Land and Its Basic Characteristics

Concepts & Theories of Land,
Land Use, and Land Use

Planning vis-à-vis Land
Administration & Management
COMPILED BY:
N. Espina, Jr., UAP, PIEP
2017
PLAN 203_NBE
U P O U _ L a n d U s e P l a n n i n g
Land & its Basic Characteristics
PLAN 203_NBE
LAND AND ITS BASIC CHARACTERISTICS
Definitions of Land
• Common Sense
The solid portion of the earth’s surface
• Legal Perspective
Any ground, soil or earth that is regarded as the
subject of ownership, and everything annexed to it
whether by nature (e.g. trees, water) or by man (e.g.
buildings, crops) extending indefinitely upwards and
downwards.
Source: Serote, E. Property, Patrimony, and Territory. 2004
PLAN 203_NBE
Definitions of Land
• Economic Perspective
Land is a natural resource but it can also be “man-
made”. Land may be regarded as a good or a
commodity that can be supplied to meet certain
requirements for the satisfaction of human wants.
• Ecological Perspective
The natural environment and its attributes… the
surface of the earth and all its attributes. The natural
attributes of land include the macro- and micro-
climate, hydrology, geology, topography and soils, and
the plan and animal communities that live in it.

PLAN 203_NBE
Concepts of Land
• Land as a Natural Resource
Land is limited to a concept where it is a subset of nature-
given resources, as distinguished from other natural resource
categories (water, air, forests, etc.)
• Land as an Economic Good
Land may also be regarded as a consumption good (like when
it is sold or bought either in raw form or as a serviced
subdivision lot. It may also be seen as a factor of production
in two senses: as direct input in a production process, or as a
site or platform for urban activities.
PLAN 203_NBE
• Concepts of Land
• Land as Property
Land is not taken as a physical entity; rather it is a number of
interests or rights in land which are held either separately or
together (e.g. rights are conceived as a “bundle of rights”).
• Land as Territory
Land is perceived as such in the exercise of the state of its
ownership over land to a geographical area known as its
territory. The territorial jurisdiction of a state covers land
within its boundary limits
PLAN 203_NBE
Land Use and Land Classification
under the
Old & New Constitution
PLAN 203_NBE
U P US PU O
RUP_ L a n d U s e P l a n n i n g
OLD LAND CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM
Concept and Theories of Land
Land Classification under the Old Constitution:
Prior to the 1987 Constitution, all lands of the national
territory were classified as timberlands, mineral lands, or
alienable & disposable (A&D).
Portions that had not yet been classified were known as
“Unclassified Public Forest”
The State owned and administered private lands
A&D lands (mostly privately owned) still subject to state regulations
State may likewise reacquire private lands for public interest
PLAN 203_NBE
Land Classification under the Old Constitution (cont.):

Portions of A&D land w/c are untitled remain with the
State as part of public domain until otherwise alienated &
disposed of according to specific laws
Timberlands & mineral lands remained in the hands of the
State
A&D Lands may be released to private claimants
State may develop them by administration, contract, lease, grant,
or similar arrangements w/ private parties
Timberlands were subclassified to determine areas for productive
use, and those for protection & conservation purposes
PLAN 203_NBE
NEW LAND CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM
TOTAL LAND
PUBLIC DOMAIN PRIVATE LANDS
PRIVATELY OWNED,
RESERVED FOR UNAPPROPRIATED HELD BY STATE AS
BUT SUBJECT TO
GOV’T./PUBLIC USE LANDS PRIVATE ENTITY
EMINENT DOMAIN
NON-DISPOSABLE & DISPOSABLE &

NON-ALIENABLE ALIENABLE
AGRICULTURAL
NATIONAL PARKS MINERAL LANDS FOREST LANDS
LANDS
AGRICULTURE INSTITUTIONAL RESIDENTIAL EDUCATIONAL COMMERCIAL TOWN SITE INDUSTRIAL

