Friday, May 2, 2008 [ philstar.com ]
A real estate broker exposed yesterday what he claimed was a multibillion-peso scam involving the sale of prime rice-producing lands covered by the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) in Pampanga, the home-province of President Arroyo, which resulted in the demise of what once the rice granary in Central Luzon.
Realtor Loui Hipolito said in a press briefing in a Quezon City restaurant that the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) has already investigated the illegal sale of hectares of rice land in Pampanga and that recommendations have been made for the filing of criminal charges against those involved, including high government officials.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg. The sale of CARP land was massive and could involve thousands of hectares all over the country,” he said.
Hipolito said at least 500 hectares or 80 percent of once rice-producing land in the Pampanga town of Mexico, mostly covered by CARP, are now titled to big subdivisions.
He said he accidentally discovered the anomaly when he conducted a research on land titles coursed to him for the conversion of agricultural land into high-end housing projects.
Hipolito said he was able to facilitate the land conversion, but when he traced the origin of the land titles, he said he discovered that the areas covered were actually lands purchased by the Land Bank of the Philippines to be distributed to CARP beneficiaries.
He cited cases in Mexico town where CARP beneficiaries, with the alleged connivance of officials of the Land Registration Authority, were able to convert their certificates of land ownership (CLOAs) issued by the DAR to regular titles, paving the way for the sale of their lands to a big developer.
Under the law, land covered by CARP cannot be sold or transferred, except to immediate family members of the beneficiary, the Landbank or the local government.
Hipolito alleged that fake documents supposedly from national government agencies were used to construct subdivisions that have sprouted in Mexico town, the City of San Fernando and neighboring areas.
A terminal report made by a DAR investigating team said the sale of CARP lands in Mexico town had no clearance from the department and that CARP beneficiaries were merely persuaded to sell their lands.
The DAR report recommended the cancellation of the land titles issued to the realty firms, but Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman has yet to act on the move, a month before CARP expires this June.
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