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DETERMINATION OF ACTUAL AREA OF FOREST AND

ALIENABLE LAND IN THE MUNICIPALITY OF


MACO: A BASIS OF GIS MODELLING

____________________

A Research Proposal Presented to the Administration


and Faculty of the Civil Engineering Program,
St. Mary’s College of Tagum, Inc.
Tagum City

____________________

In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the


Degree of Bachelor of Science
in Civil Engineering

by

TRINA MARIE B. LOGROÑO


ANA GEAN E. FAJARDO
KLYDE G. DE JESUS
KRISTIAN MIGUEL G. MANTE
KENNETH JAMES PUYAT
HECTOR F. DOTOLLO

August 2018
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page

TITLE PAGE i

TABLE OF CONTENTS ii

LIST OF FIGURES iii

CHAPTER 1

THE PROBLEM AND ITS SETTING

Background of the Study 1

Objectives of the Study 5

Review of Related Literature and Studies 6

Conceptual Paradigm of the Study 15

Significance of the Study 18

Definition of Terms 20

References 22
LIST OF FIGURES

Figure Page

1.1 The Conceptual Model of the Study 17


CHAPTER 1

THE PROBLEM AND ITS SETTING

Background of the Study

As one of the tropical regions, Philippines, all land areas of public

domains otherwise known as forestlands is possessed by the state. Alienable

and disposable lands refers to those lands being available to the public and

which have been subjected to the present system of categorizing and assert

land which is not included in forest purposes. The Philippines history of

land used from the sixteenth century to the present day is define as basis of

existing statistics, inventories, and other research on land use. Even though

it is hard to get a reliable data on the changes of historical land use, it is

obvious that major land use are in progression. The population growth and

the increased economic opportunities have stimulated on the conversion of

forest land to other uses. It is notable that the conversion of forest to an

agricultural purposes frighten in the eighteenth century when the

Philippines was multicultural into the world of economy. In this century,

forest cover has consecutively decline while the areas thorough agriculture

and expansive land use have continued to increase. This configuration of

the governmental ownerships was inherited before by the former colonial


states. Since that the state is independent, it enable’s to manage works on

colonial legal systems of forest lands in order to convert forest resources to

national interest’s purposes. (Lynch and Talbott 1995). In addition, those

alienable lands will have been subject to which lands are capable for

transferring to another, as per stated on the law of state.

As resonated in the Government of Indonesia (GOI), a number of

community forestry schemes have trialed, ranging from collaborative

management to long-term forest management rights handed to local

communities, and implements them in state forest land. It aims to identify,

analyze and address key constraints of rural communities in exercising their

rights which are considered as key factors to improve their livelihood and

alleviate rural poverty. Those coupled by the limited capacity as technical

assistance rarely provided by government institutions appear to impede

local people to secure better livelihood (Imai, Furukawa, Kitamura, Tsujino,

&Yumoto, 2018)

In the Philippines particularly in Manila, Reyes (2018, Philippine

News Agency) stressed that possession of alienable, disposable land can be

reckoned from 1943. Republic v. Naguit [409 Phil. 405] involves the similar

question. In that case, this court clarified that Section 14 (1) of the Property

Registration Decree should be interpreted to include possession before the


declaration of the land’s alienability as long as at the time of the application

for registration, the land have already been declared part of the alienable

and disposable agricultural public lands. This court also emphasized in that

case the absurdity that would result in interpreting Section 14(1) as

requiring that the alienability of public land should have already been

established by June 12, 1945.

In similar, the Proclamation 1064 for Boracay Island delineates 628.96

hectares ( 60.94 % ) of the 1,032-hectare island as alienable and disposable

land ( A and D) while, the other 403.04 hectares (39.06 % ) has been declared

Timber land or Forest land. In which, would form part of the area reserved

for forestland protection purposes. Since, SPR Boracay takes the authority

to list the properties on which land can be transferrable to others that

eventually avoid listing land and improvement which locate the Forest

Areas. As for Land Basis for Alienable and Disposable Property: a principal

constituent for Boracay Island investors for those land that are without

structures yet, it is essential that the land is under the Alienable and

Disposable Zone. Otherwise, the investors cannot apply any paper for

building permit but by the SPR, it is can possibly further do get an Alienable

and Disposable Certification (A and D Cert.) from the Department of

Environmental and Natural Resources (DENR).


