVg
YRUbch jZc_RhVUdfZjRhVfZXYhgcf
VghRS_ZgYVU
9aVfZTRb RSgVbhVV
_RbUckbVfgYZd, BbghVRU(
hYVLbZhVU
JhRhVgYRURThVU
hc TcbWZfaVlZghZbX
_RbU_cfUg
Zb dcggVggZcbcWhYVZf
Yc_UZbXg
RbU YRUVghRS_ZgYVU
ibUVf hYV_RbUfVXZghfRhZcb
RThR dfc*
TVUifVhc T_VRfhZh_Vg,:m SimZbXid hYVWfZRf_RbUgZhYRUfVacjVU
R _RfXVXfcid cWTcfdcfRhV_RbU_cfUg
RbUYRUWRTZ_ZhRhVU
hYVdifTYRgV
cWhYVZfYc_UZbXg
Sm hYVZfhVbRbhg, >ifhYVfacfV( Zb hYVdiS_ZT_RbU
RTh(ZhYRUcdVbVUhYVkRm WcfaRbm( hYciXYbch hYVdccfVgh(hc RT*
eiZfV bVk _RbUg, HVfYRdgVjVb acfV ZadcfhRbh Zb HYZ_ZddZbV
dc_Zh*
ZTR__ZWV
kRg hYVWRTh
hYRhhYV_RbU_Rk( kZhYZhgTRjVRhRXRZbgh
XfVRh
TcfdcfRhVYc_UZbXg(
YRUUZgTcifRXVU
WcfVZXbVfg(
ZbT_iUZbX
9aVfZTRbg
Wfca VbXfcggZbX
HYZ_ZddZbV
_RbUg, >fca hYVghRbUdcZbh
cWhYVdccfVf
RbU dc_ZhZTR__m
_VggZbW_iVbhZR_(
hYVfVaRm YRjV SVVbgcaV gRhZgWRT*
hZcbhYRh9aVfZTRb dc_ZTm
YRUfRZgVU
_VXR_
SRffZVfgRXRZbgh
hYVRTeiZ*
gfhZcbcWXfVRhbVk VghRhVg
VjVb Sm >Z_ZdZbcg,
Gb hYVchYVfYRbU(hYVdc_ZTm_RZUUckb Sm hYVLbZhVUJhRhVg
RbU giSgVeiVbh_macUZWZVU
Zb jRfZcig fVgdVThg
Sm hYVXcjVfbaVbh cW
hYVHYZ_ZddZbVg
ZbhYV9aVfZTRbdVfZcUUZUbch fVgi_hZbfRdZUUZgdcgR_
cWhYVRXfZTi_hifR_diS_ZT_RbUg, KYfciXYcih hYVdVfZcU(hYVdc_ZTm
kRg gidVfZcf hc hYVVlVTihZcb, KYVRSgVbTV
cWXccU _RbUgifjVmg
aRUV gVhh_VaVbh
cWhYVdiS_ZT_RbUgaiTY acfV UZWWZTi_h
hYRbZb hYV
LbZhVUJhRhVg(RbU hYVbVTVggZhm
cWT_VRfZbX
_VXR_
UciShg RbU Tcb*
W_ZThZbX
T_RZagaRUV cShRZbZbX
R _RbUdRhVbhVlhfVaV_mg_ck RbU
kVZXYhVU
hYVgTR_Vg
ZbWRjcfcWhYVfZTYVfRbUSVhhVfVUiTRhVU,KYV
ZbRSZ_Zhm
cWaRbm >Z_ZdZbcg
hc aVVh hYVTcbUZhZcbg
_RZUUckb Zb hYV
9?IB;LDKLI9D
HL:DB;
D9F<
HGDB;P <LIBF?
