FOUR parcels of alleged illegally reclaimed land in Taguig City are covered by “fraudulently” issued titles that will be turned over to the Office of the Ombudsman for investigation, Sen. Panfilo Lacson said.
Four other parcels are not in the digital files of the Land Registration Authority (LRA), Lacson added.
He said he revealed the details of the initial findings of his team “to dispel insinuations” that his exposé on illegal reclamation operations in Taguig was “fake news.”
“Since Sen. (Alan Peter) Cayetano keeps publicly asking for evidence, I’ll give it to him, in the spirit of public interest,” Lacson said on a social media post.
He said one parcel, measuring 9,204 square meters, was covered by an administrative patent and an original certificate of title (OCT).
Another, covering 5,000 square meters, was registered through judicial or ordinary land registration and also carried an OCT.
Lacson said a third parcel, measuring 181,077 square meters, was covered by a homestead patent and a transfer certificate of title (TCT), while the fourth covered 193,027 square meters and was also registered under a TCT.
He said some details, including the names of those to whom the titles were issued, as well as the OCT and TCT numbers, were withheld for the time being because the investigation is still ongoing.
“All of these will likewise be turned over to the Ombudsman fact-finding team for their further appropriate action,” Lacson said.
The senator had said the LRA is checking the origin and history of newly uncovered land titles covering some 38.83 hectares on the Taguig side of Laguna Lake that were illegally reclaimed.
The titles were based on the materials provided by the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) to Lacson’s office.
“I requested the LRA to backtrack the history of the issued OCTs and other modes of titling, so we will find out how they were manipulated with the end in view of filing criminal charges against those responsible,” Lacson said.
These titles may be declared void ab initio (void from the start) once the PRA starts forfeiture proceedings.
Lacson previously said several crates of documents from the Department of Public Works and Highways related to anomalous projects in Taguig were also to be turned over to the Office of the Ombudsman.
