Land titling remains suspended in Palawan, according to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-MIMAROPA (DENR-MIMAROPA) Regional Director Oscar Dominguez in a media conference during a brief visit here Tuesday.
The disclosure came after Dominguez was asked by the media on the suspension of titling that DENR Secretary Ramon Paje ordered last year due to complaints of land grabbing not only in the city but allegedly in the whole province of Palawan.
“Who would not want to lift the suspension order?” he asked, adding the lifting will only come if the requirements the DENR is requiring would be complied with.
Dominguez said there was supposed to be a presentation of requirements last week, but this was postponed.
He cited that this was because of the need to integrate the system as a whole since Palawan is not the only province that has the same problem in the country.
General Santos, he said during the media conference, also has the same problem.
One of the requirements that the DENR was asking to be submitted by Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Officer (PENRO) Juan dela Cruz is a map of Palawan that contains the total area for agricultural, timberland, and protected areas, as well as those that already have titles.
The integration process, Dominguez said, needs to be done before anyone from the DENR-MIMAROPA can say when the suspension of land titling would be lifted.
He said that if the suspension is not lifted within the present administration’s term, it will be a task that would have to be done under the new leadership of president-elect Rodrigo Duterte.
Nonetheless, Dominguez said they already have a final draft of the presentation, and they are enjoining all concerned offices in Palawan, and even the personnel of their regional office to conduct a workshop to finally complete it in connection to the lifting of the suspension order. (PNA)
