Bill lets QC folk own UP land

The University of the Philippines (UP) will be allowed to sell home lots in the residential portion of its Diliman, Quezon City, campus to longtime residents under a proposed law being pushed by House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr.

A former Quezon City mayor, Belmonte noted that past UP administrations had long wanted to transfer ownership of Barangay Krus na Ligas to the families who have lived there for generations since the colonial period.

House Bill No. 5737 will amend the UP Charter by declaring Krus na Ligas a piece of disposable land for housing and urban settlement to allow its sale to “legitimate residents.”

Upon approval of the law, the lots will be available only to Krus na Ligas residents who, like their ancestors, have continuously resided in their lot “since time immemorial” or for not less than 30 years.

“The precepts of social justice… compel us to give the highest and utmost priority to enact this law in order to fully and finally protect and recognize the rights of the people of Barangay Krus na Ligas to the land over which they have long resided,” Belmonte said.

Krus na Ligas has been in existence as a community as early as the Spanish era, he added.

“During the 1896 Philippine Revolution, the area was used as a retreat place of Andres Bonifacio and the Katipuneros. Numerous other documents indicate the history and existence of Krus na Ligas as early as the 19th century, preceding even the establishment of the University of the Philippines,” Belmonte said.

He said Krus na Ligas was part of the large parcel of land that then President Elpidio Quirino sold to UP for just one peso on April 2, 1949.

The UP Charter of 2008 prohibits the sale of any of its existing real property unless the Board of Regents decides to alienate real property donated after the Charter took effect.

“Various petitions have been made by the residents to protect their lands, but the right of ownership remained with UP,” Belmonte said.