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CITY OF
SAN FERNANDO—Environment officials in Central Luzon on
Thursday urged local governments and other institutions
engaged in surveying and planning to use the land
monuments established under the Philippine Reference
System of 1992 (PRS92) to ensure precision and accuracy
in surveying and mapping.
Executive Director Regidor de Leon, of the Department of
Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Central Luzon
office, said these land monuments are actually
satellite-fed geodetic control points which are marked
on the ground by mojons.
“These
monuments provide important information on the precise
location, boundary and coordinates of an area. Using
Global Positioning System technology and
state-of-the-art equipment, surveying and mapping has
never been more accurate since the 1900s,” de Leon said.
A total
of 170 new land monuments have already been established
in the provinces of Bataan and Zambales, covering 25
towns while 220 old monuments have been “recovered”
since the PRS92 project started in 2007.
The
recovery of old monuments, including reestablishing or
restoring those that have been destroyed or moved, has
been undertaken to make sure their coordinates are still
accurate and can still be used as reference for geodetic
surveys.
This
year at least 480 old mojons will be recovered in the
provinces of Zambales, and Nueva Ecija, while 220 more
shall be put up in Zambales by DENR engineers and
reputable private surveyors accredited by the
department.
DENR
engineer Cesar Amada of the Regional Composite Survey
Team said the establishment of additional survey
monuments in closer intervals constitutes the
“densification” component of PRS92, which intends to
speed up surveying activities while bringing down
surveying costs as “tie points” become geographically
nearer.
“The
nearer the tie points become to each other
geographically, the more accurate the survey becomes.
This reduces the risk of surveying error and eliminates
additional costs for corrective survey,” Amada
explained.
Under
the PRS92 Adopt-a-Mojon Program, the DENR enters into
partnership with local governments and other
institutions for the joint protection of these land
monuments.
Most of
the old mojons are now found in isolated private
backyards and residential areas. Many have been removed
or destroyed to give way to construction and
development, while others have been vandalized by
treasure hunters and ordinary citizens who mistake them
for markers for some buried treasure.
The DENR
is set to enter into a memorandum of agreement with the
mayors’ leagues of Pampanga, Bataan and Aurora for the
Adopt-a-Mojon Program.
“Ordinary citizens do not know that these mojons hold
the key to settling bitter boundary disputes and land
conflict cases that clog local court dockets by the
hundreds each year. So these must be protected and
preserved,” de Leon explained, adding that precise
surveys are needed to guide local governments in real
property valuation, tax collection and land use
planning.
He said
the DENR is set to complete the establishment of PRS92
control points throughout the country by 2010 to bring
the country’s level of surveying and mapping at par with
global standards.
“We
expect the PRS92 project to help settle all land
conflict cases, allow greater efficiency in land
administration and promote development not only in
Central Luzon but in the entire country,” de Leon
stressed. |
