Laws Relating to Public Lands in the Philippine Islands (Classic Reprint)

Download or read book Laws Relating to Public Lands in the Philippine Islands (Classic Reprint) written by and published by . This book was released on 2015-07-13 with total page 116 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from Laws Relating to Public Lands in the Philippine Islands The first Philippine Commission, usually known as the Schurman Commission, in its report states (Part IV, p. 91): "It has been impossible to obtain accurate data or information with reference to the public lands and other public property belonging to the Spanish Government as sovereign in the Archipelago. From general information gathered from various sources, particularly from natives acquainted with the provinces, the opinion has been formed that the public domain in the Archipelago is very large. Some place it as high as one-half of the area of the Archipelago. "For the most part these lands are in the more remote and inaccessible portions of the islands, being the mountains, the uplands and other lands more or less remote from means of communication. It is said, for instance, that of the province of La Union, which, with respect to mountains, uplands and remote lands, may be taken as an average mountain province, one-half is public domain. These lands are wild and wooded, in many cases with valuable growing timber standing upon them. The mines of coal, iron, copper, gold and other mineral deposits, which by many are believed to abound in the islands, are in a large measure, it is said, to be found upon this public domain. So far as has been learned, the surveys of this land have been meager and very incomplete. When proper means of communication have been developed and proper measures adopted for taking advantage of the benefits of these lands they will doubtless form a large reserve source for the benefit of the government of the islands." The first report of the Taft Commission, which bears date of November 30, 1900, contains the following statement relative to the public lands: The total amount of land in the Philippine Islands is approximately 29,694,500 hectares, or 73,345,415 acres. Of this amount it is estimated that about 2,000,000 hectares, or about 4,940,000 acres, are owned by individuals, leaving in public lands 27,694,500 hectares, or 68,405,415 acres. The land has not been surveyed and these are mere estimates. Of the public lands there are about twice or three times as much forest land as there is waste land. The land is most fertile and for the greater part naturally irrigated. There was a very great demand for this land, but owing to the irregularities, frauds and delays in the Spanish system, the natives generally abandoned efforts to secure a good title and contented themselves with remaining on the land as simple squatters, subject to eviction by the State. In 1894 the Minister for the Colonies reported to the Queen of Spain that there were about 200,000 squatters on the public lands, but it is thought by employees in the forestry bureau, who have been in a position to know, that there are fully double that number. In the various islands of the Archipelago the proportion of private land to public land is about as stated above, except in Mindanao, Mindoro and Palawan (Paragua), where the proportion of public land is far greater." About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.