President Marcos forms body to create government lands master list
MANILA, Philippines — President Marcos has formed an interagency body tasked to create a master list of all lands owned by the government to ensure efficient and effective utilization of land resources for the country’s development.
Under Administrative Order 21, signed by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin on April 30, the Inter-Agency Coordinating Council will be chaired by Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development and co-chaired by the Department of Agrarian Reform.
Members of the council are the Office of the Executive Secretary, the Departments of the Interior and Local Government; Agriculture; Justice; and Information and Communications (DICT); Office of the Solicitor General; Land Registration Authority, and the Commission on Higher Education.
The DENR-Land Management Bureau will serve as the coordinating council’s secretariat.
“To ensure the efficient and effective allocation and utilization of land resources for the country’s national development goals, it is necessary to consolidate a comprehensive list of all government lands,” Marcos said.
Within 60 days from the effectivity of implementing guidelines of the order, all national government agencies and instrumentalities, including government-owned or controlled corporations and existing government bodies with functions related to land identification and inventory, are to prepare and submit to the coordinating council a complete inventory of all lands or inventories in their possession, as may be applicable, AO 21 read.
In coordination with the DICT, the council will study, formulate and implement the digitalization of the master list, the order stated.
According to Marcos, the creation of a master list of all government lands will boost the administration’s Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2023-2028.
He said one of the key strategies identified in the PDP 2023-2028 to establish livable communities “is the creation of a database containing a complete inventory of idle government lands.”
