The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) has P73.5 billion worth of landholdings which do not have proper documentation to the prejudice of the government and exposure to counterclaims, the Commission on Audit (COA) said. In its 2022 audit report, COA said claims by other agencies on the untitled landholdings have resulted in “overstating the assets of the national government.” COA said that PPA’s 3.925 million square meters of land valued are not supported by Original/Transfer Certificate of Titles (OCTs/TCTs) showing ownership. It pointed out that the lack of OCTs and TCTs is violative of Section 39(2) of Presidential Decree No. 1445 which states that in the case of deeds to property purchased by any government agency, the COA is mandated to require a certificate of title entered in favor of the government or other evidence satisfactory to it that the title is in the government. It stressed that a certificate of title is the best form of evidence of land ownership, since it trumps other evidence of ownership such as tax declarations, real property tax receipts, and deeds of sale, among other documents. In the case of the PPA, COA said the agency’s lack of titles is to its disadvantage as other government agencies are also laying claim on its land. It cited the landholdings under Port Management Offices (PMO) of the National Capital Region with 1,456,740 square meters and valued at P41.521 billion and the 607,740 square meters port area property valued at P10.921 billion. "This is being claimed by the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) as its property and is recorded at P17.2 billion in its book of accounts, thus overstating the assets of the National Government as it is also recorded in the books of PPA," COA said. It also cited the parcels of land with a total area of 4,672.46 square meters covered under the South Harbor Expanded Port Zone (SHEPZ) with recorded book value of P166.589 million were also under dispute by the National Power Corporation (NPC). Thus, COA said, the absence of original and transfer certificates of titles exposes the land to counterclaim of ownership from third parties and renders the ownership of the land uncertain. It directed the PPA’s Property Management Division, Administrative Services Department, and Legal Services Department to expedite the submission of all necessary documentations to the concerned agency for the processing of the titles of the lands.