9E=IB;9F
H=IBG<
554
cfZXZbR_
diS_ZT_RbURTh(hYVgiSgVeiVbh acUZWZTRhZcb
cWhYcgVTcbUZ*
hZcbg(RbUhYVRhhVadhcWhYVXcjVfbaVbh hc gidd_m_VXR_
RbUaRhVfZR_
RZUgYck hYRhZb hYVSVXZbbZbX
gifV_mhYVRXfZTi_hifR_diS_ZT_RbU
dc_ZTmVghRS_ZgYVU
Sm hYVLbZhVUJhRhVgkRg ZadVfWVTh_m
RURdhVU
hc
HYZ_ZddZbV
TcbUZhZcbg,
BhgVVag WRZfhc gRmhYRhhYVLbZhVUJhRhVgUZUbch aRhVfZR__m
R_hVfhYVRXfZTi_hifR_
_RbUdRhhVfbdfVjRZ_ZbX
Zb -6--,
BhWcibU(RbU
Zh_VWh(
hYVHYZ_ZddZbVg
Rb RXfZTi_hifR_Tcibhfm Zb kYZTYhYVfVN="fV
RbU RfV aRbm gaR__ Yc_UZbXg
Sih Zb kYZTY_RbUckbVfgYZd Zg Tcb*
TVbhfRhVU
ZbR fV_RhZjV_m
gaR__dfcdcfhZcb cWhYVdcdi_RhZcb, ARjZbX
gRZUhYZg(ZhZgbVTVggRfm
hc gRmR_gchYRhhYVLbZhVUJhRhVgUZUbch
ibUVfhR]Vhc fVjc_ihZcbZnV
hYVHYZ_ZddZbVg
Sih hc TcbWcfa ZhgfVXZaV
hc hYVTighcag( YRSZhg(
RbU dfV[iUZTVgcWhYVdVcd_V!hc hYVWi__Vgh
VlhVbhTcbgZghVbh
kZhYhYVRTTcad_ZgYaVbhcWhYVZbUZgdVbgRS_V
fV*
eiZgZhVg
cW[igh RbU VWWVThZjV
XcjVfbaVbh,! -1- Bb gc UcZbX(ZhgjZVk
cWkYRh TcbghZhihVU
_RbURSigVg kRg hYVjZVk cW-6-- fRhYVfhYRb
-612, 9g R aZ_ZhRfmcTTidRbh RWhVf
Ncf_U NRf BB(ZhWc__ckVU
R
acfV UfRghZT
dc_ZTmcW_RbUfVWcfa Zb cTTidZVUTcibhfZVg(dRfh_mRh
_VRghRg R aVRgifV UZfVThVU
RXRZbgh
Xfcidg kYZTYgiddcfhVU aZ_Z*
hRfZghZT
fVXZaVg, Bb hYVHYZ_ZddZbVg(
hYVcb_m TcadRfRS_VaVRgifV
kRg hYVSimZbXid cWhYVWfZRf_RbUghc dRTZWm
hYVbRhZjVZbYRSZhRbhg,
NYZ_VkZUVgdfVRU
WRfa hVbRbTmTRaV hc SV fVTcXbZnVU
Rg R gVfZcig
VjZ_hckRfU hYVVbUcWhYV9aVfZTRb dVfZcU(Zb -6--*-6-. _RfXVVg*
hRhVgkVfV fVXRfUVU
Rg RSigVgcb_mkYVb hYVm
dfcUiTVUdc_ZhZTR_
ib*
fVghRg UZUhYVWfZRf_RbUgcf kYVb hYVmkVfV ckbVU SmRbU fib Wcf
RSgVbhVV
TcfdcfRhV_RbUYc_UVfg,9XRZbghhYVgV
hkc dcggZSZ_ZhZVg(
hYV
LbZhVUJhRhVghcc] fVaVUZR_
cf dfVjVbhZjVRThZcb, KYVUZgZbhVfVghVU
YZghcfZRb
TRbYRfU_m
TcbUVab hYVLbZhVUJhRhVgWcfWRZ_ZbX
hc RhhRT]
Rb RXfRfZRbdfcS_Va SmaVRgifVg hYRhTRaV hc gVVa giZhRS_V
R YR_W
TVbhifm_RhVf,
>ifhYVfacfV( Zhaigh SVfVaVaSVfVUhYRhgiTY aVRgifVg kci_U
YRjVSVVbUZfVThVU
RXRZbgh
dfZjRhV_RbUg, Bb hYVHYZ_ZddZbVg
RhhYRh
hZaV(Rh_VRgh
YR_W
