ILOILO CITY, Iloilo, Philippines (PNA) – The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Region 6 is urging landowners to avail of free land titling for their residential lots.

The free patent is mandated under Republic Act No. 10023 or the Residential Land Patent Act of 2010. Landowners occupying untitled lands for 10 years are eligible to avail of free titling. An applicants must be a Filipino citizen, has paid real estate taxes on his land parcel in a particular municipality or city, must have been an occupant of subject property for at least 10 years, and land applied for is alienable land not needed for public service or use.

For highly urbanized city, the area that could be applied for must not exceed 200 square meters, 500 square meters in other cities, 750 square meters in 1st class to 2nd class municipalities, and 1,000 square meters in 3rd class towns.

The law also provides that local government units may also apply for free patent for public land being used for public schools, municipal halls, public plazas or parks, and other government institutions for public use.

All interested applicant must submit their applications in any DENR field office for evaluation and assessment.

Meanwhile, DENR 6 Regional Executive Director Julian D. Amador has already directed all field offices to receive applications for free patents of residential lots and special free patents for school sites and other untitled sites of government infrastructure in Western Visayas.