BAGUIO CITY – The City General Services Office announced the Register of Deeds recently issued the Original Certificate of titles (OCTs) covering two of the local government’s properties located in the different parts of the city.
City General Services Officer Eugene Buyucan said that the OCTs cover the treasurer’s cottage site under OCT No. 2018000259 situated at Residence Section ‘C’ DPS barangay and the Pinsao district health center under OCT No. 2018000258 situated at Pinsao.
Earlier, Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan ordered the City General Services Office to perfect the ownership of the local government over its different properties so that the same will be issued the appropriate titles in the name of the local government as documentary evidence of the city’s ownership over properties located in the different parts of the city.
Buyucan disclosed it took their office over four years to process the titling of the different properties of the local government and the released OCTs are just the initial batch with more titles expected to be released by the concerned government offices showing the local government’s ownership of the said properties.
The local government’s treasurer’s cottage site has an area of 755 square meters while the Pinsao district health center is more or less 275 square meters.
Under the conditions of the special patent issued for the two properties, the local government cannot dispose the same without the authorization of Congress if owned by a national agency or authorized by the Sanggunian concerned through an approved ordinance if owned by a local government unit in accordance with Section 4 of Republic Act (RA) 10023.
Buyucan added that the City General Services Office will continue to process the titling of the different properties of the city government with the concerned government agencies, particularly the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Registry of Deeds, so that the ownership of the city over the same is formalized.
“We have to patiently wait for the release of the processed titles over the properties of the local government because the same has to pass through various processes required by the offices of other government agencies. We are optimistic the concerned government agencies will release similar titles over our city properties in the coming months,” Buyucan stressed.
The City General Services Office is the custodian of all the properties of the local government and documents showing the ownership of the said properties are lodged in the said office for safekeeping and for their preservation and protection.
The city department head assured that the local government will remain aggressive in ensuring it will be able to formalize the city’s ownership of its various properties so that it will be in possession of the required legal instrument as proof it was able to perfect the mandatory documentation of the properties it had in possession for decades now.
Buyucan stated one of the titles being processed by his office is the title covering the present site of the city hall and its nearby areas so that the local government will not merely rely on a proclamation declaring the same as the property of the local government./Dexter A. See
