Villar faces new raps for bank’s ‘sweetheart deal’
By Alcuin Papa
Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines—Nacionalista Party presidential candidate Manny Villar benefited from a P4.5-billion “sweetheart deal” between a bank he owned and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the party-list group Akbayan [...]]]> Tweet

Villar faces new raps for bank’s ‘sweetheart deal’
By Alcuin Papa
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Villar firm’s high-end project sits on land for poor
By Aries Rufo
abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak

LAST of 3 parts

MANILA, Philippines – Presidential aspirant Manuel Villar may have built his P25-billion wealth on providing low-cost homes, but the practices of acquiring properties where real estate projects now [...]]]> Tweet

Villar firm’s high-end project sits on land for poor
By Aries Rufo
abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak

LAST of 3 parts

MANILA, Philippines – Presidential aspirant Manuel Villar may have built his P25-billion wealth on providing low-cost homes, but the practices of acquiring properties where real estate projects now stand showed a pattern of deceipt and corruption.

How land was acquired in Norzagaray in Bulacan, Imus Estate in Cavite, and for the Portofino project in Alabang are case studies of this pattern.

Portofino, a flagship project of Britanny Corp., the Villar Group’s unit aimed at the luxury residential communities and upscale leisure developments, now sits on land meant for the poor.

Portofino was cited in a complaint by Restituto Mendoza, a former lawyer of the Villar Group, as one distinctive example of the corrupt practices of the group.

Mendoza, in a damning complaint before the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC ), said the real estate businesses of Villar pull strings in government agencies—like the Registry of Deeds and Land Management Bureau, the Department of Natural and Environment Resources, the Bureau of Customs to judges and justices, including in the Office of the President—to get their way.

In an interview with Newsbreak last April 7 in Mandaluyong City, Villar’s chief legal officer Ma. Nalen Rosario-Galang vehemently denied Mendoza’s allegations.

She said Mendoza had sought to blackmail Villar and his companies with his allegations of corruption “after he got slighted when told of his poor performance as an employee.”

She said Mendoza is only taking advantage of the political season to get attention. She pointed out that Mendoza “tried to sell his story” to Senators Jamby Madrigal and Panfilio Lacson, who both spearheaded the C-5 road extension inquiry. Advisers of the two senators rejected his “story,” Galang said, “since they know it cannot be used as evidence.”

Meant for low cost housing

Portofino is a 300-hectare community of different enclaves where houses and commercial areas have sun-drenched colors and high arched windows and archways. The architecture and design are inspired by a seaport town in Southern Italy named Portofino, meaning “fine gateway.”

But before the property became a gated subdivision and an enclave of the rich, Portofino was originally meant for low-cost houses .

The land was originally an agricultural land. The heirs of Conrado Potenciano owned 113 hectares.

In 1988, the Potenciano family and the National Housing Authority (NHA) entered into an agreement to develop the site for low-cost housing. The NHA is the government agency mandated to provide shelter to the lowest 30% of the urban population, most of them living in slums.

The NHA filed before the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) a request to convert the property from agricultural to non-agricultural. In 1989, it was granted.

The 1989 DAR conversion order gave Potenciano and the NHA 10 years to develop the site. The land’s tenants, who would have been the beneficiaries of the property had it been covered by the Comprehensive Agricultural Reform Program, were paid with disturbance compensation.

However, for some reason, the NHA backed out of the project.

With the NHA out, Potenciano and his heirs entered into a “Land Development Agreement” in 1993 with Adelfa Properties Inc. and Britanny Corp, both owned by the Villar Group. At the time, Villar, who has already made a stamp in the real estate industry, was a newly elected congressman and was starting a political career.

Daang Hari Road

In 1999, prior to the expiration of the 1989 DAR conversion order, Adelfa Properties and Britanny Corp. filed for an extension of the development period. It cited as grounds the construction of the Daang-Hari road, among others.

The Daang Hari road traverses Las Piñas and Bacoor, Cavite, in effect providing access points to Pontefino from existing major roads, including those that serve posh Ayala Alabang Village, and the Madrigal Business Park. (Newsbreak previously reported that the construction of Daang Hari was funded by the congressional allocation of Senator Villar in 2003 coursed through the Department of Public Works and Highways.)

Adelfa Properties also sought a new order granting the conversion without any limitation to any specific use and development.

That same year, two groups of petitioners who are heirs of former tenants, asked the DAR to revoke its 1989 order and revert the property to agricultural land. The petitioners argued that the conversion plan was violated since the 10-year period has lapsed.

The DAR rejected the petitions of the two groups of petitioners, prompting them to separately appeal before the Office of the President and the Court of Appeals.

In March 2004, the Office of the President issued a resolution reclassifying the Potenciano property into agricultural land. Adelfa Properties filed a motion for reconsideration but was also denied.

The decision of the Office of the President, however, was short victory for the former tenants.

Connection to the president?

Mendoza, who was then hired by Adelfa Properties as in-house counsel, filed a second motion for consideration at the Office of the President. In October 2004, the Office of the President reversed itself and junked the tenants’ petition.

The Court of Appeals also junked the tenants’ petition.

