By Zaldy Comanda  BAGUIO CITY – A total of 1,300 land applications for alienable and disposable lands were awarded to Baguio constitu­ents, and a total of 942 residential free patent applications were approved and awarded to actual occupants in the dif­ferent barangays in the city. City Councilor Edgar Avila said the city’s move was made on the marching orders of Mayor Mauricio Domogan to help settle the city’s land problems. Avila is chairman of the Committee on Urban Planning, Lands and Housing, Land Zon­ing Board of Adjustments and Appeals and City Land Needs and Identification of the Sangguniang Panglusod (SP). And to comply with these orders, Avila said he filed with the SP a proposal, that was later on adopted as an ordinance, that provides for a moratorium on demolition in public lands which have been occupied for at least 30 years. The ordinance also allows tax decla­rations to be the basis for the issuance of building permits. Ordinance 89-2018 also rationalizes the special nature of lands in Baguio City, where majority of its constituents were not given the opportunity to have the lands they have occupied to be titled under the present Torrens system. They have al­ways been threatened of being declared as illegal settlers, thus, violating the National Building Code of the Philippines. Oppositors, claimants, prospective buyers and speculators have repeatedly used a complaint for violation of such law or building without permit as a weapon to dispossess, harass, or even grab pos­session and ownership over their lands, according to Avila. The ordinance, which intends to pro­vide measures that limit the impact of the national law to the rights of the people, pro­vides that a person in actual and physical possession of a public land for 30 years or more may get a mayor’s status quo order upon the recommendation of the Urban Planning committee chairman, provided that a structure has been built therein and within such period, such person has declared the improvements there for taxation purposes with the Office of the Assessor. The City Building Official is also au­thorized to issue building permits to the applicant that possesses the mentioned qualifications. With the ordinance au­thored by Avila, the approval of an MSO suspends the effects of demolition order issue of the City Anti-squatting Group for 10 years to afford the applicant the last opportunity to perfect his or her claim, application, and/or award into a private right.