Lapidlandia
BY LANDSLIDES, Manuel “Lito” Lapid buried all his rivals for the governorship of Pampanga: from the incumbent Bren Z. Guiao in 1995, to the crusading Cielo Macapagal-Salgado in 1998, to the quixotic Ananias Canlas, Jr. in 2001.
Of course, Lapid himself was “landslided” by now Vice President Jejomar Binay in the Makati mayoralty contest of 2007, getting less than 10 percent of the vote, if memory serves right. And his two senatorial runs in 2004 and 2010 were by no means avalanches, being mere cliffhangers.
Election landslides aside, land figures well in the public and private lives of Lapid.
This weekend past, the intrepid Tonette Orejas reported in the Philippine Daily Inquirer Lapid and wife Marissa being “sued” at the Commission on Human Rights by the Porac Foundation Inc. (PFI) over the demolition of a sports complex it built in 1978 yet.
The sports complex stood on a lot reportedly sold to Mrs. Lapid in 2006 by couple Cristina and Rodney Baloyo. The transaction allegedly involved falsified public documents and spurious land titles.
“The Lapids took the law into their own hands when they demolished the structures and improvements built by [PFI] at Porac Foundation Sports Complex, and destroyed the iron gates, padlocks and hollow blocks fence without any lawful order from the courts of law.” So the PFI claimed.
This, even as the revered Fr. Resty Lumanlan, founder and president of PFI, says: “The Lapids did all these by means of force, strategy and/or stealth ...”
“The PFI built a sports complex there when heirs of the Juico family, who are related to Baloyo, donated the land to Porac Central Elementary School.
PFI and the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS) signed a memorandum of agreement in 1977. The DECS built a gymnasium donated by then Gov. Juanita Nepomuceno, a club house, a tennis court and a track and field facility. The PFI reconstructed the complex after the 1991 eruptions of Mt. Pinatubo.” So the Inquirer reported. (It was the PFI that actually built the gym and all the other facilities.)
Among Resty, the news story furthered, said “the Lapid suit complements the cases for falsification of public documents and theft filed against the Baloyo couple, which have been pending at the provincial prosecutor’s office since 2008.”
The investigative journalist that is Tonette unearthed: “The pieces of properties were covered by two free patents issued in 1985 by the Bureau of Lands, which was under supervision of then Ministry of Natural Resources.
"The Office of the Register of Deeds issued original certificates of titles (OCT) in 1985 in the name of the mother of Rodney Baloyo, a police officer now assigned to Floridablanca town.
"The provincial environment and natural resources office said its files have no copies of free patents bearing the numbers inscribed on the supposed OCTs, an Inquirer check showed.
"Lot 966, bought for P424,500, is 4,245 square meters, while Lot 969, worth P117,000, is 1,170 sq. m. These are near the mansion the Lapids built when the senator was governor of Pampanga.
"The senator did not sign the deed of absolute sale although he was referred to as a buyer, documents showed.”
Porac folk talk of an alleged never-ending land-buying spree by the Lapid couple here: the 24-hectare farm where the mansion stands and which used to have an abbreviated golf course has now doubled to 48 hectares.
“Pati bunduk panyalwan da (They buy even the mountains).” So they alleged.
As I wrote somewhere near the start of this piece, land figures well in Lapid’s life.
The quarry scam of 1998 that led to the six-month suspension of then Governor Lapid, was – but of course – rooted in the land: the lahar wastelands that proved to be Pampanga’s most precious resource, and the Lapid’s own horn of plenty.
But the first ever – and still extant – case lodged against Lapid at the Ombudsman was a land case: the 1997 purchase of a piece of land in Barangay Maimpis, City of San Fernando purportedly for housing of Capitol employees.
Came to be known as the “Maimpis land scam,” the case – again, if ageing memory serves right – was brought about by principally two factors: 1) the absence of a sangguniang panlalawigan resolution/ordinance authorizing Lapid to purchase the land, what was passed was a resolution authorizing Lapid to enter into a loan with the Land Bank for the purchase of the land; and 2) two deeds of sale for the same land: one worth P104 million, and the other for P5 million.
The Maimpis land has since been sold – sometime in 2001, still during the incumbency of Governor Lapid – to a subsidiary of San Miguel Corp.
“At great profit to the provincial government,” gloated the broker, then Board Member Robert David. But the Ombudsman case has remained “live.”
Porac land. Quarry land. Maimpis land. And then only yesterday, Sun-Star Pampanga reported that the sangguniang panlalawigan has ordered the filing of charges against one Ernesto Punzalan and one Engr. Cris Galang “for their alleged meddling into the lands devoted for the supposed housing for employees of the provincial government.”
Located in Barangay San Pedro Cutud, City of San Fernando, the 23-hectare Capitol-owned land was allegedly distributed to some 1,000 informal settlers.
"We have received documents that show that this Punzalan has been distributing lands to these informal settlers and these documents seem to show that he is the owner of the lands when in fact the land is the property of the provincial government.” So was Vice Gov. Yeng Guiao quoted as saying.
So what has Lapid got to do with this yet another land mess?
The land was purchased during the term of Lapid as a sort of an alternative to the botched Maimpis land deal.
“The Capitol spent millions in the initial purchase and in settling farmer claimants on the said property.” So Sun-Star Pampanga reported.
So how could private individuals Punzalan and Galang be so bold and daring as to distribute to informal settlers a property of the provincial government?
Capitol sources intimated to some mediamen that a ranking official of the Lapid Capitol allegedly dealt the land – “for P30 million” – to some private citizens.
