ACLC College Gensan

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Koronadal City (DENR XII/PIA 12) -- The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Region XII intends to process and issue a toal of 5,500 land patents under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) this year.

Regional Technical Director for Lands Sacaruddin L. Magarang announced this regional target during a meeting of CARP implementers last Koronadal City last week.

In response to this directive, Magarang called on the participants to speed up the processing of applications for land patents in order to accomplish the target in due time.

Land patents become land titles after registration with the Register of Deeds.

He is optimistic that the Land Management Sector can attain the targets.

"I strongly believe that we can accomplish our targets with the approval of some new survey plans, in addition to those old surveys which are now in the pipeline," Magarang said.

Director Edna Tabadora-Anda, DENR National CARP Coordinator, joined Magarang in urging the attendees to carry on the tradition of excellence in Region XII.

"For several years now, Region XII has been leading in terms of accomplishment of CARP targets. We are banking on you to deliver more than what is expected of you," Director Tabadora-Anda said.

Moreover, a total of 11,000 hectares was slated to be surveyed in Region XII until December 2010. The conduct of public land survey is a prerequisite activity to patent processing and issuance in order to generate potential lots.

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (PNA) – The provincial government of South Cotabato has intensified its taxation awareness and information campaign in the wake of its sluggish tax collection performance during the first five months of the year.

Provincial treasurer Elvira Rafael said they only collected some P61.4 million in real property taxes from January to May as nine of the province’s 10 municipalities failed to reach their target collections reportedly due to the onslaught of the long dry spell or El Nino Phenomenon during the period.

She said the province’s total collection output only represents 74.23 percent of its targeted collection for the period.

“Our records showed that there was a significant drop in our real property tax payments when the El Nino intensified last April,” Rafael said.

Based on the Statement of Targeted Real Property Tax Collection released by the Provincial Treasurer’s Office, only the municipal government of Tupi met its target after it collected a total of P6.04 million in real property taxes or a collection rating of 103.55 percent based on its targeted collection of P5.8 million.

T’boli town came in next with a collection rating of 92.28 percent followed by Surallah with 88.75 percent, Banga with 88.66 percent, Tampakan with 79.94 percent, Polomolok with 72.13 percent, Sto. Nino with 69.29 percent, Tantangan with 56.12 percent, Norala with 53.06 percent and Lake Sebu with 13.44 percent.

PLANS for more realty investments in Cebu are underway for a General Santos City-based corporation, as they penetrate the Visayan market.

“Aside from our current commercial buildings here in Cebu, we plan to develop housing because the housing sector in the province is quite bullish,” said Rodrigo Rivera Sr., chairman and chief executive officer of the RD Group of Companies.

Currently, the company has commercial buildings for lease in the province, including their main building in Banilad.

All its subsidiaries hold office there, except for banking, which has moved to the new Penbank branch on A.S. Fortuna.

“The regional headquarters for Penbank is strategically placed in our new branch to cater directly to our customers,” said Robert Cantoy, president of Penbank. Penbank A.S. Fortuna is the sixth branch in Cebu, with two others in Iloilo City composing the Visayas group.

RD has subsidiary companies in Cebu that are in real estate, pawnshops and banking, as well as outlets for their seafood products from General Santos.

These companies include RD Realty and Development Corp., RD Pawnshop, Penbank and RD Food Processing and Export Corp. (RDEX).

RDEX processes and trades export-grade shrimps, silver mackerel, skipjack, cobia and yellowfin tuna for export markets, but they also sell their products like canned products Dolly and Diana tuna to local markets through their stores in Cebu and Mindanao.

GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Aug. 24 (PNA) – South Cotabato officials are pushing for the promotion of various tourist attractions in Region 12, or Southwestern Mindanao, into a single package to help further build up the area's niche in the growing global tourism market.

South Cotabato Gov. Arthur Pingoy Jr. said he had initiated discussions with local government officials of the neighboring provinces of Sarangani, Sultan Kudarat and North Cotabato for the development of the area’s tourism areas into a single destination for both foreign and domestic tourists.

“Our tourism sectors will grow or develop faster if we make these available attractions and resources complement each other,” he said.

Pingoy said his proposal mainly intends to link up and develop into a single destination all the area’s tourism attractions, which includes the white sand beaches and diving areas of Sarangani, the eco-tourism areas of Mt. Matutum in Polomolok, T’boli and Lake Sebu in South Cotabato, Mt. Apo in North Cotabato and the famed caves of Senator Ninoy Aquino town in Sultan Kudarat.

These tourist attractions were declared several years ago by the Department of Tourism and the Regional Development Council of Region 12, or Southwestern Mindanao, as the region’s banner destinations and tourism development areas.