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By David L. Llorito, Research Section Head
First of 5 parts
LOS BAÑOS, Laguna–After lunch on April 7,
2003, Edwin E. Aragones, a security guard at the Bureau of Plant
Industry in this town, was surprised to see a truck parked inside
the compound of the crop research station being run by the BPI
beside the national highway in Barangay Timugan.
Aragones was alarmed because he knew the gate is
always locked; the intruders could have gone through only by forcing
their way in.
The BPI shares the 30-hectare compound with
three other important research institutions–the Philippine Center
for Agriculture, Forestry, and Natural Resources and Development (PCARRD),
the Philippine Council for Aquatic and Marine Research and
Development (PCAMRD) and the Department of Science and Technology
(DOST).
“Nagtaka ako dahil iba na ang kandado,” he
recalled. A few meters from the truck, the intruders had posted a
“Private property/No trespassing sign.”
Aragones forcibly removed the padlock and
replaced it with a new one from the BPI. Looking up he saw about
five vehicles parked a few meters outside the gate. Two persons, a
male and female, approached him saying:
“Napakinabangan na ninyo itong lupang ito;
ngayon kami naman ang dapat makinabang,” said the man, who claimed
to have been ordered by Teresita T. Teope, the land’s supposed
owner, to set up barracks inside the compound. “Pupuwestuhan na
namin ito; nanalo na kami sa kaso.”
Aragones was stunned because he knew the
“landownership crisis” being heard in a court in Calamba was not
yet over. He asked where Teope was and was told that she was inside
the van parked nearby. He asked them to pull out and leave the
compound. But instead of complying, one of them threatened him:
“Gusto mo pakilusin ko na ang sarili kong security?”
A standoff followed. Teope’s group left the
compound at about 5 p.m. when barangay chairman Florencio D.
Bautista demanded that they show their court order first before they
could start occupying the area. He told them: “Don’t you know
that what you did was illegal?”
Private claims on a public land
In early 2002 officials of BPI, PCARRD, PCMARD
and DOST actually heard about the private claims on the 30-hectare
land they are occupying.
One day a credit investigator from a bank showed
up at the BPI office wondering why the land being offered as
collateral by a private borrower is inside BPI’s compound. BPI
officials told them that the land was owned by the government and
was being used by the BPI as a research station and seed production
site for various crops and vegetables.
After a few months, credit investigators from
two other banks showed up, asking the same questions.
Officials of the five agencies, however, were
not worried, because they felt that private banks would never be
taken for a ride knowing that the place was government property.
Dr. Patricio S. Failon, executive director of
PCARRD, told The Times that the 30-hectare property is part of the
242-hectare Camp Eldridge military reservation by virtue of
Executive Order dated September 1, 1903, issued by US President
Theodore Roosevelt.
On November 20, 1931, Failon said, legislators
passed Commonwealth Act 3910, “An Act providing for the
establishment of an ‘economic garden’ in Camp Eldridge, Los Baños.”
An economic garden was intended to be some sort of a demonstration
site for modern farming.
Commonwealth Act 3910 said: “Subject to the
general control and supervision of the Secretary of Agriculture and
Natural Resources, the Director of Plant Industry shall have
immediate direction and administration of the economic garden.”
But on April 11, 2002, government officials in
the area were shocked to learn from Marcelo O. Alcachupas, Los Baños
municipal assessor, that about five days before, a certain Teresita
T. Teope had obtained tax declarations for properties where the
government agencies are located. Teope paid P115,000 in
real-property taxes to the assessor, retroactive to 1993 until 2000
for the property.
“I have good reasons to doubt the verity of
the basis of their request [for tax declarations],” Alcachupas
wrote on April 11, 2002, to the heads of the government agencies
occupying the contested area. “First, the subject area is publicly
known as a military reservation and secondly, it is exactly where
some internationally known agencies and institutions, such as DOST,
PCARRD, PCAMRD and DOST, are located.”
Nevertheless, Alcachupas told The Times that he
was forced to issue tax declarations for the properties because
Teope’s representative submitted documents that appeared to be
authentic.
“…The person had presented to us documents
that, when verified by us, were authentic,” he said in his letter.
“The documents presented to us were RT-7264 T-22306 RF 808; TCT
Numbers 474562 to 4745668; and approved land surveys/plan.”
“It appears, [from] the above documents, that
the property is of private ownership, contrary to the general belief
and knowledge that it is government land,” he noted in his letter
to the government agencies.
His letter explains that Teope’s papers cover
a property that has an aggregate area of 309,688 square meters. It
was supposedly originally registered in 1939. In 1942 it was
transferred to a certain Sergio Teope of Tabaco, Albay. Effective
March 16, 2001, the property was subdivided into seven parcels, all
registered in the name of Teresita T. Teope.
