If you've noticed, EDSA looks better, is now safer

KUDOS TO MMDA: You may not believe it, but I do not know who has replaced Bayani Fernando as chairman of the Metro Manila Development Authority.

Whoever he is, congratulations to him. As one who drives around the capital quite extensively, I have to concede that the new MMDA chairman is doing better than I expected of one who looks like a mere caretaker of an exiting administration.

First thing I noticed months ago was his removing most of those blasted concrete blocks that have caused extensive injury to drivers and commuters. He replaced the deadly obstructions and achieved the same deflecting effect near U-turns by painting warning scrub boards before the tricky turns.

I am particularly critical of those concrete blocks getting in the way of free-flowing traffic since I was twice their victim.

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CLEAN & GREEN: Then there was the transformation of the feminine fuschia color scheme of railings, pedestrian footbridges and most everything else in Bayani’s domain, including road signs.

The new MMDA chairman replaced that outrageous pinkish hue with a refreshing green (“Yo te quiero verde.”) that is easier on the eyes and adds a more environment-friendly ambience in the streets.

The cleaning and repainting of the walls of overpasses, the columns of the MRT overhead tracks, the tireless scrubbing and painting of grimy parts of roadways, and the more tasteful planting of the open areas all added a clean-and-green sheen to surroundings.

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ORDER MISUSED?: One thing I cannot understand, however, is the proliferation of advertising billboards on columns, overpasses, MRT stations and just about everywhere as if advertisers were running amuck.

Now it turns out, as I heard it from the MMDA chief of its legal office, advertisers appear to be misusing a writ of preliminary injunction issued on Nov. 23, 2006, by the Makati Regional Trial Court stopping MMDA from removing those questioned billboards.

It seems from the MMDA explanation that advertisers expanded the scope and intent of the injunction (which covered only advertising materials existing at the start of the court action), and put up additional billboards.

Advertisers reportedly wanted MMDA cited for contempt in its removal of billboards that, according to the advertisers, violated the stop-order of the court.

On this issue, we support the MMDA’s removal of the offending billboards as part of the continuing efforts to provide a safer and more pleasant atmosphere for commuters and residents.

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DIGITIZED TITLES: In our feudal setting where land is regarded as key to power and wealth, it is not surprising that a number of the estimated 25 million land titles held by private individuals are still under question or threatened by interlopers.

We hear horror stories of titles to real property inherited from parents or bought with one’s life savings suddenly being claimed by other people waving what look like equally authentic titles.

Like our manual elections finally supplanted by an automated system, the manual preparation of land titles is aggressively being replaced by the Land Registration Authority with a computerized Philippine Land Registration and Information System (PHILARIS).

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HEAVY TITLING: Despite the Land Titling Computerization Project ongoing nationwide, however, the LRA still has its hands full attacking problem of conflicting, overlapping and spurious titles.

Deputy LRA Administrator Ofelia A. Sta. Maria, who chairs the project management executive committee, reports that some 11 million titles have been digitized (scanned, encoded, validated) nationwide as of last week.

Sta. Maria said the first phase of the P2.7-billion project that took off in November 2008 covered heavily settled Paranaque, Cebu and Quezon City. In this initial stage, some one million titles have been digitized so far and the work continues, she said.

To give us an idea of how busy this urban area is, she cited Quezon City where every two minutes somebody presents documents for the titling of some lot or the reconstitution of titles.

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RESISTANCE: Sta. Maria said the digitizing of some 10 million more titles has been completed in the second phase in the high-demand areas of the National Capital Region and Regions 3 and 4 involving 64 registers of deed.

The original target of the titling project is to achieve total digitization in 10 years. She said this timetable can be accelerated with the hiring of more technically trained personnel.

Although the LRA is one of the government’s top earners, its personnel numbering 3,600 have been reduced to just 2,600 for all 168 regional districts nationwide.

Some insiders say that another drawback — that incoming President Noynoy Aquino may want to check — is the resistance in some seven districts to reforms that will speed up computerization and reduce corruption in the titling process.

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MODEL EXEC: Having headed the project since its inception, Sta. Maria appears ready and able to carry it out full steam. She has been the deputy administrator for operations for more than eight years now.

For nearly half her life, she has been performing land-related functions, notably for 12 years as the City Register of Deeds of Puerto Princesa, Palawan, and 14 years as the Parañaque Register of Deeds.

With her as register of Puerto Princesa from 1975 to 1987, her office has been an LRA merit awardee for releasing several thousands of Original Certificates of Titles through a project called “Operation Barrio Titulo.”

From 1988 to 2002, the Parañaque register of deeds under her was awarded the “Model Registry of Deeds” and once awarded for “Top Meritorious Performer” in Metro Manila among others. It was always a top grosser of revenue collection.

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