Quezon City buys land for 1,518 Payatas families

MANILA, Philippines — Over 1,500 families living in Barangay Payatas, Quezon City will own the land on which they have lived for 40 years after the local government announced the acquisition of 157 parcels of land previously owned by Land Bank of the Philippines.

In a statement, Mayor Joy Belmonte said she signed over the weekend the deed of conditional sale with Ramon Asprer, head of the city’s housing community development and resettlement department (HCDRD), and lawyer Roderick Sacro of LandBank.

The 1,518 families will pay the city government for the land they are occupying through a direct sale program at a cost of P3,000 per square meter. The city government will then award the land to the families.

“At long last, it would be Mayor Joy Belmonte who has fulfilled the promise for our land,” Ramawil homeowners president Razul Janoras said.

Belmonte thanked the city council for giving her the authority to acquire the parcels of land through negotiated sale.

City administrator Michael Alimurung, the HCDRD and the city appraisal committee were able to convince LandBank to settle the amount of the property at P209,244,000, which is lower than LandBank’s original offer of P257,070,000.

“I have no other intention but to help people fulfill what they’re clamoring for in Quezon City,” Belmonte said.