ACTUAL occupants have the right to be prioritized on their application of land ownership on areas covered by invalidated 211 titles.
“May declaration ang Supreme Court na hindi valid yung 211 land titles. Hindi komo gobyerno ang nagbigay ay valid na kasi during the time of then President Ferdinand Marcos, he issued Presidential Decree 1271 known as the validation decree specifically for 211 titles,” Mayor Mauricio Domogan said.
The Supreme Court has ruled 211 land titles which are not validated within the given period of time are null and void.
“Now those who did not file within the period of filing what will become of the land covered by their 211 titles? Since the title had been declared as not valid, then it will return as part of the public land alienable and disposable public land in the City of Baguio which is part of its town site reservation,” Domogan explained.
Domogan said actual occupants have the time to validate their titles but they failed to do so, before the Supreme Court decided to invalidate the titles.
“Actual occupants of those lands can apply for patent or land ownership. Magkakaroon lang ng problema kapag ibang tao iyong actual occupant at iyong may ari ng 211 title. Ang advise ko lang sa mga nag-squat sa mga areas na covered ng invalidated titles is to apply for land ownership and talk to the previous owner para walang problema,” Domogan said.
The mayor added the actual occupants and the owner of the 211 titles should compensate such as reimburse taxes paid for the land.
“Kung titingnan natin kahit ano pa ang gawin ng mga may hawak ng hindi na-validate na titles, wala na silang magagawa kasi hindi nga valid yung kanilang titulo. Ang mabibigyan ng karapatan diyan ay iyong actual occupant,” added Domogan.