November 21, 1985

MINISTRY MEMORANDUM CIRCULAR NO. 07-85

SUBJECT    :     Prescribing the Criteria for the
Recognition as MAR Settlers,
Qualified Occupants of the Rizal
Settlement Project who are Affected
by the MWSS Kaliwa River
Basin Project

In a meeting held on September 22, 1985, the barangay captains of Laiban, Sto. Niño, San Andres, Cuyaban, Tinucan, Mamuyao, and Sta. Ines adopted Resolution No. 4-85, petitioning the Ministry of Agrarian Reform (MAR) to recognize as settlers those who were in possession of farmlots in the Rizal Settlement Project in Tanay on or before November 27, 1981 and who are now affected by the MWSS Laiban Dam.    HAcaCS

The petition, which was favorably indorsed by the Municipal Mayor of Tanay and the MAR Team Office, contends that said occupants cannot be faulted for the delay in the processing and documentation of their applications. Moreover, it is also pleaded that the document of recognition is necessary in order that they can be paid immediately for their properties.

The Ministry of Agrarian Reform finds the petition to be meritorious for humanitarian considerations. Hitherto, actual occupants of farmlots covered by approved subdivision surveys within the Kaliwa River Basin Project may be recognized as MAR settlers, provided the following circumstances concur:

1.      The occupant is qualified to become a settler in accordance with existing laws, rules and regulations on the matter; 

2.      He has filed an application for agricultural settlement and had submitted the supporting documents thereto on or before November 27, 1981;

3.      He has occupied and cultivated the lot on or before November 27, 1981 and continuously thereafter up to the present;    ATDHSC

4.      He is the same person found in possession of the lot during the Asset Inventory Survey conducted by the MWSS, MAR, COA and Barangay Captains from 1982 to 1983 and later extend from October 1984 to April 1985;

5.      The lot applied for is not allocated or titled in favor of another person. In cases where the subject lot was involved in an abandonment proceeding, the previous allocation should have been cancelled and the lot declared vacant by virtue of an Order that is final and executory; and    HEacAS

6.      He has filed a request for recognition as a MAR settler not later than January 31, 1986, stating among other things, that he has complied with all the criteria provided for in this Memorandum Circular.

All Order, Memoranda and other Issuance inconsistent herewith are hereby modified, revoked, cancelled or amended as the case may be.    SIcEHC

This Memorandum Circular shall take affect immediately.

Diliman, Quezon City.

November 21, 1985.

(SGD.) CONRADO F. ESTRELLA
Minister