‘Tax declarations over Busol forest anomalous’

By Aileen P. Refuerzo

BAGUIO CITY – City legal officer Melchor Carlos Rabanes last week advised city assessor Nilda Navarro not to issue tax declarations over the 22 subdivided lots covered by a 211 title and located within the Busol watershed.

            

In a letter to Navarro, Rabanes said issuing tax declarations over the lots covered by Original Certificate of Title No. 018-0-162 “would be reckless, anomalous and irregular and would certainly cause grave and irreparable damage and injury to the government and to the public” as said title was not revalidated despite being a 211 title under Land Registration Case No. 1 Record No. 211.

            

“Without any validation, (Presidential Decree) 1271 declares the title null and void and without force and effect (and in this case) we do not see any validation of the said original and derivative titles,” Rabanes said.

            

Rabanes also said that based on the findings by the city assessor the lots fall within the Busol Watershed Reservation and thus are not valid considering that the Busol watershed was established as a forest reservation by Proclamation No. 15 on April 27, 1922 which “antedated OCT 018-0-162 which purports to have been issued only on March 26, 1965.”

            

Rabanes also asked Navarro to coordinate with the Register of Deeds of Baguio “for the annotation on the purported derivative titles your findings that said lots fall within the Busol Forest Reservation” and at the same time inform the Dept of Environment and Natural Resources and the city council for a “joint verification and investigation of this serious concern.”

            

OCT 018-0-162 covers an area of 77,849 square meters and was subdivided into 22 lots with duly issued Transfer Certificates of Title (TCTs).

            

Navarro discovered the spurious titles upon review of applications for tax declaration covering the subdivided lots and noticed the lack of revalidation of the Original Certificate of Title No. 018-0-162 before its subdivision.

            

Mayor Mauricio Domogan tasked Navarro to coordinate with the legal office to undertake necessary actions to nullify said titles.