Mendoza wrote on his labor complaint that he was elated for winning. It was his first big case. He was the one who insisted of filing a second motion for reconsideration, which is not generally entertained, but he argued it could be allowed be in exceptionally meritorious cases.

Mendoza thought he won the case through merit. He would have a rude awakening.

In the succeeding years of working with Villar’s lawyers and senior officers, he wrote that he found that the Potenciano case was won “through a connection within the Office of the President.”

When he found this out, “it took complainant months to get over his guilt by knowing that he was instrumental to what he realized later as an injustice to hundreds of farmers hoping to regain their lost land,” Mendoza narrated.

Mendoza said that, when the farmers initially won at the Office of the President, they were seeking P25 million as settlement. He opposed the move, but curiously, Villar’s senior officers were willing to compromise. He bargained for P200,000, which the tenants at first accepted and later rejected.

He wrote that he would later realize Villar’s trusted men were getting kickbacks from settlement payments. The P200,000 settlement he was pushing apparently also angered Villar’s senior officers.

A separate source, who was privy to the case, said the conduit who secured the Office of the President reversal was a Villar associate, who got a juicy position when he was named Senate President. The associate was replaced when Villar was ousted as Senate chief in 2008. At the time, Sen. Lacson was pushing for the investigation of the C-5 road controversy.

Business ethics

Villar’s “Sipag at Tiyaga,” a catchy slogan that makes an emotional connection with the poor that they, too, can make it big, resonates the message that industry and perseverance, guided by ethics and principles, will make dreams come true.

But ethics and principles may not be among Villar’s strongest traits in business, Mendoza noted in his labor complaint.

Mendoza said the irregular practices of Villar’s lawyers were not so secret among themselves. He said Galang, Villar’s chief legal officer “was quite at ease with the knowledge that extra legal means were being done with the cases they were handling.”

When he confronted Galang about his moral dilemma, he was told that he “should act first as an officer of the company and not as a lawyer.” Mendoza said Galang reminded him “to just focus on the legal aspect and just let (Villar’s senior officers) and Adelfa’s engineers do all the ‘dirty’ work.”

Galang, in a separate interview, said that Mendoza has a problem with authority. “He thinks he is too good. That is why he did not last long with his previous employers.”

Villar told ABS-CBN News on April 13 that all their lands have titles and were acquired above-board. He added that negatives stories about his businesses, especially those on alleged land grabbing practices, are mere black propaganda. - With reports and additional research from Ma. Althea Teves and Purple Romero, abs-cbnnews.com/Newsbreak

Editors’ note: We previously reported that, when Adelfa Properties was pursuing the reclassification issue with the Office of the President in March 2004, Villar and Arroyo critic Senator Alan Peter Cayetano aligned themselves with the opposition. We were wrong. Villar’s Nacionalista Party was not active during the 2004 national elections where both Villar and Cayetano supported President Arroyo’s bid. Cayetano joined calls for President Arroyo to resign in mid-2005 following the “Hello Garci” wiretapping scandal, but Villar did not. Villar later became Senate President.

How Villar built business empire with deceit, corruption: ex-lawyer
By Aries Rufo
abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak

First of 3 Parts

MANILA, Philippines – Octogenarian Maxima Policarpio had spent most of her life in the mountains of Norzagaray, a small town in Bulacan, near the foothills of the Sierra Madre. [...]]]> Tweet

How Villar built business empire with deceit, corruption: ex-lawyer
By Aries Rufo
abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak

First of 3 Parts

MANILA, Philippines – Octogenarian Maxima Policarpio had spent most of her life in the mountains of Norzagaray, a small town in Bulacan, near the foothills of the Sierra Madre. She had hoped to spend the twilight of her life there in peace and quiet, tending a tiny vegetable garden and surrounded by fruit-bearing trees she had planted many years ago.

Last February, despite her age, she left the comfort of her town and braved Quezon City’s noise, pollution and confusion to join dozens of Norzagaray farmers seeking attention to the imminent loss of their ancestral lands. “I am here to protect my land. I may be old, but I still have rights.”

“We are up against an influential person,” she said.

That person is presidential aspirant and billionaire Senator Manuel Villar Jr.

Represented by a counsel, the farmers detailed how they lost their ancestral lands, in the blink of an eye, to companies connected with Villar.

They also told of harassment efforts to force them to leave their lands.

“Before, we would wake up and see all those crops pulled out from the soil. They would do it at night. We were helpless. Some of them were armed. What would you do? We would just put back the plants,” Inocencia Pascual, 67, said.

The harassment, however, stopped as the election season neared. And they knew it is only a respite. “Tapos kami pag nanalo sya (We’re finished if he wins),” Pascual said.

Contested land

Court records show that the contested land in Norzagaray is supposedly now the property of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas after it was mortgaged in 2001 by two companies where Villar’s wife, Las Piñas Rep. Cynthia Villar, has a stake.

The two companies–Capitol Development Bank (now Optimum Development Bank) and Manila Brickworks–defaulted on a P1.5 billion loan it secured from BSP in April 1998 following the financial crisis that hit Asian countries. The money was allegedly spent to finance the House Speakership bid that year of Villar, who was then a congressman.

