WITHDRAWING THE AUTHORITY OF THE LAND REGISTRATION COMMISSION TO APPROVE ORIGINAL SURVEY PLANS, REPEALING FOR THIS PURPOSE, PARAGRAPH 3, SECTION 34-A, OF REPUBLIC ACT NO. 3844, …

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:

SEC. 1. Paragraph 3, Section 34-A, of Republic Act No. 3844,
as inserted by Section 6 of the Republic Act No. 6389, is hereby repealed
insofar as it grants the Land Registration Commission the power to approved
survey plans of lands intended for original registration purposes.

SEC. 2. The Land Registration Commissioner shall within
thirty (30) days from the date hereof turn over all survey returns submitted to
his Office to the Bureau of Lands for verification and appropriate action in
accordance with Section 1858 of the Revised Administrative Code and the rules
and regulations promulgated hereunder; and furnish the latter Office with copies
of all plans that it had already approved as of the date of issuance of this
Decree for verification and Appropriate action in accordance with law and
regulations.

SEC. 3. If the land covered by any survey approved by the
Land Registration purposes under Act 496 or under Section 48 of Commonwealth Act
No. 141, as amended, otherwise known as the Public Land Act, no decision shall
be rendered thereon until the Director of Lands shall have submitted his report
and recommendation thereon.

SEC. 4. Any law or regulation that is contrary to or
inconsistent herewith is hereby repealed or amended accordingly.

SEC. 5. This Decree shall take effect immediately.

Done in the City of Manila, this 9th day of July, in the year of Our Lord,
nineteen hundred and seventy-three.

(Sgd.) FERDINAND E. MARCOS President Republic of the Philippines