Land Classification under the New Constitution:
Lands under the 1987 Constitution are divided into private
lands, & lands of public domain.
Private Lands
Private lands are either privately owned or held by the state in its
capacity as a private individual.
Privately-owned lands are subject to eminent domain
Lands of Public Domain are further subdivided into:

Non-disposable lands, w/c are not available for alienation (natural
parks, mineral lands, forest lands)
Disposable lands, w/c are available for alienation for various
purposes (agriculture, residential, commercial, institutional,
educational, town sites)
PLAN 203_NBE
Status of Land Classification As of 31 December 2000
National Park
1%
Military&Naval
1%
Timberland
Forest Reserves 16% Alienable&Disposable
5% 24%
Total Forest
27%
Unclassified
2%
Classified
25%
Source: www.philippinesforum.com/resources/indicators/files/environment_01.xls
Land Classification Under the New Constitution
PUBLIC DOMAIN
Basic Description
 Land categorized under public domain is destined for public use, or
belongs exclusively to the state without being devoted to common use,
or is destined to the public service or to the development of natural
resources and of mines until transferred to private persons
 Public domain lands are lands which the government has proprietary
rights to and exercises control and administration.
 They are further subdivided into: a. Reserved for government or public
use, and b. Unappropriated Lands
Law/legal provisions
 Section 3 of the Constitution states that lands of the public domain are
classified into agricultural, forest or timber, mineral lands and national
parks.
PLAN 203_NBE
TOTAL LAND
PRIVATELY
RESERVED FOR
UNAPPROPRIATED OWNED, BUT HELD BY STATE AS
GOV’T./PUBLIC
LANDS SUBJECT TO PRIVATE ENTITY
USE
EMINENT DOMAIN
NON-DISPOSABLE DISPOSABLE &

& NON-ALIENABLE ALIENABLE
AGRICULTURAL
LANDS
PLAN 203_NBE
Unappropriated Lands
This classification is further broken down into: the Non-Disposable &
Non-alienable, and the Disposable and Alienable
Non-Disposable & Non-alienable

Non-Disposable & Non-Alienable lands are further subdivided into the
following:
National Parks
May be described as a relatively large area that has not been materially
changed by human activity, where the drawing out of resources are not
allowed in order to protect outstanding natural and scenic areas of
national or international significance for scientific, educational and
recreational use (Biodiversity, Conservation and the Community-NIPAS-
DENR, 2001)
PLAN 203_NBE
Non-Disposable & Non-alienable (continuation)
Mineral Lands
Mineral lands are those where minerals exist in sufficient
quantity/quality to justify the necessary expenditures to be incurred
in extracting and utilizing such minerals.
Forest Lands
Forests are large tracks of land covered by with natural growth of trees
and underbrush.
The term “forests” in the constitution is called “Timber Lands” in the

Public Land Act (Sec. 6, CA 141)
PLAN 203_NBE
 Unappropriated Lands
Forest Lands (cont.)

Forested areas classified as forest land of the public domain do not lose
such classification when stripped of their forest covers.
Lands classified as forest land can be covered with grass or planted with
crops. Likewise, they do not have to be on mountains or places hard to
reach.
The classification “forest lands” is descriptive of its legal nature or

status, and not necessarily the actual look of the land.
PLAN 203_NBE
Forest Lands (cont.)
Total Forest Land: 15,854,922 (in hectares)
- Unclassified Forest Land: 1,089,118
- Total Classified Public Forest: 14,765,804
 Forest Reserves: 2,817,517
 Established Timberland: 9,324,176
 National Parks GRBS (Game Refuge and Bird Sanctuaries /WA
(Wilderness Areas): 311,496
 Military & Naval Reservation: 126,495
 Civil Reservation: 120,668
 Fishpond Development: 69,540
Total Forest Land = Unclassified Forest Land + Total Classified Public Forest
Total Classified Public Forest = Forest Reserves + Established Timberland + National Parks GRBS (Game Refuge
and Bird Sanctuaries)/WA (Wilderness Areas) + Military and Naval Reservation + Civil Reservation + Fishpond
Development
Source: www.philippinesforum.com/resources/indicators/files/environment_01.xls PLAN 203_NBE

