Question & AnswerQ&A (DENR ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER NO. 2010-17)
The basic policy is to accelerate land surveys throughout the country through effective and efficient adjudication and disposition of alienable and disposable lands of the public domain and other lands reserved or utilized by government agencies.
The objectives are to prescribe rules and regulations for efficient processing of survey returns, provide procedures supplementing existing IVAS methods, and provide procedures for reviewing GPS observations for lot surveys including transformation methods to PRS92 datum.
It covers Group Settlement/Townsite Subdivision Surveys, Public Land Surveys, Amendment Surveys, Private Land Surveys, Government Land Surveys (including Friar Land Estate, National Government, LGU lands), Conversion Surveys, and other land surveys intended for specific purposes.
An Amendment Survey covers untitled or undecreed properties by changing the number of lots without affecting the original technical descriptions of the boundary.
PRS92 is the modified Luzon datum used as the standard reference system for all surveys in the Philippines pursuant to EO No. 45, series of 1993, as amended by EO Nos. 321 and 280.
A GE is a licensed professional responsible for conducting surveys, preparing survey returns, and ensuring compliance with the standards and procedures for verification, validation, and approval of surveys as regulated by PRC and DENR.
Survey Returns are the collective documents submitted by a Geodetic Engineer as a result of a survey, including computations, reference data, maps, resulting plans, and supporting legal documents.
The workflow includes submission by GEs, preliminary examination, fee assessment and survey number assignment, digital projection on Land Information Map, verification of computations and GPS observations, cartography checks, final examination by section chief, review and recommendation by division chief, and approval by Regional Technical Director.
These include checking and evaluation of GPS survey returns according to relevant DOAs, verification of transformation accuracy and common points, and digital projection of survey returns on the proposed Land Information Map (LIM).
Documents include letter of transmittal, original drafting film plan, copy of latest tax declaration, original notarized field notes, GPS survey returns in digital format, PRS92 control map, survey notification letters, various computations, GE certificate, certificates of instrument registration, digital copies of survey returns, and certified certificate of title from the Register of Deeds.
Criteria include number and distribution of common points, accuracy of their positions, and the transformation technique adopted. A minimum of six well-distributed control points is recommended for reliable transformation parameters.
The Helmert's four-parameter linear conformal transformation and the Affine transformation are used, involving parameters for scale, rotation, translation, and shift to preserve shape and accurately convert coordinates.
Violations by a Geodetic Engineer or survey contractor can result in non-acceptance of survey returns for verification or approval, with further sanctions pursuant to Sections 73 to 80 of DAO 2007-29.
The Supervising Undersecretary, upon recommendation of the Director of the Land Management Bureau, can issue additional or supplementary regulations to ensure effective implementation of the guidelines.