Lawmaker: No school should squat on private property

MANILA, Philippines – A senior administration lawmaker has filed a bill at the House of Representatives that calls for the summary titling of public school buildings in favor of the Department of Education (DepEd), to prevent these institutions from squatting on private properties.

“Some of the school sites that were donated lack proper legal documentation of transfer of ownership to the DepEd which results to land disputes filed by some of the relatives of the donors,” Negros Occidental Rep. Alfredo Benitez noted.

He made this proposal through House Bill 4350 which declares DepEd – an agency under the executive department – as the prima facie owner of all unregistered qualified school sites all over the country.

“The enactment of this proposed policy shall resolve the problems on land disputes over school sites and more importantly allow school administrators to focus on the improvement and efficient delivery of quality education to their students instead,” Benitez said. 

The bill provides that all pending legal cases will be litigated under summary proceedings where the DepEd’s role is to “establish that the school site is untitled” and had in fact been used as school site for at least five years. 

DepEd is exempted from the payment of all related costs, fees and taxes to the national government and its other entities in its bid to acquire the title of real estate properties.  

Despite the availability of funds for school buildings, implementation of education infrastructure program has been delayed by various legal impediments resulting from questioned ownership of lands used as public school sites, Benitez noted.

The Commission on Audit has repeatedly called on DepEd to initiate attempts to conclude all legal impediments that have blocked the implementation of school building projects, such as the lack of land titles to school lands.

HB 4350 provides for the titling of public school sites that are not owned by government yet, as a way to ensure legal ownership by the DepEd.

On the other hand, it directs government to guarantee prompt payment of just compensation for the acquisition of real property where public school buildings and other educational infrastructure have been erected.