Las Piñas City officials asked the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) on Wednesday to reconvene an inter-agency committee to resolve a longstanding land dispute in Barangay BF International Village-CAA.
The 10-hectare government land, currently under the Air Transportation Office (ATO), is intended for about 5,000 families who have occupied the area for four decades.
Councilor Mark Anthony Santos said the problem had persisted since 1994, when a memorandum of agreement (MOA) among several government agencies, including the National Housing Authority (NHA) and the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, was signed but never fully implemented.
Santos said the MOA outlined a housing development scheme, the creation of a committee to oversee the project, and the allocation of funds and resources.
President Fidel Ramos issued Memorandum Order No. 233 in 1994, creating an inter-agency executive committee to address the housing needs of the families and identify potential land uses for development.
Santos said the inter-agency committee had sought ATO’s commitment to dispose of the property, but the agency wanted to preserve the vacant areas for its ground earth stations and other facilities.
The late Mayor Vergel Aguilar also established a local inter-agency committee to address the housing issue of the urban poor families on the ATO property.
