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Friday, March 11, 2005
A tug of war in Crown T
By Edwin G. Espejo
(The making of land titling scam)
IT HAS all the makings of an unparalleled scam involving hundreds of hectares of prime agri-industrial land and perhaps implicating several high-ranking bureaucrats in and now out of government.
It is virtually a powder keg ready to explode anytime and open a Pandora's Box of wide scale land frauds but only talked about in private by some of the city's real estate brokers and speculators.
This is Crown T., a 707.6266-hectare piece of property located in Barangay San Jose, just adjacent to where the General Santos City Airport is now located.
This property, leased to the Alcantara Development and Investment Corporation (Aldevinco), used to be a pasture lease area granted on August 31, 1954 to the late Magno Mateo Sr.
The area then covered more or less 1,000 hectares of what was Sitio Mabilis of Barrio Makar in the old Buayan town of the then undivided Cotabato province.
Succession of leaseholders
In 1960, Mateo executed a Deed of Assignment of the pasture lease area in favor of Tuazon Enterprises Incorporated.
As a result, Pasture Lease Agreement (PLA) No. 61 of Mateo was cancelled and PLA No. 1715 was issued in favor of the latter.
Tuazon Enterprises Incorporated's lease was supposed to expire in 1971 but it sold its rights and interests to Aldevinco in 1964, three years after it applied for an expansion of the leased area.
When Aldevinco took over and was issued PLA 2476, the whole pasture lease area already covered 1,466 hectares.
Aldevinco also bought lock, stock and barrel improvements and structures and existing cattle herds owned and developed by its predecessor.
Also in 1964, the then Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources (DANR) extended the lease agreement of Aldevinco to expire in 1975.
PLA 2476 was subsequently amended to extend the lease period for 25 years or up to June 1992.
In 1989, PLA 2476 was converted into a Forest Land Grazing Lease Agreement (FLGLA No. 546) that was also to expire in 1992.
From PLA to IFMA
On June 19, 1992, then President Corazon C. Aquino issued Proclamation No. 924, setting aside an area for the General Santos International Airport. The area is part of FLGA No. 546.
A year later, on July 30, 1993, Proclamation No. 219 was issued by President Fidel Ramos increasing the area covered by the airport from 266 hectares to 599.5 hectares.
Consequently, FLGA 546 was converted into Industrial Forestry Management Agreement (IFMA No. 21) in the same year.
Aldevinco's IFMA was subsequently amended twice
In October 1995, its area was reduced to 899 hectares, which was to expire in 2017, or 12 years from now.
Claims
In July 2003, however, Sarangani Agricultural Company Incorporated (SACI) manager Julian Montemayor received a letter from then community environment and natural resources officers (CENRO) Andrew Patrico informing him that an Original Certificate of Title (OCT) which "appeared to embrace the parcel of land covered" by Aldevinco's IFMA had been issued to a certain Pedro de Ramos.
(SACI is a sister company of Aldevinco, a Davao-based company owned by the Alcantara family)
This set off a flurry of communications, official and unofficial, requesting copies of documents and certificates of authentication.
Montemayor would later discover that five titles, all OCTs, were issued to Pedro de Ramos, Excelsea Lauron, Ralderico Confesor, Julita Confesor and Romeo Confesor.
The technical descriptions of each individual OCTs appeared to encompass the whole IFMA area of Aldevinco.
Alarmed, SACI administration manager Leo Cabalquinto, wrote lawyer Benjamin Bayan of the city register of deeds for authentic copies of the titles issued to the said persons.
He likewise made inquiries at the Cotabato, South Cotabato and the head offices of the Land Registration Administration to verify the existence and authenticity of the titles granted to the said claimants.
All his inquiries however yielded negative results and except for Romeo Confessor, who is reportedly in his 60's, Cabalquinto has never seen these purported "land owners."
In August 2003, Cotabato City acting deputy register of deeds Faisal Ungkakay replied in his letter to Cabalquinto that they have no record of OCT No. V-330 issued in the name of Pedro de Ramos.
Yet OCT V-330 was ostensibly registered by the then Land Registration Commission in the province of Cotabato on May 21, 1955.
Karl Lynn Perania of the South Cotabato Register of Deeds, on the other hand, told Cabalquinto in a letter dated August 27, 2003, that OCT No. V-330 in the name of Pedro de Ramos "was detached from our books and transferred to the city of General Santos way back in February 12, 1969. There are no other data available as to ownership, location, area, etc."
