The Department of Environment and Natural Resources said the passage on third and final reading of the Land Administration Reform bill will pave the way for institutional reforms in land administration.

Approved on the last week of February, House Bill 4846 seeks to finally do away with inefficiencies in land transactions arising from multiple agencies, land laws, and land titling processes, a DENR statement said.

Under the bill, all government agencies handling land transactions will be integrated into a single and autonomous agency to be known as the Land Administration Authority, the DENR said.

The LAA shall consolidate the powers and functions of the DENR's Land Management Bureau and Land Management Services, the National Mapping and Resources Information Authority, and the Department of Justice's Land Registration Authority and Registry of Deeds.

Under LAA, the integrity and marketability of land titles, survey plans and other public documents pertaining to the country's land resources will be fortified, the DENR also said.

Undersecretary for Lands Management Manuel Gerochi said they aim to shorten the notoriously tedious documentation process of acquiring and transferring proof of ownership of lands by consolidating and streamlining basic land administration functions within a single government agency, it added.*

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