Comprehensive Notes on Geodetic Engineering, Property, Natural-Resource, Agrarian, Housing & Contract Laws

Overview

• Compilation of core Philippine statutes, decrees, codes, Batas Pambansa & executive issuances commonly asked in the GE Licensure Examination.
• Material spans: land & natural-resource ownership, agrarian reform, housing & subdivision regulation, geodetic‐engineering professional law, civil-code concepts on obligations & contracts.
• Purpose of notes: serve as one-look crib sheet for doctrine, definitions, thresholds, figures, agencies & procedures the Board regularly tests.

1 Geodetic-Engineering (GE) Practice Laws

1.1 RA 4374 (1965) – Geodetic Engineering Law

• Replaced term “Surveyors” with “Geodetic Engineers (GE).”
• Professional Regulation Board (PRB): 1 chairman (3-yr term) + 2 members (2- & 1-yr inaugural terms).
• Key qualifications: $\ge 31\text{ yrs},\ \text{Filipino},\ \text{active practice} \ge 10\text{ yrs},$ no faculty conflict, no pecuniary interest in GE schools.
• Inhibition: no person may (a) perform surveys for registration, (b) teach GE subjects, (c) operate transit/theodolite, etc. without valid certificate.
• Licensure: Filipino, $\ge 21\text{ yrs},$ holder of BS GE.
  • Scope – Math, Surveying, Cartography, Geodesy, Laws on property & registration.
  • Passing: $\text{GWA} \ge 70\%$ and no grade < $50\%.$
  • Conditional re-take rule: failed subjects < $70\%$ may be retaken within 2 yrs.
• Repealed by RA 8560 (1998).

1.2 RA 8560 (1998) as amended by RA 9200 (2003) – Phil. GE Act

• Broadened definition of “practice of GE”: gathering physical data of Earth surface, scientific processing, map/chart production.
• Board: natural-born Filipino ≥40 yrs, GE practice ≥10 yrs, no faculty/review-center links 3 yrs prior.
• Term: chair 3 yrs (max 2 consecutive terms = 6 yrs); other members staggered 3-2-1 yrs.
• Exam scope (9 subjects) – adds Engineering & Construction Surveys, Photogrammetry, Least Squares, NatRes & Agrarian laws, Obligations & Contracts, Code of Ethics.
• Passing: \text{GWA} \ge 70\%,\ \text{no grade} < 55\%. 3 failures ⇒ 1 yr bar.
• GE seal mandatory on all plans/specs.
• Suspension / revocation grounds: fraud, incompetence, negligence, abetment of illegal practice, Code-of-Ethics breach.
• Foreign reciprocity: temp license only if foreign country allows Filipinos same privilege.
• National organization: Geodetic Engineers of the Philippines, Inc. (GEP).

2 Property & Ownership (Civil Code Book II)

2.1 Classifications

• By nature:
  • Immovables (land, buildings, attached fixtures, by law).
  • Movables (personalty, forces of nature, real property reclassified by law).
• By ownership:
  • Public dominion (for public use/service; outside commerce).
  • Patrimonial (state in private capacity) & private.
• Family regimes: Conjugal, Capital (husband), Paraphernal (wife).

2.2 Usufruct & Servitudes

• Usufruct: real right to enjoy property of another w/ obligation to preserve form & substance.
• Real servitude: burden on an immovable for benefit of another immovable.

2.3 Rights in Ownership

• $\textit{jus possidendi, utendi, fruendi, accessionis, abutendi, disponendi, vindicandi.}$
• State limitations: police power, eminent domain (just compensation), taxation, escheat.

2.4 Modes of Acquisition (L-T-O-I-D-P-S)

• Law, Tradition, Occupation, Intellectual creation, Donation, Prescription (ordinary 10 yrs good-faith w/ title; extraordinary 30 yrs), Succession.

2.5 Accession

• Discreta (fruits) vs Continua (additions).
• Natural: Alluvion (gradual accretion), Avulsion (sudden detachment).
  • Alluvium = deposit, Accretion = act, Accession = right.
  • Change of river bed: owners of new course gain proportion, subject to abruptness rule.

2.6 Possession

• Degrees: w/o title, with juridical title, with just title, fee simple.
• Forms: actual vs constructive.
• Loss: abandonment, assignment, destruction, adverse possession >1 yr, recovery by true owner.

2.7 Nuisance

• Acts endangering health/safety, offending senses, obstructing passage, etc.

3 Obligations & Contracts (Civil Code Book IV)

3.1 Obligation – $\text{juridical necessity to give, do, or not do}.$

• Sources: Law, Contracts, Quasi-contracts (negotiorum gestio, solutio indebiti), Delicts, Quasi-delicts.
• Real vs Personal obligations.

