DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 23 Apr) – Being the country’s largest city in terms of land area, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) will have to conduct a survey of Davao City’s political boundaries in several phases considering the magnitude of a boundary delineation project being considered by the city council.
This was the agency’s response to a statement of Councilor Bernard Al-ag, who said Tuesday that the council was considering institutionalizing the city’s political boundaries.
In the telephone interview Wednesday, DENR regional director Joselin Marcus Fragada said the project could align with the agency’s verification of its own maps scheduled next year.
Fragada said the DENR was willing to send out its personnel if the council made an official request.
However, the verification of boundaries would have to prioritize the local government units within the city that have boundary disputes.
Al-ag last Tuesday told reporters at the weekly Pulong-pulong ni Pulong media forum that there are too many boundary disputes among barangays because the laws that created the entities did not provide for a delineation of each boundary.
At the moment, barangays rely on tax maps for an arbitrary proof of their boundaries.
Mintal in the third district, for example, is in several boundary disputes with neighboring Bago Oshiro, Tacunan and even some barangays in the second district.
Al-ag said the disputes were also fanned by the rise of residential and industrial developments in the areas.
He said the DENR’s equipment like GPS could help solve the dispute.
However, Al-ag said the project would entail a huge investment.
Cost for the project would be shouldered by the city government.
According to Fragada, the city should identify the priority areas first before the project can begin.
Al-ag said the output of the delineation project would have to be an ordinance.
Davao City has 182 barangays.
