DENR readies new land management system

MANILA, Philippines—There is hope that tension-filled land disputes would be more easily resolved soon, with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources preparing for the full implementation of its new land administration and management system.

Along with this, the DENR is also fast-tracking the completion of the cadastral survey of the remaining unsurveyed land in the country.

A cadastral survey involves the recording of property boundaries, subdivision lines and buildings. It is intended to determine the bounds of a city or municipality and the extent of barangays for comprehensive land use planning and the computation of the internal revenue allotment, and to determine the bounds of parcels of land for titling purposes.

Environment Secretary Ramon Paje said the new land administration and management system (LAMS) would go a long way in helping resolve land-related conflicts such as those between Wilfredo Torres and homeowners occupying prime property in Quezon City.

Torres is claiming ownership of the 24-hectare property and has obtained a court order saying so. He has attempted to evict residents and other establishments in the area, but the they have fought back and secured a temporary restraining order against Torres from the Court of Appeals.

Paje said that with the LAMS, fights over erroneous data, duplication of records, multiple sources of land information and the like would be minimized.

The LAMS, which the DENR would implement starting next year, involves the computerization of land records and the scanning and encoding of maps, survey plans and public land applications.

It would link land information pertaining to cadastral maps, approved land survey plans, public land application and titles, and would allow the public to have access to these data.

It is intended to help the Land Management Bureau and the regional land management services of the DENR in managing land data and other related records.

“With the installation of LAMS in all regional offices of the department, the people can expect not only a more efficient delivery of land services, but also enhanced integrity of our land titles,” Paje said in a statement.

“With LAMS, we hope to address such perennial problems related to land administration like fake and fraudulent land titles, overlapping of boundaries and graft and corruption,” he added.

The DENR would also work double-time to complete the cadastral survey of unsurveyed land next year in order to support government projects involving land disposition, land use planning, taxation and internal revenue allotment for local government units.

President Aquino  directed the DENR to complete the nationwide cadastral survey before his term ends in 2016, Paje said.

As of April 2011, 878 cities and municipalities out of 1,516 have undergone cadastral surveys.

Areas under the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao are not included in the final target because of peace and order problems there, which make it virtually impossible for DENR personnel to conduct the cadastral survey.