Baguio execs to monitor public land appraisal

By Aileen P. Refuerzo

BAGUIO CITY – The city council wants to keep tabs on the schedule of public land appraisal following reports that the land valuation in the city has dramatically increased and that this has contributed to the confusion on land disposition process involving the Residential Free Patent Application (RFPA).

The body approved a resolution asking the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO) Benguet to furnish the city council with the schedule of the latest appraisal and the basis of computation of the same.

Councilor IsabeloCosalan Jr. said, “Information has been persistent that Townsite Sales Application (TSA) and Miscellaneous Sales Applications (MSA) applicants are being urged to relinquish their applications in favor of the RFPA for the reason that the land valuation of public lands in the City of Baguio has dramatically increased.”

The city, being a Townsite Reservation, uses the TSA, MSA and just recently the RFPA modes of acquiring public lands.

“Such information has led to confusion among public land applicants and has sent a wrong notion to the public that converting their applications to RFPA would spare them time and money,” Cosalan said.

He said “considering the basic requirements and conditions for a free patent application among others, such as the land area, zoning and period of occupancy, not all areas with pending TSAs and MSAs are qualified under the Residential Free Patent Act.”

He said PENRO has been authorized by virtue of Administrative Order No. 38, series of 1990, of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to “approves appraisal of public land and issues authority to conduct bidding on sales and leases for areas up to 1,000 sq.m. for commercial, industrial and residential purposes.”

He said the schedule of the latest appraisal would guide the body in acting on the prevailing misconception on the RFPA.