Thursday, July 17, 2008 New boundaries set for 2 Cebu City barangays
THE Cebu City Planning and Development Office (CPDO) has set the new boundaries of neighboring Barangays Tejero and Carreta, which now include portions of the North Reclamation Area (NRA).
The change came over a year after it asked the City Council in March last year to enact an “ordinance defining the politico-administrative boundary” of the two barangays.
With the CPDO’s mediation, Tejero and Carreta agreed last March 5, 2007 on the demarcation between their territories, effectively settling their boundary conflict.
In letters addressed to the City Council, City Planning and Development Coordinator Paul Villarete submitted the final sketch plans of both Tejero and Carreta.
He said that his request last year did not yet have the complete technical descriptions of the metes and bounds of the two barangays.
Agreement
The plans and the corresponding technical descriptions were agreed upon by the two barangays, as surveyed by the City Engineer’s Office and the City Management Information and Computer Services.
As set by the two offices, Tejero will now have an area of 402,469 square meters while Carreta will have an area of 794,558 square meters.
“Please note that the extent of the…boundary lines already includes part of the North Reclamation Area adjacent to and contiguous with the barangay and over which it has traditionally and continuously provided basic government services in the past,” he said.
Villarete assured that the metes and bounds set were “free from conflicting claims and ready for the enactment of an ordinance delineating the standard national geographic and reference system of the Philippines.”
Once the council finalizes the boundaries, Villarete proposed that the mayor’s office and the council direct the City Assessor’s Office to match these with the assessor’s
map.
While the approval of new tax declarations is pending, he said real estate taxes should be paid in relation to the barangay named in the tax declarations, regardless of the actual location of such land.
IRA share
Villarete wants the city assessor to revise the tax declarations of establishments at the NRA that falls within the metes and bounds of Tejero and Carreta in favor of the two barangays.
But he said that once the proposed boundaries are approved, all business permit applications must conform to them.
He also saw the need to inform the Department of Budget and Management and Congress of the integration because a barangay’s Internal Revenue Allotment is partly dependent on its land area.
With the integration of portions of the NRA with Carreta and Tejero, the land area of each barangay is now larger.
In setting the technical descriptions of barangays, the CPDO helps settle conflict on territories between adjoining barangays.
Existing boundaries, Villarete said, are just lines made on paper and approved in the 1960s without marks on the ground, which is the source of conflicts, especially since most maps were lost over time or through a fire. (RHM)
