Still more about government acquisition of large landed estates

Title

Language

English

Source

The American Chamber of Commerce Journal Volume XXVII (Issue No.5) May 1951

Year

1951

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

Still more about Government Acquisition of Large Landed Estates EDITOR’S Note:—In the February issue of this Jour nal we published, in the form of an article, a letter from Mr. Zoilo Castrillo, Administrative Officer of the Bureau of Lands, regarding the government purchase of the old Friar Lands during the administration of GovernorGeneral William H. Taft and subsequent purchases of large landed estates by the Rural Progress Administration. In the April issue we published additional information concerning the Rural Progress Administration purchases, embodied in a table. We found certain discrepancies be tween the figures in this table and those of the table pre viously published, but failing to receive a reply to a query as to this and considering the table most interesting, we printed it as it stood. Besides calling attention to the discrepancies in the figures, the editor also asked for additional information about the Rural Progress Administration, saying: “I am aware of the fact that the Rural Progress Administration was abolished by Executive Order No. 376, November 28, 1950, and its assets, functions, etc., transferred to the Bureau of Lands. Would you inform me when the Rural Progress Administration was originally set up? It would be interesting to know about what year the Adminis tration made its first purchases of land, and when its last, to give some idea of the number of years covered by its purchasing activities.” in the areas of some of the estates. When the first list was prepared, the records of the Rural Progress Administration were still in the process of transfer to this Office and no check-up of the figures could be made at that time. After the transfer of the said records and the creation of the Landed Estates Division in this Bureau, the areas of the various estates and homesites were revised after examining the various certifi cates of title and other pertinent records available. Enclosed herewith is a revised list of the estates acquired so far, showing their respective areas and locations. "The Rural Progress Administration was formally organized on March 2, 1939. The first purchase of land was made by the Govern ment on December 29, 1938, when the Marikina Homesite was bought from Angel Ma. Tuason et al. for P295,791.48, upon recommendation of the Landed Estates Survey Committee. This estate was later on transferred to the Rural Progress Administration after the organization of the said corporation. The last purchase of land was made on March 25, 1950, when the Rural Progress Administration bought a portion of Bongo Island in Cotabato, containing an area of 345 hectares, from Roales Hermanos y Primos for P35,000.00. “Very respectfully yours, “Jose P. Dans "Director of Lands" We now have a letter from the Director of Lands, Jose P. Dans, stating that the Rural Progress Administra tion was formally organized only on March 2, 1939, though the first purchase of land by the Government was made several months earlier, in 1938, this land later being trans ferred to the Rural Progress Administration. The last purchase by the Administration was effected in 1950, so that the time covered by these purchases extends over a period of approximately ten years only, from which the three jyears of the Japanese occupation should, of course, be deducted. This makes the conclusions to be drawn from the rather limited achievements of the Rural Progress Administration not so unfavorable as they would be had the Administration been at work ever since the Friar Lands purchases away back in 1902. We take pleasure in printing the letter from Director Dans herewith, together with the revised table mentioned in the letter. letter dated March 13, 1951, has been referred to this Office by Mr. Francisco D. Marquez, Administrative Officer of the Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources. In reply thereto, we beg to inform that the areas shown in the first list of estates pur chased were taken from the last annual report of the Manager of the defunct Rural Progress Administration, while those shown in the second list were the result of a revision which was recently made in this Office in order to bring the figures up-to-date. Hence, the discrepancies found ESTATES ACQUIRED BY THE DEFUNCT RURAL 'PROGRESS ADMINIS TRATION NOW THE LANDED ESTATES DIVISION, BUREAU OF LANDS ESTATES Area in sq. m. Location Subdivision Santa Clara Homesite Sta. Clara Additional Home site (New)........................... 'Ana Sarmiento Homesite.. Ntra. Sra. De Guia Home"Ang Buhay” Homesite. . . Baclaran Homesite.............. La Faja Del Mar Homesite. Tambobong Homesite......... Marikina Homesite.............. Pateros Homesite.................. Protacio Homesite.............. Maypajo Homesite.............. Buenavista............................. 50,533.8 2,441.2 206,022.8 348,470.9 124,173 266,887 21,998 689,434 210,819 1,087,152 13,028 26,156 25,839 274,082,692 Panginay................................. Polo Parish............................. Taal Homesite .................... San Isidro Homesite.......... Dinalupihan Homesite........ Dinalupihan Agricultural.. . Lian Homesite...................... Lian Agricultural................ Tunasan Homesite............... 8,688,029 Bahay Pare........................... 21,006,094 Mabalacat Homesite........... 561,590 Sta. Maria............................. 3,586,575 Luisita..................................... 33,098,182 Barretto................................... 10,379,400 3,450,000 Sampaloc, Manila Sampaloc, Manila Malate, Manila Tondo, Manila Sta. Mesa, Manila Paraftaque, Rizal Parahaque, Rizal Malabon, Rizal Mala bon, Rizal Marikina, Rizal Pateros, Rizal Rizal City Caloocan, Rizal San Ildefonso, San Rafael, Bustos, and Baliuag, BuBigaa, Bulacan Polo, Bulacan Bocaue, Bulacan Hagonoy, Bulacan Dinalupihan, Bataan Dinalupihan, Bataan Lian, Batangas Lian, Batangas San Pedro, Laguna Alaminos and CalaCanda'ba, Pampanga Mabalacat, Pam panga Sta. Ana, Pam panga Tarlac, Tarise San Felipe, Zambales Bongo Island, CotaYes Yes Partially In progress Yes Partially Yes Partially No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes In progress Partially In progress No Yes No Yes No Yes Yes In ^progress ^ITIHERE can be no genuine stability in any system which is based on the evil and weakness in I man’s nature,—which attempts to live by man’s degradation, feeding like a vulture on his anxieties, his capacity for hatred, his susceptibility to error, and his vulnerability to psycholo gical manipulation. Such a system can represent no more than the particular frustrations and bit terness of the generation of men who created it, and the cold terror of those who have been weak or unwise enough to become its agents.”—George F. Kennan in the April Foreign Affairs. 151

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151

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