Yet, documents gathered by Newsbreak show that the two companies acquired possession of the ancestral lands through fraud and manipulative layering scheme.

It appears that the Villars brought to life the defunct Manila Brickworks out of nowhere to act as the original owner of the contested land. Fake Transfer Certificates of Titles (TCTs) were produced in connivance with the Malolos Registry of Deeds to show possession of property.

Court records in Bulacan show that Manila Brickworks was originally owned by Puyat Enterprises and had claimed possession of the property in the 70s. Poultry houses were put up by Puyat Enterprises but abandoned the area after some time.

After years of inactivity, Manila Brickworks resurfaced in 1998 with new incorporators that interlocked with those of Capitol Development Bank.

Capitol Bank, which had financial problems attributed to the financial crisis, eventually sold select assets to Yuchengco-led RCBC Savings Bank to pay off some obligations, then was renamed  Optimum Development Bank. (Initially, we reported that Capitol Bank was closed. It was not. – Eds)

In June 2001, Optimum signed a deed of real estate mortgage over the questioned property in favor of BSP to secure Capitol and Manila Brickworks’ unpaid loans.

The conveyance of land titles, coupled with fake ones, from one alleged owner to another, creates different layers that were used as an argument to legitimize property acquisition.

This has been the standard operating procedure of Villar’s lawyers and companies to acquire government and previously awarded lands, according to a lawyer formerly employed by the Nacionalista Party bet.

Pandora’s box of testimony

The Norzagaray land case is just one of the many legal cases faced by Villar’s real estate empire, which was spawned by the production and sale of affordable houses.

Interviews with different sources and documents show his companies have been fending off legal disputes, mostly land grabbing cases, like the Norzagaray case.

In 2004, Villar hired Atty. Restituto Mendoza to handle problematic raw land cases for Household Development Corp., one of the firms under his real estate empire.

Mendoza has a pending complaint before the National Labor Relations Commission for illegal dismissal. Named respondents were Villar, his flagship real estate firm Vista Land and Lifescapes Inc., Casa Regalia, Adelfa Properties and lawyers and officers of the companies. Newsbreak obtained a copy of the complaint, including other documents.

In the labor case, Mendoza opened the Pandora’s box of irregularities of Villar’s businesses, practices and ethics. It was a tell-all testimony, bordering on violating the lawyer-client privilege, as he accused Villar of bribery, corruption, deceit and fraud in rebuilding his empire from bankruptcy.

Mendoza charged Villar on the ground that he is well aware of the practices of the firms’ senior officers—from paying off government officials and judges to faking titles—to skirt potential legal issues. Mendoza said Villar is a hands-on manager, supposedly even concerned about where to put trash cans in the subdivision projects.

Newsbreak sought to corroborate Mendoza’s serious allegations, which included duping another land developer, Ayala Land, and an alleged attempt to bribe Customs officials to release an undervalued crane imported by his company, MGS Corp. (Details in Part 3 of the series, to be published on April 14.) We found some corroborative documents and information to back up Mendoza’s claims.

Ayala Land, which got questionable titles as in exchange for a previous P300 million loan from a Villar firm, has yet to reply to our query as of this posting. (Read: Imus Estate land key to Villar-Ayala deal)

Customs officials, on the other hand, provided data of the botched importation. (Details in Part 3)

Violation of lawyer-client relationship

Villar’s chief legal officer, Ma. Nalen Rosero-Galang, who has been countering the land grabbing complaints hurled against Villar since the campaign began, dismissed Mendoza’s stories and narration as “all lies.” In an interview with Newsbreak, Galang said she is “shocked of Mendoza’s allegations.”

Galang pointed out that Mendoza took five years to come out and expose the unethical practices of Villar’s businesses.

“I would have wanted to ignore him so as not to dignify his claims,” Galang said in an interview. Besides, she added that Mendoza’s claims would not have been admissible in court since “it violates the lawyer-client relationship.”

“Actually I pity him, since no one would want to hire him as a lawyer after this,” she added.

We also sought to interview Mendoza, but he begged off, saying his complaint would suffice. Mendoza was dismissed in May last year and filed his complaint in August.

The C-5 controversy

In his complaint, Mendoza mentioned some of the properties that benefitted from the controversial C5 road extenstion project. The road traversed through 50-52 hectares of Villar’s property holdings.

Villar’s peers in the Senate conducted ethics committee hearings. In a report, the senators found Villar guilty of conflict of interest when he supposedly benefited from the P6.96 billion road project. A public works feasibility study stated that Villar conceived and funded the project.

Mendoza provided the context in the arrangement between two real estate properties associated with Villar. Masaito Development Corp and Adelfa Properties supposedly swapped properties affected by the C5 road extension.

Based on documents submitted by Mendoza to the NLRC, it was Villar’s Adelfa Properties that initiated the arrangement with Masaito. Adelfa then claimed the bulk of expropriation proceeds from the Masaito property.

The agreement stated Masaito would only get only P7 million while Adelfa would get the remainder, amounting to P15 million.

A total of P168.1 million was paid by the government for the right of way involving Villar’s properties while only P22 million for non-Villar properties.

And yet, based on Mendoza’s claims on the Masaito agreement, through careful planning and foresight, Villar even got proceeds from his supposed non-properties.

