Parañaque City Council urges resolution of land dispute

The Parañaque City Council is urging Mayor Florencio Bernabe to take immediate action and prevent a portion of the city from becoming part of the adjacent Taguig City.

The city council passed a resolution authorizing Bernabe to intervene in the conflict involving two homeowners’ groups claiming ownership of a portion of Barangay San Martin de Porres.

This developed after members of the Sitio De Asis Homeowners Association (SDAHA) complained that a questionable homeowners’ group managed to secure land titles for lots which originally belonged to them.

SDAHA claimed that a group identified as the United Residents of Balagbag Abandoned Line Association Inc. (UROBAL) had registered the lots at the Taguig Register of Deeds.

Residents of Sitio de Asis along the Philippine National Railways’ (PNR) Balagbag Line said they bought the land through an agreement with the PNR and other national government housing agencies in 1989 and have been occupying it for more than 30 years.

However, UROBAL, composed of residents of Barangay Bagong Tanyag in Taguig City, managed to secure another memorandum of agreement with the PNR for the sale of the abandoned line, including the Parañaque portion of the property.

This resulted in the cancellation of the Original Certificate Title of the parcel of land, and the issuance of several Transfer Certificates of Titles (TCTs) for the same lot to UROBAL members. The TCTs were issued by the Register of Deeds of Taguig City and, in effect, transferred jurisdiction of the affected lots to Taguig.