March 28, 2024

Mayor Benjamin Magalong has ordered the reconstitution of the City Land Needs Identification Committee (CLNIC) to expedite the identification and titling of lands for city and barangay needs.
By virtue of Executive Order 101-2022 signed recently, the committee will be chaired by the mayor and with the city administrator as co-chair.
Members are the chair of the city council committee on urban planning, lands and housing; city planning and development coordinator, city engineer, city assessor, city general services officer, Department of Environment and Natural Resources Cordillera assistant regional director for technical services, City Environment and Natural Resources Officer, Department of Public Works and Highways Baguio City District Engineering Office district engineer; AO 504 Committee technical staff chief; and executive assistance for barangay affairs of City Mayor’s Office.
In the order, the mayor said various lands had been identified by the city government and there is a need to fast-track its delineation to be used for the public welfare.
Earlier, city officials said they are adopting a more aggressive stance in having government lots and those identified for city and public need titled under its name to avoid losing these to land speculators and to apply the correct measurements of roads and alleys for crucial purposes such as disaster and other emergency response.
City Administrator Bonifacio dela Peña said the revival of the CLNIC will help speed up the titling program which is hampered by the tedious process involved.
He said the city enlisted the help of the Cenro, which committed to facilitate the survey of 96 government lots for one year even as the city on its end also conducts surveys of the other government real properties to identify the technical descriptions of the lots which is a requirement in the titling process.
The final survey of all the identified barangay and city land needs is required to determine the metes and bounds of the lands to guarantee the preservation and protection of public lands from unscrupulous land speculators. – Aileen P. Refuerzo