PROHIBITING THE EVICTION OF OCCUPANT FROM LAND IDENTIFIED AND PROCLAIMED AS AREAS FOR PRIORITY DEVELOPMENT (APD) OR AS URBAN LAND REFORM ZONES AND EXEMPTING SUCH LAND FROM PAYMENT OF REAL PROPERTY TAXES

• Number: Presidential Decree No. 2016
• Sections: 12

Preamble

WHEREAS, the Constitution of the Philippines provides that

the "state shall undertake an urban land reform and social housing programs to

provide deserving landless or inadequatel-sheltered low-income resident citizens

reasonable opportunity to acquire land and decent housing;"

WHEREAS, Presidential Decree No. 1517 dated 11 June 1978

instituted a nationwide urban land reform program and provided for the

identification and proclamation of Urban Land Reform Zone;

WHEREAS, Proclamation No. 1810 dated 22 December provides

that areas identified as projects for development under the Zonal Improvement

Program for Metro Manila and the Slum Improvement and Resettlement Program for

regional cities shall become Urban Land Reform Zones;

WHEREAS, Proclamation No. 1967 dated 14 May 1980 specify 244

sites in Metro Manila as Areas for Priority Development and Urban Land Reform

Zones;

WHEREAS, notwithstanding the above-mentioned presidential

issuances relating to the institution of urban land reform and its implementing

machinery, resident families in Areas for Priority Development or Urban Land

Reform Zones are being evicted from such land in violation of Section 6 of the

Urban Land Reform Law which provides that qualified families within Urban Land

Reform Zone "shall not be dispossessed of the land and shall be allowed the

right of first refusal to purchase the same;"

WHEREAS, landowners of the above-cited land are able to go

around Section 6 of the Urban Land Reform Law by offering to sell the land to

occupant families at a very high price which is beyond the occupant's capacity

to pay and subsequently evicting them for failure to exercise their option to

buy the said land thus, rendering the Urban Land Reform Law in operative and of

no consequence.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the

Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by the Constitution, do hereby

order, decree and make as part of the law of the land:

Section 1

SECTION 1. Any slum or similarly depressed community

identified and proclaimed as an Area for Priority Development or an Urban Land

Reform Zone or is a project for development under the Zonal Improvement Program

(ZIP) in Metro Manila and the Slum Improvement and Resettlement (SIR) Program

for regional cities shall be under the coverage of the Urban Land Reform Law and

the land tenure and other tenancy issues in such areas shall be governed by the

provisions of the said law.

Section 2

SEC. 2. No tenant or occupant family, residing for ten years

or more reckoned from the date of issuance of Presidential Decree No. 1517

otherwise known as the Urban Land Reform Law, in land proclaimed as Areas for

Priority Development or Urban Land Reform Zones or is a project for development

under the ZIP in Metro Manila and the SIR Program in the regional cities shall

be evicted from the land or otherwise dispossessed.

Section 3

SEC. 3. Privately-owned land which has been identified and

proclaimed as an Area for Priority Development or Urban Land Reform Zone or is a

project for development under the ZIP in Metro Manila and SIR Program for the

regional cities shall be exempt from the payment of real estate taxes.

Section 4

SEC. 4. The National Housing Authority under the supervision

of the Ministry of Human Settlements and in coordination with municipal or local

governments shall review and invalidate the list of identified Areas for

Priority Development or Urban Land Reform Zones in Metro Manila and other

regional cities through actual physical and environmental survey of each

identified site. The updated list of identified sites shall, with the

concurrence of the municipal or city government, be submitted to the NHA Board

of Directors or recommendation and proclamation as Areas for Priority

Development for Urban Land Reform Zones. The National Housing Authority in

coordination with the local government shall likewise constitute a list of slums

or depressed communities which can be proclaimed as Areas for Priority

Development or Urban Land Reform.

Section 5

SEC. 5. The National Housing Authority, as lead agency of

the national government in the implementation of housing developments for

marginal and low income families, shall upon the identification and proclamation

of a depressed community as an Area for Priority Development or an Urban Land

Reform Zone, include the same in its list of pipeline projects for development

under the Zonal Improvement Program for Metro Manila or the Slum Improvement and

Resettlement Program for regional cities. The National Housing Authority shall

likewise officially inform the owners of the land if it is privately-owned or

the proclamation of the area as Area for Priority Development or Urban Land

Reform Zone and initiate discussions on the programmed acquisition of the land

in accordance with existing laws.

Section 6

SEC. 6. Pending acquisition of the land by the National

Housing Authority as provided in Section 5 above, each qualified

occupant family shall pay the owners of the land a reasonable amount as

occupancy fee, such amount to be determined through negotiations between the

occupant families and the owner under the supervision of the National Housing

Authority. For this purpose, the National Housing Authority shall be the

designated representative or Administrator of the government for land owned by

it or land classified as public.

Section 7

SEC. 7. The National Housing Authority shall for the

purposes of this Decree, conduct a census of all families residing in proclaimed

Areas for Priority Development or Urban Land Reform Zones which census shall be

the basis for determining the priority of award of homelots to occupant

families.

Section 8

SEC. 8. The General Manager of the National Housing

Authority shall formulate the rules and regulations for the implementation of

this Decree which rules and regulations shall be approved by the NHA Board of

Directors.

Section 9

SEC. 9. All laws, decrees, executive orders, rules and

regulations inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed, amended or modified

accordingly.

Section 10

SEC. 10. If for any reason, any section or provisions of

this Decree is declared to be unconstitutional or invalid, the other provisions

hereof not affected shall continue in full force and effect.

Section 11

SEC. 11. This Decree shall take effect immediately.

Done in the City of Manila this 23rd day of January in the Year of Our Lord,

nineteen hundred and eighty-six.

(Sgd.) FERDINAND E. MARCOS

President of the

Philippines

By the President:

(Sgd.) JUAN C. TUVERA

Presidential Executive

Assistant