STATE auditors are prodding the Cotabato State University (CSU) to work double time on reinforcing its ownership over three parcels of land with a total area of 8.08 hectares covered only by 18 to 52-year-old deeds of donations instead of certificates of title.
In the 2023 audit report on CSU released last March 27, the audit team revealed that the “validity, valuation, and veracity of ownership” over the said properties could not be established in the absence of transfer certificates of title (TCTs) that would have proven “absolute and indefeasible” proprietorship.
The biggest among the properties in question was the eight-hectare piece now hosting the CSU Campus on Sinsuat Avenue, Cotabato City which was conveyed to the university through a deed of donation dated January 15, 1971.
The other two are a five-hectare tract and an 800-square meter lot located in the municipality of Parang, Maguindanao and covered by separate deeds of donation similarly dated September 15, 2005.
“The subject lands [were] donated to the University decades ago when it was still a state college. However, TCTs for the said lands were not registered under its name till now,” auditors pointed out.
In CSU’s Statement of Financial Position, the three properties were assigned a total valuation of P3.997 million representing their value at the time of donation.
The audit team reminded the CSU that the same valuation does not reflect the current fair market value of all three parcels of land hence the university’s land account is deemed “significantly” understated.
Under Presidential Decree No. 1445 or the Government Auditing Code of the Philippines, government agencies are required to ensure that properties are registered under their names to prevent having to defend against adverse claims.
“The registration does not only provide security to its ownership, it is also the operative act which gives the University the right to convey or affect the land in so far as a third person is concerned,” the Commission on Audit noted.
In its response to the audit observations, the CSU disclosed that the land in Parang, Maguindanao was donated with an attached condition that “the school would develop the land,” something that it failed to comply with despite the passage of 18 years.
It likewise informed the COA that “the Donor is contemplating revoking the donation” but officials of the university have set up a meeting where they submitted a draft regarding incoming projects on the same property.
As regards the lot hosting the CSU campus, university officials told the audit team that the donor was the former province of Cotabato which was dissolved in November 1973 through Presidential Decree No. 341 and divided into the provinces of North Cotabato, Maguindanao, and Sultan Kudarat.
The title over the eight-hectare lot remained under the name of the old province.
However, the CSU assured the COA that it has already designated an officer to supervise efforts to have the properties registered and titled under its name.
Auditors recommended that the university need to have all three properties assessed to determine their current fair market values.