COA to Minglanilla: Secure titles for lands owned by LGU

CEBU, Philippines - The Commission on Audit wants the local government unit of Minglanilla to appropriate funds for the titling of the land and the Municipal Assessor’s Office to exert effort on titling all parcels of land owned by the Municipal Government.

COA also wants the Accounting Office to set up and maintain complete accounting records of real properties and for the Municipal Treasurer to maintain and keep on file complete records of real properties.   

In its 2012 audit report, COA said that land account amounting to P41,349,830 was not covered by Certificates of Title and not supported with documents thus the existence, accuracy and validity of the land ownership could not be ascertained.

Excerpts of Section 148 of COA Circular No. 92-386 dated October 22, 1992 states that, “Every local chief executive shall be immediately responsible for the proper and effective use and management of real estate owned or titled in the name of the local government unit.  He shall ensure that all real estate properties under his responsibility are registered under the Torrens Title System and safeguarded from squatters, unlawful occupants or the like.”

Land is the account used to record the cost or appraised value or other appropriate value of land acquired by the government including property rights and interest.

According to the COA report, analysis of the land account of the Municipality as of December 31, 2012, revealed that the ownership and existence of Land in the total amount of P41.3 million cannot be ascertained due to the absence of titles, inventory list and supporting documents to prove  that the balance shown in the balance sheet was valid and accurate.

COA further noted that there were no property ledgers showing the complete description as to its location, area, kind, cadastral lot number and/or Torrens Title, making it difficult to ascertain whether the mentioned properties are indeed existing and are owned by the Municipal Government.  (FREEMAN)