Ancestral domain claim
Before the OCTs surfaced sometime in 2003, the area was claimed by a certain Heria Nei Senugan Salarda in the late 90's as ancestral domain and filed a petition for titling.
Her claim was eventually denied by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in 2002 upon the opposition of Aldevinco and former General Santos City Mayor Adelbert Antonino.
What baffled Aldevinco management however is a special power of attorney executed by Salarda and given to Romeo Confesor for the latter to sell and received payments of a portion of land containing an area of 700 hectares located in Barangay Fatima adjacent to the airport.
That SPA was eventually revoked by Salarda herself in February 2000 with the vehement objection to the alleged plan of Confessor to sell the entire parcel of land.
Conflicting titles
A year later, Romeo Confesor filed a petition to cancel IFMA No. 21 and asked that the area be titled and awarded to him.
Why would Confessor ask DENR to issue him a title when OCT No. V-330 issued on May 21, 1955 was already awarded under his name?
Cabalquinto, upon receiving replies to his queries, suspects something is wrong with the titles that are in the possession of de Ramos, Confessor, et al.
For one, the five OCTs perfectly matched the technical description of the property covered by IFMA No. 21.
Aldevinco insiders also said they discovered that their leased area is covered by a survey known as PSU 117171 Amd. Conducted in February 16, 1950.
According to Montemayor, the said survey did not appear on the record of DENR.
He also suspects that the survey was antedated to make it appear that it was done in 1950.
What is more appalling, he added, is that the eastern boundary of Lot 3, PSU-117171 is the airport runway.
But the survey of the airport was only completed in 1993!
LRA findings
Upon receiving the letter from Patricio informing them of the existence of the said questioned titles, Cabalquinto filed an affidavit of adverse claims before the register of deeds of General Santos.
Lawyer Benjamin Bayan of the City Register of Deeds however refused to annotate the assailed titles because the prescriptive period has reportedly expired.
Instead, Bayan forwarded the titles and other documents in their possession to the Land Registration Administration (LRA) head office for verification and authentication.
This prompted the LRA to ask from Cabalquinto historical documents of the said case.
The LRA then crated a task force to investigate the said case.
In a report dated 13 February 2004, LRA Task Force Titulong Malinis investigator Homer Margate said microfilms of the said titles are non-existent in spite of a rubber stamp print at the back of subject titles according to the micrographics and computer division (MCD) of the said agency.
Former MCD chief Cynthia Ignacio, whose signature appeared in the records of the assessor's office of General Santos City, also denied issuing a certification that the "subject titles were included in their microfilm file dated June 11, 1998."
Current MCD chief Sen John Pastrana also said the "document is not authentic and did not come from our office."
Furthermore, Margate concluded that the titles in question are spurious.
He said the sale patent numbers that were the basis for the issuance of the assailed titles were nowhere near the disputed area!
Sales patents
Sales Patent No. V-1776, for instance, was issued on May 21, 1955 in favor of Domingo Gapate covering a nine-hectare lot located in Kiamba.
The said sales patent was the basis of the issuance of OCT No. V-328 to Romeo Confessor covering 1,420,039 square meters of land or 142 hectares.
Sales Patent No. V-1777 allegedly issued to Excelsia Lauron on April 25, 1956 covering 1,426,517 square meters or 142.65 hectares, on the other hand, was issued on June 10, 1955 in favor of Wlfredo Ferrares covering a parcel of land located in Guinga, Davao City involving 12.87 hectares.
Another case is OCT No. 330 reportedly issued to Pedro de Ramos on May 21, 1955 covering 1,420,039 square meters or 142 hectares.
The sales patent used for the titling of the case indicated that the property is located in Dapitan, Zamboanga del Norte and was issued on June 3, 1955 covering 18.87 hectares as per record of the Land Management Bureau.
The sales patent (Sales Patent No. V-1779) for OCT No. V-331 that was issued to Julita Confesor covering 1,411,485 square meters, was in fact, according to LMB, issued on May 20,1955 in favor of Jose Jaugan covering 2.6 hectares of land in Kidapawan, Cotabato.
Lastly, Sales Patent No. 1780 was issued on June 11, 1955 in favor of Ambrocio Ferido covering 13 hectares of land located in Tagum, Davao.
Clearly, these conflicting locations of the property indicated in the sales patent and the titles point to something more than just an anomaly.
Also, the alleged titleholders of the disputed property have failed to present corresponding tax declarations to prove that they are the real owners and actual occupants of the said land.
