Thursday, August 09, 2007 Land for socialized housing not in Talisay City’s name, which violates audit rules By Garry A. Cabotaje Sun.Star Staff Reporter
TITLES of 11 parcels of land worth more than P17.2 million and paid for by the Talisay City Hall still have to be transferred in the name of the City Government.
This was one of the discrepancies the Commission on Audit (COA) noted in its 2006 report on the accounts and operations of the City Government.
The COA said the non-transfer of titles of the paid private lots runs counter to Section 449 of the Government Accounting and Auditing Manual (GAAM).
This states that “land purchased by agencies of the Government shall be evidenced by a Torrens title drawn in the name of the Republic of the Philippines, or such other documents satisfactory to the President of the Philippines that the title is vested in the Government.”
“These titles and documents shall accompany the vouchers covering the purchase of land after which they shall be forwarded to the Records Management and Archives Office,” added the report, prepared by State Auditor IV Ma. Elsa Q. Eguia.
Fully-paid
The parcels of land are for the City’s socialized housing, road right-of-way (RROW) and other projects.
During verification, auditors learned that while the lots have been fully paid for, their titles have not been transferred or don’t have titles yet in the name of the City.
The COA said the problem occurred because the City lacked personnel tasked to transfer the titles and the budget for various fees to process these titles.
Sought for comment, City Assessor Alma Abellanosa said there is no problem in processing the titles because the City already obtained the lot titles of the previous lot owners.
On orders of Mayor Socrates Fernandez, at least three City Hall offices—General Services, City Assessor and Local Housing Board—are coordinating to speed up the processing of the acquired lot titles, she said.
COA records showed that the property fronting the new City Hall building in Lawaan II, to be developed as a park and plaza, was the most expensive at P2.7 million.
The City Government reportedly paid for the property owned by Delima, Borromeo and Arias on Feb. 10 and May 9, 2006, respectively.
The lot in Lawaan II of Maximo Parba, to be used for the City’s socialized housing project, was also fully paid for with P1.5 million on Oct. 5, 1998 yet.
Sun.Star Cebu learned that this is the same property that has been questioned by the Fairview Homeowners’ Association in Lawaan II because it is situated on the edge of the Mananga River.
The socialized housing project is being undertaken by the City Government and Gawad Kalinga.
Fairview residents objected to the project, quoting a report of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) as saying that it sits on shaky ground and violates the Water Code of the Philippines.
The other purchased lots with full payments between 2002 and 2006 were:
* The school site in Barangay Linao owned by Concepcion Sebial worth P1.3 million;
* The RROW in Barangay Tanke of George Teson at P1.3 million;
* Another RROW in Biasong of Francisco Mata at P1.7 million;
* The socialized housing project in Biasong owned by the Largo family at P681,800;
* The site for a Barangay Sports Complex project in Bulacao owned by Dulce Carangue at P3.6 million;
* The lot for socialized housing project owned by Wilma Judith Villanueva, Ester Saso and S. Estrada in Barangay Pooc at P747,000 and P1.4 million, respectively;
* The sanitary landfill lot of Juliana Sabequil worth P98,250; and
* The socialized housing lot of Purita and Eduardo Selma in Bara-ngay Lawaan at P1.8 million.
The COA further recommended that the City Hall assign “specific personnel” to take charge of transferring ownership of the purchased lots and provide funds for taxes and fees for the transfer certificates of title.
As to Parba’s riverbank lot in Lawaan II, Abellanosa said the City Government sought the assistance of the DENR land management office for the issuance of a presidential proclamation for the socialized housing project.
Abellanosa said the City is seeking a presidential proclamation because the Parba lot only had a tax declaration when the former Talisay municipal government bought it in 1998.
