ESTABLISHING RULES AND PROCEDURES FOR THE SPEEDY DISPOSITION OR SETTLEMENT OF CONFLICTING MINING CLAIMS

WHEREAS, efforts of the Government to encourage and
accelerate the development of our mineral resources have been hampered
by difficulties and delays in the settlement of conflicting mining
claims because of obsolete laws, rules and regulations;

WHEREAS, in order to hasten the exploitation and development
of our mineral resources conflicting mining claims must be settled
promptly and decisively; and

WHEREAS, in order to achieve this it is deemed necessary to
update and amend these laws, rules and regulations;

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
order and decree, as part of the law of the land, the following:

SECTION 1. There shall be created a panel of investigators
composed of three lawyers, whom I shall appoint upon the recommendation
of the Director of Mines, to investigate and make reports and
recommendations concerning conflicting or adverse claims, protests or
other kinds of opposition involving mining claims, rights, leases or
permits.

SEC. 2. The hearing of such conflicts shall be conducted
within one (1) week after issues are joined. The investigation shall be
summary in nature, if possible to be finished within one sitting. The
reports and recommendations of the investigators shall be submitted to
the Director of Mines within five (5) days from the termination of the
investigation, and the Director shall decide the case within five (5)
days from the submission of such report.

SEC. 3. All claimants to any mines subject of litigation now
pending with the Bureau of Mines, Department of Agriculture and Natural
Resources and Office of the President or before any judicial tribunal
shall be given a period of fifteen (15) days after one publication in
any daily newspaper of general circulation throughout the Philippines of
these amendments to Letter of Instruction 119, dated August 25, 1973,
and of the list of litigations, conflicts, claims or any case whatsoever
involving right to possession, lease, exploration, exploitation of any
mining claims in any part of the Philippines to file an adverse claim of
any nature whatsoever with the Bureau of Mines.

For the purpose of expediting the exploration and exploitation of
our mineral resources, the proceedings above-described will be so
conducted so that the case so heard by the Director of Mines and/or
through the Panel of Investigators shall be a final adjudication of
rights over mining claim or claims subject of litigations and conflicts
including the exploration and exploitation thereof.

No judicial
conflict directly or indirectly involving the mining claims the subject
of this Decree shall in any manner suspend, prejudice, or adversely
affect the continuation of the possession, exploration or exploitation
of the mining claim by the party in whose favor such possession,
exploration or exploitation has been awarded by the Bureau of Mines or
the Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources or the Office of the
President: Provided, however, That the rules and regulations embodied
in Mines Administrative Order No. 50 pertaining to the deposit in escrow
of the prescribed percentage of the proceeds of the gross sales of the
production of the mining claims for the protection of the interests of
the party to whom the mining claim is ultimately and finally awarded,
shall be complied with.

SEC. 4. There shall likewise be
created a panel of investigators in the Department of Agriculture and
Natural Resources, similarly to be appointed by me upon the
recommendation of the Secretary, where further investigation may be
deemed warranted in connection with appeals from decisions or orders of
the Director of Mines involving claims or rights, subject to the same
requirements and limitations applicable to the panel of investigators in
the Bureau of Mines.

SEC. 5. Any party not satisfied with the decision or
order of the Director of Mines may, within five (5) days from receipt
thereof, appeal to the Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources
who shall render his decision within five (5) days from receipt of the
appeal or submission of the report of the Department panel of
investigators, as the case may be. From the decision of the Secretary,
an appeal may be taken within five (5) days to the President whose
decision shall be final and executory.

The decision of the Director of Mines shall be immediately
executory notwithstanding the appeal, unless the Secretary of
Agriculture and Natural Resources or the President directs otherwise.

SEC. 6. The members of the panel of investigators shall, as much
as possible, be relieved of their ordinary duties in the course of the
investigation and preparation of their report.

SEC. 7. The Secretary of Agriculture and Natural
Resources, upon the recommendation of the Director of Mines, shall issue
the necessary rules and regulations to implement and render more
effective this Decree.

SEC. 8. All provisions of existing laws, orders, rules
and regulations, or parts thereof, in conflict or inconsistent herewith
are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.

SEC. 9. This Decree shall take effect immediately.

Done in the City of Manila, this 10th day of October, in the
year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and seventy-three.