Mangroves cut down for subdivisions in Mindanao, Philippines

[John_Brandt]

Mangroves cut down for subdivision

By Aurea A. Gerundio
Sun Star News Philippines, June 25, 2003

A MAN who has a land title that says he owns a portion of the coast off Bucana, in this city, has ordered the mangrove trees in it to be ploughed down for the area to be converted into a subdivision amid protests by barangay officials.

The man is also armed with a subdivision permit from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) issued in 1998.

City Councilor Leo Avila III in a privilege speech Tuesday urged the City Council committee on environment to re-investigate reports that some fences were built in the middle of mangroves in the city, a violation of environmental laws.

Avila said that in an ocular inspection led by SP committee on environment chair Beethoven Orcullo in response to the proposed resolution, reports of illegal conversion of mangrove forests into residential areas were proven.

"We saw not only the fences but also the backhoe intended to clear the mangrove forest," Avila said.

Avila said the alleged "landowner," whom he did not identify, did not heed repeated warnings by barangay officials.

"His bold moves are based on his supposed land title," he added.

Avila said the alleged landowner has a subdivision plan that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources issued in 1998.

"The subdivision plan has a geographical coordinate of 07 02' 27.41" north and 125 36' 31.55" east. With experts from the City Environment and Natural Resources Office, we compared these coordinates against Namria (National Mapping and Resource Information Authority) mapping system, which revealed that the person's property is 1.35 kilometers from the shoreline," Avila said.

"In other words, the coordinates point at nothing but water from where his property is as he claimed."

Avila also questioned how the person was able to obtain a title over the mangrove area.

"This anomaly must be investigated. I now submit to the city council what moves to take based on the substantial evidence being presented," he said.

"Some residents said the person responsible for these fences claimed to have a valid title over the land."

 

[Anonymous]

LOL one person's weed is another's treasure

 

[mkirda]

LOL one person's weed is another's treasure

Same arguement about the reefs...

Seriously, reading this here, this was a pure land grab. They were building a subdivision over land they didn't have title to, or so it appears. Even so, the mangroves are protected, and cutting them down means a 5 year stint in jail.
Or so I recall from reading the laws protecting them...

Mike

 

[John_Brandt]

DENR questions lot inside protected mangrove

By MANUEL T. CAYON
Correspondent ABS-CBN News Philippines
June 28, 2003


DAVAO CITY - The city council is set to investigate why a former North Cotabato politician had managed to get a title of ownership to a 5.4-hectare lot inside a public mangrove area. The person concerned reportedly intends to develop the lot into a subdivision.

Councilor Leonardo Avila III, who uncovered the existence of the privately titled lot, said he would “let the axe fall on where it should,” referring to two high-ranking officials of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), who allegedly approved the subdivision plan.

The titled lot is located in Kalubihan, Bucana, this city, and because it had been fenced, it aroused the suspicion of residents on the Davao River delta. Barangay officials in the area called Avila’s attention to it during a coastal cleanup in November last year, and he started to investigate.

Avila said he was convinced that there had been irregularities in the acquisition of the lot based on the conflict between the geographical coordinates given in the subdivision plan that was approved by the DENR and the actual coordinates that Avila obtained from the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (Namria).

A check with the Namria indicated that the DENR-approved subdivision plan would have been actually located 1.35 kilometers from the shoreline to the sea. “In other words, the coordinates point at nothing but water so far away from where his property is as he claimed,” Avila said in his privileged speech early last week.

Avila said that a further check using the Namria-provided gadget called Global Positioning System (GPS), which locates positions using the satellite tracking, the actual location of the titled property is inside the mangrove area, which was developed by the Community Environment and Natural Resources (Cenro).

“These disparities are more than we can ignore. How come the person obtains a land title over the mangrove area [and] with faulty coordinates? Who issued this land title to him?” he said. “What I know is that under our Constitution, mangroves are owned by the State and not subject to alienation.”

Avila said that the lot owner, who ran for vice mayor in a North Cotabato town, had been repeatedly warned by barangay officials against destroying the full-grown mangroves. But early this month, he said, the council committee on environment, headed by Beethoven Orcullo, discovered that a backhoe, an equipment used for digging, had been brought to the property.

Asked who issued the land title, Avila said,“I suppose it must be the regular government agencies, like the DENR and the Land Management Services.” A blueprint of the subdivision plan bore the signatures of a regional technical director of the DENR and the chief of the DENR’s Regional Surveys Division.

Also in a privileged speech last Tuesday, Orcullo said he would summon the lot owner to shed light on “how he was able to get the land title” inside the protected area.

Avila said the council committee would likely summon the two DENR officers as well as the others whose signatures may appear in other official documents approving the ownership of the area.

He said the discovery “of this anomaly may even lead to the uncovering of many other cases that have been already titled.”

“I believe there are still many similar cases that were successfully titled,” he added.