Land Acquisition Resettlement and Rehabilitation Policy Framework
Land Acquisition Resettlement and Rehabilitation Policy Framework
ANNEX B
I. Introduction
This Policy Framework is adopted to govern the conduct of land acquisition, resettlement or
rehabilitation of displaced persons (DPs) or project affected persons (PAPs). The magnitude of
adverse impacts is projected to be minimal due to the nature of the sub-projects. Subprojects
consist of small solar home systems, small solar power plants, and rehabilitation/expansion of
distribution and transmission lines meant to improve supply side efficiency.
Executive Order 1035, Procedures and Guidelines for the Expeditious Acquisition by the
Government of Private Real Properties or Rights thereon for Infrastructure and Other
Government Development Projects. June 1985
Executive Order 132, Procedures to be followed in the Acquisition of Private Property for
Public Use and Creating Appraisal Committee
Supreme Court Ruling (1987), Defines just compensation as fair and full equivalent for
the loss sustained, taking into account improvements, location, capabilities, etc.
Public Disclosure Authorized
R.A. 7279 (Urban Development and Housing Act of 1992) provides guidelines for
resettlement of persons living in danger areas, e.g. riverbanks, shorelines, & waterways or
areas where government infrastructure projects are about to be implemented. Guidelines
cover the provision of basic services & facilities in resettlement sites, livelihood support,
meaningful participation & adequate social preparation for the affected households, close
coordination between sending & host LGUs, grievance redress and related aspects.
Republic Act 10752 (2015) provides for the acquisition of ROW, site or location for
National Government Infrastructure Projects and for other Purposes. Implementing Rules
and Regulations of RA10752 was also issued. This mandates the use of replacement cost
for affected structures even for owners that do not have legally recognized rights to the
land.
Commonwealth Act 141- Public Lands Act (1936) Institutes classification & means of
administration, expropriation and disposition of alienable lands of the public domain; and
under Section 112, lands awarded for Free Patent are “subject to a right-of-way not
exceeding sixty (60) meters in width for public highways, railroads, irrigation ditches,
aqueducts, telegraph and telephone lines and similar works as the Government or any
public or quasi-public service or enterprise, including mining or forest concessionaires,
may reasonably require for carrying on their business, with damages for the
improvements only.”
World Bank Operational Policy 4.12, Involuntary Resettlement (October 2001) aims to
improve or at least restore standards of living of project-affected persons to pre-project
levels.
II. Definition of Terms
In order to ensure that implementation of the policies and guidelines is unified throughout the
project certain terms commonly used in relation to these guidelines are defined as follows:
Displaced Persons (DPs) or Project Affected Persons (PAPs) refer to any person or
persons who would be identified, through a baseline census information collected for each of
the subprojects to be affected by any of the following circumstances:
i) Acquisition or possession by the Project, in full or in part, permanent or temporary, of any
title, right or interest over house/s, land/s (including but not limited to residential, agricultural
and grazing lands) and/or any other fixed/movable assets; ii) Acquisition or possession by the
Project of crops (annual and perennial) and trees whether partially or in whole; iii) Whose
business/livelihood is in part or as a whole affected by the Project. In order to be eligible for
compensation and other assistance, PAPs needs to fall within the specified cut-off date.
Involuntary Land Acquisition refers to the process whereby a person or entity is compelled
by a public agency to alienate all or part of the land a person/entity owns or possesses, to the
ownership and possession of that agency for public purpose in return for a consideration.
Replacement Cost refers to the value determined to be fair compensation for real property
based on its productive potential, replacement cost of houses and structures (as reckoned on
current fair market price of building materials and labor without depreciation or deductions for
salvaged building materials), and the market value of residential land, crops, trees and other
commodities.
Resettlement refers to all measures taken to mitigate any and all adverse impacts of the
project on PAP's property and/or livelihood including compensation, relocation and
rehabilitation (where applicable).
Rehabilitation refers to compensatory measures provided under these guidelines other than
payment of the replacement costs of acquired or affected assets.
