The municipal government of Bagamanoc has formally asked the Department of Education (DepEd) to return to the LGU part of the land it donated for the use of its elementary school.
During last week’s visit of Education Secretary Juan Edgardo Angara to the province, a delegation from the Sangguniang Bayan led by Vice Mayor Juan A. Velchez Jr. submitted to DepEd staff the letter-request signed by Mayor Vincent V. Villaluna.
In the letter, the chief executive expressed the LGU’s request to regain possession and rightful ownership of the unutilized portion of parcel of landh donated by the municipality to the then Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS) in 1990.
That year, DECS was in need of a lot for the establishment of a public school and the LGU stepped in to execute a Deed of Donation in favor of the department covering Lot No. 671 with an area of 47,528 square meters for the purpose.
During that time, Mayor Villaluna said, the seat of the municipal government was in a secure location but as the decades passed, frequent natural calamities such as typhoons and storm surges have exposed the existing municipal building to erosion.
“We are leaning strongly in favor of relocating the building due to the threat of such hazards,” the mayor stated, that it is now in dire need to acquire a suitable parcel of land.
He said that while majority of Lot 671 is now occupied by the Bagamanoc Central Elementary School (BCES), a certain portion of the land has remained idle for some time now.
“We have good reason to believe it was unutilized due to the good ratio of students to classrooms in said school,” he stressed.
The LGU is requesting that 10,000 square meters of the unutilized portion of Lot 671 be bestowed on the municipality for the establishment of a new municipal government center for the benefit of the community and other government offices and agencies performing their tasks within the town.