Within the context of local setting, the municipality of Maco have

their existing tax mapping up to 2009 thus need to be upgraded for the 2018

new tax revision since there is now an increase of population and expansion

of economic opportunities. That affects the actual percentage of the land

resource and cadastral survey profile of Maco; updated land area of those

lands from ancestral domain converted into alienable land are already given

from the Municipal Office in Maco only that they need to have the actual

percentage of Alienable and Forest Land to see the changes from 2009 as a

basis of their tax revision using GIS modelling. On the process of updating

the land use, there will always be a gathering of land area data from all the

37 barangay of Maco, since data are available in the Municipal Office in

Maco it is now useful for getting their 2018 tax revision. The tax being

foreseen will be a great use in the Local Government of Maco for expanding

their development residential, industrial, commercial and agricultural.

This research will determine lands resulted in a perception that will

answer issues. Where there should be a survey, inventory and classification

of the land use. In accordance with the Local Government Code of 1991 (

Republic Act 7160) Title II, Real Property Taxation, the Office of the City

Assessor is mandated to appraise and assess all real properties whether

taxable or exempt on the basis of its actual use. It is in the context that the
researchers are interested to determine the actual area of forest and alienable

land in the Municipality of Maco using Geographical Information System

(GIS), as this study can shed light to the beneficiaries of this study and

possibly create a strategic and efficient way to develop these lands for the

purpose of economic and management resources. The urgency to conduct

the study by the researchers is necessary.

Objectives of the Study

This study will be conducted to produce a Geographical Information

System (GIS) as a basis for the revision of the taxes according to the latest

data gathered by the researchers to the personnel of Municipality of Maco,

the study will be conducted to seek answers to the following objectives:

1. To collect the land use data of all 37 barangay in the Municipality

of Maco to the following agencies: Land Management Bureau

(LMB), Department of Environment and Natural Resources

(DENR) and Municipal Planning Development Office (MPDO) in

Municipality of Maco;

2. To classify the alienable land based on their land use;

3. To determine the exact percentage on the Land Resource and

Cadastral Survey Profile in the Municipality of Maco;


4. To generate a GIS – based map portraying the alienable and virgin

forest;

5. To provide an Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) page to

access the GIS information of the proposed study and the

Municipality of Maco;

Review of Related Literature and Studies

This section present the theories, facts, concepts, assumptions, views,

information and readings related to Geographic Information System (GIS)

as basis for determining Actual Area of Forest and Alienable Land. While

Philippines have limited land resources, being an island-archipelago, much

of the country’s land mass remains undeveloped and still legally classified

as forestland. Those that have been developed were alienable and

disposable land, which were either utilized for food production or for

human settlement. The related literature and studies that will be stated will

help in understanding the nature of the problem and finding the solution

for it.

Geographic Information System

GIS technologies are mapping tools used to create digital

representations of key demographic variables according to desired

geographic areas. A GIS is an organized collection of computer hardware,


software, geographic data, and personnel designed to efficiently capture,

store, update, manipulate, analyze, and display all forms of geographically

referenced information (ESRI, 1992 as cited by Felke, 2015). These

technologies allow the user to join quantitative data that includes a

geographic reference with digital maps in order to display the data in a

defined geographic space. The majority of descriptive data collected,

maintained, and utilized in social work practice is geographically referenced

information. This information provides details as to what may exist near, or

even at, a specific location depending upon the level of spatial data. Spatial

data, or digital representations of physical geography, are produced in

several levels. These include but are not limited to state boundaries, city or

town boundaries, zip code areas, census tracts, block groups, and streets

(Felke, 2015).

Moreover, Felke (2015) stated the following example illustrates the

connection between descriptive and spatial data: When a social service

agency collects a client’s mailing address during an intake meeting, this data

potentially contains several geographic references: the state, town, zip code,

and street address where the client resides. Using a GIS, one can use

descriptive data in combination with spatial data to create digital maps that

symbolize what lies where. Further, the technologies provide tools for
analyzing the geographically referenced data to identify patterns,

understand spatial relationships, and detect trends.

According to ESRI (2013), the simplest explanation is that GIS is the

merging of cartography and GIS database technologies. GIS systems are

used in cartography, remote sensing, surveying, management utilities,

photogrammetry, geography, urban planning, management of emergencies,

navigation and localized search engines. GIS applications are tools that

allow the user to make interactive queries (user request), analyze spatial

information, edit data, maps, and present the results of all these operations.

