Concern aired to Baguio-Boracay body: Mayor hits DENR, NCIP on issuance of land titles

By Dexter A. See 

BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan appealed to the Baguio and Boracay Re-Development Committee to investigate reported unabated issuance of land titles by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples which he said, will grossly affect the density of the places being preserved.

            

“We are alarmed over the issuance of titles over road-rights-of-way, river easements, parks, forests and watershed reservations by the DENR and NCIP because it runs counter to the efforts of the Aquino administration to protect and preserve Baguio and Boracay as prime ecotourism destinations in the country,” Domogan told technical working group of the BBRDC.

“While it is true that the city is overcrowded, the continuous issuance of titles by the DENR and NCIP over parcels of lands in protected areas will complicate the city’s land problems in the future.”

            

According to him, circumventions being done by DENR to the free patent law, particularly allowing the subdivision of lands that are more than 200 square meters in order to meet the prescribed limit, is not in accordance to the spirit of the law because it will increase the density of areas in the city which will complicate the city’s problems on solid waste, traffic, peace and order management and environmental issues.

            

Domogan cited the titling of large portions of the Forbes Park, Wright Park, Botanical Garden, Busol watershed among others will result to the massive cutting of trees that will affect the city’s sources of water and its cool and romantic weather which foreign and domestic tourists love to enjoy when in the city.

            

American architect Daniel Burnham designed Baguio City to accommodate at least 25,000 inhabitants but the city’s nighttime population is around 318,000 while its daytime population is approximately 900,000.

            

Domogan said the technical working group must already issue the appropriate guidelines on how to deal with the present problem on the titling of lands in the city because it will prevent the invasion of the declared forest and watershed reservations and the possible problems of loss of lives and damage to properties during the onslaught of the rainy season considering that the river easements were already constricted by the houses that were built as a result of the issued titles.

            

He said most victims of previous calamities in the city are those whose houses were constructed along waterways and near areas that were already declared as danger zones in accordance to the geological hazard map released by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau in the Cordillera.

            

Domogan also questioned certificates of ancestral land titles issued by the NCIP to purported indigenous peoples if they were able to comply with the provisions of the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) considering that Section 78 of the said law clearly defines legitimate ancestral claims in the city.

            

IPRA provides that legitimate ancestral claims in the city are those that were already recognized by the courts and quasi-judicial bodies prior to the effectivity of the law in November 1997, thus, it is questionable whether or not the recently issued CALTs have complied with the said provision of the law.