Why would Masaito agree to swap properties with Adelfa if it would be paid for the right of way anyway? Was government informed about the swap or was there an attempt to cloak it through internal arrangement?

Internal arrangement

A source familiar with the case said that Villar’s senior officers had anticipated the road extension would pass through the Masaito properties. The properties were raw lands at that time and would have commanded low zonal valuation.

Yet, through connections in the DPWH and the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the Masaito property was valued at P30,000 per square meter, a “unique” situation that Adriano told the Senate since it was the only property that commanded that high price.

In the Senate probe, former revenue district officer Carmelita Bacod admitted that the valuation was “grossly disadvantageous to the government.”

The source explained that Masaito knew it would only get a lower zonal valuation and thus, lower payment for its properties, if only government would have its way. Entering into an agreement would be a win-win situation for both Adelfa and Masaito—the former gets a portion of the right of way payment without essentially losing with its property while the latter gets the bulk of the proceeds.

To facilitate the agreement, Masaito and Adelfa signed a memorandum of undertaking (MOU) where they agreed to open a joint bank account at the Landbank where expropriation proceeds would be deposited. Adelfa president Jerry Navarette and Masaito president Joseph Wang would be the joint signatories.

After the first tranche of P22 million has been deposited, of which P7 million would given to Masaito, Adelfa would assume “sole right” of the remainder of the proceeds, the MOU stated. Navarrete would then be the sole signatory of the Landbank account.

Mendoza said it was the C5 controversy that shattered his respect of Villar. He recalled that he was the one who drafted the Masaito agreement upon hearing Senator Jamby Madrigal mentioning the company. “Evidently, Senator Villar was not telling the truth when he had been consistently denying in public that he and his companies never received a single centavo from the C-5 road extension project,” Mendoza said.

In drafting the Masaito-Adelfa agreement, Mendoza said he “unknowingly had been an instrument of corruption in what is now the C5 road scandal.”

In his Feb. 2 speech before the Senate to rebut the ethics, Villar maintained that he did not financially benefit from the C5 project. “Wala po akong ninakaw sa kaban ng bayan. Wala po akong kasalanan, wala pong anomalya sa C5 project at hindi po ako nakinabang,” Villar said. - With reports and additional research from Althea Teves and Purple Romero, abs-cbnnews.com/Newsbreak

The ProPinoy team was able to acquire this from the affected families of San Rafael Village. We won’t reveal the identity of the persons who gave this in order to protect them.

Kung ano ang inilalahad nitong San Rafael Village TCT (Transfer Certificate of Title):

1.       Bago [...]]]> Tweet

The ProPinoy team was able to acquire this from the affected families of San Rafael Village. We won’t reveal the identity of the persons who gave this in order to protect them.

page 1 (click to enlarge)

page 2 (click to enlarge)

Kung ano ang inilalahad nitong San Rafael Village TCT (Transfer Certificate of Title):

1.       Bago sa taong 1962, bumili ang mga Villar ng 560 sq.m. ng mamahaling lote sa San Rafael Village, lugar kung saan ang mga may-kayang pamilya na may negosyo sa pook ng Tondo-Navotas ay nagpapatayo ng bahay at tumitira.

2.       Isinasaad sa titulo (Transfer Certificate of Title) ng naturang pag-aari na nailipat ito nuong taong 1964, subalit pinatutunayan sa Sertipiko ng Pagkamatay (Death Certificate) ni Danny Villar na naninirahan na sila rito nuon pang 1962.

3.       Base sa presyuhan sa taong 2009, ang P16,000 halaga ng sangla sa GSIS na nakatala sa TCT – na hindi nangangahulugang siya nang presyo nitong dalawang 280 sq.m. na lote – ay nagkakahalaga na ngayon ng P1,140,000.00.  Ipalagay nang ang presyo nga ay P16,000, ang halaga ng bawat metro kuwadrado nito ay lumalabas na P28.57.  (Sa La Vista ni Mike Arroyo, ang bentahan sa lote bawat metro kuwadrado ay P50, nuong taong 1964.)  Sinasabi ng mga taong pamilyar sa naturang subdivision na ang halaga ngayon ng bawat metro kuwadrado roon ay nasa mababang P5,000 hanggang sa mataas na P10,000.

4.       Sabi ni Jun Borres, ang kasalukuyang may-ari nitong dalawang lote na ginagamit naman niya para sa kanyang upisina – ang Jumbo Fishing Company – may nakatayo nang isa’t kalahating palapag na bahay-gusali rito, nang mabili nila ito nuong taong 1987.  Ang unang palapag ay yari sa semento, samantalang ang itaas naman ay gawa sa kahoy, ang karaniwang gamit sa mga bahay pang-mayaman nuong mga taong 1960s.

