Frequently Asked Questions
Q. What is land administration?
A. Land administration is a system implemented by the State to administer land rights, which typically includes but is not limited to the following processes:
(a) to record and register private rights on state lands
(b) to record, register, and publicize the grants or transfer of those land right through sale, gift,
encumbrance, subdivision, secured transactions, etc.
(c) to manage the fiscal aspects related to land rights including land tax, valuation for a range of
purposes including the assessment of fees and taxes, and compensation for state acquisition of
private rights in land, etc.
(d) to manage state lands
Q. What is land management?
A. Land management is a system implemented by the State to manage the allocation and use of land resources and the social, economic, and environmental issues that relate to its allocation and use. Land management is implemented within a range of policy and legislative instruments, including: land use planning; development application/approvals; land administration; land taxation; environment protection; cultural and heritage protection; renewable and non-renewable resource management and development; foreign investment controls; etc.
Q. What are the problems concerning land administration and management (LAM)?
A. There are several problems concerning LAM that were elucidated in the conduct of LAMP1. They are the following:
- Policies and Institutions
- conflicting if not redundant land-related laws
- overlapping tenurial instruments in public lands
- tedious processes and dysfunctional structures
- inappropriate land classification for planning and development
- bureaucratic land administration system
Land Taxation and Valuation
- multiple systems in property valuation
- numerous taxes on land ownership and transfers
- several tax collection agencies
- political intervention in land valuation
- absence of updated cadastral maps suitable for assessment
Capacities
- weak country capacity and competency on land administration and management
- absence of formal land valuation education
Land Tenure Security and Land Registration System
- inefficient land records management systems
- erosion of investor / public confidence in the system
Q. What is the Land Administration and Management (LAM) Program?
A. It is the Philippine government's response to reduce poverty and to sustain economic growth by improving the security of land tenure and by fostering efficient land markets in rural and urban areas within a 15-20 year timeframe.
Q. How did the LAM Program start?
A. On November 1997, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) sought assistance from the World Bank (WB) to streamline the issuance of patents, mass conduct of cadastral surveys, and improvement of its records.
On March 1998, WB sent a fact-finding mission to look into the problems on LAM. DENR then convened the major government land agencies to take part in such initiatives. They arrived at a consensus that a small project must be undertaken to take effect the necessary reforms. A Learning and Innovation Loan (LIL) with a parallel AusAID Technical Assistance was subsequently approved.
Thus on July 1999, through the issuance of Executive Order No. 129, an Inter-Agency Coordinating Committee (IACC) was created, signaling the start of the LAM Program.
Q. What are the long term benefits from this reform?
A. The benefits are:
- Increased security of land tenure and eradication of fake and spurious titles;
- Convenient registration of land transactions at One-Stop-Shops in strategic regional and district-level locations;
- Faster land document registration with a target of same-day release;
- Cost recovery of land administration services through efficient operations and use of appropriate technology;
- Greater participation of all sectors of society in formal land registration;
- Equal access to, and equitable distribution of, land administration services by demand;
- Improved access to national land information within government and for the public as a result of unified land records
- Increased public and investor confidence in the integrity of land titles in land markets
- Improved national survey control network and base mapping for national development;
- Uniform standards for land valuation;
- Widened tax base for the government; and
- Facilitate the implementation of other government poverty reduction programs (e.g., CARP, CMP, KALAHI-CIDSS) by unifying and rationalizing all land records.
Q. What is the Land Administration and Management Project Phase 2 (LAMP2)?
A. It is a 5-year project built on the lessons and experiences gained from LAMP Phase 1. Its aim is to accelerate the process of land administration reform in selected regions, provinces, and municipalities. It supports the progressive expansion of tenure security and the adoption of approved valuation standards and procedures through sustainable partnership agreements.
Q. What are the strategic directions being pursued by LAMP2?
A. LAMP2 has chosen a definitive path in tackling the LAM-related problems in the country by means of:
- strengthening leadership and management of reforms
- streamlining service delivery in the land sector pertaining to land information access, land transfers and land registration
- reforming judicial processes in land titling
- consolidating land laws
- clarifying land ownership
- using the Torrens Title Register in recording all land rights
- decentralizing responsibility for taxation of real property ownership and transfers to the local government
- recovering costs for land administration services
- adopting an international and uniform standards for property valuation and taxation
- executing best practice valuation standards
Q. What are the key agencies involved in LAMP2?
A. The following agencies are assigned various roles in LAMP2:
- Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)
- The lead agency heading components on policy, capacity building, land tenure security, and management. Staff agency Lands Management Bureau (LMB) and attached agency National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA) are participating agencies.
- Department of Finance (DOF)
- Lead agency for component on land valuation and taxation; Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF) leads the component with some activity responsibilities from the National Tax Research Center (NTRC).
- Land Registration Authority (LRA)
- Participating agency
- Registry of Deeds (ROD)
- Participating agency and lead agency for the One-Stop-Shop in Leyte and other planned tenure security sites.
- Local Government Unit / Tax Assessor
- Participating agency in main program and lead agency in the Innovation Support Fund.
- Department of Budget and Management (DBM)
- Participating agency in the National Steering Committee
- National Economic Development Authority (NEDA)
- Participating agency in the National Steering Committee
Q. What are LAMP2's components and its objectives?
A. LAMP2 has five components, namely:
1. Policy Development - to pursue policy, legislative, and regulatory changes in support of LAM reform.
2. Institutional Development and Capacity Building - to develop transparent, gender-responsive, and service-oriented institutional and human resource arrangements for land administration and develop capacity in the LAM institutions to manage the project and lay the foundation for the future expansion of improved tenure security and property valuation activities.
3. Tenure Security - to increase the level of tenure security in selected provinces through an accelerated land adjudication program and establishment of an efficient and accessible land registration system.
4. Property Valuation and Taxation - to improve the quality of government and private sector property appraisal performance through the adoption of uniform valuation standards and a single valuation base for taxation. Another objective is to pursue property taxation reform.
5. Project Management - to establish the organizational and management framework, systems, and plans for the effective management and implementation of LAMP2. This encompasses the mechanism for the engagement of stakeholders which include concerned government agencies, local government units (LGUs), civil society organizations and business sector, in all project components.
Q. What are the advocacies espoused by LAMP2?
A. The advocacies that are being promoted by LAMP2 are categorized into:
1) legislation, 2) systems and procedure, and 3) social development and gender.
Legislation
- Land Administration Reform Act (LARA Bill) - will integrate key land administration agencies -- Land Registration Authority (LRA) / Registry of Deeds (RoD), National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA), and Land Management Bureau (LMB)-into a single entity called the Land Administration Authority (LAA). The proposed LAA will ensure sustainable management of resources and records, standardization of the titling process, fully decentralized services through One-Stop-Shops (OSS), and increased transparency and accountability across the whole land administration process.
- An Act Authorizing the Issuance of Free Patent to Residential Areas (Free Patent Act) - this law will allow the issuance of free patents to residential areas requiring only 10 years of actual occupation without after titling restrictions and will provide for a streamlined process by reducing requirements for its issuance.
- Valuation Reform Act (VRA) - will oversee the development and maintenance of a uniform and equitable real property valuation system; the establishment of a single valuation base; and the protection of the valuation and assessment function from tax setting and political influence.
- Real Estate Service Act (RESA) - provides for the creation of a Board that shall regulate and supervise real estate practitioners through education, examination, and periodic evaluation.
Systems and Procedures
- Streamlined service delivery
- Devolution of taxation responsibility for real property ownership and transfers to the local government units (LGUs)
- Removal of registration disincentives
- Cost recovery for land administration services
- Adoption of international standards in property valuation for taxation purposes
- Development of a single valuation basis for all real property taxation
- Best practice valuation standards in coordination with the state
- Ensuring equal access of men and women and of poor qualified land claimants to land titles and land administration services
- Development of gender-disaggregated land information system
Social Development and Gender (SD&G)
The central presumption of LAMP2 is that improved LAM is a pre-requisite for pro-poor, socio-economic development. The responsibility of SD&G is to ensure that LAM interventions explicitly recognize:
- The different types of land tenure for which security must be provided;
- That the capacity of citizens to benefit from improved LAM systems determined by gender, geography, socio-economic circumstance, literacy, etc;
- That existing formal and informal institutions operate to enhance or constrain citizens' ability to exploit new opportunities provided through LAM; and
- That unless these differences, factors, and institutions are explicitly recognised in design and operations, LAM interventions can have unintended consequences and perpetuate social exclusion and poverty.
- This means that LAMP2 must reflect the three key principles of Social Development inclusiveness, cohesiveness, and accountability.
Q. What is a One-Stop-Shop (OSS)?
A. A One-Stop-Shop is an institutional collaboration of DENR, Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), Registry of Deeds (RoD), and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR). It provides streamlined land administration services to the public under one roof. LAMP2 has already established three One-Stop-Shop sites in Leyte, Bohol and Bukidnon.
Q. What services does the OSS offer?
A. The following are the land-related transactions provided by the OSS Front Counter:
- Adjudication / Affidavit of Joint Adjudication
- Adverse Claim/ Protest / Complaint, CENRO
- Adverse Claim/ Protest / Complaint, PIO
- Adverse Claim/ Protest / Complaint, ROD
- Application, Public Land Applications (PLA)
- Application, Survey Authority (SA)
- Cancellation, Bail Bond
- Cancellation, Cadastral Cost
- Cancellation, Chattel Mortgage
- Cancellation, Lien
- Cancellation, Loan and Mortgage Agreement
- Cancellation, Real Estate Mortgage
- Certification, Alienable & Disposable (A&D) Lands
- Certification, LAMP / SAT Operations
- Certification, Lot Status
- Certification, PLA Status
- Certification, Survey Authority
- Certification, ROD
- Certified True Copy, Document
- Certified True Copy, Title
- Court Appearance on Land Cases
- Hearing and Investigation on Land Disputes
- Inquiries, CARP Operations
- Inquiries, Land Tax Administration
- Inquiries, Registration
- Inquiries, Surveys
- Inquiries, Titling
- Maps / Sketch Plan
- Payment of Application Fee
- Payment of Cadastral Cost
- Registration, Affidavit of Loss
Poverty reduction and economic growth through secure land tenure and equitable property valuation
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