[ Act No. 2763, February 23, 1918 ]

AN ACT TO AMEND ACT NUMBERED TWENTY-THREE HUNDRED AND SIXTY, AS AMENDED, GIVING GREATER FACILITIES FOR THE ACQUISITION BY PURCHASE OF THE LAND KNOWN AS THE SAN LAZARO ESTATE.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Legislature assembled and by the authority of the same:SECTION 1. Section two of Act Numbered Twenty-three hundred and sixty, entitled "An Act providing for the sale of the land known as the San Lazaro estate, in the city of Manila," as amended by section one of Act Numbered Twenty-four hundred and seventy-eight, is hereby further amended so as to read as follows:

"SEC. 2. All bona fide tenants or occupants of said estate, registered as such before the end of the month of February, nineteen hundred and eighteen, in the records of the Bureau of Lands, shall be entitled to purchase, until December thirty-one of said year nineteen hundred and eighteen, such lands as said records show to be occupied or leased by said tenants or occupants or by their lawful representatives, but the total area of such lands shall not exceed fifteen hundred square meters if for residential purposes and twelve thousand square meters if for charitable or other purposes, at a price to be fixed by the Director of Lands, with the approval of the Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources, not to exceed the value at which said lands are now assessed by the city assessor and collector of Manila, which said price may be paid in cash or in equal semiannual installments extending over a period of not more than fifteen years. To this price shall be added the cost of surveying the land or lands so purchased, and beginning with the day on which the contract for the sale is signed, whether it be for cash or on the installment plan, said lands shall be subject to the payment of the land tax, which shall be on the account of the purchaser."For the purposes of this Act, lands purchased by the city of Manila shall be considered as residential lots, without limitation as to area, and the actual cost of the improvements made on said lots by the city of Manila shall be deducted from the price thereof."

SEC. 2. Section three of the same Act, as amended by section two of Act Numbered Twenty-four hundred and seventy-eight, is hereby amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 3. Beginning with January one, nineteen hundred and nineteen, any lands not sold in accordance with the last , preceding section may be leased under the provisions of Act Numbered Twenty-two hundred and thirty or sold at auction at a price not less than their assessed value, to be fixed by the Director of Lands with the approval of the Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources, and payment may be made either in cash or in equal semiannual installments extending over a period not to exceed eight years. The lands so sold shall be subject to the payment of the land tax which shall accrue against the purchaser from the day of signing the contract of sale.'"The purchaser shall respect any contract of lease that the Government may have made prior to the sale."If the purchasers at public auction are not the lessees themselves, they shall pay to the owners of the improvements made on said lands the value thereof, if said owners prefer this, which value shall be agreed upon between the Director of Lands and the owners of said improvements."

SEC. 3. This Act shall take effect on its approval.Approved, March 2, 1918.

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