DAGUPAN CITY - A top official of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources said here that lands that were formed by means of accretion are generally for sale.

DENR Undersecretary for Public Concern Manuel Gerochi told newsmen that any qualified individual can apply to buy accreted lands, pointing out that there are specific rules to follow regarding this matter.

Gerochi represented Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Angelo Reyes as guest of honor and speaker during a program at the city plaza here commemorating the Disaster Preparedness and Consciousness Month.

Gerochi’s opinion could either be to the advantage or disadvantage of local government units that are now trying to recover accreted lands for illegal claimants and occupants, some of whom even succeeded in securing questionable tax declarations.

One is Dagupan City which formed a task force tasked with the duty of seeking to recover all public lands that may have been claimed or illegally occupied by private individuals, many of them, from affluent families.

“Tax declarations, whatever it is, will not ripen to ownership. That is just one evidence to claim (an accreted land). But that is not the absolute evidence,” Gerochi clarified.

Appraised of some 30 hectares of accreted lands in the shores of Bonuan Blue Beach by the Lingayen Gulf, Gerochi said, “if that is an accretion land, “that is for sale.”

He said the best that the holders of tax declarations can do is to apply and invoke their preferential rights over the area as provided for in a decision of the Supreme Court.

Each application would be investigated based on the rules and procedures and those who can apply may be the individuals who are already in possession of the accreted lands.

But he said the accreted lands cannot be sold outright, adding that these will be bid from among the qualified applicants. (PNA)