Compensation refers to payment in cash or in kind of the replacement costs of the acquired
or affected assets
The principal objective of this document is to ensure that all persons directly displaced by
involuntary land acquisition due to the subproject are assisted in their socio- economic recovery
so that their way of life is the same if not better than pre- displacement level. The document
lays down the principles and objectives, eligibility criteria of entitlements, legal and
institutional framework, modes of compensation, people participation features and grievance
procedures that will guide the implementation of compensation for DPs.
IV. Principles and Objectives: The principles outlined in the World Bank's Operational Policy
4.12 have been adopted in preparing this document. In this regard, the following principles will
govern Project implementation:
1. Involuntary acquisition of land and other assets should be avoided, where feasible, and
minimized as much as possible.
2. All DPs residing or cultivating land, working, doing business, or having rights of
ownership or established possession along segments of lands to be utilized / traversed /
improved / rehabilitated by the Project, as of the time of conduct of the baseline surveys,
are entitled to be provided with compensation sufficient to assist them to improve or at
least maintain their pre-Project living standards, income earning capacity and production
levels.
3. Lack of legal rights to land will not bar the DP from entitlement to such compensation or
rehabilitation measures for assets (structures, crops etc) lost.
4. Replacement agricultural land will be as close as possible to the land that was lost and is
acceptable to the DPs.
5. All replacement land for agriculture, residential and business use will be provided with
secured tenure status and without any additional cost, taxes, and surcharges to the DPs at
the time of transfer.
6. Planning and implementation for acquisition of land and provision of compensation will
be carried out in consultation with the PAPs, to ensure minimal disturbance and ensure
transparency in transactions between the Project implementers and DPs.
7. Entitlements will be provided to DPs no later than one month prior to expected start-up of
works at the respective subproject site. Construction work will not be initiated until DPs
are compensated or adequately relocated.
8. Financial and physical resources for compensation will be made available as and when
required.
9. Community infrastructure, which are affected must be restored or replaced.
10. Institutional arrangements should be in place to ensure the effective and timely design,
planning, consultation and implementation of the inventories.
11. Effective and timely implementation supervision, monitoring and evaluation of
compensation action plans must be carried out.
V. Social Assessment
1. Current occupants of the affected area to establish a basis for the design of the
resettlement program and to exclude subsequent inflows of people from eligibility for
compensation and resettlement assistance;
2. Standard characteristics of displaced households, including a description of production
systems, labor, and household organization; and baseline information on livelihoods
(including, as relevant, production levels and income derived from both formal and
informal economic activities) and standards of living (including health status) of the
displaced population;
3. The magnitude of the expected loss—total or partial—of assets, and the extent of
displacement, physical or economic;
4. Information on vulnerable groups or persons for whom special provisions may have to be
made. This may include people with disabilities, the elderly and women headed
households;
5. Provisions to update information on the displaced people's livelihoods and standards of
living at regular intervals so that the latest information is available at the time of their
displacement;
6. Public infrastructure and social services that will be affected; and
7. Social and cultural characteristics of displaced communities, including a description of
formal and informal institutions (e.g., community organizations, ritual groups,
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)) that may be relevant to the consultation
strategy and to designing and implementing the resettlement activities.
To respond to occasions when DPs lack the required minimum documentation of Tax
Declaration Certificates to establish facts of possession for lands to be purchased for Project
infrastructure, due diligence will be conducted to check various government agencies and other
forms of documentation. The Registry of Deeds needs to be visited to look for official records.
The Land Management Bureau may also be consulted to confirm ownership. It is also possible
that heirs issued an affidavit of extrajudicial settlement of estate.
Private assets (e.g., land, structures and other improvements) may be acquired for the
Subproject through:
For land donation it is important to examine the processes and documents to ensure that
donation was not coerced. The following protocol is prescribed to help ensure that donation is
voluntarily done:
2. The proportion of land donated by any individual does not exceed 10 percent of the
potential donor’s land holding.
3. Voluntary land donation will not cause any household relocation to include those who
may be informal settlers.
4. Voluntary land donation should be used only to support small scale community
infrastructure, where the impacts are minor. For ASEP potential projects this may be
applicable to small right of way.
