DENR adopts the Philippine Reference System of 1992 in its surveying and mapping activities

By PURIFICACION S. DALOOS
January 19, 2011

TACLOBAN CITY  –  Secretary Ramon Paje of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) issued a mandate to all DENR offices in the country to adopt the Philippine Reference System of 1992 (PRS 92) in all surveying and mapping activities of the DENR.

PRS 92 is a homogeneous network of geodetic control points, marked by survey monuments or mojons, established using the Global Positioning System.  It was established in 1989-1992 through an Australian assisted project of the DENR.  PRS 92 upgraded the old national geodetic network called Philippine Geodetic Network established by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1901 to 1946.

Pursuant to the mandates of the previous Presidents of the Philippines through Executive Order No. 45 series of 1993, as amended by EO 280 series of 2000 and E.O. No. 321 series of 2004, the PRS 92 became the standard reference system for all surveys and mapping activities in the country.

Effective January 2011, Secretary Paje ordered that all surveys, maps and plans being undertaken by the DENR from the Central down to its field offices, shall be compliant with PRS 92 as requirement for its approval.

Regional Executive Director Primitivo C. Galinato, Jr. disclosed that said order of Secretary Paje is a great help in land disposition and management.  “By adopting the PRS 92 system in all surveys and mapping activities of the DENR, it will solve the problem of creating apparent overlaps and gaps between adjoining parcels of land.  This will also standardize the mapping system in the country so that a particular point or space on the ground will have only one location in any official Philippine map.  I just wish that succeeding mandates shall be given to other mapping and surveying agencies like the Departments of Agrarian Reform, Public Works and Highways, Agriculture, National Irrigation Administration, among others, so that we can harmonize all our convergence activities”, Galinato quipped.

Regional Technical Director Ramon S. Unay of the Land Management Service of the DENR disclosed that the Land Management Service through its Field Network Survey Party is currently establishing Geodetic Control Points or “mojons” under the PRS 92 program.  “These mojons are being established in the barangays and towns all over the region.  These mojons serve as the standard reference points for all surveying and mapping activities.  Since these are all established in the barangays and towns, we call on the cooperation of the local government units, who are adopters of these mojons, to help the DENR in advocating the significance of these mojons and enjoin their respective constituents to protect and help preserve these mojons so that it can serve its purpose”, RTD Unay remarked.