5. Public Land Acts and the Torrens System Act No. 926 was the first Public Land Act, passed on October 7, 1903, in pursuit of the provisions of the Philippine Bill of 1902. It provided, among other stipulations, that all lands not registered under Act No. 496 were deemed public lands and therefore may be applied with homestead. The law governed the disposition of all lands of the public domain. It set forth the rules and regulations for homestead, sale, and lease of portions of the public domain; prescribed the terms and conditions to enable persons to perfect their titles to public lands; provided for the issuance of patents to qualified native settlers on public lands, establishment of town sites and sale of lots within the sites; and defined procedures for completion of imperfect titles and for the cancellation or confirmation of Spanish concessions and grants in the Philippine islands.
twenty-four hectares of land in said Islands or has not had the benefit of any gratuitous allotment of more than twenty-four hectares of land since the occupation of the Philippine Islands by the United States, may enter a homestead or not exceeding twenty-four hectares of agricultural land of the public domain. But the Moros or non-Christian Tribes were only allowed to own up to a maximum of four hectares. Section 22 states: Section 22. Any non-Christian native desiring to live upon or occupy land on any of the reservations set aside for the so-called “non-Christian tribes” without applying for a homestead, may request a permit of occupation for any tract of land of the public domain open to homestead entry under this Act, the area of which shall not exceed ten hectares. It shall be an essential condition that the applicant for the permit cultivate and improve the land, and if such cultivation has not been begun within six months from and after the date on which the permit was granted, the permit shall ipso facto be canceled. The permit shall be for a term of five years. If the expiration of this term or at any time therefore, the holder of the permit shall apply for a homestead under the provisions of this chapter, including the portion for which a permit was granted to him, he shall have the priority, otherwise the land shall be again open to disposition at the expiration of the five years.
Public Land Act No. 926 allowed individuals to acquire homesteads not exceeding 16 hectares each, and corporations 1,024 hectares each of, unoccupied, unreserved, unappropriated agricultural public lands” as stated in Section 1. Nothing was said about the unique customs of the indigenous communities (Jubair, 1999, p. 95). Act No. 2874 or the second Public Land Act passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives on 29 November 1919 provided that the 16 hectares allowed earlier to individuals was increased to 24 hectares. Section 12 provides: Section 12. Any citizen of the Philippine Islands or of the United States, over the age of eighteen years, or the head of a family, who does not own more than 39
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Land Tenure Stories in Central Mindanao
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