THE national government will be setting up a land dispute committee to address land-title and property-line issues in Marawi, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda). Neda Regional Development Office Assistant Secretary Mercedita A. Sombilla said identifying the rightful owners of lands in Marawi City is difficult, since the lands are “claimed by everyone.”
Sombilla said the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)-National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (Namria) is currently replotting and reestablishing lot boundaries.
“The biggest issue here is identifying rightful owners of lands, which are claimed by everyone,” Sombilla told the BusinessMirror over the weekend.
“A land dispute committee is planned to be set up to facilitate settlement. But yes, this could cause delay,” she added.
Sombilla explained that, in order to replot and reestablish property lines, the government will hold consultations that serve as validation to determine the real property owners.
This can be difficult, since there are some residents who claim to have land titles, while others do not have these documents. The land dispute committee will include the DENR, agencies in charge of land-titling, and the appropriate local government units.
“In the most affected area, there is a land use plan, but [we] will accommodate what has been, what are requested, to the best that could be done,” Sombilla said.
This, she added, will be the biggest challenge and could delay government efforts to reconstruct and rehabilitate the city, which was destroyed because of the five-month armed conflict last year. On May 23, 2017, hundreds of members of the ISIS-inspired homegrown terrorists Maute Group, in league with a command of the Abu Sayyaf, laid siege to one of Mindanao’s most prosperous Islamic City, leading to pitched battles that forced the government to use air strikes that leveled much of the city.
Earlier, Neda Undersecretary for the Regional Development Office Adoracion M. Navarro told reporters that land ownership issues are particularly difficult to resolve even in the medium term.
Navarro said of the 892 priority programs, projects and activities (PPAs), at least 252 will be dedicated to physical infrastructure and 27 will be for housing and settlement. These will likely encounter land ownership issues.
The 27 housing PPAs, for example, means building 6,400 transitory shelter units and 3,524 permanent housing units for Marawi City residents.
However, projects belonging to other sectors may also encounter land-ownership issues. Navarro said providing social services, such as in building schools-destroyed during the Marawi siege, will also be impacted.
she added that before any structure can be erected, the government must be able to ensure that the land where public structures, such as schools will be constructed must be free of land conflicts.