Galvez takes full responsibility for land mess

Solicitor General Ricardo Galvez took full responsibility yesterday for the compromise agreement the government had entered into with a private claimant to 4,689 hectares of land within the Fort Magsaysay military reservation in Laur, Nueva Ecija.

Testifying before the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, Galvez said the compromise agreement is only limited to the government's commitment to withdraw its opposition to the portion of Fort Magsaysay which claimant Florencia Garcia-Diaz was applying for a title.

"The commitment of the Solicitor General to withdraw its opposition to the portion of land applied for outside the military reservation does not ipso facto vest title to the applicant," he said.

Galvez said it was a judgment call on his part to enter into the compromise deal which, he claimed, will spare the government of a protracted litigation which has already gone on for two decades.

He said Diaz is duty-bound to present to the land registration court persuasive proof to substantiate her ownership claim over the property.

Galvez added that the court might not act on her application for a title because of conflicts in the actual location of the contested land.

Senate Minority Leader Teofisto Guingona exposed the compromise deal in a privilege speech early this month, assailing Galvez, Executive Secretary Ronaldo Zamora, Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado and Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Antonio Cerilles for entering into it.

But Zamora told the Blue Ribbon Committee yesterday that he was never a party to the compromise agreement.

Zamora said he only knew about the agreement after Guingona delivered the privilege speech.

He said it was his assistant for legal affairs, Gaudencio Mendoza, who attended meetings but never informed him about the compromise deal.

Zamora added that even Galvez never called his attention to the official functions of Mendoza, who signed as witness to the agreement.

Lawyer Norman Daanoy, legal officer of the Department of National Defense, also denied that Mercado was a party to the agreement, saying they even opposed the compromise plan because the contested land is within Fort Magsaysay.

Guingona urged the government to move for the voiding of the deal.