MAYOR Belen Fernandez has ordered an investigation into the rampant and indiscirminate issuance of tax declarations by the City Assessor’s Office even on portions of land near rivers that are already underwater and therefore form parts of  the public domain.

Fernandez expressed urgency on the matter saying Dagupeños may wake up one day soon to find out that all of the city’s rivers have already been appropriated and acquired  by private parties.

She cited the issuance of a tax declaration on December 9 last year in favor of Roberto Gonzales over a 34,472-square  meter area of the Calmay River where he built fish pens  and is now preparing to have it covered by a Torrens title.

However, City Legal Officer George Mejia said Gonzales may just be undertaking an  exercise in futility, citing a  Supreme Court decision in Lovina versus Moreno which  states in part: “Where the land sought to be registered forms part of the river. . . the decree states that  ‘rivers can not be registered under the land registration act’”.

Earlier, some 30 residents of Sitio Talaib in Barangay Calmay trooped to the mayor’s office last December 9 to report that they were being eased out by Gonzales from their areas claiming ownership of the area based on a tax declaration but he has no land title.

This case is similar to the more than 10,000 square meters of fish pens supposedly bought by former Barangay Pantal Captain Lilia Yasar, which is covered by a tax declaration in the name of Gonzales.

The fish pens of both Gonzales and Yasar were among those temporarily spared by the city government from demolition as they claim ownership using tax declarations issued by the City Assessors Office.

Mejia  said there may be several more individuals in Dagupan issued with similar  tax declarations over parts of   rivers,  thus the need to conduct a more thorough  investigation on the matter.

The mayor said she heard reports that after securing  a tax declaration,  Gonzales has reportedly began looking for a buyer of the property he was claiming.

DOCUMENTS

In response, City Assessor Alan Dale Zarate said he is standing firm on earlier claim that he issued the tax declaration after  Gonzales submitted all the pertinent  documents required by law.

The documents included a sketch plan  PSU (Public Survey Untitled) 127224  as far back as 1948  originally showing  that the property is untitled  and classified as alienable and disposable with one Benito Gonzales as the original claimant although he never succeeded in getting a title for it.

Over the years, the entire property has been reclaimed by nature as it went underwater and became  part of the water.

Mejia said he suspects that the city assessor did not undertake any inspection before issuing the tax declaration, otherwise he would have found the present status of the property.

Noting this, City Administrator Farah Decano said the property may really have been classified as alienable and disposable before but the subject land is now under water and the city assessor should have exercised more prudence  before issuing the tax declaration.

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