THE more efficient and effective land administration and management in the country that was implemented last year have resulted in improved delivery of land-related services to Filipinos this year.

Director Emelyne V. Talabis, of the Land Management Bureau (LMB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said that the bureau “takes pride” in the newly implemented policies and other accomplishments on its priority programs.

The LMB is a policy-making body of the DENR created for the efficient and effective land management and administration of alienable and disposable public lands in the country.

Talabis disclosed that these achievements are anchored to LMB’s policy directions toward “evidence-informed and socially sensitive land governance.”

“We are proud to attain feats this year, and we will remain steadfast to improve our services through digital transformation, development of our people, and policy studies for a better and efficient system on land surveys and titling, among others,” Talabis said.

One of the new policies being implemented is Land Management Circular (LMC) No. 2022-001, entitled “Guidelines on the Use of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) in the Conduct of Control and Land Surveys,” which the LMB issued on Feb. 7, 2022.

The LMC 2022-001 provides geodetic engineers with the proper procedures for the use of GNSS as a complementary and alternative instrument in the conduct of land surveys.

The LMB also issued LMC 2022-002 that clarified the qualifications for agricultural free patent applicants and the requirements for posting notice of free patent application.

This was an addendum to DENR Administrative Order (AO) 2021-38 or the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRRs) of Republic Act (RA) 11573, also known as “An Act Improving the Confirmation Process for Imperfect Land Titles.”

On March 16, the LMB also issued LMC 2022-004 to provide “Procedures on the Selection and Establishment of Calibration Baseline for Survey Instrument Testing and Registration.”

This circular also delegates the renewal of registration and transfer of ownership of the calibration baseline to DENR regional offices.

To streamline the process of public and private lands survey approval and verification plans, DENR Administrative Order 2022-13, dated June 1, 2022, delegates the Chief of Surveys and Mapping as the approving authority over all survey plans submitted to the DENR regional offices.

Apart from the said issuances, the LMB had also successfully integrated the Land Administration Management System (LAMS) database of 16 provincial and community environment and natural resources offices into their respective regional offices. Also, the respective Regional LAMS databases of DENR-NCR and DENR-CALABARZON were integrated into LMB-LAMS.

The country’s land statistics and records are consolidated through LAMS, a computerized information system built for quick and simple land information processing, tracking, and retrieval.

Meanwhile, the LMB, through respective DENR regional offices, consolidated and evaluated 19 municipalities that have gone through Digital Cadastral Database Cleansing.

The LMB had also issued land area certification for 31 local government units (LGUs) for Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) purposes, resolved six legal land cases, and approved and transmitted 69 Deeds of Sale/Deeds of Conveyance of Taguig lots to the Registry of Deeds.

Meanwhile, the LMB continues to conduct the field validation of the 16 Regions to ensure the smooth implementation of its Rapid Land Tenure Appraisal program. To date, the DENR has signed 219 partnership agreements with LGUs.

From January to November 2022, the LMB issued a total of 13,462 agricultural-free patents and 23,290 residential-free patents nationwide.