PANTABANGAN, Nueva Ecija – A
cadastral survey purportedly establishing ownership by a municipality of Nueva
Vizcaya of some 7,000 hectares of lands in this adjacent town in Nueva Ecija
has sparked a controversy between the two local government units, prompting
Gov. Aurelio Umali to ask the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) to investigate the
territorial claims, which could drastically reduce the land area of the
province and its share in the internal revenue allotment (IRA) of the national
government.
In
a November 12 letter to SP presiding officer, Vice Gov. Jose Gay Padiernos and
the provincial board members, Umali
expressed concern over the claims of the municipal government of Alfonso Castañeda
that the 7,000-hectare area in this town fall within its boundaries as
reflected in a cadastral survey conducted by the Department of Environment and
Natural Resources in Region 2.
The
DENR, represented by its regional executive director Benjamin Tumaliuan,
entered into a cadastral survey contract with the Santa Cruz Surveying Office (SCSO) based in
Naguilian, Isabela to undertake the survey on all parcels of lands in Alfonso
Castañeda.
Earlier,
Pantabangan assistant municipal assessor Francisco Pineda informed Umali that
the survey of SCSO caused the territorial boundary of this town to shrink by
7,000 hectares.
Worse,
Umali said, the areas claimed by Castañeda include lands where the American
proponent of the giant Casecnan Dam are located where the Nueva Ecija
provincial government collects huge real property taxes.
“Considering
the undeniable deleterious impact of this cadastral survey to the province of
Nueva Ecija, that this issue be made the subject of your legislative inquiry
pursuant to Section 118 (c) of the Local Government Code,” Umali said in his
letter to the SP.
Mayor
Lucio Uera, in an October 21 letter to Umali complained that the municipality
of Castañeda has been illegally encroaching in the town as shown by the
cadastral survey unilaterally conducted by the Department of Environment and
Natural Resources in Region 2.
The
Sangguniang Bayan of this town, led by Vice Mayor Ruben Huerta and 10 municipal
councilors passed a resolution registering strong opposition to the cadastral
survey conducted by SCSO.
The
SB, in its resolution, found the acts executed by the DENR Region 2 office as
contrary to law because representatives of this town were not formally notified
in writing by Region 2 about the survey and thus, it was done unilaterally.
It
added that during the time the survey was conducted, no representative from the DENR in Region 3 was
present either.
The cadastral
survey, there being a boundary dispute between the two municipalities, should
be conducted only if it is made jointly by the two local governments and
supervised by the survey divisions of the DENR in the two regions, the
resolution said.
The SB
resolution stressed that since the survey takes a huge part of Barangay Marikit
and sitio Pauan, Barangay Villarica, the illegal encroachment would greatly
affect the IRA shares of Pantabangan in particular and Nueva Ecija in general
due to the reduction in land area and population.
The SB has asked
the SP to also institute appropriate action against those responsible for the
survey. (Manny Galvez)