Asked by The Times why he issued tax
declarations for a property that is known to be government property,
Alcachupas explained that he had to because his duty as municipal
assessor “is only ministerial.”
“Kaya ako sumulat sa PCARRD [and other science
and technology agencies] dahil ayokong masabit,” he said. “Kung
hindi naman aksyunan yung request ni Teope para sa tax declaration,
baka malilintikan din ako.”
“We issue tax declarations for tax purposes
only,” he said. “A tax declaration is not a substitute for a
land title. Besides we would never know if a land title is authentic
or not. That is for the courts to decide.”
Apparently bothered by what he discovered,
Alcachupas put a note on Teope’s tax declaration indicating the
property is “declared also in the name of Economic Garden under TD
[tax declaration] 0275.”
On the same day he issued tax declarations to
Teope, he went to the office of Rogelio L. Delgado, Laguna
provincial environment and natural resources officer, to inform him
about the conflicting claims on the 30-hectare land.
The next day (April 11) Delgado met with the
government agencies to decide on what to do with the problem. They
agreed that the best way to deal with it was to ask the Department
of Environment and Natural Resources to investigate the matter.
But on April 19, 2002, even before they could
make their request, Delgado received a faxed message from Teresita
Teope informing him of her “ownership” of the 30-hectare land.
Since then the government agencies in the area appear to have been
at a loss as to how to fend off the legal challenges being mounted
by Teope, which were getting aggressive by the day.
For Timugan barangay chairman Bautista,
Teope’s claim is a big puzzle. “Imagine, ako’y lehitimong
taga-rito; nandiyan na yung BPI nung ipininganak ako. Tapos biglang
sumulpot yung Teopeng yun at sasabihin kanya ito?”
What followed are a series of what appear to be
well-orchestrated moves to harass the heads of government science
and technology (S&T) agencies at the 30-hectare compound:
1. On July 24, 2002, Mamyrlito D. Tan, a lawyer,
went to the BPI station in Timugan, Los Baños, to inform the head
office that the land the bureau is using is the property of his
client, Teresita Teope. The local BPI head told Tan to settle the
issue with the bureau. Tan showed the titles and the survey plans
and told the BPI official to observe the “status quo.” Manila
Times research shows that Tan is from the Valdez Maulit and
Aportadera Law Offices, a Quezon City-based law firm owned by former
top government officials. In a telephone conversation Tan told The
Times that the law firm is owned by Simeon Valdez, a former
congressman and uncle of former president Fidel Valdez Ramos;
Reynaldo Maulit, former head of the Land Registration Authority; and
Abelardo Aportadera Jr., former Assistant Ombudsman.
2. On July 31, 2002, Tan wrote Blo Umpar Adiong,
director of the BPI in Malate, claiming that “our client is the
registered owner of the parcel of land being occupied by the Bureau
of Plant Industry in Los Baños/Calamba, Laguna.” In the letter
Tan said, “Our client needs this property and we are coming to
confer on how to address this problem, without necessarily going
into litigation, since your bureau is a government agency.”
3. On August 21, 2002, Tan wrote to the BPI head
in Los Baños reminding him to “observe the status quo.” In the
letter Tan complained that “upon inspection, it appears that
despite notice of our client’s claim of ownership, you still
manage to introduce improvement (construction of road) to the said
land pending our conferment with your director [Adiong]. Such action
is tantamount to bad faith that can hold you liable for damages.”
Tan’s letter ended with a threat: “Warning is hereby given to
you to refrain from further improvements…. Otherwise we [will be]
left with no option but to file charges against you to protect the
rights and interests of our client.”
4. On September 25, 2002, Tan informed the BPI
station in Los Baños that “despite repeated oral and written
demands to vacate, to demolish all structures … you still failed
to follow the same.” So, Tan issued his final demand: “Vacate
the land your office is occupying and destroy/demolish the building
introduced thereto within 15 days . . . . Otherwise … we shall be
constrained to file legal action against you.”
5. Court records of Branch 35 of the Regional
Trial Court in Calamba show the Valdez Maulit Aportadera Law Offices
indeed filed a case against the BPI, DOST and PCARRD for “action
reinvidicatoria” urging the court to order the four government
agencies “to peacefully surrender possession of the properties”
to Teresita T. Teope.
And five months after (April 2, 2003), Teope,
riding in a van, accompanied by at least four backup
vehicles–according to the BPI security guard Edwin Aragones–forcibly
entered the 30-hectare compound and posted a “Private property/No
trespassing” sign. Teope’s group told bystanders they were going
to put up a P100-million hospital. They left in the afternoon on the
same day.
“How come everybody knows that this is a
government institution–napakatatag na namin dito–yet they have
the nerve, the resources and the capability to really challenge
us?” asked Failon. “They are so bold!”
To be continued
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