Ang kahulugan ng pagiging may-ari ng lote’t bahay sa San Rafael Village:

1.       Dagdag pa sa mga alam nang impormasyon tungkol kay Manny Villar, hindi maaaring ituring na mahirap ang kanyang pamilya, dahil nakapanirahan sila sa San Rafael Village nuong 1962, o maaga pa rito.  Ang kanyang ina ay isang “dealer”, o negosyante, ng isda sa Divisoria, hindi isang tindera lamang, gaya ng ibig niyang palabasin.  Para sa isang pamilyang binubuo ng 11 katao, nakakakain silang lahat ng “corned beef”, gaya ng kanyang ipinahayag sa isa niyang naunang anunsiyo sa TV.  Ang kanyang ama ay isang upisyal sa gubyerno.  Nakapag-aral si Manny Villar sa mga pribadong eskuwelahan, sa Holy Child Catholic School para sa elementarya, at Mapua Institute of Technology para sa kanyang high school.  Ang tunay na mga mahihirap ay nakakatapak lamang sa mga paaralang pampubliko.

2.       Ang pinagsamang kita o sahod ng mga magulang ay maituturing na malaki, para sila’y makabili nitong pag-aari sa San Rafael Village – kung saan ang lawak nito ay nagsasaad lamang ng taglay nilang sapat na yaman.  Ang mga tunay na mahihirap ay nakabibili lamang ng maliit pa sa 100 sq. m. na lote.  At pihado ring malaki nga ang kita ng ama ni Villar para ito makautang sa gobyerno ng P16,000.  Nuong 1962, ang mga matataas na eksekiyutibo sa malalaking kumpanya ay sumasahod ng mga P2,000 kada buwan.

Kung ano ang inihahayag ng Death Certificate (Sertipiko ng Pagkamatay) ni Danny B. Villar:

1.       Isang malaking kabulaanan ang sinasabing namatay si Danny sapagkat sila ay naghihirap daw (Villar PANATA TV ad: “Nakaranas na ba kayong…mamatayan ng kapatid dahil wala kang perang pangpagamot?”) at ‘di kayang tustusan ang pangangailangang pangkalusugan nito.  Sa death certificate ni Danny, ang nabanggit na tirahan nang mamatay ito ay iyong pag-aari sa San Rafael Village.

2.       Ang MALAKING KASINUNGALINGAN na iyon ay lalo pang pinalala ng pangyayaring 13 araw na ginagamot sa FEU Hospital itong si Danny, kung saan pagkatapos, ito ay pumanaw rin sa edad na 3 taon at 8 buwan. Kung talagang mahirap sila, sa PGH (Phil. General Hospital) sana ang naaangkop na ospital na pinagdalhan kay Danny.  Mahusay at sapat na pag-aalagang medical ang talagang ibinigay sa kanya.  Ang FEU Hospital ang isa sa mga pangunahing ospital noong 1962, bago pa man nagsulputan ang Manila Doctors’ Hospital, Makati Medical Center at St. Luke’s.

3.       Ang ikinamatay ni Danny ay “CARDIAC and RESPIRATORY FAILURE” (PAGPALYA NG PUSO AT BAGA) resulta ng mga KUMPLIKASYON SA LEUKEMIA.  Noong 1962, hindi pa nailalapat ang pamamaraang paggamot na “bone marrow transplantation” at “chemotherapy” kung kaya’t mayaman man o mahirap, tiyak ang pagkamatay ng sinumang sapitan ng sakit na leukemia.

4.       Nang mamatay si Danny, dinala ang mga labi niya sa FUNERARIA PAZ – itinuturing na isa sa mga pangunahing kumpanya, noon at magpahanggang ngayon, na nagbibigay ng de-klaseng serbisyong pagburol at libing ng mga pumanaw.  Dahil dito, lalo pang pinabubulaanan ang MALAKING KASINUNGALINGAN ni Manny Villar na namatay si Danny sa dahilang wala silang salaping pantustos sa pagpapagaling sa kanya.

We want to link to the original article but we get a 404 now. It seems that many news articles about the protest are gone now. Why is that?

VILLAR TOOK OUR LAND – TRIBESMEN
by People’s Journal

Wednesday, 17 March 2010 19:51

DUMAGAT tribesmen who accused [...]]]> Tweet

We want to link to the original article but we get a 404 now. It seems that many news articles about the protest are gone now. Why is that?

VILLAR TOOK OUR LAND – TRIBESMEN
by People’s Journal

Wednesday, 17 March 2010 19:51

DUMAGAT tribesmen who accused Sen. Manny Villar of grabbing their ancestral lands yesterday held a protest rally in front of the Central Bank and the Laurel Mansion in Mandaluyong City that serves as the campaign headquarters of the Nacionalista Party.

After a long march from Norzagaray, Bulacan to Metro Manila, the farmers claimed that they lost their lands due to the manipulative acts of Villar, presidential bet of the NP.

They picketed in front of the Central Bank to protest the continued disregard by concerned government offices especially the Office of the Ombudsman and Central Bank of the cases they filed against Villar and his wife Cynthia.

“Nananawagan kami para sa mabilis at agarang pag-resolba ng Office of the Ombudsman hinggil sa isinampa naming kaso laban kay Sen.Villar, sa kanyang asawa na si Cynthia at iba pa nilang mga kasapakat sa pang-aagaw sa aming mga minanang lupain,” said Valentino Amador, one of the protest leaders.

On Tuesday, the victims marched from the Department of Agrarian Reform to the Office of the Ombudsman where they demanded immediate resolution of the complaints that they filed against Villar.