Geographic information science is the science which is basically geographic

concepts, applications and systems, studied and validated at various

universities.

For the application of GIS it is necessary a map which displays the

data. Site map should be of the highest quality, and for the quality map it is

believed that is the map which is exact placed in the exact geographical

coordinates. Coordinate Reference System (CRS) can be explained as a

coordinate system that is associated with the Earth with geodetic date

(Electronic Encyclopedia, 2014). In the same way, CRS can be geodetic

coordinate system where the positions are defined by geographic longitude

and latitude. In the most cases, is using of the projected coordinate system
where the coordinates are transferred to the plane using the Map

projections. Within one country can be a number of different coordinate

systems (NGO, MG17, GK6, UTM34) in use (Electronic Encyclopedia, 2014).

Pavlovic (2016) concluded in his study that in the Republic of Serbian

WGS84 -UTM zone 34 coordinate reference system is using. The definition

of the geographic coordinate system is practically reduced to definition of

the two mathematical models. The first is a mathematical model of the

Earth's sphere or its part that we are trying to represent by mapping. This

mathematical model (with particular reference point on the sphere) in geo-

science and so space industry is called a date. Given that the main task in

creating maps is that the image of a terrain with curved surfaces set on the

plane, it is not enough just to have a model of the Earth. The second

mathematical model that is directly responsible for this "setting on the

plane" is called projection. There are a huge number of dates and projections

in use. Practically every country in the world has its own date and

projection, and some of the countries have several dozen. Traditional GIS

packages are programs that work with maps in vector format.

In addition, they have the above-mentioned geographic coordinate

system through which the position of certain objects on the map associated

with their actual position. This feature of GIS system is called


georeferencing and is the essence of the GIS idea. Without georeferencing,

GIS systems would be kept to a regular (electronic) map, not much more

useful than their "paper ancestors” (Baros&Stanovic, 2015). If using the

whole maps, all of data on the map (coordinates, date created, projection,

with maps etc.), are later used in the process of georeferencing. Given that

the geographical data in a GIS are geographically oriented and defined by

geographic coordinates, it is necessary to present a data by thematic layers.

In the same way to geo-referencing, as well as in any other

information system, the most important feature of GIS systems is, of course

a database. The ability of GIS to manage a database, to complement and to

searches database by using vector maps, objects on that maps or simply

based on the given coordinates is actually a basic measure of its

functionality (Nevetic, 2015).

Forest and Alienable Land

As Earle (2017) analyzed, using ethnographic and archeological

evidence in the absence of written records, identifiable property goes back

40,000 years. Villages were the dominant landholding units in both the Old

and New Worlds. After 10,000 BCE, population growth, intensification of

land use, and more settled lives heightened territoriality and needs to

defend valuable lands against outsiders.


Further, he writes that property in land, a local group held by

cooperative defense the inalienable rights inherited through group

membership. As resource use intensified, households that improved land

and houses retained some right of personal property, but without the rights

to transfer except through inheritance. Land rights were, however, regularly

alienated by conquest, whereby a group and its chief asserted direct control

by seizure (Earle, 2017).

In the turn of the 20th century, mitigation against rampant

involuntary losses of unrecorded property focused either on welfarism to

support the landless, homeless, unemployed, and amassing urban poor in

industrialized nations, or upon redistribution of productive farmlands in

50+ agrarian economies (Lipton, 2012).

Post-war liberation of colonial polities generally failed to liberate

these from European definitions of property; many new administrations

promptly vested their entire land area in the state in the name of

nationalism. Communities with unfarmed lands were most affected, these

widely declared as public properties controlled by governments. Whether

ideology was communist, socialist, nationalist, or capitalist, a dominant

shared strategy in the 20th century was that community-based tenure (or

customary tenure as usually known) must be extinguished in the interests


of progress, along with feudal or neo-feudal tenure where this existed

(especially in Asia and Latin America). Extinction of community tenure was

advanced either through individualization and market-led concentration of

ownership, or by the mass reconstruction of rural land use in state-run

collectives on national lands (Alden, 2012; Devendra& Sharma, 2009).

