Bill allowing gov't to seize foreign-owned lands filed in House

A bill seeking to allow the government to seize real estate unlawfully acquired by foreign nationals has been filed in the House of Representatives.

House Bill 11043 or the proposed Civil Forfeiture Act was filed Thursday amid the congressional inquiries revealing that foreigners in the country own the land where  Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) firms are located.

Among the authors were Senior Deputy Speaker Aurelio “Dong” Gonzales Jr. of Pampanga; House Deputy Speaker David “Jay-jay” Suarez of Quezon; and Quad Committee co-chairs Robert Ace Barbers of Surigao del Norte; Dan Fernandez of Santa Rosa, Laguna; Bienvenido “Benny” Abante Jr. of Manila; and Joseph Stephen Paduano of Abang Lingkod party-list.

They said the bill aims to reinforce the constitutional ban on foreign land ownership established in the 1935 Constitution.

They added the Philippine Constitution prohibits foreign nationals from owning land except in cases of hereditary succession.

Article XII, Sections 7 and 8 of the 1987 Constitution specifically restrict private land ownership to Filipinos or corporations with at least 60% Filipino ownership.

“The continued violation to the provisions of our Constitution on alien land ownership cannot be allowed to continue. Thousands of aliens have been flocking to the Philippines to establish POGO which has turned out to be closely linked to criminal activities, such as human trafficking and illegal drugs,” the bill read.

Likewise, the measure provides an assumption that any real estate acquired by a foreign national is unlawfully acquired unless proven otherwise, and that forfeited properties should be repurposed for the public good such as schools and hospitals, or transferred to local governments for social service use.

In the case of an agricultural land, it will be distributed to eligible farmers under the Department of Agrarian Reform’s guidance. 

“By reiterating existing policies against foreign land ownership and establishing the necessary framework for better enforcement, and allocating any forfeited real property for public use, we can curb corrupt practices, if not eliminate them altogether," the bill added.

The House QuadComm earlier submitted documents to the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) for potential legal actions against Chinese nationals accused of using fake Filipino citizenship documents to acquire land and establish businesses in the Philippines. —AOL, GMA Integrated News