3.2 Kinds (selected)

• Pure, Conditional (suspensive/resolutory), With a Period (ex die/in diem; legal/ conventional/judicial; definite/indefinite).
• Simple vs compound (conjunctive, distributive → alternative, facultative).
• Individual vs collective (joint vs solidary).
• With penal clause.

3.3 Breach

• Voluntary: default (mora solvendi / accipiendi / compensatio morae), fraud ($dolo$), negligence ($culpa$ contract/tort/criminal), contravention of tenor.
• Involuntary: fortuitous event (act of God) / force majeure.
• Damages: moral, exemplary, nominal, temperate, actual, liquidated.

3.4 Extinguishment

• Payment (legal tender; dation in payment; payment by cession).
• Loss of thing, remission, confusion/merger, compensation (barred in depositum, commodatum), novation.

3.5 Contracts

• Essential requisites: Consent (intelligent, free, conscious; defects = incapacity, error, violence, intimidation, undue influence, fraud), Object (within commerce, possible, determinate), Cause (onerous, remuneratory, gratuitous).
• Characteristics: obligatory force, autonomy, mutuality, relativity.
• Stages: conception, perfection, consummation.
• Simulation: absolute (void) vs relative (binds parties if lawful).
• Forms: consensual unless statute requires written / public instrument.
• Defects: rescissible (lesion), voidable (vitiated consent/incapacity), unenforceable (lack of authority / Statute of Frauds), void (7 grounds incl. impossible service, illegal cause, absolute simulation).

4 Public Land & Registration

4.1 CA 141 (1936) – Public Land Act

• Lands of public domain: Agricultural (alienable/disposable), Timber, Mineral, $+$ National Parks (1987 Const.).
• Agricultural use categories (T-E-R-A): Tillable, Economic (residential/commercial/industrial), Reserved (education, charity), Town sites & public uses.
• Modes of concession:
  1 Homestead (≤24 ha; non-Christian 4 ha; 1-yr residence; cultivate 1/5 by 5th yr).
  2 Sale (individual 144 ha, corp 1 024 ha; cultivate 1/5 in 5 yrs).
  3 Lease (≤1 024 ha; grazing 2 000 ha; 25 yrs + 25 yrs; cultivate 1/3 in 5 yrs).
  4 Free patent (≤24 ha; 30-yr occupation & tax payment).

4.2 PD 1529 (1978) – Property Registration Decree

• Replaced Act 496; strengthened Torrens system.
• Registration = judicial proceeding in rem.
• OCT – original; TCT – subsequent.
• Estates: fee simple, fee tail, life estate, estate for years, periodic tenancy, tenancy at will.
• Lands registrable: private lands, public A&D w/ imperfect title, disposable public lands.
• Excluded: public use/service, forest, mineral, reserved lands.
• 13-step procedure (survey → filing → publication → decree → OCT).
• Remedies: new trial/ reconsideration 30 days; appeal 30 days; relief 60 days-6 mos; review of judgment (≤ before decree); review of decree (≤1 yr); reconveyance ≤1 yr; action to quiet title when disturbed; damages action ≤1 yr; assurance fund.
  • Reconstitution: judicial / administrative; lis pendens; adverse claim (30 days); attachment, garnishment, levy.

5 Agrarian Reform

5.1 PD 27 (1972) – Tenant Emancipation (rice & corn)

• Tenant becomes owner of family-size farm: 5 ha non-irrigated / 3 ha irrigated.
• Landowner retention: 7 ha (must cultivate).
• Land value: $2.5 \times$ average of 3 normal harvests; 6 % interest; 15 annual amortizations.
• Title non-transferable except succession or to government; only to coop members.

5.2 RA 6657 (1988) – CARL

• Agrarian Reform = redistribution of all agri lands + support services.
• Coverage: all A&D lands suitable to agri, excess government lands, all private agri lands.
• Completion target: 10 yrs (1988-2008).
• Retention: landowner 5 ha + 3 ha per qualified child ≥15 yrs actually tilling.
• Phased distribution (idle/PD 27 first → >50 ha → 24-50 ha → ≤24 ha).
• Exemptions: defense lands, schools, religious sites, >18 % slope, etc.
• Commercial farms: compulsory acquisition after 10 yrs.
• Compensation: cash + LBP bonds/shares/tax credits; 25 %/30 % immediate cash depending on area; +5 % incentive for voluntary offer.
• Beneficiary cap: 3 ha; 30 yrs amortization @6 %; foreclosure after 3 defaults.
• Lands non-transferable 10 yrs (hereditary, gov’t, LBP, or qualified benef).
• Key bodies: PARC (policy), DAR (quasi-judicial), PARCCOM (provincial coord), BARC (barangay listing).
• EO 229 mechanics; EO 405 LBP valuation; EO 407 accelerated distribution.