TOTAL LAND
PRIVATELY OWNED,
RESERVED FOR UNAPPROPRIATED HELD BY STATE AS
BUT SUBJECT TO
GOV’T./PUBLIC USE LANDS PRIVATE ENTITY
EMINENT DOMAIN
NON-DISPOSABLE & DISPOSABLE &

NON-ALIENABLE ALIENABLE
AGRICULTURAL
LANDS
PLAN 203_NBE
Disposable and Alienable Lands
Under Public Land Act (Sec. 9-CA 141, 1936), A and D lands are
characterized as:
Commercial, residential, industrial or for similar productive purposes,

agricultural, Reserved for town sites and for public and quasi-public
uses, and for educational, charitable, or other similar purposes.
Disposable and Alienable lands are the same as agricultural lands-

under the Public Land Act (Sec. 6- Common. Act. 141-1936), the term
“agricultural lands” used in the constitution has been substituted with
“alienable or disposable lands”
PLAN 203_NBE
Agricultural lands
The term “agricultural” has acquired two meanings:
 Under the Constitution, it connotes any land of the
public domain not forest or timber, mineral and
national park.
 Under the Public Land Act (Section 9) it means land of

the public domain the use, purpose and destination of
which is agricultural
PLAN 203_NBE
Agricultural lands
•Agricultural lands of the public domain may be further
classified by law according to the uses to which they may be
devoted.
•Alienable lands of the public domain shall be limited to
agricultural lands.
•Agricultural lands are further classified according to uses to
which they may be devoted: Residential, Commercial, Industrial,
or similar productive purposes; Educational, charitable or other
similar purposes; Reservation for town sites and for public and
quasi-public uses.
PLAN 203_NBE
TOTAL LAND
PRIVATELY
RESERVED FOR
UNAPPROPRIATED OWNED, BUT HELD BY STATE AS
GOV’T./PUBLIC
LANDS SUBJECT TO PRIVATE ENTITY
USE
EMINENT DOMAIN
NON-DISPOSABLE DISPOSABLE &

