1 week Ago By Rappler.com
MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is at a standstill in its efforts to collect millions in unpaid foreshore leases from the Oroquieta City government while a court weighs in on a foreshore land ownership dispute it has with the local government. A ruling this week from the Commission on Audit (COA) halted DENR’s claims of over P2.436 million in back rents.
The DENR-Northern Mindanao’s petition hinges on seven foreshore lease agreements signed in 2003, granting the city government authority to use foreshore areas across several barangays. City hall, however, ceased payments after the first year, leading to years of accumulating debt, now calculated by the City Environment and Natural Resources Office at over P2.437 million.
The legal impasse leaves the foreshore areas – and the funds at stake – in a limbo, awaiting judicial clarification on who truly owns the areas in question. COA Chairperson Gamaliel Cordoba, along with Commissioners Roland Pondoc and Mario Lipana, said the DENR’s claim came prematurely, citing a declaratory relief petition pending before the Oroquieta City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 12. “This Commission dismisses the petition for being premature pending the resolution of the petition for declaratory relief.
This claim is prematurely filed and not yet ripe for adjudication by this Commission,” read part of the COA ruling. At the center of the issue lies a legal debate over whether the foreshore areas fall under DENR’s domain or if they were ceded to Oroquieta based on Republic Act 5518, the city’s charter. The foreshore lease contracts, signed on January 31, 2003, covers a foreshore area in barangays Poblacion, Poblacion II Lower Loboc, Tabuc Norte and Sur, Canubay, San Vicente Bajo, and Mobod.
Based on the agreements, the city government was supposed to pay an annual rent during a 25-year period. The DENR’s civil case seeks clarity on whether the 1969 legislation, which vests ownership of public lands in Oroquieta City, extends to foreshore areas. The outcome of the case is crucial for the DENR, whose claim was filed with COA in 2021 to compel the local government to fulfill its lease obligations.
Oroquieta officials have argued that the RTC ruling on ownership will have to be made first before the contracts become enforceable. For now, COA has dismissed the petition, concluding that any adjudication on DENR’s claims remains “premature pending the resolution” of the court’s decision on ownership. “Apparently, there is an issue as to the ownership of the foreshore area which is already subject of a pending petition for declaratory relief before the RTC-Branch 12.
Thus, it is appropriate for the declaratory relief to be resolved first for a judicial determination on the issue of ownership over the foreshore area,” the COA stated. – Rappler.com.
