SEC. 34. Any citizen of lawful age of the Philippine Islands or or of the United States, and any corporation or association of which at least sixty-one per centum of the capital stock or of any interest in said capital stock belongs wholly to citizens of the Philippine Islands or of the United States, and which is organized and constituted under the laws of the Philippine Islands or, pf the United States or of any State thereof and authorized to transact business in the Philippine Islands, may lease any tract of agricultural public land available for lease under the provisions of this Act, not exceeding a total of one thousand and twenty-four hectares: Provided, That citizens of countries the laws of which grant to citizens of the Philippine Islands the same rights to lease public land as to their own citizens, may, while such laws are in force, but not thereafter, with the express authorization of the Legislature, lease any parcel of agricultural land, not in excess of one thousand and twenty-four hectares, available for lease in accordance with this Act: Provided, further, That no lease shall be permitted to interfere with any prior claim by settlement or occupation, until the consent of the occupant or settler is first had, or until such claim shall be legally extinguished, and no person, corporation, or association shall be permitted to lease lands hereunder which are not reasonably necessary to carry on his business in case of an individual, or the business for which it was lawfully created and which it may lawfully pursue in the Philippine Islands, if an association or corporation.
Corporations and associations not having all arid each of the requirements established in the preceding paragraph of this section may, with the express authorization of the Legislature, lease agricultural public lands available for lease the total area of which shall not exceed one thousand and twenty-four hectares.
SEC. 35. All applicants for leases under the terms of this chapter must give notice, by publication in the Official Gazette and such other means as may be required by the Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources, of inten to make application to lease the tract in question, which notice shall describe as definitely as practicable the land sought to be leased and shall state the date when the application will be presented.
SEC. 36. The annual rental of the land leased shall not be less than three per centum of the value of the land, according to the appraisal and reappraisal made in accordance with section one hundred and fourteen of this Act. Every contract of lease under the provisions of this chapter shall contain a clause to the effect that a reappraisal of the land leased shall be made every ten years from the date of the approval of the contract, if the term of the same shall be in excess of ten years. In case the lessee is not agreeable to the reappraisal and prefers to give up his contract of lease, he shall notify the Director of Lands of his desire within the six months next preceding the date on which the reappraisal takes effect, and in case his request is approved, the Director of Lands may, if the lessee should so desire, proceed in accordance with section ninety-three of this Act.
The rent, which shall ,he paid yearly in advance, shall acrue from the date of the approval of the lease, and the first payment thereof shall be made in the Bureau of Lands on the date of the approval of the application.
SEC. 37. Leases shall run for a period of not more than twenty-five years, but may be renewed for another period of not to exceed twenty-five years. In case the lessee shall have important improvements which, in the discretion of Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources, justify a renewal of the lease, a further renewal for an additional period not to exceed twenty-five years may be granted. It shall be an inherent and essential condition of the lease that the lessee shall not assign, encumber, or sublet his rights without the consent of the Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources, and that the violation of this condition shall avoid the contract: Provided, That nothing contained in this section shall be understood or construed to permit the assignment, encumbrance, or subletting of lands leased under this Act or under the former Public Land Act, to persons, corporations, or associations which, under this Act, are not authorized to lease public lands, unless otherwise provided by general or special legislation by the Legislature.
SEC. 38. The lease of any lands under this chapter shall not confer the right to remove or dispose of any valuable timber except as provided in the regulations of the Bureau of Forestry for cutting timber upon such lands. Nor shall such lease confer the right to remove or dispose of stone, oil, coal, salts, or other minerals, or medicinal mineral waters existing upon the same. The lease as to the part of the land which shall be mineral may be cancelled by the Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources, after notice to the lessee, whenever the said part of the land' is more valuable for mineral than for agricultural purposes.
The commission of waste or the violation of the forestry regulations by the lessee shall work a forfeiture of his last payment of rent and render him liable to immediate dispossession and suit for damage.
SEC. 39. The lessee of agricultural public land, after having made two or more payments of rent and improved the land leased, if the same is less than the maximum allowed by law, may lease additional agricultural public land adjacent to or near the land originally leased, provided the total area of both tracts does not exceed the maximum established in this chapter, and that in making such additional lease, the same conditions are complied with as prescribed by this Act for the first lease.
SEC. 40. During the life of the lease, any lessee who shall have complied with all the conditions thereof and shall have the qualifications required by section twenty-three, may purchase the land leased subject to the provisions and restrictions of chapter five (Sale) of this Act.
Source: Supreme Court E-Library, Republic of the Philippines. Philippine laws are public documents (works of the government).
