PENRO Siquijor distributes free patent titles to 82 Siquijor land owners

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office in Siquijor together with the Registry of Deeds and Siquijor Provincial Government distributed a total of 82 residential and agricultural free patents to land owners in Siquijor Province last September 16 in celebration of the 114th founding anniversary of the Land Management Bureau and 48th Araw ng Probinsya ng Siquijor held at Dugukanan sa Capitolyo, Siquijor Provincial Capitol, Polangyuta, Siquijor.

Assisted by Siquijor Vice-Governor Mei Ling Quezon-Brown, Atty. Michael Panzo of the Registry of Deeds, Chief Technical Services Vicente Rustico M. Calizar representing PENR Officer Moreno S. Tagra personally handed the titles to the beneficiaries.

Patent issuance is one of the priority project of Environment Secretary Roy A. Cimatu and item No. 6 of the 0+10 agenda of President Rodrigo Duterte which is to ensure security of land tenure to encourage investments, and address bottlenecks in land management and titling agencies.

“Part of our continuing efforts in our land management program is to simplify, streamline and fast track processes in the disposition of alienable and disposable lands with the strong partnership and collaboration with our LGUs in the province,” said Tagra.

He added that the land titling helps improve overall productivity of idle lands and boost revenue collection of local government units.

In accordance to Republic Act No. 3844, otherwise known as the Agricultural Land Reform Code, the DENR is primary agency responsible for the distribution and land disposition through the issuance of free patents for public agricultural A and D lands.

On the other hand, issuance of patents for residential lands is in line with the implementation of Republic Act 10023, or the New Free Patent Act, which provides the DENR to process a patent application to any Filipino citizen who is an actual occupant of a residential land.

Aside from title distribution, PENRO Siquijor technical personnel also conducted an ENR consultation to address concerns of local communities on various DENR programs, projects and activities.