They then went to the offices of broadcast giants Channel 2 and 7 to solicit their support for their fight. Afterwards, they went to the NP headquarters to denounce Villar.

They decided to continue their protest march to the Central Bank because it is where Villar and his group reportedly mortgaged their 480 hectares land for P1.5 billion.

They said that they will continue to hold a picket rally in front of CB until they receive concrete commitment and support from the agency.

“Lumalabas kasi na walang pakialam ang Central bank sa aming sinapit at ang importante sa kanila ay ang perang kinita nila bunga ng mapanlinlang na transaksyon na pinasok sa kanila ni Villar,” explained Sergio Cruz, a chieftain of the Dumagat tribe.

The Capitol Development Bank which was owned by the Villar couple and Manila Brickworks, Inc. conspired to mortgage the victims’ properties before the CB using spurious papers and documents.

However, Villar and his group however failed to pay the loans, thus, BSP foreclosed the mortgage and finally acquired the lands in a public auction.

At the time the loans were contracted, Villar was the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Gina Jarvina, one of the aggrieved landowners, said they learned about the manipulative acts of the Villars when BSP personnel visited their area.

Jarvina and Amador filed plunder and graft complaints against the Villars and their accomplices before the Office of the Ombudsman on Sept. 26, 2008. The cases remain pending.

Mga magsasaka nag protesta laban sa umanoy pang aaway ng lupa ni Villar from Pro Pinoy on Vimeo.

Recorded from GMA News

Last March 15, 2010, the farmers of Norzagaray (SJDM) marched from their land to the Office of the Ombudsman in Quezon City to protest their current fragile situation. The following is an account by Mr. M.D.F.P.

Karanasan sa Lakad ng mga taga-Karahumi

Habang kami [...]]]> Tweet

Last March 15, 2010, the farmers of Norzagaray (SJDM) marched from their land to the Office of the Ombudsman in Quezon City to protest their current fragile situation. The following is an account by Mr. M.D.F.P. Apila sa Sambayanan Pilipino at Mga Kinauukulan

Kami, mga maralitang magsasaka mula [...]]]> Tweet

Apila sa Sambayanan Pilipino at Mga Kinauukulan

Kami, mga maralitang magsasaka mula sa kabundukan ng Norzagaray, Bulacan ay nananawagan sa mamamayang Pilipino na kami ay tulungan dahil kami, sampu ng aming mga pamilya, ay nanganganib na mapatalsik sa aming mga lupain anu mang oras dahil sa kagagawa ng mga kumpanya ni Senador Manny Villar na ngayon ay tumatakbo para maging presidente.

Ang aming mga lupain na mahigit sa 400 ektarya ay isinanla ng mga kumpanya ni Villar, ang Capitol Development Bank at Manila Brickworks, Inc., sa halagang mahigit isang bilyong piso sa Bangko Sentral, gamit ang mga pekeng titulo, at pagkatapos, ito ay hinayaan na lamang nilang mailit matapos magkamal ng salapi sa ma-anomalyang transaksyon.

Kami ay labis na nagtataka kung papaanong nagkaroon ng mga titulo sina Villiar gayong ang nasabing lupain ay inookupa at sinasaka na naming at ng aming mga Ninuno magmula pa ng mahabang panahon at, sa katunayan kami ay inisyuhan na ng orihinal na titulo ng gobyerno noong pang 1964 sa pamamagitan ng Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Nagtataka rin kami kung bakit tinanggap bilang kolateral sa utang ng Bangko Sentral ang mga kumpanya ni Villiar nang hindi man lamang tinitingnan ang lupang sakop ng kanilang umano’y mga titulo, dahil kung ginawa nila ito, malalaman nila agad na kami ang mga tunay na may-ari nito at dapat ay hindi nila inaprubahan ang nasabing utang. Lumalabas na ang mga kumpanya ni Villiar, sa pamumuno ng kanyang asawa na si Cynthia Villiar, ay nakipagsabwatan sa ilang opisyal ng Bangko Sentral.

Dahil sa ginawa ng mga Villiar, kami ay nagsampa na ng mga kasong graft at plunder laban sa kanila sa Office of the Ombudsman noon pang Setyembre 2008, ngunit hanggang sa ngayon ay hindi pa rin ito inaaksyunan ng Ombudsman sa hindi malamang dahilan. Ito ba ay sa kadahilanang si Villiar ay isa sa pinakamayaman at pinakamataas na opisyal ng gobyerno na gumagamit ng kanyang impluwensya upang pagtakpan ang kanyang mga kasalanan.

Dahil sa kawalang aksyon sa aming mga hinaing, at sa panganib na kinakaharaop naming at ng aming mga pamilya dahil sa ginawa ng mga Villiar, kami ay napilitang lumabas upang bigyang pansin ng mga kinauukulan.

Lalo kaming nangangamba dahil kung si Villiar na ang siyang pangulo, siguradong mapapabilis ang pagpapatalsik sa amin sa aming mga lupain, dahil hindi lamang Bangko Sentral ang aming katunggali, kundi mismong presidente pa.

