The Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Land Management Bureau (DENR-LMB), together with the DENR-CALABARZON, assured that measures are in place to settle land-related issues in Mabini town, Batangas province.

LMB Director Emelyne V. Talabis and DENR-CALABARZON Regional Executive Director Nilo B. Tamoria made the assurance during the September 2 deliberations of the House of Representatives on the DENR’s proposed P23.04-billion budget for 2023.

According to Talabis, they saw the need to conduct a “resurvey” to address the errors in the cadastral mapping of Mabini town, after Batangas 2nd District Rep. Gerville R. Luistro expressed concern about the “extremely erroneous” cadastral survey that led to boundary disputes and filing of cases.

“One of the remedies available in case of erroneous surveys or surveys with lacking records is indeed a resurvey of the cadastral. We recognize that there are cadastral errors, particularly in Mabini, which was done a long time ago. We will look into the possibility of proposing a program for Mabini, Batangas. So, we will discuss this with the regional executive director of CALABARZON,” Talabis said.

Tamoria said that the DENR will also work on the re-surveying of Batangas City, which is near the municipality of Mabini.

“That particular issue with Mabini is also the same issue with Batangas City. And with the representation of Congressman (Mario Vittorio) Mariño, there will be reconstruction in the survey of the Batangas cadastral that will really have an impact also on the boundary in Mabini. So, we already have a proposal with the congressman and the corresponding work will be done by the DENR field offices,” said Tamoria.

Meanwhile, Pangasinan 6th District Rep. Marlyn L. Primicias-Agabas also requested DENR Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo Loyzaga to assist in creating a technical working group (TWG) that will address boundary disputes with the provinces of Benguet, Nueva Vizcaya, Nueva Ecija, and Tarlac.

Primicias-Agabas proposed that the TWG will include the DENR regional directors and experts from the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority and LMB.

“We will certainly look into that and then revert to you with a specific action. We will bring that group together and hope that we may be able to resolve the long-standing boundary dispute,” Loyzaga said in response to the Pangasinan lawmaker. ###