Section 22
SEC. 22. Any citizen of the United States, or of the Philippine Islands, or of any insular possession of the United States, or any corporation or association of persons organized under the laws of the Philippine Islands or of the United States or of any State, Territory, or insular possession thereof, authorized by the laws of its creation and by the laws of the Philippine Islands and the Acts of Congress applicable thereto to transact business in the Philippine Islands, may lease any tract of unoccupied, unreserved, non-mineral agricultural public lands, as defined by sections eighteen and twenty of the Act of Congress approved July first, nineteen hundred and two, providing a temporary government for the Philippine Islands, and so forth, not exceeding one thousand and twenty-four hectares, by proceeding as hereinafter in this chapter indicated: Provided, 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 and obtained, or until such claim shall be legally extinguished: And provided further, That no corporation or association of persons shall be permitted to lease lands hereunder which are not reasonably necessary to enable it to carry on the business for which it was lawfully created and which it may lawfully pursue in the Philippine Islands.