BAGUIO CITY — Dreams of owning a Baguio vacation house could get you enmeshed in legal battles unless you evaluate first the legal document of brokers before handling them your first payment, warned the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) here.
At least two subdivision developers brought their innocent buyers into trouble for not following proper procedures in the development and sale of subdivision lots.
The Baguio housing and subdivision scam gained prominence after buyers complained of unfulfilled promises by developers, whom they found out do not even have the authority to sell by the HLURB.
A Baguio homeowners association allegedly hoodwinked the public into believing that it has a license to sell lots to informal settlers in the city. It reportedly even used a picture of City Mayor Braulio Yaranon and leaders of the developer in place of an authority to sell from the HLURB.
HLURB Regional Chief Rebecca Torres warned prospective lot buyers to ask developers if they have authority to sell before making a down payment. She wrote Yaranon last June warning the city government about the group’s misrepresentation.
Another developer also violated HLURB policies for selling lots without authority. The city government also accused the developer of selling lands that are not legally authenticated.
The developer also advertised the lots for sale in an act cited as illegal by the HLURB as it has no authority to sell emanating from the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB). The actual selling without government authority is another violation with a penalty of R10,000 per lot sold, Torres said.
The developer, an HLURB source said, applied but was not granted an authority to sell by the HLURB because it has no approved development permit from the local government where the landholding is located. The source said "there is nothing to sell without an approved development permit."
The issuance of development permit by the local chief executive is a devolved function of the HLURB to the local government as per RA 7160 or the Local Government Code. A Sangguniang Panlalawigan resolution approving the subdivision project is however needed before a mayor can issue the permit.
Mayor Braulio Yaranon announced last week that he did not and will not issue a development permit the developer. The City Council also did not pass any resolution approving the project, he said.
The subdivision lots do not even have approved subdivision plans, according to the Land Management Sector of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR-LMS).
Engineer Victor Cosalan, DENR regional technical director, said in a letter to HLURB on November 9, 2004 that "our office has not approved any subdivision plan" for the latter developer.
