MEMORANDUM

FOR

:OIC, Assistant Secretary for Legal Services

FROM:The Director

SUBJECT:Review of the Proposed Deed of Usufruct By and Between the City Government of Tagum, Davao del Norte and The Ecosystem Research and Development Bureau (ERDB)-Mining and Degraded Areas Rehabilitation Research Center (MDARRC) DATE

:

This refers your Memorandum dated 08 May 2015 regarding the above subject.

Records reveal that the ERDB-MDARRC requested a parcel of lot covering 3000 square meters at the Energy Park in Tagum City to establish and construct the MDARRC Office building and the Forest Tree Seed Center. The City Mayor, Hon. Allan L. Rellon, DPA through the Office of the City ENR, Engr. Elias Ragos, afforded the request through the proposed Deed of Usufruct with perpetual use.

This office respectfully submits that a Deed/Contract of Usufruct is inappropriate under the circumstances. A Local Government Unit (LGU) is not the owner of the subject public land but rather the State. LGUs are mere administrator of the public land. Hence, The City Government of Tagum is not the proper party to enter in a Contract of Usufruct. Be that as it may, as a matter of public policy, the State, in the disposition of public land does not enter into a deed of usufruct with LGUs or any of its agency, but rather it is done through a proclamation.

In this case, Proclamation No. 1748 designates the City Government of Tagum as the administrator of the subject land, and as such, it may enter into a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the ERDB for the use thereof.

In view of the foregoing, this office recommends that a Memorandum of Agreement between the City Government of Tagum and ERDB should be executed in lieu of the Deed of Usufruct.

For information and further instruction.RICARDO L. CALDERON, CESO III