Marcos orders creation of master list of government lands

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has ordered the creation of an inter-agency coordinating council to consolidate a master list of all the lands owned by the state in a bid to ensure their optimal use.

Based on Administrative Order No. 21 signed by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin on April 30, Marcos said that it is necessary to consolidate a comprehensive list of all government lands “to ensure the efficient and effective allocation and utilization of land resources for the country's national development goals.”

One of the key strategies to establish liveable communities as mentioned in the administration’s Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028 is to create a database with a complete inventory of idle government lands.

The coordinating council that was tasked to create this master list will be co-chaired by the heads of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD).

The chief of the Department of Agrarian Reform, meanwhile, will serve as the vice chairperson.

Other members of the coordinating council are Office of the Executive Secretary, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of Agriculture (DA), Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), Department of Justice (DOJ), Land Registration Authority (LRA), Commission on Higher Education (CHED), and the Department of Information and Communications (DICT).

The DENR’s Land Management Bureau will serve as the secretariat of the council and is expected to provide administrative and technical support to the council. It will also serve as the repository of all documents and information regarding the master list.

As to the funding, the AO states that it would be charged against the existing and available appropriations of the member-agencies of the coordinating council, subject to pertinent budgeting, accounting, and auditing laws, rules, and regulations.

In March last year, Marcos said that his administration was studying measures that will use idle government lands for housing projects.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III and Senator Francis Escudero welcomed Marcos' latest order.

"Good idea. The government should also come up with a master list of all public lands (especially those which are supposed to be inalienable) which have now been wrongfully or illegally titled in private hands," Pimentel said in a text message.

Escudero "completely agree[d]" with Marcos, but he pointed out the need to clarify and distinguish if the lands were owned by the state or by the government; titled or untitled; leased out or not; with pending case or adverse claim or none; which agency or a government-owned and -controlled corporation owns it.—Giselle Ombay/Hana Bordey/KG, GMA Integrated News