As observed in the Philippines, De los Reyes (2016) in his End of Term

Report as Secretary of the Department of Agrarian Refom (DAR) discussed

the problem of having many agencies responsible for land administration

and management. Three agencies distribute land namely, the DAR,

Department of Environment and Natural Resource (DENR) and the

National Commission for Indigenous People (NCIP). Overlapping land

grants have been issued to respective beneficiaries. The Land Management

Service (LMS) of DENR verifies and approves both original surveys and

subdivision surveys while the Land Registration Authority (LRA) under the

Department of Justice (DOJ) also approves subdivision surveys. However,

no single government agency maintains complete records of all

landholdings.

It was during the transition from Marcos regime to the Aquino

administration that tenure policies involving public lands became anchored

on social justice and equity. After the EDSA people power revolution in
1986, Executive Order (EO) 192 was promulgated mandating the

Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) as the primary

government agency responsible for the conservation, management,

development and proper use of the country’s environment and natural

resources, specifically forest and grazing lands, mineral resources, including

those in reservation and watershed areas, and lands of the public domain.

At that time, DENR’s tasks already included the distribution of A&D public

lands (A&D) through patents, and the issuance of leasehold agreements as

decreed by the Public Land Act of 1936. However, EO 192 emphasized the

principle of “equitable access” in the management of the country’s natural

resources – as part of state policy and in accordance with the 1987

Constitution (Esplana&Quizon, 2017).

To synthesize, Geographic Information System (GIS) are mapping

tools used to create digital representations of key demographic variables

according to the geographic areas. It is an organized, built-in software and

hardware device wherein data is being captured, stored and retrieved for

the panoramic representation of the land features. It also analyzes the

particular features of land in such a way that the analysis paved its way to

develop and give certain mapping of the land.


More so, in using GIS, one can use descriptive data in combination

with spatial data to create digital maps that symbolize what lies where. This

technology provides tool for analyzing the geographically surveyed land to

be used for development, site improvement and the like.

The foregoing presentation and discussion of various literatures that will

help bring into focus the importance on the actual area of forest and

alienable land using Geographic Information System. The literature

presented will also help the researchers realize that the Geographic

Information System have a great influence on the actual forest area and

alienable land in the Municipality of Maco.

Conceptual Paradigm of the Study

The main objective of this study is to identify the Geographic

Information System (GIS) based map portraying the forest and alienable

land in Maco as basis for the tax revision, determinant for the analysis of

actual land. This framework sets a clearer vision in understanding and how

the GIS contribute to the alienable land towards the utilization of the said

land. The whole process of this research will be understood from the given

diagram.
First, the researchers will collect data to all 37 barangay in the Land

Management Bureau (LMB) and Department of Environment and Natural

Resources (DENR) to conduct the study. The Municipality of Maco was

chosen to be the setting of the study since most of the lands are viable for

the study;

Second, the researchers will identify and evaluate the land used;

Third, the researchers will give an updated data to the offices in

charge. The Municipal Assessor’s Office and the Municipal Planning and

Development Office of Maco will be the primary source of the data relative

to this study;

Fourth, interpretation of the results of the gathered data by producing

GIS-based maps of the determined area and its percentage; and

The fifth step will be an in-depth analysis of the gathered data

through the result of the applied statistical tools appropriate in the study.

This will ensure reliability and validity.


Collecting Data to the Agencies in all
Barangays in Maco

To classify its land use

Update the land use percentage of forest


converted into an alienable land from year
2009 to 2017
Generate GIS Model

Provide HMTL

Figure 1. The Conceptual Paradigm of the Study

Significance of the Study

This study will be significant and beneficial to the Municipality of

Maco. Also, this research will be of big help for the enhancement of the

following:

National and Local Government. The data obtained in this study will

be used by the national agency that is responsible for the land development

within the jurisdiction of their concern. The result of this study will allocate
and help them identifying and classifying the land areas in the area on

which land is preferable for sustenance and development.

Municipality of Maco. The result of this study will enable the

Municipality of Maco to easily locate and develop the areas that will benefit

the municipality in terms of taxation and feasibility of the projects.

Community. This study will help the community to be aware with

regards to the land taxation and the plan of the government to develop,

improve, and utilize the alienable land.

Department of Public Works and Highways. This study will help the

department to devise plans to improve roads accessible to the alienable land

development. The outcome of this study will be used to help engineers

improve structures relative to their work.

