Farmers in Bais City, Oriental Negros, were awarded their certificates of entitlement for lot allocations by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo yesterday.

This came after several years of consideration whether or not the land the farmers were occupying was part of the inalienable public domain.

President Arroyo awarded the CELAs to 472 qualified farmer families who are beneficiaries of the government's socialized housing project in Bais City.

She was assisted by Presidential Spokesman and Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye, Department of Tourism Secretary Ace Durano, Governor George Arnaiz, and Bais City Mayor Hector Villanueva.

The awarding was in line with Presidential Proclamation No. 881 signed by the President on July 28, 2005 declaring a certain parcel of land of the public domain in Bais as civil reservation for socialized housing purposes.

The CELA will entitle the qualified families to occupy a portion of the area covered by Proclamation No. 881.

The Sangguniang Panlungsod of Bais had earlier passed Resolution No. 28 requesting the issuance of a Presidential Proclamation to declare the 156,587 square-meter Lot No. 734, which is in a public domain in the city, as site for the socialized housing project of the city government.

However, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Central Visayas, in its investigation, found that a portion of the requested area covering about 9,493 sq. m. fall within the alienable and disposable area.

The investigation by the environment department also revealed that some 69,785 sq. m. is within forestland for fishpond development and fully developed as fishpond.

Most of the area of about 156,587 sq. m., is also within forestland for fishpond development is, however, already developed as residential area with concrete houses, road network and other infrastructure facilities established by the local government unit, including a barangay hall and other structures.

Nine years later, the Bais government again passed Resolution No. 2002-35 on February 14, 2002 reiterating its request for the issuance of the said proclamation as the number of informal settler families in the said area have grown to around 670 families.

With this, DENR, through then Environment Secretary Michael Defensor, endorsed the Proclamation, subject to some colatillas.

The Local Inter-Agency Committee is conducting a structural survey to determine the specific area per beneficiary and will also serve as basis to determine the rental price (usufructuary scheme) of the property per beneficiary. Meanwhile, the President also inspected the P120-million Bais City Public Market and the P550,000 Free Ozonized Drinking Water Depot/Station 2 and Distribution Center, two of the top government projects in Bais.

After her brief stop in Bais, the President visited Teletech Center and the Negros Oriental Provincial Convention Center in Dumaguete City where she formally opened the 2nd International Rondalla Festival dubbed as "Cuerdas sa Panaghiusa" or Strings of Unity at 4:45 p.m.*RG

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