6 Natural-Resources Codes

6.1 Mining

6.1.1 PD 463 (1974) – Mineral Resources Dev.

• Created mining regions; exploration, exploitation distinctions; mineral reservation concept; max areas (indiv 500 ha / corp 10 000 ha).

6.1.2 RA 7942 (1995) – Philippine Mining Act

• State ownership of all mineral resources incl EEZ (200 NM).
• Title options: Exploration Permit (indiv 20 & 40 onshore blocks; corp 200 & 400; 2 yrs); Mineral Agreements (MPSA, Co-production, Joint Venture) 25 yrs +25; FTAA (large-scale, onshore 1 000/offshore 4 000 blocks).
• Quarry resources: 5 ha; 5 yrs +25.
• Aux rights: timber, water, explosives, easements.
• Safety: no <16 yrs; <18 yrs underground; mining engineer & foreman rule.
• Cancellation causes: late reports, non-payment, falsehoods, etc.

6.1.3 RA 7076 (1991) – People’s Small-Scale Mining

• Declares “People’s mining areas” ≤20 ha; contract 2 yrs; royalty 1.5 % (metallic) /1 % (non-metallic) to claimowner; gold must be sold to BSP.

6.1.4 RA 387 (1949) – Petroleum Act

• Defines exploration (≤4 yrs +3 +3; max 10→25), exploitation concession (25 +25; indiv 10-50 k ha, corp 250-500 k ha), refining & pipeline concessions.
• Concessions on private land require indemnity & 10 % royalty share.

6.1.5 PD 972 (1976) – Coal Dev’t Act

• Coal blocks 1 000 ha; operating contract ≤15 blocks/region; min spend ₱1 M per block/yr (open-pit ₱200 k); exploration 2 +2 yrs, operation up to 20 yrs (+3-yr extensions).

6.2 Forestry – PD 705 (1975)

• Public forest (unclassified) vs forest reserves vs forest lands.
• 18 % slope rule (hill) & 50 % slope (grazing) reverting to forest land.
• Bureau of Forest Development under DENR.
• Forest grants: Lease (occupation), License, License Agreement (utilization + stewardship), Permit (short).
• Sustained-yield: selective logging dipterocarp, seed-tree for pine; cutting cycle based on residuals; allowable cut vs growth.
• Size limit: must correlate with capacity; tenure 25 yrs +25; concessionaire must reforest.
• Industrial tree plantation: ≥1 000 ha (tree farm 100 ha); 25 yrs +25.

6.3 Fisheries

6.3.1 PD 704 (1975)

• BFAR jurisdiction; commercial fishing = >7 fathoms depth & >3 GT boat; municipal ≤7 fthm.
• Fishpond lease 25 yrs +25; indiv 50 ha, corp 500 ha; 50 % developed in 3 yrs, 100 % in 5 yrs.
• Fishpen license 5 yrs +5; indiv 10 ha, corp 50 ha.
• Prohibitions: explosives, toxics, electro-fishing, fine-mesh nets, bangus fry export, coral destruction.

6.3.2 RA 8550 (1998) – Fisheries Code

• Exclusive use to Filipinos; commercial boats in municipal waters 10-15 km only if depth ≥7 fathoms & M/CFARMC consulted.
• Gear/environment restrictions: superlights, muro-ami, mangrove conversion, endangered species.
• ECC required for dev’t projects; license renewal every 3 yrs.

6.4 Water – PD 1067 (1976)

• State ownership: rivers, lakes, ground water, atmospheric water, seawater.
• Private-land waters belong to State but owner may use for domestic purposes (must register).
• Water right = permit (except hand-carried, bathing, livestock watering).
• Preferred uses order: Domestic → Municipal → Irrigation→ Power→ Fisheries→ Livestock→ Industrial→ Recreational.
• Suspension grounds: non-payment, misuse, wastage, violation.
• Revocation grounds: non-use, sale of water, pollution, nuisance, disqualification.
• NWRB (ex-NWRC) issues permits & adjudicates disputes (PD 424, EO 124-A).

