QC assessor to authenticate land titles

Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr. has ordered the city assessor to authenticate all land titles registered for taxation purposes to stop the proliferation of fake documents in the city.

Belmonte issued the directive after some 500 squatter families occupying the UP Arboretum, a park along Commonwealth Avenue, staked their claim on the land. He cited the need to look into all documents to prevent overlapping of titles.

"I would like to correct the impression that spurious land titles are proliferating in Quezon City. The government is in fact focusing on properties with multiple claimants in an effort to give them to their rightful owners," he said.

Teofisto Pajara, chief of the City Assessors Office, told the mayor that apart from the disputed UP property, there is reportedly a proliferation of fake titles on lands at the Payatas Estate and Don Antonio Heights.

He said they are now closely working with the Registry of Deeds, Land Registration Authority and the Bureau of Lands to strengthen the titling system in Quezon City.

Meanwhile, Belmonte reminded all land owners, whose land titles were damaged by a city hall fire 19 years ago, that they can now claim their reconstituted titles at the Land Registration Office on East Avenue in Quezon City. – Perseus Echeminada