QuadComm asks OSG to file raps vs Chinese nationals who illegally acquired land in PH

The House Quad Committee (QuadComm) has called on the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) to file forfeiture cases against Chinese citizens who acquired thousands of hectares of land in the country despite a Constitutional prohibition on foreigners acquiring land.

On Monday, QuadComm leaders turned over documents pertaining to the land acquisitions and properties believed to be "owned, procured, acquired" by Chinese nationals to the OSG. 

"In the course of the investigation of the Committee on Public Accounts and the Committee on Dangerous Drugs, we have discovered that there are several Chinese personalities who acquired thousands of hectares of land in the province of Pampanga," said QuadComm lead chairperson Representative Robert Ace Barbers.

He said the documents were turned to the OSG in order for them to "conduct their own investigation for possible forfeiture proceedings for these properties."

Barbers said a Chinese citizen identified as "Willie Ong," who supposedly leads a corporation named Empire 999, has as much as 300 land titles under his name even if the Constitution prohibits foreigners from owning land and are only allowed to own a business at 40% maximum.

"Consider this: there are almost 300 land titles acquired for one corporation. This means there are a lot of Chinese corporations pretending to be owned by Filipinos," Barbers said.

“If you estimate that each title has at least once hectare of land, that would be 300 hectares already for one person, one corporation alone,” the solon added.

In response, Assistant Solicitor General Hermes Ocampo said they will evaluate the QuadComm submissions but at the same time conceded that time is of the essence given that land titles can be transferred anytime.

“We will study the status of these lands very carefully, whether or not these lands have been [since] transferred to qualified Filipino individuals or entities. In which case, jurisprudentially, the defect, the constitutional defect, is deemed cured,” Ocampo said at the same press conference.

"[But] if the real estate [property] is still in the name of this Chinese, we can possibly file, in coordination with other government agencies, civil forfeiture of the assets acquired by the Chinese [citizens], or escheat/reversion,” Ocampo added.—KBK/RF, GMA Integrated News