By NITZ ARANCON Correspondent SERIOUS questions hounded the acquisition of the Lapasan property that’s in the way of a multi-billion-peso coastal road project of the public works department as an official of the Environment Management Bureau (EMB) on Thursday said it could only be developed through a shore lease agreement. A property like that could not be given a land ownership title because it’s part of the sea, said Najer Abolias, assistant legal officer of the EMB in northern  Mindanao. “Dili man matitulohan nang dagat so ikaw nga proponent, mag-lease lang ka sa gobyerno. Mao nang magkuha ka ug shore lease agreement sa CDD,” said Abolias. CDD stands for the Conservation and Development Division, an office under the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). Abolias’s revelation came even as the Office of the Building Official (OBO) said it has no record that it gave the occupant of the Lapasan property, Barangay 33 chairman Conrad Lim, a building permit for the construction of a house on the coastal property. The property, a result of a reclamation, is standing in the way of a 20-year old four-lane coastal road project of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) that could not be completed because of a legal dispute. Local officials see the unfinished coastal road project as a solution to the worsening vehicular traffic problem in the city, particularly on CM Recto Avenue and its neighboring areas. Architect Ma. Concepcion Alcantara, OBO chief, said her office’s database shows no  building permit issued to Lim. But Alcantara said the database only covers records of building permits issuances from 2000 up to 2014. She said records before 2000 were still being encoded into the OBO database. The coastal road project begun with road clearing operations in 1997, and the actual construction has been going on since 2000. She said the process starts with an applicant complying with all other documentary requirements first before the OBO can issue a building permit. The requirements, she said, includes the submission of a copy of the land ownership title. “Usa lang kanang land title sa mga requirements before sa approval sa building permit,” Alcantara said. Other requirements include engineering, electrical, plumbing and mechanical plans. The EMB said the process of developing a reclamation site such as the Lapasan property is not a walk in the park. Abolias said that while such a property could not be given a title, its developer has to have a shore lease agreement first from the CDD-DENR. In the event that the applicant secures a shore lease agreement, he or she has to apply for an environmental compliance certificate (ECC) from the EMB if the property is one hectare. If less than a hectare, the applicant still needs to secure a certification of non-coverage (CNC) from EMB, according to Abolias. But Abolais stressed that neither the ECC nor the CNC is a permit. These documents, he said, are merely meant as “planning tools” to guide the proponent so that the environment would be protected. Abolais said the EMB would check with the CDD-DENR if Lim has a shore lease agreement or if the barangay chairman applied for an ECC of CNC. “Dugay ra man nang iyang development diha sa Lapasan pero atong ipasusi kon na-a bay iyang approved ECC, or shore lease agreement,” he said. The DPWH said it has brought the problem resulting from Lim’s development of the property to the attention of the Office of the Solicitor General. The Department’s spokesperson here, Vinah Jean Maghinay, said the Lapasan property would be subjected to expropriation proceedings, a legal recourse which city engineer Roland Pacuribot said cannot be legally done. Pacuribot earlier told the Gold Star Daily: “Walay iyang (Lim) reclamation permit, walay fencing permit, wala tanan... Dili man mahimo nga paliton sa gobyerno ang usa ka property nga walay permit ug wala tanan kay mahulog nga ang gobyerno nagpalit sa illegally acquired nga property.”