Thursday, September 04, 2008 City to get back resort land By Cong B. Corrales
THE City Government is confident the local government can get back Lawndale Springs now known as Kagay-an Resort in sitio Taguanano, Barangay Indahag which was reverted into a public land by the Supreme Court (SC).
Lawyer Maryanne Enteria, head of the city legal office, said they expect no problem to arise when the City Government reapplies for a pre-patent title for the resort before the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Land Management.
She said because the local government is a government agency, it will get top priority from the DENR.
"Di mabalaka ang City Government kay possessor in good faith man," Enteria said.
The City Government lost ownership of the 12-hectare resort in sitio Taguanao, Barangay Indahag, when the SC handed down a decision reverting the land, which is the former 105-hectare estate of Dona Josefina Graciano vda Neri, into public land.
The landmark decision penned by Associate Justice Leonardo Quisumbing found that the judicial title of Neri did not pass through proper government processes "even bypassing the then-Bureau of Land and the DENR."
Aside from the City Government, claimants to the estate which include beneficiaries of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) lost all their ownership rights to the property.
The DENR has scheduled a resurvey of all properties claim by the claimants on September 9.
Last Tuesday, the DENR held a public consultation among the stakeholders -- its fourth in the past four years -- inside the Kagay-an Resort.
Conrado Mahinay, OIC of Cenro's Land Management said that all the claimants including the City Government will have to reapply with the DENR so they can have the proper land titles of their properties.
