PAREB–QCRB : Real Estate Manual 2013

11.3 PRESIDENTIAL DECREE 1517: Urban Land Reform Act

President of the Philippines is given authority to proclaim specific parcels of ur-

ban and urbanizable lands as urban land reform zones.

Date of Enactment : June 11, 1978 by President Ferdinand Marcos

Proclamation No. 1893, declared the entire Metro Manila as urban land reform
zone. It was subsequently amended by Proclamation No. 1967, which limits the
applicability of the Urban Land Reform Law to only 244 areas for Priority Devel-
opment (APD).

Purposes:
a) To liberate our human communities from blight, congestion, and hazard and
to promote their development and modernization;
b) To bring out the optimum use of land as a national resources for public wel-
fare rather than as a commodity of trade subject to price peculation and dis-
crimination use;
c) To provide equitable access and opportunity to the use and enjoyment of the
fruits of the land;
d) To acquire such lands as are necessary to prevent speculative buying of land
for public welfare; and
e) To maintain and support a vigorous private enterprise system responsive to
community requirements in the use and development of urban lands.

Land Tenancy in Urban Land Reform Areas

Legitimate tenants who have resided on the land for ten years, continuously and
uninterrupted, the right of first refusal on the purchase of the land within a pre-
scribed period of time and at a reasonable price: On the following conditions:
1) They are legitimate tenants
2) They have occupied the land for at least ten years
3) The land is within an urban land reform zone
4) The landowner is selling the land.

Compulsory Declaration of Sale and Pre-emptive Rights

Upon the President’s proclamation of an area as an ULRZ, landowners, tenants
and residents are required to declare a proposal to sell, lease or encumber lands
and improvements, including proposed price, rent or value, and secure approval
of said transaction.
o Any sale, lease or mortgage, including the proposed price, rental or encum-
brance, requires prior approval of the Housing and Land Use Regulatory
Board (HLURB).
o The HLURB shall have the pre-empted right to acquire lands in urban land re-
form zones.

234
PAREB–QCRB : 11.3 PD1517: Urban Land Reform Act
Prepared for QCRB. Rights reserved.
 PAREB–QCRB : Real Estate Manual 2013

Urban land Reform Coordinating Council

An interagency body composed of the Ministers of Human Settlements Agrarian
reform, Finance, Justice, Local Government and Community Development, In-
dustry, National

Resources, and the President of Land Bank, that formulated general policies and
guidelines for the Urban Land Reform program.

Urban Zone Expropriation and Land Management Committee

An agency tasked to perform land acquisition and phasing, and recommend
proper disposition and other related aspects of land management.

Land Acquisition Techniques

Land assembly, land banking, land exchange, land consolidation and readjust-
ment, joint venture agreement

Land Disposition Techniques

Neighbourhood ownership, residential freeholds, tenure in improvements sepa-
rate on tenure in land

Land Development Financing

Collection of land development funds through private individual group sources,
government financial institutions, joint-private ventures, and private financial in-
stitutions

Penal Provisions
P20,000 and/or maximum of 10 years imprisonment, or both

235
PAREB–QCRB : 11.3 PD1517: Urban Land Reform Act
Prepared for QCRB. Rights reserved.