Second LRA report
When it became apparent that the titles will be questioned, Confessor came out with yet another title, OCT No. V-1344, this time covering the whole area.
The title bore the names of the five individual owners yet it was issued on the same day that each of the individual OCTs were given to the said persons.
The survey (Psu-120055), which form the basis of the issuance of the title, is however located in the City of San Pablo in Laguna and issued on December 28, 1950 in the name of Julita Ramos.
The discrepancy was the subject of the second LRA Task Force Titulong Malinis (TFTM) dated August 2, 2004.
To quote the report: "The implication, therefore, is that since the subject title duplicates the five earlier found by the TFTM to be spurious, this present title is likewise spurious considering that they have the same location, the same area and the same claimants."
TFTM also concluded that the area is still a public land which "at the moment is leased to Sarangani Agricultural Co., Inc. and its affiliate Alsons Development and Investment Corporation" through IFMA 21.
The survey used in the issuance of OCT No. V-1344 was again assailed by TFTM, as "there can be no two Psu-120055 approved and issued by the then Bureau of Lands director Jose P. Dans in 1949."
TFTM, in its recommendation, said the subject title "should be expunged from the files of the Registry of Deeds of General Santos and for the TFTM to take temporary custody of the same, not only to prevent its unlawful transaction, but for future evidentiary purposes as well."
TFTM also recommended that the case be forward to the National bureau of Investigation for investigation.
Once barren, now fully developed
Leo Cabalquinto said they have been occupying the said property ever since they acquired it from Tuazon Enterprises.
Except for a brief brush with illegal occupants sometime in the early 90's and the failed attempt of Salarda to claim the said property, Aldevinco's occupation of the area was never interrupted and disturbed.
No one could blame if many would take particular interest on this prime property.
Then inhabited by hardy herds of roaming and grazing cattle, this once sun-scorched and parched piece of land was almost inhabitable--that is until five or so years ago.
The company has reduced its cattle population following the approval of its IFMA with the government.
Cabalquinto said they have planted 50 hectares of pomelo and 80 hectares of mango inside the property upon the approval of the DENR.
They have now started to harvest pomelos and some of the mango trees are now bearing fruits.
Some 250 hectares are also planted to ipil-ipil for cattle feed; mahogany and neem trees while the rest are reserved for grazing.
The management likewise constructed three water-impounding ponds to irrigate the orchard that they have developed over the last five years.
When Dillingham, the American contractor of the General Santos City Airport left upon the completion of the project, Aldevinco bought hundreds of meters of 10-inch steel pipes that they are now using to irrigate the property.
Both Cabalquinto and Montemayor said Aldevinco would defend their tenurial right to the said property as they are "in possession of a legitimate contract with the government."
They are now preparing all the necessary documents to negate and disprove the titles that were issued to de Ramos and company.
They believed that a syndicate is behind this alleged scam, which is acting in behalf of some powerful businessmen.
Tip of the iceberg
When interviewed at his office in Buayan, General Santos City, community environment and natural resources officer (Cenro) Jerry Dalauta believes the titles were indeed spurious.
He said it was not the first time cases of fake titles were brought to his attention.
Dalauta said based on the findings of the LRA, they would conduct an investigation and prosecute the people behind the issuance of the said spurious titles.
He recalled another case where the Land Bank of the Philippines approved the voluntary offer to sale (VOS) of a huge parcel of land in Landan, Polomolok and was poised to release the check until it was advised that the title was fake.
Dalauta believes a syndicate is behind the scam to defraud not only the government but also unsuspecting buyers.
A source said the assailed titles have been allegedly offered to Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco who reportedly begged off from the deal after discovering that the titles were nowhere found in the records of the LRA.
Tobacco tycoon Lucio Tan was also reportedly offered the property and a scion of one of the prominent businessman in the city has reportedly issued down payment for the purchase of the said property.
Nobody, however, is willing to come out in the open to verify these rumored transactions.
As of this writing, the legal counsel of Confesor who is represented by a certain Liway Tara Karim, has filed a motion directing the LRA and the local registrar of deeds in the city to return the Original Title No. V-1344 to the Register of Deeds of the General Santos City.
Aldevinco, as represented by Montemayor and Cabalquinto, is bracing itself for a long legal battle ahead.
But in the meantime, what will happen to the report of TFTM?
For Bisaya stories from General Santos. Click here. (This section is updated every Monday)
(March 7, 2005 issue)
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