The Leyte One Stop Shop

Philippines-Australia Land Administration and Management Project –Phase II. A Model in Land Transaction Services and Records Management. On the 11 March 2008, AusAID representatives were accompanied by the Team Leader Ian Lloyd to the LAMP II project site in Leyte province. This visit provided the donors with a lasting impression on the commendable achievements of the project in the management and operations of the One-Stop Shop as well as in the field titling operations involving community mobilization, systematic adjudication and land surveys. After a tentative start in 2005 the OSS Management Plan was done defining the OSS vision and mission statements along with its goals, objectives, and strategies.

The management plan was formulated through a series of consultative planning workshops that were participated in by the officers and planners of land administration agencies in Leyte province and the Eastern Visayas region. It provided the framework for the implementation of the OSS.

The OSS Vision and Mission provided the guiding star for the OSS proponents and implementers to aim high with persistence and determination to achieve in spite of the birth pains and organizational constraints in resources and unifying leadership commonly experienced in multi-agency institution-building programs. Today, after six years of operations, the fledgling OSS Front Desk originally attached to the Leyte Prototype Implementation Office under LAMP I evolved into an OSS functional organization manned by 26 personnel consisting of an OSS Manager, a Management Support and Front Desk Unit, and a Technical Support Unit that is mainly responsible for the establishment and maintenance of an automated land records management and information system.

The Leyte Registry of Deeds, the CENRO Land Management Services Palo office, and the Land surveys verification and approval staff of the DENR Regional Office Surveys unit continue operating their regular agency functions at the OSS while the Department of Agrarian R form and the Bureau of Internal Revenue posted a staff member to provide information to clients on agrarian reform and taxation queries. The front desk counter is the common entry point for walk-in and calling clients requesting land transaction and information services from the OSS operating agencies. The volume of land transactions served through the OSS front desk continue to register an increasing trend starting from 172 transactions in July-Sept 2002 to 1,504 transactions in Oct-Dec 2007. The increase in annual volume from a small number of 371 transactions in year 2002 reached a staggering volume of 15,995 transactions in year 2007 (See Bar Chart, Volume of OSS Transactions). In terms of government revenues generated from transaction fees and charges, Registry of Deeds collections from 2002 to 2007 increased by 281%; while CENRO collections from 2003 to 2007 increased by 308%. The minimum service standards developed and agreed in consultation with the employees manning the processing units improved the efficiency in overall service delivery. In 2007, Registry of Deeds land registration/ certification and CENRO certification transactions served within the 3-hour minimum time duration increased by 15%. Transactions completed within 3 days reduced by 9% from an average of 25% to 16% in the same period.

Likewise, transactions that occur in more than 3 days also reduced by 9%, from an average of 15% to 8%. On records management, a continuing inventory and retrieval of land records from different agency sources gradually organized and set up a land records filing and storage system. The collection facilitated manual verification and research of land records and information inquiries, which include lot data computation records, cadastral maps, public land applications, list of claimants, and land titles and documents. An intensive and continuing data capture program of land records gradually increased the volume of encoded records towards the establishment of an automated and integrated land records database. At resent, Registry of Deeds office personnel are busy in an electronic titles data capture program to fast track encoding of an estimated number of 180,000 titles. On mapping operations, the continuing preparation of Consolidated Cadastral Maps (CCM) is at pace to support the map requirements of field activities in community mobilization, surveys and systematic adjudication. CCMs had been completed in 17 municipalities or 40% of the province. Meanwhile, process reengineering mechanisms are undertaken to improve the establishment of a Digital Cadastral DataBase (DCDB) and thereby systematize map management and operations. Ultimately, the DCDB will serve as the basis for the development of a land information system that can generate a variety of land information spatial services and products that could be shared among government agencies, local government units and other stakeholders.

The development and establishment of the computerized OSS Land Administration and Management System (LAMS) for land records management and information services is in progress. The design of Phase 2 is nearing completion, which is intended to replicate LAMS to remote offices and synchronize the databases among offices. Phase 3 is on the design and development stage, intended to monitor and trace the flow of transactions, automate transaction processing where possible, and generate management reports, while maintaining the Register up-to-date and ensuring consistency with the approved surveys. The OSS is at the forefront and at the end of the LAMP mass titling program. The CCMs produced from the mapping operations provide the basic textual and spatial lot information necessary to commence field activities. At the other end is the registration and distribution of the titles to the claimant-beneficiaries by the Registry of Deeds. Last year 2007, a total number of 7,644 patents have all been registered, comprising95% of the 8,000 target patents for distribution to claimants.

Now, two years into the 5-year LAMP II project implementation a review and strategic planning exercise by the GOP together with the adviser team has identified a strengthened OSS. This will include improvements in land records management, information sharing and land transaction services not only to support mass titling but also to support the land market in high value urban areas. In addition, current OSS land transaction services have expanded beyond strengthening of land registration systems to a broader range of transaction services and comprehensive IT systems covering registration, survey and valuation to better meet the needs of local government, business as well as the public. It is expected the OSS will transform into a lands field office of the future Land Administration Authority when the proposed Land Administration Reform Act (LARA Bill) will be passed in Congress.

Provided by Pelagio Pastor