When asked for leads to this “ranking official,” our Capitol sources could only say: “Dead men tell no tales.”
So we shall leave the land to speak for itself?
Of course, Lapid himself was “landslided” by now Vice President Jejomar Binay in the Makati mayoralty contest of 2007, getting less than 10 percent of the vote, if memory serves right. And his two senatorial runs in 2004 and 2010 were by no means avalanches, being mere cliffhangers.
Election landslides aside, land figures well in the public and private lives of Lapid.
This weekend past, the intrepid Tonette Orejas reported in the Philippine Daily Inquirer Lapid and wife Marissa being “sued” at the Commission on Human Rights by the Porac Foundation Inc. (PFI) over the demolition of a sports complex it built in 1978 yet.
The sports complex stood on a lot reportedly sold to Mrs. Lapid in 2006 by couple Cristina and Rodney Baloyo. The transaction allegedly involved falsified public documents and spurious land titles.
“The Lapids took the law into their own hands when they demolished the structures and improvements built by [PFI] at Porac Foundation Sports Complex, and destroyed the iron gates, padlocks and hollow blocks fence without any lawful order from the courts of law.” So the PFI claimed.
This, even as the revered Fr. Resty Lumanlan, founder and president of PFI, says: “The Lapids did all these by means of force, strategy and/or stealth ...”
“The PFI built a sports complex there when heirs of the Juico family, who are related to Baloyo, donated the land to Porac Central Elementary School.
PFI and the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS) signed a memorandum of agreement in 1977. The DECS built a gymnasium donated by then Gov. Juanita Nepomuceno, a club house, a tennis court and a track and field facility. The PFI reconstructed the complex after the 1991 eruptions of Mt. Pinatubo.” So the Inquirer reported. (It was the PFI that actually built the gym and all the other facilities.)
Among Resty, the news story furthered, said “the Lapid suit complements the cases for falsification of public documents and theft filed against the Baloyo couple, which have been pending at the provincial prosecutor’s office since 2008.”
The investigative journalist that is Tonette unearthed: “The pieces of properties were covered by two free patents issued in 1985 by the Bureau of Lands, which was under supervision of then Ministry of Natural Resources.
"The Office of the Register of Deeds issued original certificates of titles (OCT) in 1985 in the name of the mother of Rodney Baloyo, a police officer now assigned to Floridablanca town.
"The provincial environment and natural resources office said its files have no copies of free patents bearing the numbers inscribed on the supposed OCTs, an Inquirer check showed.
"Lot 966, bought for P424,500, is 4,245 square meters, while Lot 969, worth P117,000, is 1,170 sq. m. These are near the mansion the Lapids built when the senator was governor of Pampanga.
"The senator did not sign the deed of absolute sale although he was referred to as a buyer, documents showed.”
Porac folk talk of an alleged never-ending land-buying spree by the Lapid couple here: the 24-hectare farm where the mansion stands and which used to have an abbreviated golf course has now doubled to 48 hectares.
“Pati bunduk panyalwan da (They buy even the mountains).” So they alleged.
As I wrote somewhere near the start of this piece, land figures well in Lapid’s life.
The quarry scam of 1998 that led to the six-month suspension of then Governor Lapid, was – but of course – rooted in the land: the lahar wastelands that proved to be Pampanga’s most precious resource, and the Lapid’s own horn of plenty.
But the first ever – and still extant – case lodged against Lapid at the Ombudsman was a land case: the 1997 purchase of a piece of land in Barangay Maimpis, City of San Fernando purportedly for housing of Capitol employees.
Came to be known as the “Maimpis land scam,” the case – again, if ageing memory serves right – was brought about by principally two factors: 1) the absence of a sangguniang panlalawigan resolution/ordinance authorizing Lapid to purchase the land, what was passed was a resolution authorizing Lapid to enter into a loan with the Land Bank for the purchase of the land; and 2) two deeds of sale for the same land: one worth P104 million, and the other for P5 million.
The Maimpis land has since been sold – sometime in 2001, still during the incumbency of Governor Lapid – to a subsidiary of San Miguel Corp.
“At great profit to the provincial government,” gloated the broker, then Board Member Robert David. But the Ombudsman case has remained “live.”
Porac land. Quarry land. Maimpis land. And then only yesterday, Sun-Star Pampanga reported that the sangguniang panlalawigan has ordered the filing of charges against one Ernesto Punzalan and one Engr. Cris Galang “for their alleged meddling into the lands devoted for the supposed housing for employees of the provincial government.”
Located in Barangay San Pedro Cutud, City of San Fernando, the 23-hectare Capitol-owned land was allegedly distributed to some 1,000 informal settlers.
"We have received documents that show that this Punzalan has been distributing lands to these informal settlers and these documents seem to show that he is the owner of the lands when in fact the land is the property of the provincial government.” So was Vice Gov. Yeng Guiao quoted as saying.
So what has Lapid got to do with this yet another land mess?
The land was purchased during the term of Lapid as a sort of an alternative to the botched Maimpis land deal.
“The Capitol spent millions in the initial purchase and in settling farmer claimants on the said property.” So Sun-Star Pampanga reported.
So how could private individuals Punzalan and Galang be so bold and daring as to distribute to informal settlers a property of the provincial government?
Capitol sources intimated to some mediamen that a ranking official of the Lapid Capitol allegedly dealt the land – “for P30 million” – to some private citizens.
When asked for leads to this “ranking official,” our Capitol sources could only say: “Dead men tell no tales.”
So we shall leave the land to speak for itself?
posted by A.Caesar Z. Lacson at 11:24 AM
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