Preamble
Whereas, pursuant to the provisions of sections sixty-three sixty-four, and sixty-five of an Act of the Congress of the United States, entitled "An Act temporarily to provide for the administration of the affairs of civil government in the Philippine Islands, and for other purposes," approved July first, nineteen hundred and two, the Government of the Philippine Islands, on the twenty-second day of December, nineteen hundred and three, entered into contracts with the Philippine Sugar Estates Development Company, Limited, La Sociedad Agricola dc Ultramar, the British-Manila Estates Company, Limited, and the Recoleto Order of the Philippine Islands, for the purchase of about one hundred and sixty-four thousand one hundred and twenty-seven hectares of land, situated in the Provinces of La Laguna, Bulacan, Cavite, Bataan, Cebu, Rizal, Isabela, and Mindoro, for the aggregate sum of seven million two hundred and thirty-nine thousand seven hundred and eighty-four dollars and sixty-six cents; money of the United States; and Whereas in said contracts of purchase it was provided, among other things, that the Government of the Philippine Islands should have a period of six months from the date of said contracts within which to examine the titles to said lands, and also within which to survey the same in order to ascertain whether there is the quantity of land specified in said contracts, and in the event there is not, that a proportionate reduction shall be made in the amounts agreed to be paid therefor and it was further provide in said contracts that the said parties, so agreeing to sell, obligated themselves to convey good and indefeasible titles to said lands by proper conveyances; and Whereas by said section sixty-five of said Act of Congress the Government of the Philippine Islands is empowered to lease the said lands after their acquisition for a period not exceeding three years, and to sell the same on such terms and conditions as it may prescribe, subject to the limitations and conditions contained in said Act of Congress: Provided, That all deferred payments and the interest thereon shall be payable in the money prescribed for he payment of principal and interest of the bonds authorized to be issued and sold for the purpose of realizing the money necessary to pay for said lands by said sixty-four of said Act of Congress, and that said bonds deferred payments shall bear interest at the rate borne by said bonds: And provided further, That all moneys realized or received from the sales or other disposition of said lands, or by reason thereof shall constitute a trust fund for the payment of principal and interest of said bonds, and also constitute a sinking fund for the payment of said bonds at their maturity: And provided further, That actual settlers and occupants at the time said lands are acquired by the Government shall have the preference over all others to lease, purchase, or acquire their holdings within such reasonable time as may be determined by said Government and Whereas the said lands are not public lands in the sense in which those words are used in the Public Land Act, Numbered Nine hundred and twenty-six, and can not be acquired or leased under the provisions thereof, and it is necessary to provide proper agencies for carrying out the terms of said contracts of purchase and the requirements of said Act of Congress with reference to the leasing and selling of said lands and the creation of a sinking-fund to secure the payment of the bonds so issued: Now, therefore, By authority of the United States, be it enacted by the Philippine Commission, that: