Battle for recovery looms: Leyte town loses island to Legacy

CEBU, Philippines - A town in Leyte has become the latest entity to go after Celso de los Angeles and his failed Legacy Group of 12 rural banks and three pre-need companies, and this time the complaint is not about questionable financial dealings but alleged outright land-grabbing.

Yesterday, officials and residents of the 3rd class municipality of Palompon stood up to denounce the allegedly illegal transfer of ownership of Kalanggaman Island from that of the town to the Rural Bank of Carmen, one of the banks owned by de los Angeles.

Palompon municipal legal consultanty Donna Villa Gapasan said town residents, accompanied by members of the media, yesterday braved guards and other armed men detailed by de los Angeles at the so-called “Boracay of Leyte” and held a protest rally on the 10-hectare strip of land located 12 kilometers off the municipal shoreline.

According to Gapasan, de los Angeles started claiming the island in 2003 and by 2004 reportedly had a Deed of Sale to show ownership of the island, which the people of Palompon said had been part of the town since “time immemorial.”

Durint the rally, the protesting residents managed to erect a sign proclaiming the town’s ownership of the disputed island. The guards and armed men did not intervene.

“C.A. 141 and P.D. 705 asserts that Kalanggaman Island is not a private property; it is unclassified, inalienable and a public forest. Nunot sa tinguha nga kausaban, ang Kalanggaman iyaha sa katawhan,” the sign said.

Gapasan said that in 2006, de los Angeles transferred “ownership” of Kalanggaman Island to the Rural Bank of Carmen and then late last year, just two months before the bank and others in the Legacy Group declared bank holidays, the “ownership” again moved from the bank to a private realty firm based in Manila.

Not surprisingly, the private firm, Edifice Realty and Development Corporation, is also an affiliate of the Legacy Group of de los Angeles. Edifice appears in the latest tax declaration for Kalanggaman Island as the owner.

Gapasan said that according to records, all of Palompon’s legal, legislative and administrative initiatives to maintain territorial jurisdiction over Kalangggaman fell through when de los Angeles succeeded in acquiring ownership by producing a Deed of Absolute Sale from heirs of a certain Andres Toring in 2003.

The document declared that a total of 2,696 square meters of coconut land situated in Kalanggaman was sold by the Toring heirs to de los Angeles and a certain Joel Retuya for P200,000.

A case background provided by Palompon municipal information officer Rezza Boy Omega, the town, assuming all the while to be the rightful owner of the island, found out only 10 years prior to the sale that a private person (Toring) from Bogo, Cebu has been claiming ownership of Kalanggaman on the strength of Tax Declaration 12819.

The town further learned that prior to Toring, the name of a certain Pablo Sitoy appeared in a 1950 tax declaration as owner. By 1974, the ownership transferred to a certain Agripino Ensoy although no record could now be found to validate that transfer.

In 1979, a Deed of Absolute Sale was executed, this time conveying the land from Ensoy to Toring.

Since 1993, the Municipality passed several legislative measures asserting its firm claim over the island. These resolutions include repeated requests to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources not to declare Kalanggaman as alienable and disposable, being part of public domain under territorial jurisdiction; and requesting the Environmental Management and Protected Areas Services to Evaluate and Declare Kalanggaman as a Marine Protected Area; and yet another resolution requesing the Department of Tourism to evaluate Kalanggaman Island for tourism purposes.

After the transfer to de los Angeles, the municipality again asserted its claim of jurisdiction and ownership by approving resolutions expressing opposition to survey plans and application for land titling filed by de los Angeles and authorizing then Palompon Mayor Marcelo Oñate to initiate measures to further the claim and other efforts.

De los Angeles, agitated by the moves of the town, sued officials with the Office of the Ombudsman but the complaints were all eventually dismissed.

He also sought declaratory relief and injunction from the Regional Trial Court in Palompon but these petitions were also denied.

In 2006, de los Angeles and his lawyer, Pinky Noel, appeared before the Palompon municipal council and apologized for his actions. He then proposed to develop the island into a resort and got himself a memorandum of agreement to proceed with the development.

But no copy of the MOA exists.

Legacy lawyer Inocencio de la Cerna, who represents the company in the close to P14.4 billion claims made by depositors, refused to speak on the issue, saying he is not the lawyer assigned to handle the case.

“I cannot speak about it as of the meantime,” de la Cerna said. (/JST) (THE FREEMAN)