Cebu City and Foundation for Economic Freedom signs MOA Advancing Residential Titling







Logo of FEF on the entrance wall of the new
Land Management Office of the Local Government of Cebu



FEF, Inc. PRESS RELEASE

May 10, 2011

Cebu City -– Mayor Mike Rama of Cebu City led the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement with Calixto Chikiamco, President of the Foundation for Economic Freedom, Inc. for the provision of technical assistance to strengthen the city’s Land Management Office.

Mayor Rama, through an executive order created the Land Management Office (“LMO”) last January 14, 2011. The LMO, with the full support of the City Council, was envisioned by the City Government as the office charged with managing land assets, land use, titling and other land related concerns of the local government. The LMO will coordinate with local agencies like the tax assessor, planning, housing and other development offices, and with national agencies like the Land Registration Authority and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources regarding issues of land titling, land use, land valuation, taxation, survey and housing.

The Foundation for Economic Freedom, together with its partner, The Asia Foundation and with support from the United States Agency for International Development, will provide technical assistance to the City of Cebu under its “Property Rights for Economic Progress” (PREP) Project.

The “Property Rights for Economic Progress” Project is a program that seeks to aid, assist and spur the establishment of land offices throughout the country to implement a multi-purpose cadastre. A multi-purpose cadastre refers to a parcel-based and up-to-date information system containing a record of interests in land and other attributes related to a parcel such as ownership or control of those interests, land development and other attributes ascribable to the particular parcel of land in relation to other parcels including physical (natural or man-made), phenomenal (natural or caused by man) legal and fiscal attributes.

The City of Cebu and FEF, sees that one of the  outcome of the Land Management Office is the creation of more titles without need of costly and long judicial adjudication. Instead the new titles will be issued administratively through the effective and systematic implementation of the Residential Free Patent Law (RA 10023). The said law authorizes the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to title previously untitled residential lands and untitled parcels of land used for public purposes such as barangay halls, schools, public parks and socialized housing among others.


Implementation Structure of the
"Property Rights for Economic Progress (PREP)" Project
Posted on the wall of the Cebu Land Management Office


With this initiative, Cebu City paves the way organizing land information in an LGU-managed multi-purpose cadastre.  It is expected that more robust title and land information in Cebu will lead to increased economic activity, reduce social conflicts and improve governance decision-making.

About the Foundation for Economic Freedom

The Foundation for Economic Freedom is a public advocacy organization dedicated to advancing the cause of economic and political liberty, good governance, secure and well-defined property rights, and market oriented reforms. It counts among its members former and present Cabinet secretaries and undersecretaries, leading figures in the academe, respected media personalities and opinion makers, and prominent members in the business and finance community.

Contact Information

The Foundation for Economic Freedom (FEF) is located at Room 303, Philippine Social Science Center (PSSC) Bldg., Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City with telefax (02) 4532375. Follow us at Facebook and Twitter (RPeconofreeedom). Join FEF in its blog at http://econfreerp.blogspot.com/ or email FEF for any query or clarification at fefphilippines@gmail.com.