The Department of Environment and Natural Resources – Cordillera Administrative Region (DENR-CAR) issued 675 land patents in September, granting recipients legal ownership and security.
DENR-CAR Executive Director Paquito Moreno said patent serves as the highest proof of ownership, allowing beneficiaries to invest and develop their properties.
“With COA (Commission on Audit) rules and regulations, you cannot invest in a land that you do not own and the highest proof of ownership is the patent or a title,” Moreno said during a press conference here Friday in line with the Bamboo Month celebration.
Of the patents issued from Sept. 1 to 25, a total of 284 were residential covering 4,467 hectares; 357 were agricultural covering 4,233 hectares; and 34 were special patents covering 233 hectares.
During the Sept. 19 “Handog ng Pangulo” (President’s Gift) service caravan in the City of San Fernando, Pampanga, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. personally turned over 10 patents to local government units (LGUs).
Among the recipients were the Baguio City government, municipality of Lamut in Ifugao, Bokod municipal government in Benguet, and Baguio City Police Office (BCPO).
Bokod Mayor Erikk Don Ignacio welcomed the four patents his town received.
“We cannot ask for funds for a building if we do not own the land. It is shameful for LGUs to be squatting,” he said.
Capt. Novi Ann Bangiacan of the BCPO logistics and supply unit also welcomed the grant, noting that it was the second land title they received from DENR.
The first one was used for Police Station 9 on Naguilian Road.
She said the 458-square-meter site in Irisan will finally give the 151 personnel of the Mobile Force Company a permanent base.
“Knowing Baguio, it is so difficult to get a land title that is why we are very thankful to the DENR for helping us,” she said during the same conference. “Title equals infrastructure.”
She said they still have 13 pending applications to secure sites for other police offices. (PNA)
