Preamble
WHEREAS, Presidential Decree No. 705, as amended, prohibits the classification of lands of the public domain eighteen percent (18%) in slope or over as alienable and disposable; WHEREAS, the Provinces of Cebu and Benguet have peculiar topography and terrain wherein wide areas eighteen percent (18%) in slope or over have been cultivated to agricultural crops and/or developed as townsites; WHEREAS, the individuals who have introduced improvements in these areas have raised the problem of acquiring titles to their holdings; WHEREAS, this problem, which has now reached proportions necessitating immediate solution, could be solved by releasing said areas as alienable and disposable without endangering the national programs on reforestation and conservation; NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by law, and upon recommendation of the Minister of Natural Resources, do hereby order the following: