Councilor Leandro Yangot, Jr. eyes for the titling of the lots used by 77 of the 128 barangays and 38 public schools titled under them.

These are public lands and have been used by barangays for their halls, day care center or health centers, while for the schools, these are where the school the school building are built on.

In a public forum held recently at the Benguet Electric Cooperatives Dumol Hall between the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, barangay leaders and the City Schools Office, Yangot, the chair of the city council public land committee said that there is now a chance to have such realized.

“I am confident that these barangays and schools that are yet considered ‘illegal settlers” on the lot where their halls and school building stand can be titled,” he said.

He said about 68 percent of the city barangays need to have full ownership on the lot where their barangay hall stand. In some barangays, village markets, parks, day care and health centers are practically “squatters” as the ownership of the lots have yet to be perfected.

Among these barangays are the city’s biggest in population like Irisan, Asin, Camp 7, Loakan Proper and Bakakeng Central and Norte.

Among the public schools that need to perfect their claim are the Irisan National High School and adjacent Quirino Elementary School, Bonifacio Elementary School and Guisad Valley National High School, Rizal Elementary and National High School as well as Aguinaldo, Quezon and Manuel Roxas Elementary Schools.

The recently occupied Baguio City National Science High School in Irisan faces also the same problem.

Yangot said that his return to the city council last July 1 and eventual election to the land use chairmanship could end the problem faced by both barangays and schools.

“There was a fund allocated for the perfection of the titles of the lots but have not been used during the three years I was out of office. The money was allocated during my last term that ended in 2019,” said Yangot.

He said that surveys can now be done on the said lots that need titling and which will be charged from said funds.

Yangot, a certified real estate broker, served his second run from 2010 until 2019. He returned to the city council after garnering the fifth highest votes last May. Pigeon Lobien