Muntinlupa government OKs resolution on new land area survey

The Muntinlupa City government has approved a resolution governing a re-assessment of the city’s land area, which records have revealed to be short of some 700 hectares.

Around P2 million will be allocated by the city government in a new land survey of its political boundaries. The amount is expected to come from the city’s 2006 executive budget under special projects.

Muntinlupa Mayor Jaime Fresnedi said they are ready to implement the resolution.

"We might hold a bidding for interested companies that would want to survey the subject area. What we would like to achieve here is to really determine the city’s exact political boundaries," Fresnedi said.

Councilor Raul Corro, who authored the resolution, said the city wants to set the record straight regarding the land area, which appears short of 700 hectares based on records of the Land Management Bureau (LMB) and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

The discrepancy has resulted in the underestimation of the city’s Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA).

He noted that the 1997 data of the LMB and the DBM showed that the city has a total land area of 39.75 square kilometers (4,000 hectares) as against the city planning office’s record of 46.7 square kilometers (4,700 hectares).

"There is a big difference of seven square kilometers, or some 700 hectares," Corro said.

He said boundary surveying is the proper way "to determine, describe, portray and measure the boundaries of a city’s land area."

"The survey will establish the boundary lines on the ground, or obtain data and construct a map showing a boundary line. However, the city’s executive department should first conduct a bidding of interested surveyors which should be done in coordination with the LMB," he said.

Corro pointed out that the LMB data was based on the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-National Capital Region’s cadastral mapping of the city.

"The 1997 survey has become the basis in the computation of our IRA. It is essential to correct the land area of a city because it is from which the IRA is being based. The bigger our land area and population, the larger the city’s IRA," he said.

Corro stressed that the correct measurement of the city’s land area will increase Muntinlupa’s annual income.

"If a proper survey had been conducted earlier, our IRA should in fact be more than what we are getting now," he added.

Muntinlupa’s current IRA amounts to more than P300 million.