Huwag na huwag po sana nating hayaang mangyari ito. At huwag rin po sana ninyo kaming pagkaitan ng inyong tulong upang kami ay manatili sa aming mga lupain. Nananawagan kami sa mga taga-media, na maging patas naman sa pamamahayag, at huwag ikubli ang nagawa ni Ginoong Villiar, at ayon sa kanilang tungkulin, ihayag lamang ang panig ng katotohanan.

Maraming salamat po at nawa’y pagpalain tayo ng mahal na Panginoon.

Samahang Magsasaka ng Sitio Karahume
Barangay San Isidro,
San Jose del Monte, Bulacan

Location: Quirino H-Way, Caloocan City, MM

Marami ng beses na [...]]]> Tweet

Lakad Laban sa Pangangamkam ng Villiar

Marami ng beses na kinokontak ako ng mga media para malaman kung ano ang mga impormasyon kong hawak na maibibigay sa kanila batay sa pumuputok ng isyu na magsasaka ng Norzagay (SJDM) Bulakan na inagawan ng lupain ng mga Villiar.

Hindi naman agad ako sumasagot dahilan sa masyadong maselan ang isyu dulot sa maraming pagkakataon ang nasabing lugar o lupain ng mga katutubong Dumagat Remontado ay isang lugar na walang katapusang patayan (liquidation).

Kung tutuusin ang nasabing pinaglalabanang lugar ay mayroon ng 2 kapitan ng barangay ang pinatay, meron ding regular na 100 armadong grupo ang umiikot na sa paniniwala ng mga tao duon kundi man ay NPA daw ay mga hired security group ng Villiar tulad ng Red fox.

Ilang beses na din na merong napatay sa hanay ng mga katutubo dahil sa pagtatanggol ng kanilang Lupaing Ninuno na may sukat na 1,800 hectares batay sa naaprubahan at naiisyung CADT o Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title nuong taong 2004.

Ngunit magpahanggang ngayon ay hindi pa rin ganap na naaangkin ng mga katutubo itong nasabing Lupaing Ninuno dahilan sa marami ang kumikwestyon sa legalidad nito dahilan sa walang daw registration number mula Land Registration Office ang nasabing titulong CADT.

Tinanong ko ang NCIP o ang National Commission of Indigenous People na nasa ilalim ng opisina ng pangulong Gloria kung bakit hindi mairehistro ito gayong legal naman ang lahat ayon sa batas IPRA. Ang sagot ng NCIP ay dahilan tinututulan ito ng mga Villiar dahilan sa kanila raw ang humigit-kumulang na 500 ektaryang lupa na nasakop o napaloob sa naiisyuung CADT 1,800 hecgtares.

Dagdag pa rito ang CADT daw ay malalagyan na ng number ang titulo kung papayag ang mga katutubong Dumagat Remontado na isuko ang karapatan nila sa 500 ektaryang inaangkin ng mga Villiar na nakasangla sa Bangko Sentral.

Hindi pumayag ang mga katutubo sa ganitong mungkahi kaya mas ninais nilang lumaban dahilan sa itong kanilang Lupaing Ninuno na ipinamana sa kanilang tribu kaya dito na lang din daw sila mamamatay kung ito ang kapalit.

Ang nasabing Lupaing Ninuno ay isa sa 19 settlement tribe ng mga Dumagat sa lalawigan ng Bulakan na aming tinutulungang maorganisa at maangkin ang Lupaing Ninuno nila bilang kabuuan ng Sierra Madre sa lalawigan ng Bulakan.

Kung kaya ninais nilang ipakita ng lantaran ang kanilang karapatan sa kanilang Lupaing Ninuno bilang magsasaka sa paglalakad mula Karahumi, brgy San Isidro hanggang Ombudsman office sa QC sa kabila ng matinding init ng El Nino.

Makikita sa larawan ang mga katutubo at di katutubong magsasaka na nilalakad ang main highway ng Quirino papuntang Quezon City upang manawagan ng suporta sa kanilang layunin huwag makamkam ng tuluyang ni Villiar ang kanilang Lupaing Ninuno kaninang umaga Marso 15, 2010.

Bro martin
Sagip Siera Madre Environmental Society, Inc. (SSMESI)

Location: karahumi, San Isidro, SJDM

San Pedro
By Lito Banayo
Malaya

HOW could a piece of property sequestered by the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), and a lis pendens annotated upon its transfer certificate of title, land in the hands of a corporation called Crown Asia, owned and controlled [...]]]> Tweet

San Pedro
By Lito Banayo
Malaya

HOW could a piece of property sequestered by the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), and a lis pendens annotated upon its transfer certificate of title, land in the hands of a corporation called Crown Asia, owned and controlled by the so-called “brown taipan”, Manuel Villar, who wants to be president of the land?

The 2.18 hectare property is in the vicinity of a swanky golf course called TAT, before that Filipinas Golf Course, and even before that, during the Marcos years, known as Holiday Hills, in the municipality of San Pedro Laguna. It straddles the boundary of the first town of Laguna with the last city of Metro Manila, and is now connected to the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) by an interchange, and to Las Piñas and Bacoor to a so-called Daang Reyna, which in turn connects to Daang Hari. Pretty good property, one must say.

