|
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Townsite sales processing to resume by April: environment office
By Rimaliza Opiña
THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), through the Administrative Order (AO) 504 Clearing Committee, would resume acceptance of townsite sales (TS) applications in April next year, this time with stricter guidelines, said DENR Regional Executive Director Samuel Peñafiel on Monday.
Peñafiel said as a result of the order of DENR Secretary Michael Defensor, which suspended the processing of TS applications last September, the DENR was able to review the applications that were previously cleared by the AO 504 body.
While there is a continuous processing of applications that passed the DENR's final review, some applications have been delayed and were brought to the DENR Central Office after it was determined that the applications were cleared even with incomplete requirements such as the investigation reports and that sketches or the maps submitted to the committee overlapped titled properties and government reservations.
With the discrepancies, Peñafiel said the DENR is planning on plotting the city's land needs so that applications found overlapping a private or government property would be avoided.
Before, plotting is done once an application is filed before the AO 504 but Peñafiel pointed out that the practice resulted in overlapping of claims not only by the government but also by private applicants.
The DENR also stopped the granting of provisional permits until after its claims and conflicts committee resolves discords that arise from applications granted. "There were applications which were not supposed to be cleared," the DENR official said.
To avoid the delay in the issuance of provisional permits, Peñafiel said the DENR intends to accredit private surveyors so that computation of survey results would not be fully delegated to DENR surveyors.
Peñafiel said his office also intends to integrate the duties of the AO 504 secretariat and the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office.
(December 27, 2005 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
[return to top]
[home]
[network page]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
|
