[ Act No. 648, March 03, 1903 ]

AN ACT AUTHORIZING THE CIVIL GOVERNOR TO RESERVE FOR CIVIL PUBLIC PURPOSES, AND FROM SALE OR SETTLEMENT, ANY PART OF THE PUBLIC DOMAIN NOT APPROPRIATED BY LAW FOR SPECIAL PUBLIC PURPOSES, UNTIL OTHERWISE DIRECTED BY LAW, AND EXTENDING THE PROVISIONS OF ACT NUMBERED SIX HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SEVEN SO THAT PUBLIC LANDS DESIRED TO BE RESERVED BY THE INSULAR GOVERNMENT FOR PUBLIC USES, OR PRIVATE LANDS DESIRED TO BE PURCHASED BY THE INSULAR GOVERNMENT FOR SUCH USES, MAY BE BROUGHT UNDER THE OPERATION OF THE LAND REGISTRATION ACT.

By authority of the United States, be it enacted by the Philippine Commission, that:

SECTION 1. The Civil Governor is hereby authorized and empowered by executive order to reserve from settlement or public sale and for specific public uses any of the public domain of the Philippine Islands the use of which is not otherwise directed by law; and thereafter such land shall not be subject to settlement or sale and shall be used for the specific purposes directed by such executive order until otherwise provided by law.

SEC. 2. Whenever the Civil Governor, in writing, shall certify that all public lands within limits by him described in the Philippine Islands are reserved for civil public uses, either of the Insular Government or of any provincial or municipal government, and shall give notice thereof to the judge of the Court of Land Registration, it shall be the duty of the judge of said court to proceed to issue notice thereof and that claims for all private lands, buildings and interest therein, within said limits must be presented for registration under the Land Registration Act in the manner provided in Act Numbered Six hundred and twenty-seven, entitled "An Act to bring immediately under the operation of the Land Registration Act all lands lying within the boundaries lawfully set apart for military reservations, and all lands desired to be purchased by the Government of the United States for military purposes." The procedure for the purpose of this Act and the legal effects thereof shall thereupon be in all respects as provided in sections three, four, five, and six of said Act Numbered Six hundred and twenty-seven.

SEC. 3. Whenever the Civil Governor shall certify that the civil authorities, either insular, provincial, or municipal, wish to acquire by purchase for public use property owned by private individuals in the Philippine Islands, and not within the boundaries of public lands set apart for such use in accordance with the preceding section, and shall describe specifically the land so desired to be purchased, and further certify that the titles to the same are so uncertain that it is impracticable to determine who are the true individual owners thereof, it shall be the duty of the judge of the Court of Land Registration upon receipt of such certification to proceed to bring the lands mentioned forthwith under the operation of the Land Registration Act in the manner and with the legal effect provided in section seven of said Act Numbered Six hundred and twenty-seven.

SEC. 4. The public good requiring the speedy enactment of this bill, the passage of the same is hereby expedited in accordance with section two of "An Act prescribing the order of procedure by the Commission in the enactment of laws," passed September twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred.

SEC. 5. This Act shall take effect on its passage.

Enacted, March 3, 1903.