June 18, 1970

EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 238

CREATING A COMMITTEE TO STUDY, EVOLVE, AND RECOMMEND POLICIES RELATIVE TO THE SETTLEMENT OF LAND DISPUTES AND PRIORITIES IN THE GRANTING OF TITLES OVER PUBLIC LANDS

WHEREAS, the pressure of population, the decreasing areas of disposable public land, the demand of industries for development and the ever-increasing and socially urgent clamor of small settlers, peasants and farmers for a piece of land, have given rise to many land disputes all over the country and a deluge of applications for issuance of land titles; cCTAIE

WHEREAS, in many instances land disputes occur because the settler-farmers who have settled and cultivated the land are dispossessed, or threatened to be dispossessed, of the same due to the intricacies of land policies, legal requirements and complex administrative procedure which they are unaware of or do not properly understand, and the machinations of unscrupulous speculators;

WHEREAS, in the interest of the stability of, and the promotion and maintenance of peace and order in society, it is imperative that the settler-farmers be protected and maintained, and efforts should be exerted to reorient the existing policies, laws and administrative regulations towards that end;

WHEREAS, it is ideal that all land disputes should be resolved and the titles issued in a manner that would be compatible with the country's objectives for economic development and social justice; CHATcE

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by law, hereby create a Committee to study and review present policies as embodied in land laws and administrative rules and regulations, in relation to the needs of the agro-industrial sector and the small settlers, peasants and farmers for land, with the end in view of evolving and recommending new laws and policies and establishing priorities for the settlement of land disputes and the issuance of land titles in order to relieve the "small man" from the complexities of existing laws, rules and regulations relative to land disputes and award of land titles. AcTHCE

The Committee shall be composed of the following:

The Committee may call for assistance upon any Department, bureau, office, agency or instrumentality of the national government including government-owned or controlled corporations and local government instrumentalities, in connection with the performance of its functions, and such assistance shall be extended whenever the same is sought by the Committee or any of its members. cDTaSH

The Committee shall finish and submit its study within a period of ninety (90) days from the issuance of this Order.

DONE in the City of Manila, this 18th day of June, in the year of Our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and Severity.