DENR opens RTLA in land 

titling activities in Bohol 

CORTES, Bohol June 21 (PIA) -- With over 300,000 lots in Bohol still untitled after the government closed a land administration and management project in 2011, the good news is that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) announced a land titling program that could ensure property owners' security in land tenure and possible magnet to encourage investments.

With Bohol among the country’s leaders in land titling activities, DENR would be implementing in Bohol a two-year land titling project that uses Rapid Land Tenure Assessment (RLTA), according to Bohol Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Officer (PENRO) Charlie Fabre during the Environment Month’s highlight Kukabildo sa Kalikopan held at the DENR Conference Room in Upper De Lapaz Cortes on June 19.

Kukabildo sa Kalikopan (Talk on the Environment) in Bohol is the Regional DENR’s regional talk which focused on land titling, a strength in DENR Bohol having been in national scopes after the Land Administration and Management Projects 1 and 2 which ended in 2011.

A further enhancement of the LAMP 1 and 2 projects, RLTA has been introduced as a management tool to facilitate faster and more integrated land titling by determining potential or workable lots for titling as seen in a consolidate cadastral map, explained Fabre in the webinar streamed online via the DENR Central Visayas Facebook page.

"This is a process of obtaining a clear picture of land tenure situation on the ground before land titling operations start through systematic adjudication," he added.

With the old titling method, the landowner goes to DENR to have his land titled. 

This causes titling in irregular intervals and only in places applied for title, while with the RLTA, the DENR goes to the barangays to perform the titling processes over adjoining vast segments of lots.

DENR prepares the consolidated cadastral map, a color coded map that shows which lots in the barangays do not have titles application, which have titles applied, which lots have been patented, under protest or with adverse claims, which are subdivided or which are subdivided with adverse claims, and which have applications rejected.

This makes it easier to accomplish much because with the barangay government now involved, it can conduct simultaneous information activities to make sure that all identified untitled lots get into the DENR titling program, preventing double titling and further land conflicts as it will now determine the actual and present claimants through the common knowledge and assessment by the DENR ground team and the barangays, added Glicerita Racho, RLTA focal person at the PENRO.

CENRO Tagbilaran Forester Ariel Rica said that with the ground verification through a survey and with the barangays and key informants including adjoining lot owners interviewed in the barangay, certainty of claims can be facilitated, thus settling the issue of double claims. 

With this, LGUS can have better tax collection, while the DENR ground team, in partnership with the municipal government through its municipal assessor, can conduct generation of Free Patent Applications in the barangay.

For LGUs, barangays prioritized for titling are those with high potential or workable lots identified through the RLTA. 

RLTA was already conducted in Bohol with the LAMP Project in 22 towns.

In fact, after LAMP Project, Bohol continued with the RLTA with the municipal local governments using funds from Bohol Provincial Government, earning Bohol the distinction as model site for RLTA and systematic adjudication through DENR and LGU partnerships, Rica continued.

Now with the new project, PENRO Fabre highlighted the need for titles for a security of tenure in their occupied lots, a title that can also be used as a capital in loan collateral for a business venture or simply have a proof of ownership that nobody can take away. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)

AVERTING LAND DISPUTES. CENRO Tagbilaran Ariel Rica (extremen right) said compared to the old system where landowners who want their lots titled go to the DENR, adjoining lot owners may find they have lost some valuable space. Now with RLTA, DENR goes to the barangays in implementation of the DENR AO to accept land titling applications in the barangay level, and in coordination with the BLGU, prepare consolidated cadastral maps which they verify through actual site visits and interviews with key informants to facilitate and generate accurate land data. Photo also shows PENRO Bohol Charlie Fabre (center) and RLTA coordinator Glicerita Racho (far left). (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol) 

VISUAL IDENTIFICATION GUIDE. Bohol PENRO Charlie Fabre (right) shows a consolidated cadastral map showing color coded information on lots that are titled, those with pending applications, those with adverse claims, rejected land title applications, and other relevant information that can show an investor potential sites ripe for development and their proximity to key development infrastructure. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)