5. There should be a clear agreement as to which party will pay the costs associated with
the donated land. This could include measurement costs, documentation and notarial fees,
transfer taxes, registration fees. It should also include the costs of re measuring/re titling
the transferee’s remaining land and any new documentation relating to it.
6. Ensure that the documentation establishes a deadline to initiate project use of donated
land.
Thereafter, specific due diligence must be conducted on each parcel of land proposed for
donation to identify:
It is important to (i) identify the right that is being transferred (an ownership right, a use right, a
right of way etc.) and (ii) check whether the transferee actually has the right s/he claims to
have. In some circumstances – but not all – the transferee will have documentary evidence of
such right. Where no such evidence exists, the due diligence can establish rights by speaking
with local community officials and neighbors. If careful due diligence has not been carried out,
significant conflict may arise at the later stage if another party claims that they have the same
or a competing right.
The subproject Proponent may seek the imposition of an Easement of Right-of-Way (ROW)
provided for under the Philippine Civil Code. In such cases, a ROW easement agreement will
be executed by the property owner and the Sub-project Proponent, whereby the former will
grant the latter the right to use the affected portion of the lot, as ROW, but the owner retains
ownership of the said portion of the lot. In these cases, the subproject Proponent may pay the
owner the value of the affected portion of the lot based on an independent appraiser carried out
according to internationally accepted norms. In addition, the subproject Proponent shall
compensate the property owner at replacement cost for any improvements and/or structures on
the land affected by the ROW. The subproject Proponent will enter the easement area after the
provision of the full payment for the easement to the property owner. The ROW easement
agreement will be immediately registered with the Registry of Deeds.
The subproject Proponent may also acquire a property through usufruct. The property owner
retains the naked ownership of the land, while the subproject Proponent enjoys
the benefit of the use of land. The subproject Proponent and the property owner will execute a
usufruct agreement. The agreement will cover the rights and responsibilities of the two parties,
including the duration of the usufruct which should not be lower than the project life.
The subproject Proponent may also acquire lands through lease agreements with the rightful
property owner. The subproject Proponent and the property owner will execute a Lease
Contract. The contract will cover the rights and responsibilities of the two parties, including the
duration of the lease which should not be lower than the project life.
In the case of negotiated purchase, the subproject Proponents will offer as the purchase price an
amount equal to the replacement cost of the assets, as determined by an independent appraiser
using internationally accepted procedures. This arrangement is a private land purchase - willing
seller willing buyer arrangement, and it does not trigger WB OP 4.12. Most of land acquisition
for recent sub projects of ECs used this transaction.
There are however instances when this can trigger OP 4.12 when the purchase of land is done
by a government entity which has the authority to expropriate private land for public good. This
happens when the subproject is site specific and alternate land that suits subproject design is not
just difficult but may be impossible to find without significantly increasing the cost of
construction. For such purposes, it is important that:
a. All displaced persons which include owners and occupants are informed and consulted.
b. Minimize land acquisition. Toward this, encourage the participation of DPs during
planning and implementation of RAP
c. Additional grants and allowances to top up the compensation that may be prescribed to
make up for issues in compensation related to replacement value, lost income specially
for commercial properties be used.
d. Land for land compensation (of equal value and land use) should be considered when this
is feasible.
e. Special assistance shall be provided to vulnerable groups (women headed households,
elderly and disabled) to prevent being worse after relocation.
f. Community facilities damaged or displaced by proposed civil works should be replaced/
repaired at cost by the subproject proponent.
g. Document all issues related to RAP. A project cannot be considered complete when there
are outstanding compliance issues and these should be subject to supervision activities.
All land transactions should be registered with the Registry of Deeds for annotation in the title
of subject property.
Subproject Responsible
Tasks When
Stages Unit
1. Screening Identify which of the Subproject During the
subprojects will have proponent to project
involuntary accomplish Project development
resettlement impacts Screening Form 1
using the Project and NPC to
Screening Form 1 accomplish Project
(Annex D of the Screening Form 2.
ESSF) and Project NPC to submit copies
Screening Form 2 of the completed
(Annex E of the checklists to World
ESSF) Bank as
part of the periodic
monitoring report
2. Preparation Using Attachment 2 of Subproject Feasibility Study
of RAP this framework, proponent. stage
determine if full RAP
(Attachment 3) or
abbreviated RAP
(Attachment 4) is
required.
