BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan explained that the re-opening of the validation of the court-issued 211 titles in the city should be in a case to case basis and not through a blanket authority because of its expected serious negative impact to the status of lands in the different parts of the city.
The local chief executive pointed out the validation of unvalidated 211 titles will only be applicable if there are no occupants in the land subject of the title and that it is only the legitimate claimant and titleholder that will benefit from the re-opening of the validation of the said titles.
However, he claimed that if there are already occupants in the areas covered by unvalidated 211 titles, then the re-opening of the validation should not be applicable because it will complicate the status of the land and the mode of awarding the same to qualified homelot owners.
“We believe that the lands covered by the unvalidated 211 titles already reverted their status to alienable and disposable wherein the environment department is authorized to award the same to qualified homelot occupants, thus, the concerned government agency should already facilitate the award of the existing alienable and disposable to the qualified occupants before matters will be complicated,” Domogan stressed.
Earlier, residents living in lands covered by unvalidated 211 titles raised an uproar on a proposed legislation that was approved in the House of Representatives on third and final reading and now pending in the Senate for the approval of its counterpart legislation re-opening the validation period for unvalidated 211 titles in the city, saying that the enactment of the said piece of legislation will complicate the status of lands in the city and will also result to the unreasonable displacement of thousands of individuals who are now occupying portions of lands that are covered by unvalidated 211 titles.
He advised legislators to serious study the advantages and disadvantages of enacting the proposed legislation granting another period to allow holders of unvalidated 211 land titles because it will have a great impact on the existing classification of lands in the different parts of the city.
According to him, the lands covered by invalidated 211 titles that were previously classified as private properties will automatically revert as public lands therefore alienable and disposable, thus, it could already be awarded to existing occupants through various modes which are known to the officials and personnel of the environment department.
Even local legislators do not agree with the re-opening of the validation period for the 211 titles because it will not be a solution to the city’s land problems but it will be a serious problem for the local government because it will simply create serious complications on the matter.
Councilor Faustino A. Olowan, chairman of the City Council Committee on Laws, Human Rights and Justice, emphasized that the best thing that should be done on the matter is to first have consultations with the stakeholders to gather their sentiments and recommendations so that whatever will be the majority decision will be the ones that will be pursued.
By Dexter A. See
