FOUR parcels of ‘illegally reclaimed’ land in Taguig City have been initially identified as covered by ‘fraudulently-issued’ land titles, while at least four other parcels have no plotted title lots in the digital file of the Land Registration Authority (LRA), Sen. Panfilo Lacson said.
Lacson said he revealed the details of the initial findings to dispel insinuations that his earlier disclosures on the illegal reclamation activities in Taguig City were ‘fake news.’
‘Since Senator [Alan Peter] Cayetano keeps publicly asking for evidence, I’ll give it to him, in the spirit of public interest,’ Lacson’s post on X said.
The details of the four ‘fraudulently-titled’ parcels, which he stressed is ‘not fake news,’ include the following:
(a) one covered by an Administrative Patent, involving 9,204 square meters under an Original Certificate of Title (OCT);
(b) one covered through Judicial-Ordinary Land Registration Processing covering an area of 5,000 square meters under an OCT;
(c) one covered by a Homestead Patent involving 181,077 square meters under a Transfer Certificate of Title (TCT); and
(d) one involving 193,027 square meters under a TCT.
Some details, including the names of those to whom the titles were issued to, as well as the OCT and TCT numbers, were withheld for the time being while the investigation is ongoing, he said.
‘All of these will likewise be turned over to the Ombudsman fact-finding team for their further appropriate action,’ Lacson added.
Earlier, Lacson said the LRA has started checking the origin and history of several newly uncovered land titles covering some 38.83 hectares of illegally reclaimed areas on the Taguig City side of Laguna de Bay.
The uncovered land titles were based on the materials provided by the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) to Lacson’s office.
‘I requested the LRA to backtrack the history of the issued OCTs (original certificates of title) and other modes of titling, so we will find out how they were manipulated with the end in view of filing criminal charges against those responsible,’ Lacson said.
These titles may be declared void ab initio (void from the start) once the PRA initiates forfeiture proceedings, he added.
Earlier, Lacson said several crates of documents from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) related to anomalous projects in Taguig City were also set to be turned over to the Office of the Ombudsman.
A fact-finding investigation into the Taguig projects has been started by the Ombudsman who issued subpoenae to the DPWH, PRA, LRA, and the Taguig Registry of Deeds for relevant records.
Evidence from at least five case studies involving alleged anomalies in Taguig infrastructure projects, including alleged ghost projects, double appropriations, the use of recycled photographs for billing, and the alleged use of appropriations for slope protection projects to fund reclamation activities, were earlier turned over by Lacson to the Ombudsman.