Conduct consultation
with DPs for the
identification of fair and
just interventions,
Subproject consultation will start when the subproject proponent has identified the exact
location of the infrastructure and the technical requirements for site selection have been
fulfilled. The stakeholders of the area including the DPs will be fully informed about the
subproject and about the provisions of this Land Acquisition, Resettlement and Rehabilitation
Policy. Discussions will take place in this meeting(s) to solicit suggestions to minimize
impacts to households and ensure that conditions for acquisition of assets are fully understood
by all parties involved. A series of meetings and consultations will follow to cover the
following:
Copies of the key information on the Project background, LARR policies and entitlements will
be written in the dialect understood by DPs and distributed among them, preferably before the
public meeting.
When issues have been lodged, a walk-thru to determine its specific location of on the ground
will be arranged by the subproject Proponents. Field verification activities will be conducted
with the technical design engineers present.
In the event that a subproject involves acquisition of land and other assets that results to adverse
impacts, NPC shall withhold approval of the subproject unless a compensation package or
Certifications of Waivers in accordance with this document, satisfactory to all concerned, is
agreed upon between the subproject proponent and the owners/tenants of land/asset affected
including those who stand to lose their crops, jobs or sources of income.
The determination of the compensation for each of the affected households can be obtained
from an independent land appraiser who should be consulted to provide the basis for land
valuation at the expense of the proponent when such is the issue.
Each Resettlement and Land Acquisition Action Plans will include detailed costs of acquisition,
compensation and other entitlements, with a breakdown of replacement or rehabilitation costs
for agricultural land, residential land, business land, houses, business and other assets, public
facilities and services, and utilities. The budget will also include adequate provisions for
continuous consultation and information dissemination (production and distribution of materials
containing Project information and the LARR policy) and project supervision to be included for
each subproject package.
Scope and delimitations of the mechanism, including the eligibility and non- eligibility
of the complaints or grievances;
To whom and where can they raise concerns and/or file complaints or grievances; and
Expected timing and sort of response from the designated grievance officer.
The Public Complaints Section of each of the Electric Cooperatives is primarily responsible in
addressing and resolving all project related concerns and complaints or
grievances received from the affected individuals and/or communities. Each EC shall designate
a Grievance Officer who can receive and respond promptly to the complainants. Provided
below are the duties of the ECs, when handlings concerns and complaints or grievances:
a. Acknowledge receipt without delay, and assure the complainants for a response.
b. Assess and resolve the issue within 15 days from the date it was received.
c. If the concerns and/or complaints are completely outside the scope of the mechanism, the
EC shall provide an explanation including on the alternatives they could use to
appropriately resolve the issue.
d. If the result of the assessment requires the issue to be escalated to NPC and/or WB for
assistance and/or be resolved more than 15 days, the EC shall inform the complainants on
the actions required to be taken and the likely timeline.
The contact information of the designated focal person of NPC to whom the issue may be
escalated is provided below:
e. The EC shall properly document all the relevant details of the concerns and complaints
received, and the actions taken and shall copy furnish NPC and WB, regularly.
The Project Management Office-NPC shall monitor and closely coordinate with ECs in
handling complaints and grievances to ensure the delivery of appropriate and timely remedies to
the raised concerns and issues. NPC shall maintain a database containing all grievances received
and the status of their resolution. NPC shall also prepare a Grievance Monitoring Report
containing updates on all the project related concerns and complaints received, and actions
taken (if there is any) which shall form part of the semi-annual Environmental and Social
Compliance Report to be submitted to WB.
The following principles will apply to address complaints and grievances in the project:
Complainants will be exempted from all administrative and legal fees incurred pursuant
to the grievance redress procedures. All such costs will be borne by the respective
proponent.
All complaints should be written. If received verbally, these shall be properly documented
by the concerned proponent. It shall put all relevant details of complaints and the actions
taken on their respective websites;
The NPC will appoint a personnel who will be responsible for the monitoring of the
progress of actions on complaints related to the subproject.