Researchers. This study will help the researchers to open and evaluate

their broad knowledge about the study on alienable and forest land as a

basis for tax revision and may contribute to the local setting of Municipality

of Maco.

Future Investigators and Researchers. This study will be of help in

other related studies of particularly in geological study on a specific area

and tax mapping. It will also give ideas and knowledge on developing an

appropriate detail. Additionally, the data procure in this study, can be used
by the Municipality of Maco upon planning and evaluating the up to date

data on actual percentage of Alienable and Disposable Land and Forest

Lands.

Definition of Terms

For clarity and comprehensive understanding, the following terms

used in this research were conceptually and operationally defined.

Tax Map.It is a map prepared primarily for assessment purposes and

approved for use by State (Department of Taxation and Finance, 2016). In

this study, it is the identified tax in a certain barangay.


Land Reclassification. It is the subsequent classification, allocation

and disposition of lands of the public domain, classified as alienable and

disposable into specific uses.

Geographic Information System (GIS). A geographic information

system (GIS) is a system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze,

manage, and present spatial or geographic data (ESRI, 2011). In this study,

it is an instrument used to determine the land and forest to be developed.

Alienable Land. It refers to those lands of the public domain which

have been the subject of the present system of classification and declared as

not needed for forest purposes (Department of Environment and Natural

Resources, 2012).

Forest Land. It refers to those lands covered with forest or reserved

for the growth of forests, those ecosystems that have a tree crown density

(crown closure percentage) of 10% or more and are stocked with trees

capable of producing timber or other wood products. This includes land

from which trees have been removed to less than 10%, but which have not

been developed for other uses.


References

Councilor wants suspension of land titling in Gensan lifted. (2015, February


3). MINDANWES, Retrieved: July 13, 2018 from:
http://www.mindanews.com/top-stories/2015/02/councilor-
wants-suspension-of-land-titling-in-gensan-lifted/

House panel OKs bill declaring Kalayaan Islands Group ‘alienable,


disposable’ land. (2017, December 26). GMA News, Retrieved: July
13, 2018from:
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/637708/house-
panel-oks-bill-declaring-kalayaan-islands-group-alienable-
disposable-land/story/

Cebu backs DENR land-titling program. (2017, June 15). Business Minor,
Retrieved: July 13, 2018 from:https://businessmirror.com.ph/cebu-
backs-denr-land-titling-program/

House to declare Kalayaan islands as alienable and disposable for residents,


investors. (2017, December 26). Politiko Bicol. Retrieved: July 13, 2018
from: http://bicol.politics.com.ph/2017/12/26/house-declare-
kalayaan-islands-alienable-disposable-residents-investors/
Imai N, Furukawa T, Tsujino R, Kitamura S, Yumoto T. (2018, May
15).

Factors affecting forest area change in Southeast Asia during 1980-2010.


Krishna Prasad Vadrevu, University of Maryland at College Park,
UNITED STATES, Retrieved: July 13, 2018 from :https:/ /doi.org/
10.1371/ journal.pone . 0197391

Gerardo Reyes, Jr. (2018, may 29). DAR to consult stakeholders on Yulo King
Ranch land distribution. Philippines News Agency, Retrieved: July
13, 2018 from: http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1036769

Allen Blackman, Leonardo Corral, Eirivelthon Santos Lima, and Gregory P.


Asner, (2017, April 3). Titling indigenous communities protects
forests in the Peruvian Amazon, Retrieved: July 13, 2018 from:
http://www.pnas.org/content/114/16/4123

SPR Boracay Real Estate, (2018, April 12). Alienable & Disposable
Certification Real Estate Service, Retrieved: July 13, 2018 from
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Juan_Pulhin/publication/4
2762760_Tenure_Reform_and_Its_Impacts_in_the_Philippine_Forest
_Lands/links/0c96052665a4fc2a00000000/Tenure-Reform-and-Its-
Impacts-in-the-Philippine-Forest-Lands
Uitamo E. Land Use History of the Philippines. In: Palo M., Mery G. (eds)
Sustainable Forestry Challenges for Developing Countries (2017,
May). Environmental Science and Technology Library, vol 10.
Springer, Dordrecht. Retrieved: July 13, 2018 from
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Juan M. Pulhin. Reform and Its Impacts in the Philippine Forest Lands.
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