It used to be titled to one Maximo Argana, remembered by many to be the feared and powerful mayor of Muntinglupa during the martial law years. When the dictatorship fell, the newly-created PCGG went after the unexplained wealth of Marcos, his cronies and other public officials. They went after Maximo Argana’s wealth, and this San Pedro property was one of them. Because Argana had meanwhile died, the PCGG attached an encumbrance upon the title, what is called a lis pendens, which means the property cannot be sold, leased, or otherwise encumbered while the case is pending. And up till today, that case pends before the Sandiganbayan.

Meanwhile, the informal settlers who had stayed in the property by tolerance or sufferance of the registered owner, Argana, had hoped that when the government finally got full leave of the court to confiscate the San Pedro property, they could apply for land ownership under the social justice programs of the State.

Their hopes brightened with the enactment of the Urban Dwellers Act during the Cory administration, otherwise known as the Lina Law.

But lo and behold! In the year 2000, a corporation called Crown Asia suddenly claimed ownership of the property, on the basis of a deed of sale executed between it and Capitol Bank. Both Crown Asia and Capitol are owned and controlled by the spouses Manuel and Cynthia Villar. Crown Asia, along with its sister corporations, had already acquired other properties in the vicinity, which it was then developing into medium and high-end housing projects.

How did this happen? There was a lis pendens on the property, and a check with government agencies, including the Office of the President shows that the Argana title should not and must not be the subject of a deed of sale, not even a contract of lease, for as long as the courts would not lift that lis pendens (or pendente lite, which means pending legal resolution of the case.

But apparently, Capitol Bank foreclosed the property from a certain Jose Nunez, who failed to pay a short-term loan, and made no effort whatsoever to restructure or re-schedule the loan, as most are wont to do, but instead, immediately had his property foreclosed by the Villar bank. And the Villar’s Capitol Bank turns around and sells the property also immediately, to Crown Asia. Seems like this is a pattern, a modus operandi of the Villar’s interlocking corporations.

In 2002, Villar’s Crown Asia posted security guards and then ordered demolition of the settler’s houses. The demolition squad succeeded in destroying 30 houses and led to the killing of Quirico “Rico” de los Santos, a leader of the neighborhood association of poor informal dwellers called ironically, Paradise Park. But the informal settlers resisted and they remain there to this day, their Paradise Park Neighborhood Association knocking from one government agency door to another, hoping to seek justice and their urban dwellers’ rights under the laws of the benighted land. There are now some 205 family houses walled inside the 2.18 hectare property, with no basic services such as electrical connections and water. They have to walk to buy expensive retailed water and inter-connect or share one electricity source. Guards of the neighboring walled subdivision, armed with shotguns strictly monitor their movements. They are not allowed to bring in construction materials even to repair their rickety dwellings.

Is this another racket where fake titles are produced surreptitiously, and prey on helpless landowners, such as the Dumagat and Remontado farmers in Norzagaray, Bulacan (read our articles of February 25 and 27, Malaya)? In Norzagaray, the titles issued during the Japanese occupation, which under Commonwealth Act 141, as amended, have been declared null and void, were “foreclosed” by Capitol Bank, and then paid in kind to Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas which had earlier issued an emergency loan to the said Villar-owned bank of 1.5 billion pesos.

In San Pedro, property encumbered in temporary favor of the Republic of the Philippines, pending resolution of a sequestration case, is suddenly claimed by a family corporation which “bought” the property from the same family-owned bank, which in turn foreclosed the same from a person, fictitious or real, who “borrowed” a short-term loan and “failed” to pay.

But the Paradise Park homeowners are now in mortal fear of imminent ejection, should this “poor man turned billionaire”, whose heart “bleeds for the poor”, and who makes a holy vow (panata) to end poverty (tatapusin ang kahirapan), become president. Truly, night will fall upon the lives of these poor people “squatting” on government-owned land. Because if Villarroyo succeeds with his money, and buys the presidency come May 10, 2010, with secret help from the woman who replaced the man he impeached in 2000, then the “government” and their nemesis will be one and the same.

“Mayaman na siya. Huwag na niyang agawin sa amin ang karapatan na manirahan sa lupang hindi naman kanya”, said Aling Gloria Barrameda of the Paradise Park Neighborhood Association , who along with some 40 other settlers marched and picketed the front of the historic Laurel House that Money Villarroyo bought two years ago, and from whence he launched his quest for the presidency.

The man who claims to have shared the tribulations of the poorest of the poor, who used to live in a single-room house with his entire family (but transferred as a kid later to a 560 square-meter property in San Rafael Village in Balut, built by his government employee of a father and his industrious fish merchant of a mother) and used to sleep in a narrow bench in Divisoria market (but was schooled in a Catholic parochial school where he and brood were fetched by a stainless steel owner-type jeep), and virtually mocks the toil and sacrifices of his truly industrious parents in order to propagandize alleged poverty, now sends his guards to confiscate property held by the Republic, at the expense of poor, landless settlers, one of whom was executed by his unknown security guards.

As Aling Gloria stated in poignant anger: “Sa ginagawa niya sa aming mahihirap, kasinungalingan ang sinasabi niyang siya ay para sa mahirap at siya ay may malasakit. Siya ang tunay na pasakit. Siya ang tunay na pahirap”.

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(banayo_at@yahoo.com)