Attachment 1
SUBPROJECT CHECKLIST FOR LAND, PERSONS AND ASSETS AFFECTED
Crops, trees that will be lost / Number and type of crops and trees
damaged
Tenants/lessees losing crops Number of tenants/households and
and /or trees persons losing what type of crop/trees
and the number of crop and trees (e.g. 5
households will be losing 6 mango
trees; 7 households will be losing > 0.5
hectares of
vegetables)
Informal settlers losing Number of informal settlers
crops/trees households
and persons losing what type of crop
and/or tree; and number of crops or
trees
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
Ancestral domain affected Land area (hectares)
Name of affected ethnic group,
number of households and persons per
ethnic group affected
2. Objectives.
3. Social Assessment
Current occupants of the affected area to establish a basis for the design of the
resettlement program and to exclude subsequent inflows of people from eligibility for
compensation and resettlement assistance;
Standard characteristics of displaced households, including a description of production
systems, labor, and household organization; and baseline information on livelihoods
(including, as relevant, production levels and income derived from both formal and
informal economic activities) and standards of living (including health status) of the
displaced population;
The magnitude of the expected loss—total or partial—of assets, and the extent of
displacement, physical or economic;
Information on vulnerable groups or persons as provided for in WB OP 4.12, para. 8,
for whom special provisions may have to be made; and
Provisions to update information on the displaced people's livelihoods and standards of
living at regular intervals so that the latest information is available at the time of their
displacement.
Public infrastructure and social services that will be affected; and
Social and cultural characteristics of displaced communities, including a description of
formal and informal institutions (e.g., community organizations, ritual groups,
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)) that may be relevant to the consultation
strategy and to designing and implementing the resettlement activities.
4. Legal framework.
5. Institutional Arrangement.
The identification of agencies responsible for resettlement activities and NGOs that
may have a role in project implementation;
An assessment of the institutional capacity of such agencies and NGOs; and
Any steps that are proposed to enhance the institutional capacity of agencies and NGOs
responsible for resettlement implementation.
6. Eligibility
Definition of displaced persons and criteria for determining their eligibility for compensation
and other resettlement assistance, including relevant cut-off dates.
9. Resettlement measures
This describes the package of compensation and other resettlement measures that will assist
each category of eligible displaced persons to achieve the objectives of the RAP. In addition
to being technically and economically feasible, the resettlement packages should be
compatible with the cultural preferences of the displaced persons, especially if they are IPs,
and prepared in consultation with them.
Plans to provide (or to finance resettles' provision of) housing, infrastructure (e.g., water
supply, feeder roads), and social services (e.g., schools, health services); and
Plans to ensure comparable services to host populations; any necessary site development,
engineering, and architectural designs for these facilities.
Description of the strategy for consultation with and participation of resettlers and hosts
in the design and implementation of the resettlement activities;
A summary of the views expressed and how these views were taken into account in
preparing the resettlement plan;
Arrangements for addressing any conflict that may arise between resettlers and host
communities; and
Any measures necessary to augment services (e.g., education, water, health, and
production services) in host communities to make them at least comparable to services
available to resettlers.
Affordable and accessible procedures for third-party settlement of disputes arising from
resettlement; such grievance mechanisms should take into account the availability of judicial
recourse and community and traditional dispute settlement mechanisms.
Attachment 4
ABBREVIATED RESETTLEMENT ACTION PLAN
4.Independent Shops with or Owners of structure Compensation is cash for affected portion of
shops without building with or without full the structure, including the cost of restoring
permit, partially title of tax the remaining structure as determined by the
affected and the declaration to the concerned appraisal committee with no
remaining land or those who are deduction to salvaged building materials.
structures are still covered by
viable for customary law. DPs will be entitled to transitional
continued use allowance to cover for their computed
income loss during the demolition and
reconstruction of their shops, but not to
exceed a period of one month.
6. Electric and Loss of, or DPs Compensation to cover cost of restoring the
or water damage to, facilities
connection affected assets,
partially or
entirely
7. Public Loss of, or Concerned Compensation in cash at replacement cost
facilities damage to, agencies to respective agencies
public
infrastructure