Preamble
WHEREAS, under paragraph 3, Section 34-A, of Republic Act No. 3844, as inserted by Section 6 of Republic Act No. 6389, authority was given to the Land Registration Commission, concurrently with the Bureau of Lands, to approve survey plans of lands intended for original registration purposes; WHEREAS, the reason for the grant of the aforesaid authority to the said Commission was to facilitate expropriation by the Government of big landed estates intended for distribution and resale at cost to tenant-farmers under the Agricultural Land Reform Code; WHEREAS, under Presidential Decree No. 27 of October 21, 1972, there is no more necessity for the Government to expropriate big landed estates as the tenant tillers of rice and corn lands have already been declared as owners of the lands they till; WHEREAS, the grant to the Land Registration Commission of the authority to approve original survey plans which theretofore had been exercised solely by the Bureau of Lands has resulted in wasteful overlapping or duplication of functions, not to mention the deterioration of surveying standards and confusion in land survey records; and WHEREAS, there is a need for centralizing in one agency the function of verifying and approval of original surveying plans for all purposes in order to assure compliance with established standards and minimize irregularities in the execution of land surveys; NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines by virtue of the powers in me vested by the Constitution as Commander-in-Chief of all the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and pursuant to Proclamation No. 1081, dated September 21, 1972, and General Order No. 1, dated September 22, 1972, as amended do hereby decree as follows: