DENR-ARMM taps private firms to resolve land boundary conflict

COTABATO CITY, Philippines  — As a major solution to family feuds that have disrupted for decades the peace and order of Maguindanao, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (DENR-ARMM) tapped on Wednesday private surveyors to set boundaries on disputed lands.

Many of contested lands in Maguindanao’s 36 municipalities were traced as root cause of family feud involving Muslim clans who prefer to settle boundary conflict with the use of force in the absence of legal documents about land ownership.

Hadji Kahal Kedtag, DENR-ARMM regional secretary, said his office has entered into contract with Sobreviñas Engineering Services and the BAC Surveying and Titling Services to do land demarcation surveys.

DENR-ARMM’s Free Land Survey and Titling Project or (FLSTP) aims to address conclusively real ownership of vast tracts of lands in the province.

“Through this project, we can also help look on border conflicts among barangays,” Kedtag told reporters after representatives of the survey firms signed the contract at the DENR-ARMM office.

Kedtag said the project aims to extend to stakeholders free land survey and titling services.

“The FLSTP will address land ownership issues and it has the support of big Muslim clans,” he said.

The project would be financed by the Php42 million budget from ARMM’s Regional Planning and Development Office.

Maguindanao Governor Esmael Mangudadatu welcomed the development and said his office is ready to extend interventions needed to hasten its implementation.

In Maguindanao, the governor noted that more than 80 percent of the clan wars were triggered by land dispute.
“We are ready to provide assistance to ensure the success of the project,” he said .

According to Kedtag, the project is in support of the normalization process following the signing of the government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) peace agreement.

“Most of the areas to be surveyed are within the area of the MILF recognized in the peace deal,” Kedtag said. -PNA