Monday, March 03, 2008 Councilor presses hiring of surveyors to city lots By Rimaliza Opiña
THREE years since the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) suspended the processing of townsite and miscellaneous sales applications to give the Baguio City Government time to identify its land needs, yet only a few have been approved.
In an assessment done by the City Council committee on urban planning, lands and housing, only three out of the hundred parcels of land were approved for delineation by the DENR.
This was despite having a survey team who could have done the delineation and mapping, said Councilor Isabelo Cosalan Jr.
Cosalan said the team's failure to obtain the approval of the DENR was the lack of supervisory control by the survey team leader for they also perform other functions other than do surveys and most of the members of team lack the technical skills to perform their duties.
It is necessary that all lands identified for public purposes be delineated, their plans approved by the DENR and be titled in the name of Baguio or the host barangay for development purposes, as well as to discourage unscrupulous individuals from applying or summarily allocating unto themselves through illegal occupancy these parcels of public lands, Cosalan said and asked Mayor Reinaldo Bautista Jr. to hire contractual employees and create a new batch of team members.
The councilor said the survey team should be geodetic engineers who are adept in computer-aided drawing.
Functions of the survey team include: conduct of surveys of identified city land needs, coordinate with lines agencies on requirements needed for the approval of survey plan and submit to the Land Needs Identification Committee monthly reports.
