Residential Free Patent for Landowners!

Good news for landowners in Region 6 of the Philippines!  The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has declared that free land titling is available for residential landowners, subject to the requirements under Republic Act 10023, otherwise known as the Residential Land Patent Act of 2010.  This act stipulates that landowners occupying untitled lands that are free and alienable may avail of free titling.  It's time for that land you've been greedily occupying and staunchly protecting with your life to be yours! 

If you are:

• a Filipino citizen
• occupying said residential land (alienable public land) for 10 years or more
• has paid the real estate property taxes on subject land parcel for the past 10 years or more

Then you're in luck!  Head on over to the DENR field office to submit your application for evaluation and assessment!

Some more information about how much residential land may be eligible for titling:

• Highly urbanized city - maximum of 200 sq.m., 500 sq.m.. in other cities
• 1st to 2nd class municipalities - maximum of 750 sq.m.
• 3rd class towns - maximum of 1,000 sq.m.

Now isn't that just exciting news?  Free land, just for living on it for 10 years or more, and for paying the property taxes ("amilyar" in Filipino).  Take care of it, land is precious, people have been known to kill for much less.

Residencefully yours,
Jon
PRC License No. 0004326

DENR on the Fast Track

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has issued new guidelines (DENR Administrative Order 2011-05) to get the ball rolling on disposing of abandoned and incomplete cadastral survey projects as well as to facilitate actions needed to consolidate information for a database that can be used as a monitoring tool.  As per the new guidelines, DENR regional offices must complete an inventory of abandoned cadastral survey projects and establish a database to determine actions needed to complete it.  This is to support other important projects like land titling, land use planning, taxation and the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) program for the different municipalities nationwide.

A cadastral survey is a type of land survey to determine the administrative boundary of a city or a municipality and its component barangays.  It also includes the determination of administrative boundary of lots in alienable and disposable lands of the public domain for purposes of land titling.  A cadastral survey is deemed abandoned or incomplete when field activities are left unfinished after the period stipulated in the contract, or when the contractors fail to correct survey defects within the period determined by the DENR regional office, and when such cadastral project awarded in earlier DENR cadastral programs is listed as “not completed” in the DENR inventory.


Regional Executive Directors (REDs) have been given the authority to cancel abandoned cadastral survey projects and to determine appropriate penalties to be levied on the erring contractor and/or geodetic engineer.  The RED can penalize based on: failure to finish the survey within the contract period; failure to make the necessary correction(s) of the survey projects within the prescribed period; and failure to return survey project records, among others.

Progress is good,
Jon

What's More Important: Housing or Biodiesel Production?

Herminio Teves, a former congressman of the 3rd district of Negros Oriental, has proposed the use of public land for Jatropha propagation to help ease the country's need for power and energy.

Jatropha Biodiesel

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has recently declared 14.2 million hectares of public land as alienable and disposable, and he thinks this could be used to plant Jatropha, a tree that could be used for the production of biodiesel.  Teves calculates that if the public land is utilized for this purpose, it will yield around 99.4 billion kilos of seeds which could produce approximately 25 billion liters of Jatropha raw oil as bunker fuel to power the country's diesel power plants.  He further avers that La Union, which has a public land of 111,646 hectares, will be able to power its 215 megawatt Bawang Diesel Plant, while Zamboanga del Sur, which has 316,648 hectares, can sustain the 55 megawatt Southern Philippines Power Corporation and 100 megawatt Western Mindanao Power Corporation.

Someone told me that in 5 years there will be no more land to sell, and the business of real estate will shift to leasing.  It looks like he knows something I don't.  Maybe licensed real estate brokers should start selling trailer homes, too?


I can live in my car, what about you?
Jon

Earthquakes: Hazardous To Your Health!

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is calling for a review (about darned time!) of the Building Code of the Philippines in response to the recent series of strong earthquakes that hit Japan, Haiti, Chile and New Zealand.  The trumpet call was sounded in response to the growing public concern on the structural integrity of houses and buildings in the country.  DENR Secretary Ramon Paje directed the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) to work for the integration of the Engineering Geological and Geohazard Assessment Report (EGGAR)* into the Environmental Impact Statement System required under Presidential Decree 1586.

*DENR Administrative Order 2000-28 sets down the implementing guidelines on engineering geological and geohazard assessment as additional requirement for ECC applications covering subdivisions, housing and other land development and infrastructure projects.  

Well now, let's all hope and pray that they actually get any work done, and quickly.  Seems like another case of 'too little, too late,' but then again, it's better late than never!

 
Let's all live underwater,

Jon