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[ PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 293, September 14, 1973 ]

CANCELLING THE SALE CERTIFICATES AND/OR TRANSFER CERTIFICATES OF TITLE NUMBERS 62603, 62604 AND 62605, COVERING LOTS 1, 2, AND 3, RESPECTIVELY, PCS-4383, ALL IN THE NAME OF CARMEL FARMS, INC., WHICH IS A CONSOLIDATION AND SUBDIVISION OF LOTS 979, 981, 982, 985, 988, 989, 990, 991-NEW, 1226,1228,1230, AND 980-C-2 (LRC PSD-1730), ALL OF TALA ESTATE, CALOOCAN CITY, AND DECLARING THE SAME OPEN FOR DISPOSITION TO THE MALACANANG HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC., THE PRESENT OCCUPANTS, PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF COMMONWEALTH ACT NUMBER 32, AS AMENDED.

WHEREAS, last year, a number of employees of tile Office of the President of the Philippines, as well as the personnel of the Presidential Guard Battalion, including their respective families, had been ordered to forthwith vacate Malacañang Park;

WHEREAS, these families, who subsequently organized themselves and formed the Malacañang Homeowners Association, Inc., transferred their humble dwellings, in October 1972, to the vicinity of the Tala Estate, believing that the land therein forms part of the property of the Republic of the Philippines, available for disposition and sale to them;

WHEREAS, the said land is, however, being claimed by the Carmel Farms, Inc., on the basis of alleged Sale Certificates and/or Transfer Certificates of Title issued in its favor, but which certificates were recently discovered to have been illegally issued, contrary to the pertinent provisions of Act 1120, as amended, otherwise known as the Friar Lands Act, because of non-payment of consideration and encroachment upon property of the Republic of the Philippines;

WHEREAS, said land was formerly part of the Tala Estate, the disposition of which is subject to the provisions of said Act;

WHEREAS, under Section 15 of said Act, title to each and every parcel of land sold under it is reserved to the Government, until the full payment of all installments of purchase money and interest by the purchaser has been made, any sale or incumbrance made by him being invalid as against the Government;

WHEREAS, according to the records of the Bureau of Lands, neither the original purchasers nor their subsequent transferees have made full payment of all installments of the purchase money and interest on the lots claimed by the Carmel Farms, Inc., including those on which the dwellings of the members of said Association stand. Hence, title to said land has remained with the Government, and the land now occupied by the members of said association has never ceased to form part of the property of the Republic of the Philippines, any and all acts affecting said land and purporting to segregate it from the said property of the Republic of the Philippines being therefore null and void ab initio as against the law and public policy; and

WHEREAS, it has been the firm policy of the Government of this New Society, as it was that also of the Old, to provide opportunity for the landless and homeless to acquire even only residential lots;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by the Constitution as Commander-in-Chief of all the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and pursuant to Proclamation No. 1081, dated September 21, 1972, and General Order No. 1, dated September 22, 1972, do hereby order and decree that any and all sales contracts between the Government and the original purchasers, are hereby cancelled, and those between the latter and the subsequent transferees, and any and all transfers thereafter, covering lots 979, 981, 982, 985, 988, 989, 990, 991-NEW, 1226, 1228, 1230, and 980-C-2 (LRC PSD-1730), all of Tala Estate, Caloocan City, are hereby declared invalid and null and void ab initio as against the Government; that Transfer Certificates of Title Nos. 62603, 62604, 62605, covering lots 1, 2, and 3, PCS-4383, all in the name of Carmel Farms, Inc., which are a consolidation and subdivision survey of the lots hereinbefore enumerated, are declared invalid and considered cancelled as against the Government; and that said lots are declared open for disposition and sale to the members of the Malacañang Homeowners Association, Inc., the present bona fide occupants thereof, pursuant to Commonwealth Act No. 32, as amended.

This Decree is hereby made a part of the law of the land and shall take effect immediately.

Done in the City of Manila, this 14th day of September, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and seventy-three.

			(Sgd.) FERDINAND E. MARCOS President Republic of the Philippines
	By the President:
	(Sgd.) ALEJANDRO MELCHOR
		Assistant Executive Secretary