& NON-ALIENABLE ALIENABLE
AGRICULTURAL
LANDS
PLAN 203_NBE
PRIVATE LANDS
 Private lands are those acquired through various
modes of land acquisition, granted by the state, owned
by natural or juridical persons or corporation; and
segregated from the lands of public domain.
 Public domain lands can become private land when they
are acquired by private individuals either by purchase,
homestead, or public grant
 They are further subdivided into:
a. Privately owned but subject to eminent domain, and
b. Held by State as private entity
PLAN 203_NBE
Concepts and Theories of Land:
Current Land Laws
PLAN 203_NBE
U P US PU O
Current Land Laws:
• Friar Lands:
Act 1120 (The Friar Lands Act)
• Signed on April 26,1904
• Regulated Friar Lands or Patrimonial Properties
• Aimed to transfer the vast tracts of friar lands to tenants/tillers
• Also provided for the administrative/temporary leasing & selling of friar
lands to its tenants/tillers
• Through the act, US negotiated w/ Vatican to purchase 161,600
hectares of friar lands for distribution to farmer-tillers
• Law did not benefit farmer-tillers as the expenses in the purchase of
the lands amounted to $7,000,000, which the farmers could not afford.
Many of the lands went to rich landlords instead.
• Commonwealth Act 32 provided for the sale of friar lands
PLAN 203_NBE
Current Land Laws:
• Lands of the Public Domain:
Commonwealth Act 141 (Public Land Act)
• Signed on November 7, 1936
• Base law on public land classification and disposition
• Under the commonwealth constitution, only agricultural lands were
allowed to be alienated
• Disposition of these lands was provided for under C.A. 141 (Sections 6
& 7), stating that only the President, upon the recommendation of the
proper department head, has the authority to classify lands of the
public domain into A & D, timber, and mineral lands.
PLAN 203_NBE
Current Land Laws:
• Agrarian Reform Lands:
Republic Act 3844 (Agricultural Land Reform Code)
• Signed on August 8, 1963
• Original Agrarian Reform Law; largely superceded by RA 6657 but the
provisions on resettlement areas still applicable
• Major features included the abolishment of share tenancy, and
acquisition & distribution of landed estates
• Mode of transfer to beneficiaries through Certificates of agricultural
Leasehold.
• Coverage was all existing tenancy systems in agriculture
• Award ceiling/maximum area was 6 hectares per beneficiary.
PLAN 203_NBE
Current Land Laws:
• Agrarian Reform Lands (cont.):
Presidential Decree 27 (Tenants Emancipation Decree)
• Signed on October 21, 1972
• The law decreed the emancipation of tenants, and transferring to them
the ownership of the land they tilled
Executive Order 228
• Declaring Full Land Ownership to Qualified Farmer Beneficiaries
Covered by Presidential Decree No. 27, Determining the Value of
Remaining Unvalued Rice and Corn Lands Subject of P.D. No. 27, and
Providing for the manner of Payment by the Farmer Beneficiary and
Mode of Compensation to the Landowner
PLAN 203_NBE
Current Land Laws:
Republic Act 6657 (Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law of 1988)
•Signed on June 10, 1988
•Allowed for transfer of ownership of agricultural land from landlords
•Policies and principles under the Law not only became wider and more
comprehensive in terms of coverage, but it also recognized the right of
landowners to just compensation to landowners.
PLAN 203_NBE
Current Land Laws:
Republic Act 8435 (Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act of 1997)
•Signed on December 22, 1997
•Prevents the conversion of irrigated and potentially irrigable lands to
urban uses
PLAN 203_NBE
Current Land Laws:
• Forest Lands:
Presidential Decree 705 (Revised Forestry Code of the Philippines)
• Signed on May 19, 1975
• Defines forest land and alienable and disposable lands
• Provides clearer definition of what constitutes forest lands and A & D
lands, as it established the criteria followed in classification and sub-
classification of lands of the public domain
Executive Order 263
• Adopted the Community-Based Forest Management as the National
Strategy to Ensure the Sustainable Development of the Country's
Forestlands Resources and Providing Mechanisms for its
Implementation
PLAN 203_NBE
Current Land Laws:
• Ancestral Lands:
Republic Act 8371 (The Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997)
•Signed on October 29, 1997
•Legislative basis for the recognition and establishment of land rights for
indigenous cultural minorities
•Deemed “unconstitutional”. Supposedly goes against the state having
control over our natural resources (Constitutionality of the law)
•Overlaps with other laws, particularly those covering agricultural lands
and forest areas (Philippine Mining Act, NIPAS, DENR, etc.)
•Rights of IPs over mineral resources in question
•Issue on how the ADSDPP is to be integrated into the LGU Planning
System
PLAN 203_NBE
Current Land Laws:
• Protected Areas:
Republic Act 7586 (The National Integrated Protected Areas System
Act of 1992)
•Updated the laws on National Parks, relates to ancestral lands and
rights over them
Implications on local planning:
•LGU does not have active participation in management of protected
areas w/in their jurisdiction
•In light w/ new CLUP/ZO ordinance which covers the entire territorial
jurisdiction of the LGU, conflict over how LGUs are supposed to treat
protected areas within their territory
PLAN 203_NBE
Current Land Laws:
• Mineral Lands:
Presidential Decree 512
• Signed on March 3, 1995
• Declaring Prospecting and Other Mining Operations of Public Use and
Benefit and Establishing the Basis and Prescribing the Rules and
Procedures Relative to Acquisition and Use of Surface Rights in Mineral
Prospecting, Development and Exploitation, and Providing Protection
and Compensation to Surface Owners
Republic Act 7076 (People’s Small-Scale Mining Act)
• Signed on June 27, 1991
• An Act Creating a People’s Small-Scale Mining Program and for Other
Purposes
PLAN 203_NBE
Current Land Laws:
• Mineral Lands (cont.):
Republic Act 7942 (Philippine Mining Act of 1995)
• Signed on March 3, 1995
• Provides for the rational exploration, development, utilization and
conservation by the state of the mineral
• Overlap in the identification of mineralized areas and protected areas
• Major concerns over issues on environmental protection, social
development and protection of IP rights
• Concerns regarding the LGU share in excise taxes: Government
revenue from mining from rent activities comes from taxes and other
levies, but not from rental revenues; rent payments go directly to the
companies
PLAN 203_NBE
Current Land Laws:
• Special Action Areas :
Presidential Decree No. 1517 (Urban Land Reform Act)
•Instituted the Urban Land Reform Program of the government. The
program aimed to rationalize -- with due process and through equitable
means -- the existing pattern of land use and ownership in urban and
urbanisable areas
•Thrust: Land tenancy protected, with land purchase and expropriation
only as an incident thereof
•Identification of specific parcels of urban and urbanisable lands as Urban
Land Reform Zones (Urban Zones), or Areas for Priority Development
(APDs)
•No urban land can be disposed, used, or constructed on unless its use
or disposition conforms with the development plans
PLAN 203_NBE
Current Land Laws:
Republic Act 7279 (Urban Development and Housing Act of 1992)
•Signed on March 24, 1992
•Law expands its coverage to underprivileged and homeless citizens
•Does not repeal PD 1517; is actually more expansive
•Covers all lands in urban and urbanisable areas, including existing areas
for priority development sites, and in other areas that may be identified
by the local government units as suitable for socialized housing
PLAN 203_NBE
Current Land Laws:
Republic Act 7916 (Special Economic Zone Act of 1995)
• Provides for the Legal Framework and Mechanisms for the creation,
operation, administration, and coordination of Special Economic Zones,
creating the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA).
PLAN 203_NBE
Thank you for your attention.
PLAN 203_NBE
U P US PU O

