Saturday, May 24, 2008 [ philstar.com ]
The Ayala family, the country’s top property developer, clarified yesterday that their land in Calatagan, Batangas had never been identified for distribution under the agrarian reform law.
In a statement, the Ayalas said the order of Environment Secretary Lito Atienza to implement a 1965 Supreme Court decision allegedly mandating the distribution of land owned by the Ayala family in Calatagan to its beneficiaries under the agrarian reform law has no basis.
“None of the landholdings of the Zobel de Ayala family in Calatagan has been the subject of a case for land distribution to agrarian reform
beneficiaries. Accordingly, there is no Supreme Court decision ordering any member of the family to distribute any land in Calatagan to agrarian reform beneficiaries,” Ayala spokesman and counsel Mercedita Nolledo said.
Nolledo pointed out the 1965 SC decision involved a parcel of land that the government claimed was not subject to private ownership because it
was part of the “territorial waters.”
She said the SC order stemmed from the ruling of a lower court which annulled a title over a parcel of land which formed “part of the navigable water, or are portions of the sea, beach, and foreshores of the bay.” Nolledo said the SC decision upheld a lower court order annulling TCT 9550 over the land and consequently striking out the title in the provincial Register of Deeds. – Katherine Adraneda
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