Mayor Benjamin Magalong has directed the reconstitution of the City Land Needs Identification Committee (CLNIC) in a bid to expedite the identification and titling of lands for city and village needs.

Executive Order 1012022 signed recently states that the CLNIC will be headed by the mayor with the city administrator as co-chairman.

Members are the chairman of the city council committee on urban planning, lands and housing; city planning and development coordinator; city engineer; city assessor; city general services officer; Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Cordillera assistant regional director for technical services; city environment and natural resources officer (Cenro); and Department of Public Works and Highways Baguio City District Engineering Office district engineer, among others.

In the order, Magalong noted that various lands had been identified by the city government and there is a need to fast-track their delineation to be utilized for the general welfare of the public.

Earlier, city officials said they are adopting a more aggressive stance in having government lots and those identified for city and public needs titled under its name to avoid losing these to land speculators and to apply the correct measurements of roads and alleys for crucial purposes such as disaster and other emergency responses.

City Administrator Bonifacio de la Peña said the revival of the CLNIC will help speed up the titling program, which at present is hampered by the tedious process involved.

He also said the city had enlisted the help of the Cenro, which committed to facilitate the survey of 96 government lots for one year even as the city for its part also conducts surveys of other pieces of government real property to identify the technical descriptions of the lots that is a requirement in the titling process.