CHAPTER III
LAND RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
 
Section 11. Statement of Policy and Management Direction. It is the policy of the Municipality to provide rational, orderly and efficient acquisition, utilization for the attainment of a better quality of life of all with the active participation of the barangay people and Non-Government Organizations (NGO’s).
 
Section 12. State of the Resource. The Municipality of Miagao has a total land area of   fifteen thousand six hundred ninety-six (15,696) hectares. The municipality is composed of one hundred nineteen (119) barangays, twenty two (22) of which are coastal and eighty nine (89) are agricultural.
 
As of today, the Municipality has the following land uses: agricultural area constitutes the biggest portion of the town consisting three thousand eight hundred eighty-seven (3,887) hectares or almost twenty our and 76/100 percent (24.76%) of the total land area of the municipality. The open grassland constitutes the one thousand five hundred (1,500) hectares; followed by forest land which is about two thousand seven hundred sixty-eight (2,768) hectares; fishpond area, three (3) hectares; residential land, one hundred nine and 30/100 (109.30) hectares; and industrial land, ninety (90) hectares.
 
The Municipality of Miagao has an increasing population, which causes greater demand for use of land resource be it on aspect of residential, industrial, institutional, commercial and others. Miagao as of the calendar year 2007 National Statistics Office Census Report has a total population of  sixty thousand four hundred ninety-eight (60,498).
 
The Municipality of Miagao is growing rapidly and the neighboring towns absorb its spillover from various economic and social activities. The expansion of economic activities is causing serious effect to agricultural land due to land conversion. Land and Land dependent resources have been extracted that caused its dissipation and effect human survival.
 
Therefore, the Municipal Government for benefits of all its residents shall vigorously pursue the value of land and its rational use, its conservation and management.
 
Section 13. Beautification, Greening of Street Shoulders. All barangays shall conduct beautification drives in their respective jurisdiction including the greening of street shoulders, planting of trees along the highways and/or placing of flower plants in front of residential and commercial establishments. Occupants of residential and/or commercial establishments shall be responsible for the cleanliness of the sidewalk and one-half of the public street fronting such residential and/or commercial establishment from the line of the property to the middle of the street and from one property to the other.
 
Section 14. Comprehensive Land Use Plan and Municipal Zoning Ordinance. The Comprehensive Land Use Plan and its accompanying Municipal Zoning Ordinance (Municipal Ordinance No. 1, series of 2002), which was prepared before the enactment of this Code is hereby adopted. Its publication as a separate document does not affect its effectivity in relation to this Code but rather provisions hereof consistent with Land Use and Zoning are applicable to the Comprehensive Land Use Plan and Municipal Zoning Ordinance.
 
Section 15. Building Permit. No permit of occupancy shall be issued by the Municipal Government for buildings, subdivisions and the like unless there are provisions for planning of trees and flowers in the development plant duly implemented.
 
Section 16. Prevention of Soil Erosion. Infrastructure support in the form of “rip rapping” or  the construction of creeks, rivers and shore protection walls shall be implemented to prevent soil erosion.
 
Section 17. Reclassification of Agricultural Lands. Miagao, being a fast growing town, shall limit the reclassification of agricultural lands into other uses to ten (10%), Sec. 20 of Local Government Code of 1991. Provided, that the subject of the classification is not prime agricultural land, and provided, further, that the department of Agriculture issues a certification as to the agricultural productivity and provided, and finally, that the Committee on Land Use endorses the favorable recommendation on the matter.
 
Section 18. Responsibility to the Public Safety. Public safety shall be the primary responsibility of the Municipal Mayor, the Police Station Commander and the Chairman of the festival organizer.
 
Section 19. Municipal Canals and Drainage. The canals and drainage system within the Municipality should be properly maintained to allow efficient flow of water and effluence for sanitation purposes. The canals and drainage system should regularly desilted and dredged. Dumping of solid waste and garbage is punishable under applicable provisions in this Code.
 
Section 20. Piggeries and Poultry Farm. 
 
a.The structure of a piggery or poultry with an area of one (1) hectare and below must have a distance of at least ten (10) meters from the street/road and five (5) meters from the sides and back.
b.The structure a piggery or poultry with an area of one (1) hectare to five (5) hectares must have the distance of at least twenty (20) meters from the street/road and ten (10) meters from sides and back.
 
c.The structures of a piggery or poultry with an area of more than five (5) hectares must have a distance of at least thirty (30) meters from the street/road and fifteen (15) meters from sides and back.
 
d.All structures of commercial piggeries or poultries must have a distance of at least one hundred (100) meters from the nearest residence.
 
e.All commercial piggeries and poultries must have a filtration system or silting device included in their project plan. The silting device must have a measurement of at least one (1) square foot per head, piglets included, and/or ten (10) square feet for every sow and with a depth of six (6) feet per head.
 
f.All commercial piggeries and poultries must be certified on the level of their effluent. It should be tested by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for it be classified according to its level of pollution.
 
Section 21. Tree Planting.
 
a.Any person who wanted to or has already established a piggery or poultry farm and the like in an area of two (2) hectares above are required to allot 10% of their total area for growing trees and fruit bearing trees.
 
b.One half (1/2) of the required ten percent (10%) of the area must be planted with fruit bearing trees.
 
c.The Office of the Municipal Agricultural Officer (MAO) shall be in charge of fulfilling the provision of this article.
 
Section 22. Parks for Tourism. The Municipal Land Use Plan and Zoning Ordinance shall designate park areas for tourism development. Measures to maintain the ecological asset that from the very basis of the tourism industry’s existence shall be instituted. The no littering ordinance in tourism-related areas shall be enforced without mitigations.
 
Section 23. Prohibited Acts on Parks. No person shall destroy the aesthetic beauty and structure of parks, including the picking of flower, cutting of trees, vandalism and other detrimental acts that will cause the disturbance of the parks general serenity.
 
Section 24. Tourism Areas. Those considered, as tourism areas shall be properly declared by the Sangguniang Bayan.
 
Section 25. Penalties. Any person, natural or juridical, found violating the provision of the second sentence of Section 13,  shall pay an out-of-court compromise penalty of one hundred  (P100.00) pesos for the first offense and a fine of not less than five hundred (P 500.00) pesos or an imprisonment of five days, or both, but not more than two thousand (P 2,000.00) pesos or an imprisonment of six (6) months, or both, at the discretion of the court for the succeeding offenses. 
 
Any person found guilty of violating Sections 20, 21 and 23 shall suffer the penalty of fine of not less than P1, 000.00 but not more than P2, 000.00 or an imprisonment of not less than 30 days or both fine and imprisonment at the discretion of the court without prejudice to administrative sanction in case of business establishments, firms, corporation or the like.