Philippine Land Acts and the

Marginalization of the Moros

 Act # 496 of 1902
Land Registration Act
•This act required the registration of lands occupied
by private persons or corporations.

•It also required that the application for registration of

title shall be in writing, signed and sworn to by the
applicant.

•The process of land registration was largely unknown

to the Moros/Muslims and IPs/Lumad. This law largely
made them squatters of their own ancestral lands
 Act #718 of 1903

This law declared null and void all

land grants made by Moro
Datus/sultans and chiefs of non-
Christian tribes when made without
government authority or consent
 Public Land Act
#926 of 1903
• This act declared as public (i.e., government) lands,
all lands not registered under Act No. 496 of 1902.

• Under this law, public lands were to be disposed of

in three ways: by homestead, purchase (by
individual or corporation), and lease.
The Mining Law of 1905

This law declared all public lands in the

Philippines as free, open for exploration,
occupation and purchase by citizens of
the Philippines and the United States.
 Act 2874 of 1919

This law allowed Christian settlers to

homestead 24 hectares while non-
Christians were only allowed 10
hectares. Corporations were allowed
1,024 hectares See Macapado Muslim
op.cit. pp. 59-72.
Commonwealth Act No. 141
Mindanao as “Land of Promise”

Nov. 7, 1936, Pres. Manuel Quezon

signed into Law Commonwealth
Act No. 141 which declared all
Moro ancestral landholdings as
public lands.
Public Land Law and Resettlement

Hectarage Allowed

Non-Christian
Year Homesteader (Moros & Wild Corporation
Tribes)

1903 16 has. (no provision) 1,024 has.

1919 24 has. 10 has. 1,024 has.

1936 16 has. 4 has. 1,024 has.

Population Distribution of Cotabato among Christian Settlers, Moros
and Indigenous People (Lumad) from 1918-1970
(Source: adapted from GPNP-MILF presentation entitled
“Of Ends and Means: Articulating a Strategy to Solve the Bangsamoro Problem” dated March 31, 2008)

Case Study:
Lumad
COTABATO, in less than 60 yrs

Moro
Settler

Lumad

Moro

Moro
 Moro Towns
 Lumad Towns
 Settler Towns Settler
 S. of Maguindanao (Saleeby)

Ranao
Principalities

Historical Accounts: Maguindanao

Dominions of the Sultanate
Sultanates of
Maguindanao,
Sulu and Pat a
Pongampong ko Ranao
Sulu
Sultanate
(included S. Palawan
until it was ceded
by Sultan to Spain
on 1705)

 Sultanate of Maguindanao (1645)

Sultanate of Maguindanao (1700)

Sultanate of Maguindanao (1618-1671) Majul

 Moro Province
1903-1913

Including Sulu,
Basilan and
Tawi-Tawi

 Autonomous
Region in Muslim
Mindanao (ARMM)

ARMM includes
Sulu, Basilan and
Tawi-Tawi

End of Presentation