MANILA, Philippines — House leaders filed a bill on Thursday, November 7, that seeks to transfer ownership of illegally acquired land and properties by foreign nationals to the government.
Members of the House Quad Committee proposed House Bill 11403, or the Civil Forfeiture Act, in light of their suspicions that foreign nationals have unlawfully acquired several hectares of Philippine land by obtaining Filipino citizenship through fraudulent means.
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Rep. Robert Ace Barbers (Surigao del Norte, 2nd District), overall chairman of the joint committee, said in an ambush interview that the bill is necessary to emphasize that foreign nationals are prohibited by the 1987 Constitution from having full ownership of Philippine land.
“When we discovered this, we found that they had also purchased a lot of questionable land because they are not Filipinos.… It should be clear that [foreign nationals] cannot acquire 100% of properties here,” he said in Filipino.
This aligns with Section 2 of Article XII, which stipulates that foreign ownership of corporations in certain industries is limited to a maximum of 40%.
It is also necessary to prevent seized land and properties from being sold while they are still under investigation, Barbers added.
The mega panel has been investigating the illegal operations of offshore scam hubs, or POGOs, in the country. Criminal activities, such as human trafficking and the illegal drug trade, have allegedly been uncovered in these establishments.
On October 21, the House Quad Comm handed over the documents it gathered related to the land ownership of Chinese nationals to the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), urging the latter to probe these land titles.
RELATED: OSG urged to probe land titles registered to Chinese nationals
Where will forfeited properties go?
Section 10 of the proposed legislation required agricultural land acquired through civil forfeiture proceedings to be distributed to qualified farmers.
Meanwhile, seized non-agricultural land must be allocated for use in schools, hospitals and other social welfare establishments.
Alternatively, non-agricultural land may be donated to the local government unit where it is located for the development of social service facilities.
The bill also cites Sections 7 and 8 of Article XII, which outlines that private lands can only be transferred to qualified individuals or entities, particularly Filipino citizens.
Should Filipinos born in the country lose their citizenship, they may still acquire private lands within the limitations set by the law.
Section 3 of the proposed Civil Forfeiture Act clarifies that any transfer of real estate property to a foreign national who is not legally qualified to own land in the Philippines is considered “null and void,” making the transfer legally invalid.
Section 4 further establishes the presumption that any real estate acquired by a foreign national in the country is unlawfully acquired unless the foreign national can prove a legal exception.
According to the bill’s explanatory note, reinforcing existing laws prohibiting foreign land ownership strengthens their enforcement in addressing and eliminating corrupt practices, such as using late birth registration to circumvent the constitution.
This is the third bill filed by the House Quad Committee in response to its inquiry findings, following the first two bills that criminalize extrajudicial killings and ban POGOs in the country.
RELATED: Lawmakers file bills to criminalize EJKs, ban POGOs
It was introduced by House representatives Aurelio “Dong” Gonzales Jr., David “Jay-Jay” Suarez, Barbers, Bienvenido M. Abante Jr., Dan Fernandez, Joseph Stephen “Caraps” Paduano, Romeo Acop, Johnny Ty Pimentel, Gerville “Jinky Bitrics” Luistro, Ramon Rodrigo Gutierrez, Francisco Paolo Ortega V, Jefferson Khonghun and Jonathan Keith Flores.