7 Housing, Subdivision & Condominium

7.1 PD 957 (1976) – Subdivision & Condominium Buyers’ Protective Decree

• Regulates sale; NHA (now HLURB/ DHSUD) issues Registration Certificate & License to Sell.
• Definitions: subdivision project (partitioned land), condominium unit, developer, dealer, broker, salesman.
• Owner/dev must complete facilities within 1 yr of license; must deliver title on full payment; pay RPT while title not transferred; ensure access & open spaces (30 % open space per PD 1216).
• Parks/playgrounds % depends on density (3.5 %–9 %).
• Road hierarchy; minimum ROW (major 8-12 m, minor 6-6.5 m).
• Housing minimum lots: open-market 120-96-60 sqm; medium-cost 100-80-50 sqm; row houses ≤20 units per block.
• Infrastructure: 150 ℓ pcd water; concrete roads 150 mm; street lighting every pole (open-market).
• Authority may take over unfinished projects.

7.2 BP 220 (1982) – Economic & Socialized Housing

• Sets lower standards to reduce cost.
• Lot size: economic 72-54-36 sqm; socialized 64-48-28 sqm.
• Floor area: economic 22 sqm (shell) / socialized 18 sqm.
• Road ROW: minor 6.5 m; motor court macadam; alley 2 m; pathwalk 3 m.
• Open space for parks/ playgrounds & community facilities based on density; multi-purpose center mandatory ≥1 ha.
• Setbacks: front 1.5 m; side 1.5 m; rear 2 m.

7.3 RA 4726 (1966) – Condominium Act

• Condominium = separate interest in unit + undivided interest in common areas or membership in condo corporation.
• Master deed contents: land/building description, common areas, interests, restrictions, survey & floor plan, purpose clauses.
• Registration w/ RD; amendments require consent of owner & lienholders.
• Alien ownership limit: no unit to non-Filipino or foreign-controlled corp >40 % except hereditary succession.
• Common assessments proportionate to appurtenant interest.

8 Quick-Reference Numerical Capsule

• GE board passing: $70\%$ GWA; no subject < $55\%$ (RA 8560).
• Adverse claim validity: $30\text{ days}.$ (PD 1529).
• Avulsion retention: owner may reclaim portion within $\text{2 yrs (land)}$ / $6\text{ mos (trees)}$.
• Homestead: ≤$24\text{ ha}.$
• Fishpond lease: $25+25\text{ yrs};$ dev 50 % in 3 yrs.
• Forest concession: $25+25\text{ yrs};$ industrial plantation ≥$1\,000\text{ ha}.$
• Small-scale mining area: ≤$20\text{ ha}.$ Contract 2 yrs.
• CARP retention: owner 5 ha + child 3 ha.
• Subdivision open space: $30\%$ total area (PD 1216).
• Water permit lapse: revocable for non-use after $5\text{ yrs}.$

9 Ethical & Practical Connections

• Survey accuracy & Torrens indefeasibility depend on GE integrity; hence licensure & seal rules.
• Agrarian laws balance social justice with landowner compensation; GE plays key role in parcel surveys for CLOA issuance.
• Natural-resource statutes embody Regalian doctrine—state stewardship vs private exploitation; geodetic data guides delineation of mineral, forestry & fishery zones.
• Housing codes safeguard buyers (PD 957) while enabling mass housing (BP 220) → inter-agency coordination with LGUs, utility providers, DENR (ECC) and NWRB (water sourcing).
• Civil Code obligations underpin contract drafting for land transfers, mining MPSAs, housing sales, water permits & GE service agreements.

10 Memory-Hook Mnemonics

• Ownership modes: L-T-O-I-D-P-S (Law Tradition Occupation Intellectual Donation Prescription Succession).
• CARP phases: I = Idle & PD 27; II = Public & >50 ha; III = 24-50 ha then ≤24 ha.
• PD 957 road classes: Ma-Co-Mi-Mo-Al (Major, Collector, Minor, Motor court, Alley).
• Mining agreements: M-C-J (MPSA, Co-prod, Joint venture).

11 Typical Board-Exam Triggers

• Exact retention limits & valuation formulas (PD 27, CARL).
• Minimum lot sizes/ road ROW under PD 957 vs BP 220.
• Areas & terms of exploration vs exploitation vs FTAA.
• Alluvion vs Avulsion distinctions.
• Water Code permit exemptions.
• GE Board qualifications & disciplinary grounds.

12 Suggested Study Flow

1 Master GE laws (RA 4374 → RA 8560).
2 Refresh Civil-Code property & contracts (bridge to survey practice).
3 Sequentially tackle land laws (CA 141 → PD 1529 → agrarian).
4 Digest natural-resource codes grouped by sector (mining, forestry, fisheries, water).
5 Finish with housing/condominium statutes—often short enumerations.
6 Drill numeric limits using flash cards—these yield direct exam items.

Good luck—anchor every statute to its numerical thresholds, agency, and purpose, and always relate survey work to the governing law!