File photo shows a rice field in Carmen, Bohol. (LEO UDTOHAN / INQUIRER)
MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives on Monday approved a bill that will simplify the process of acquiring public agricultural lands.
House Bill 7728 passed the third and final reading with 193 votes.
The bill will amend the provision of The Public Land Act of 1936, which refers to the general law in the country that governs the classification, delimitation, survey, and disposition of alienable lands of the public domain.
Under the bill, notices of sale that will be undertaken by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Central Office have been reduced to “once a week for just two consecutive weeks — from the previous six.”
The notice of sale will be published in the Official Gazette (OG) and two newspapers — one in Metro Manila, while the other one should be published in the local municipality or in the neighboring province where such agricultural property for sale is located.
According to the bill, the notice should be posted on the “bulletin board” of the DENR Main Office and in the “most conspicuous place in the provincial and the municipal building of the province and municipality, respectively, where the land is located, and if practicable, on the land itself.”
If the property value is only pegged at less than P50,000, however, the OG and newspaper publication processes will no longer be required since the notice can be posted in three “conspicuous places” of the property on sale.
These requirements shall now be replaced by posting the notices in the “barangays and municipalities where the land is located, and on the land itself, for the notice of that application.”
The notice shall be published in English or the local dialect and shall fix a date 30 days from 60 days “after the date of the notice upon which the land will be awarded to the highest bidder.”
The DENR would also be tasked to issue all the necessary rules and regulations to implement the proposed measure.