House bill gains ground to give UP land to QC folk

Residents of Barangay Krus na Ligas in Diliman, Quezon City, may soon have titles to the government land they have long occupied. —LEO M. SABANGAN II

Longtime residents of Barangay Krus na Ligas on the outskirts of the University of the Philippines campus in Diliman, Quezon City, may soon secure titles to the land under a bill that is gaining ground in the House of Representatives.

The House housing and urban development committee has approved House Bill No. 165 declaring a portion of the UP Diliman property as a disposable asset for housing and urban settlement.

The bill authored by former Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. will authorize the sale of Barangay Krus na Ligas to its “legitimate residents” and amend the University of the Philippines Charter of 2008.

Under Belmonte’s proposal, legitimate residents of Krus na Ligas refer to “only those who by themselves, or through their predecessors-in-interest, have been in continuous possession and occupation of the same in the concept of owner since time immemorial, or for a period of not less than 30 years immediately preceding the approval of the Act, and uncontested by any other resident of the same parcels of land.”

These residents “shall have the option to secure title under the provisions of the Act,” the bill said.

The bill amends Section 23 of Republic Act 9500, which prohibits the sale of any existing real property of UP unless otherwise provided by law.

As a matter of specific exception, Krus na Ligas shall be declared a disposable asset of UP subject to the provisions of Republic Act 7279, or the Urban Development and Housing Act of 1992.

The bill mandates the creation of an interagency committee headed by the local government of Quezon City and composed of the University of the Philippines, the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council and the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor.

Committee’s tasks

The committee shall be tasked to issue the rules and regulations for the implementation of the proposed law, including the determination of the actual metes and bounds and the process of valuation of Krus na Ligas.

The area covered under Transfer Certificate No. RT 57197 (192690) shall already be deemed included and part of Krus na Ligas.

The bill further states that the total area shall not exceed a maximum of 25 hectares, provided, finally, that the total area shall not include any currently existing vital facility of UP.

With about 21,000 residents as of 2015, Krus na Ligas is a community in Diliman, Quezon City that has been in existence since the Spanish colonial era. According to Belmonte, it was where Andres Bonifacio and the Katipunan freedom fighters would retreat during the revolution against Spain.

Older than UP

“Numerous other documents indicate the history and existence of KNL as early as the 19th century, preceding even the establishment of the University of the Philippines,” he said in his explanatory note to the bill.

On April 2, 1949, then President Elpidio Quirino sold a large parcel of land, including Krus na Ligas, to UP for one peso. “Various petitions have been made by the residents to protect their lands, but the right of ownership remained with UP,” Belmonte said.

“Through the years, the UP administration and the UP community have manifested their willingness to recognize the rights of the people of Barangay KNL, and to transfer to qualified residents of KNL the ownership over the properties upon which they have built their homes and raised their families for generations,” he said.