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Concepts & Theories of Land,

Land Use, and Land Use

N. Espina, Jr., UAP, PIEP

Source: Serote, E. Property, Patrimony, and Territory. 2004

Source: Serote, E. Property, Patrimony, and Territory. 2004

Land Classification under the Old Constitution (cont.):

PUBLIC DOMAIN PRIVATE LANDS

NON-DISPOSABLE & DISPOSABLE &

AGRICULTURE INSTITUTIONAL RESIDENTIAL EDUCATIONAL COMMERCIAL TOWN SITE INDUSTRIAL

Lands of Public Domain are further subdivided into:

PUBLIC DOMAIN PRIVATE LANDS

NON-DISPOSABLE DISPOSABLE &

AGRICULTURE INSTITUTIONAL RESIDENTIAL EDUCATIONAL COMMERCIAL TOWN SITE INDUSTRIAL

Non-Disposable & Non-alienable

The term “forests” in the constitution is called “Timber Lands” in the

Forest Lands (cont.)

The classification “forest lands” is descriptive of its legal nature or

Source: www.philippinesforum.com/resources/indicators/files/environment_01.xls PLAN 203_NBE

PUBLIC DOMAIN PRIVATE LANDS

NON-DISPOSABLE & DISPOSABLE &

AGRICULTURE INSTITUTIONAL RESIDENTIAL EDUCATIONAL COMMERCIAL TOWN SITE INDUSTRIAL

Commercial, residential, industrial or for similar productive purposes,

Disposable and Alienable lands are the same as agricultural lands-

 Under the Public Land Act (Section 9) it means land of

PUBLIC DOMAIN PRIVATE LANDS

NON-DISPOSABLE DISPOSABLE &

AGRICULTURE INSTITUTIONAL RESIDENTIAL EDUCATIONAL COMMERCIAL TOWN SITE INDUSTRIAL

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