“Will a Villar presidency only be a repeat of what we have been getting from Gloria and Mike and their close coterie of cronies?”
by Ducky Paredes
This is a plain and simple land-grabbing case, which tells us a lot about the people involved.
Involved, as victims are farmers who have occupied and cultivated their farms since the 1960’s. Some of them were descendants of Dumagats who occupied the land since time immemorial, as well as farmer-settlers who had been there since the Commonwealth years.
They obtained title to their farms after a long wait for Original Certificate of Title (OCT) No. P-858/ Free Patent No. 257917 issued by the Register of Deeds of Bulacan on April 27, 1964..
On March 7, 1987 a fire hit the Registry of Deeds of Bulacan burning all copies of the OCT’s in their vault.
The farmers – fire victims — represented by Gina S. Jarvina et al. and Valentino Amador filed a petition for reconstitution of their title before the Regional Trial Court of Malolos, Bulacan Branch 16 after some time when they realized that they had to do so.
Imagine their surprise when the Bangko Sentral Ng Pilipinas (BSP) filed an intervention claiming that the parcels of land covered by the free patent OCT of the farmers formed part of another Title TCT T- 48694 P(M) for a 485-hectare agricultural land issued on July 30, 2003 in the name of the Bangko Sentral Ng Pilipinas.
What was going on? Why was the BSP claiming their land?
Apparently, BSP obtained its title to the land through an auction sale after an extra judicial foreclosure of a mortgage executed by Manila Brickworks Inc. to secure a loan obtained by Capitol Development Bank (now Optimum Development Bank) from the BSP .
It was Congresswoman Cynthia Villar of Capitol Bank who executed the mortgage in favor of BSP. Manila Brickworks and Capitol Bank had interlocking directors. Both were owned by the same people.
Manila Brickworks mortgaged nine consecutively numbered titles to the BSP: TCT T-38651 P(M) to T-38659 P(M).
The nine titles apparently came from TCT T-1182 P(M) of the Registry of Deeds Of Bulacan all also under the name of Manila Brickworks
And, TCT T- 1182 P(M) allegedly emanated from OCT No. 287 of the Registry of Deeds Bulacan allegedly dated 25 July 1944 pursuant to a sales patent.
OCT No 287 was supposedly issued in 1944 under sales patent , which derives its existence from Sec.122 of Act 496 of the Land Registration Act of the US Government.
Here is the timeline: Before the 1960’S, petitioner farmers are in open continuous and obvious occupation of Norzagaray Land in question. Many of the farmers had forefathers who had been cultivating the land since the Commonwealth period,
April 27, 1964 – Petitioner Farmers obtained a mother title from the Register of Deeds of Bulacan.
March 7, 1987 – Fire guts Register of Deeds of Malolos, Bulacan.
April 1998 - Cynthia Villar, representing Capitol Bank obtained a loan from BSP by mortgaging lands, which cover the parcels of land under the name of Manila Brickworks. The mother title or OCT of the alleged TCT’s was alleged to be OCT 287 of the Registry of Deeds of Bulacan allegedly issued July 1944.
July 2003- After Capitol Bank’s failure to pay its loan, BSP took over the parcels of land mortgages by the Villars.
2004 – Farmers filed for reconstitution of their title and found that the BSP now owned their land.
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Those are the facts. Now, the questions:
1. When I borrowed from a bank to buy the small house where I now live, the bank had me apply for reconstitution of the title because the Quezon City Register of Deeds had burned down several times over the years. My loan was not approved until the Court had ruled on the title of the property.
Did the BSP also check on the title proffered by the Villars before accepting it or did his then being Speaker and her being congresswoman helped to obtain the P1.5 billion loan from the BSP, which gave the loan sin pesar (without thinking)?
2. If the various TCTs from which the current TCTs emanated are real, why were the farmers given their titles to the same piece of land by the Bulacan registry of deeds in 1964, when the Bulacan Registry of Deeds’ records were still complete (before the fire) and had all of the original titles even from the Commonwealth Period?
3. Are the Villar titles real or fake? If the Manila Brickworks titles are real, the existing title to the land issued in 1944 should have shown up and the farmers’ lands should not have been titled. But, apparently, in 1964,when the farmers were issued their titles, those Manila Brickworks titles were not in the Registry of Deed’s files — before the fire!
4. Besides, in July 1944, wasn’t this country under Japanese occupation and hence there would not be any valid title issued under Sec.122 of Act 496 of the Land Registration Act of the US Government? Isn’t it clear that the OCT supposedly issued in 1944 has to be a fake. Therefore, any so-called alleged titles arising from the fake had to also be fake and null and void!
5. Did Cynthia Villar use fake titles to secure her company’s loan and BSP obtain title to the farmers’ lands using these fake titles?
6. Who will give justice to these farmers under a Villar presidency?
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The Villar campaign says that the Ombudsman had already dismissed these same charges. Is that a defense for someone applying to take over from the worst ever President of this country? How many cases filed against the friends of Malacanang has the Ombudsman dismissed?
Clearly, among the things that a new President (who would opt for change and reform) must do is appoint an Ombudsman who would be free from the influence of Malacanang and who would go after crooks no matter their high positions in government. No Ombudsman under the present administration has been independent of Malacanang.
Will a Villar presidency only be a repeat of what we have been getting from Gloria and Mike and their close coterie of cronies?
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“I would rather have a Philippines run like hell by Filipinos than a Philippines run like heaven by the Americans.” — Manuel L. Quezon
Sadly, MLQ’s words have become a millstone on the neck of Juan de la Cruz. Our leaders should realize that MLQ was not wishing this on us; he was being sarcastic. So, can we next try for a leader who would actually work for a Philippines run properly by Pinoys!
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hvp 02.23.10
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