Landowners ‘need education’ on acquiring lot titles

CEBU, Philippines – A top official of the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources in Cebu admitted that landowners in Metro Cebu and other cities and municipalities need further education on the need to have their occupied lots covered by titles.

PENRO-Cebu Province Officer Jose Cleo Colis said based on their experience, some landowners are hesitant to have their occupied lot covered by title.

Aside from this, Colis said they also discovered that some landowners had in their possession tax declaration.

"Dunay uban nga dili dayon mutuo nga dunay programa ang gobyerno nga maghatag og titulo sa yuta nga ipanghatag nila," Colis said.

"Maminaw una sila before mo-avail sa programa sa gobyerno, kon duna nay makadawat anha pa sila moapil," he added.

He further said the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Central Visayas through the Provincial and City Environment and Natural Resources Office aims to expand their campaign at the grassroots level.

Last week, a total of 210 title recipients from barangays Quisol and Malapoc in Danao City received their land titles at a gathering held at the barangay sports complex in Binaliw.

In Danao City, sometime in 2008 and after six years, DENR-Central Visayas was able to release an initial 210 free patent titles to beneficiaries.

Engineer Leonides Martel, head of Land Titling Property in Danao City, said Mayor Ramon "Nito" Durano III instructed him to closely coordinate with the DENR-7 for the issuance of land titles to private landowners.

Martel said during their initial inquiry, only five percent of the total land owners in the city were titled while the rest did not even have tax declarations.

Durano emphasized this recent move as one of the priority programs under his administration, Martel said.