Proclamation No. 900

MALACAÑAN PALACE
MANILA

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES

[ Proclamation No. 900, October 10, 1996 ]

REVOKING PROCLAMATION NO. 174 DATED AUGUST 3, 1928 WHICH DECLARED A CERTAIN TRACT OF LAND LOCATED IN THE MUNICIPALITY OF SANTIAGO, PROVINCE OF ISABELA (NOW MUNICIPALITY OF DIFFUN, PROVINCE OF QUIRINO), ISLAND OF LUZON, AS A RESERVATION FOR THE EXCLUSIVE USE OF NON-CHRISTIANS AND PROCLAIMING SAME AS A RESETTLEMENT PROJECT FOR DISTRIBUTION BY THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRARIAN REFORM IN COORDINATION WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES AND THE OFFICE FOR NORTHERN CULTURAL COMMUNITIES, TO THE ACTUAL OCCUPANTS UNDER THE COMPREHENSIVE AGRARIAN REFORM PROGRAM (CARP)

WHEREAS, Proclamation No. 174 was issued by then Governor General Henry L. Stimson on August 3, 1928, reserving a certain tract of land (previously within the jurisdiction and geographical confines of Barrios Gayong-gayong and Calimaturog of Santiago, Isabela), for the exclusive use of non-Christians;

WHEREAS, the said tract of land, containing an 203.4395 hectares, is within the political boundaries of Barangay Guribang and Diego Silang, Municipality of Diffun, Province of Quirino, and has been identified to be identical to Lot No. 5728, Cad-211;

WHEREAS, over the years the landless farmers, both non-Christians and Christians entered and settled on the proclaimed land, cultivated the same and built communities therein;

WHEREAS, it is now an established fact that the purpose for which Proclamation No. 174 was issued no longer exists as evidenced by the existence of Christians in the said area who comprise forty percent (40%) of the present population which include former non-Christians and who have since embraced the Christian faith;

WHEREAS, their intermingling or co-existence for sometime now has not caused trouble or friction between them and in fact, the situation has even resulted in inter-marriages between non-Christians and Christians;

WHEREAS, these actual occupants are now clamoring for the security of ownership over their respective portions of cultivation within the subject area through the issuance of individual titles;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FIDEL V. RAMOS, President of the Republic of the Philippines, upon the recommendation of the Secretaries of Environment and Natural Resources and Agrarian Reform and the Executive Director of the Office of the Northern Cultural Communities and by virtue of the powers vested in me by law, do hereby revoke Proclamation No. 174 dated August 3, 1928 which declared a certain parcel of land situated in the Municipality of Santiago, Province of Isabela (now Municipality of Diffun), Province of Quirino, Island of Luzon, under the administration of the then Bureau of Non-Christians Tribes, for the exclusive use of Non-Christians, and declare the land embraced therein as a resettlement project for distribution by the Department of Agrarian Reform, in coordination with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Office for Northern Cultural Communities (ONCC) to the actual occupants thereof, under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), which parcel of land is more particularly described as follows:

Lot No. 5728, Cad-211

A PARCEL OF LAND, Lot No. 5728, Cad-211, identical Plan IR-275, situated in the Barangays of Diego Silang and Guribang, Municipality of Diffun, Province of Quirino, Island of Luzon. Bounded on the North, by Public Land, property claimed by Arsenio Arela, Public Land, property claimed by Marcelo Espiritu, Public Land properties claimed by Carlos Laslas and Fernando delos Santos and Public Land; on the East, by Public Land, properties claimed by Pedro Pablo, Pedro Inson, Duma Oditen Creek, and Public Land; on the South by Public Land, Duma Oditen Creek, and Forest Zone; and on the West, by Forest Zone and Public Land. Beginning at a point marked “1” on plan, being N. 36 deg. 33E., 102.69 m. from P.No. 227 thence:

S. 40° 38" E., 187.72 m. to point 2;

S. 44° 11" E., 204.05 m. to point 3;

S. 05° 03" W., 139.14 m. to point 4;

S. 40° 34" E., 243.52 m. to point 5;

N. 62° 03" E., 169.06 m. to point 6;

S. 54° 13" E., 985.65 m. to point 7;

S. 03° 09" E., 76.02 m. to point 8;

S. 03° 36" W., 416.28 m. to point 9;

S. 21° 41" E., 105.48 m. to point 10;

S. 17° 54" E., 121.03 m. to point 11;

S. 15° 25" W., 173.26 m. to point 12;

S. 30° 01" W., 79.54 m. to point 13;

S. 38° 31 W., 104.56 m. to point 14;

S. 84° 38" W., 63.47 m. to point 15;

N. 16° 22" W., 839.24 m. to point 16;

N. 70° 01" W., 1782.17 m. to point 17;

N. 39° 19" W., 947.80 m. to point 18;

N. 44° 34" E., 506.66 m. to point 19;

S. 53° 31" E., 279.64 m. to point 20;

N. 88° 29" E., 159.25 m. to point 21;

S. 61° 37" E., 410.29 m. to point 22;

S. 86° 24" W., 212.42 m. to point of

beginning, containing an area of TWO MILLION THIRTY FOUR THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED NINETY-FIVE (2,034,396) SQUARE METERS, more or less.1aшphi1

Bearings True. Declination 0 deg. 20E., of Points referred to marked on Bureau of Lands plan IR-275. Points 11 to 14, inclusive, are stakes; points 10 to 15, inclusive, on bank of Duma Oditen Creek. All corners of Lot No. 5728 which are not described are B.L. Concrete Monuments 15 x 60m. Surveyed on November 12-13, 1926 and approved on March 26, 1928.

The area covered by this Proclamation is subject to change as a result of the final survey to be conducted by the Department of Agrarian Reform in coordination with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources within thirty (30) days upon approval of this Proclamation.

Priority in the distribution of the area covered by this Proclamation must be given to the non-Christians for whom the original Proclamation was intended.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the Republic of the Philippines to be affixed.

DONE in the City of Manila, this 10th day of October in the year of our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and Ninety-Six.

(Sgd.) FIDEL V. RAMOS

By the President:

(Sgd.) RUBEN D. TORRES
Executive Secretary

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