The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has entered into a partnership with The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development to encourage investments and address bottlenecks in land titling.
The agreement is part of efforts toward achieving the sixth of the 10 socio-economic agenda that ensures security of land tenure.
The plan aims to “ensure security of land tenure to encourage investments and address bottlenecks in land management and titling.”
The project, part of the “Ambisyon Natin 2040” program, is a 25-year vision led by the National Economic and Development Authority that seeks Filipinos’ enjoyment of a “strongly rooted, comfortable, and secure life.”
Dubbed as “Responsible Land Governance in Mindanao,” the project aims to orient local governments and communities, including indigenous cultural communities in Misamis Oriental, Davao del Sur, and Agusan del Sur, on the management of public lands.
The effective management of lands is expected to create a ripple effect, benefitting the economy as government taxation process also becomes effective. Investors needing land may also find it easier to invest with better land identification and titling processes.
The vision takes into consideration sustainability and conflict sensitivity among ethnic groups and indigenous people on effective land management.
The project involved a 10-year roadmap on the land sector development framework for effective administration to help the country usher in economic development.
“This shall provide direction towards the achievement of a highly efficient and effective land sector whose potential is so great to contribute in the economic growth of our country,” said the Land Management Bureau.
The project also aims to support mitigation of conflicts within selected areas in Mindanao.
The DENR, LRA, Department of Agrarian Reform and the National Commission on Indigenous People are jointly monitoring if joint committees are functioning on the ground under the inter-agency Joint Administrative Order No. 1 in Regions 10 and 13.
The JAO clarifies the functions of each land titling agency, as it also provides guidelines in resolving land conflicts in both the national and regional level.
The project also offered capacity building activities to LGUs in using Unmanned Arial Vehicles (UAV) for land use planning. Future activities are being eyed as potential activities for the project.
The DENR is proposing a review of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms and a unified map to identify existing tenurial (land titling) instruments.
The unified map would make it easier for national and local government units to access data to carry out their own mandates.
