QUEZON CITY -- The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and other inter-agency technical working group composed of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) has conducted a consultation meeting on land and forestry to settle overlapping issues in relation to parcelization of collective certificates of land ownership awards (CCLOAs) for Support to Parcelization of Lands for Individual Titling (SPLIT) Project.

DAR Undersecretary for Legal Affairs Office Luis Meinrado C. Pañgulayan said that based on a joint guideline, the DAR and DENR before processing applications for land titles pursuant to their respective mandates must notify the NCIP of the specific area to be titled.

He said all lands covered by collective CLOAs within classified timberlands, unclassified public forests, mineral lands, and national parks, shall be parcelized in favor of agrarian reform beneficiaries.

“During the implementation of parcelization and in the issuance of appropriate tenurial instruments, the actual occupants on the lands covered by collective CLOAs shall not be displaced,” Pañgulayan said.

Pañgulayan disclosed that NCIP is tasked to certify subject land to the projection of survey plans and issuance of the certification of non-overlap, whether the same affects an alienable and disposable (AD) or ancestral land (AL) involving “conflict areas” as identified by the agencies concerned pending/overlapping, jurisdictional/operational issues or conflicting claims which are contentious or potentially contentious.

“This is a very good opportunity to have a face-to-face meeting with Regional Offices of DAR and our Technical Working Group members to show commitment to the ownership of the government for land administration in the Philippines,” World Bank Senior Environmental Engineer Maya Gabriella Villaluz said.

She said that this is the largest land administration project of the World Bank in the world and that they want the best practice of this project shared with other countries.

The event was attended by DAR and World Bank Mission representatives with Inter-agency technical working group, which include Atty. Cesar Ortega and  Shelley Calata from NCIP, Jennette Ponce of Mines and Geosciences Bureau, Amie Rabang, and Gabriel Mendoza of Forest Management Bureau. Beata Batadlan and Estela Gumabon from the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority. (DENR)