cWhYV_RbUgkVfV diS_ZT, BhgVVaVUeiZhVdcggZS_V(
hYVfVWcfV(
hYRhRg diS_ZT_RbUgkVfV UZgdcgVU
cWhYVYcaVghVRUcW
-3 YVThRfVg
aZXYh SVTcaV hYVdfVUcaZbRbh hmdVcWWRfa, Bh UZU
bch Uc gc dRfh_mSVTRigVcWdcjVfhm RbUZXbcfRbTV
UVgdZhV
VWWcfhg
hc
VlhVbURXfZTi_hifR_TfVUZhWRTZ_ZhZVg
RbU hc UVjV_cdR diS_ZT gTYcc_
gmghVa, 9bchYVf fVRgcb kRg hYV_RT] cW gifjVmg RbU hYV dccf
RUaZbZghfRhZcb
cWhYVRThkYZTYaRUV hYVcShRZbZbX
cW_RbUgc UZg*
TcifRXZbX, :RgZTR__m(
hYVcSghRT_Vg
kVfV VTcbcaZT, 9 -3 cf .1 YVT*
hRfVWRfa fVeiZfVUTRdZhR_
hYRhkRg bch VRgZ_m
RjRZ_RS_V
RbU R aRf*
-1-
JVV bchV -.,
555
HABDBHHBF=D9N CGLIF9D
]VhZbXcfXRbZnRhZcb
hYRhkci_U YRjV kcf]VU hc hYVSVbVWZh
cWhYV
gaR__ WRfaVf, NYRh aRm SV WRZf_m
gRZUZghYRhhYVLbZhVUJhRhVg
cjVfVghZaRhVU
hYVRSZ_Zhm
cWhYVgaR__ WRfaVfhc aR]V YZgkRm Zb
hYVdfZaZhZjVHYZ_ZddZbV
VTcbcam(RbUSmZhgXVbVfR_
VTcbcaZTdc_ZTm
UZUbch SiZ_Uid R_hVfbRhZjV
ZbjVghaVbhcddcfhibZhZVghYRhkci_U YRjV
aRUV _RfXVRTeiZgZhZcbg
cW_RbU_VggUVgZfRS_V,
Gb hYVTfVUZh
gZUV(
ZhZgT_VRfhYRhhYVdc_ZTm
cWhYVLbZhVUJhRhVg
UZUdfVjVbh WcfVZXb
RSgVbhVV
ckbVfgYZd cWHYZ_ZddZbV
RXfZTi_hifR_
_RbUg, 9aVfZTRb Rb,hZ*ZadVfZR_Zgh
WcfTVgRbU dfchVThZcbZghg
WVRfWi_
cWHYZ_ZddZbV
TcadVhZhZcbTcbhfZSihVUhc hYV_ZaZhRhZcb
cWTcfdcfRhV
Yc_UZbXg,9aVfZTRb VldVfZVbTV
UZgTcifRXVU
fRZ_fcRU
XfRbhgWfca hYV
diS_ZTUcaRZb, GbTVhYVdc_ZTm
kRg RUcdhVU(
hkc WRThcfg
aZ_ZhRhVU
RXRZbgh
ZhgR_hVfRhZcb*9aVfZTRbg
kVfV bch giWWZTZVbh_m
VbRacfVUcW
TcaaVfTZR_RXfZTi_hifR_cddcfhibZhZVgZb hYVHYZ_ZddZbVg
hc aR]V R
ghfcbX dc_ZhZTR_
TRadRZXbRXRZbgh
ZhRbU hYV>Z_ZdZbcg
kVfV VadYR*
hZTR__m
RXRZbgh
R TYRbXV,Bb hYVVbU(hYVLbZhVUJhRhVghcc] TfVUZh
WcfhYVWRTh
hYRhVTcbcaZTRUjRbTVaVbhYRUTcaV kZhYcih Vld_cZhR*
hZcbRbU hYRh!hYVbRhifR_ ZbYVfZhRbTV
cWhYV>Z_ZdZbc
Rg hYVckbVf
KYVRThiR_YZghcfmcW
cWYZgWRhYVf_RbU
YRgbch SVVbjZc_RhVU,!
-1hYVRXfZTi_hifR_
diS_ZT_RbUdc_ZTm
UifZbX hYV9aVfZTRb dVfZcUZbUZ*
TRhVg
hYRhhYVLbZhVUJhRhVgUZUbch ZabcgV bcb*ZbUZXVbcig
cSghRT_Vg
hc hYVUVjV_cdaVbhcWHYZ_ZddZbV
diS_ZT_RbUg,
,/,
37BACDA8 1AF7;AC(17<7C59'-6.2( d, -1,