HOMES ON FARMLANDS by Jerry Esplanada of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

Dream Homes On Farmlands
Author: Jerry Esplanada
Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer
Date Published: 7/24/98



IN ADDITION to 450 hectares of prime land
near the Ninoy Aquino International Airport,
real estate tycoon and Las Piñas Rep. Manuel
Villar has acquired some 5,500 hectares
(equivalent to 55 million square meters) in
mostly agricultural lands in various parts of
the country.

The Villar flagship Camella & Palmera Homes
Inc. and its affiliate firms have been
developing the landholdings into housing
projects marketed as "Dream Homes in a total
California setting," "Slice of Europe," "Queen
City's crown jewel," and country homes with
the "Charm of the Caribbean," among other
come-ons.

Documents obtained by the Inquirer, however,
revealed that the conversion of many Villar
landholdings from agricultural to residential
use was made without the required clearance
from the Department of Agrarian Reform.

Villar, the wealthiest member of the House of
Representatives (with assets of $2 billion in
1996, according to Forbes magazine) has, at
this writing, yet to respond to this paper's
request for an interview.

Premature or illegal conversion is a criminal
act as mandated under the Comprehensive Agrarian
Reform Law and the Agriculture and Fisheries
Modernization Act.

Administrative sanctions are also spelled out
in DAR Administrative Order No. 7 (Series of
1997) which states that petitions for
conversion covering lands which have been
prematurely converted shall be disapproved and
the subject lands automatically placed under
CARP coverage.

On many occasions, C & P Homes insiders said,
Villar companies disregarded laws on land
conversion and outrightly converted acquired
landholdings into subdivision projects. .

"Armed with the respective municipalities'
preliminary approval for locational clearance
(PALC), the municipal council's development
permit (DP), mayor's permit, and the
environmental clearance certificate from the
Department of Environment and Natural Resources,
we simply went ahead developing the properties
into existing housing projects," a source close
to Villar confided to the Inquirer.

Disregarding DAR clearance

C & P Homes insiders insisted "there's no
need to secure a DAR clearance because we
already have substantial compliance (with the
other requirements) . All we do is strengthen
secondary documentation, not the primary one
which is the DAR clearance."

Land reclassification is the function of local
government units but a developer must have a
conversion clearance if it is done after the
enactment of CARP (on June 15, 1988).

Another source close to Villar admitted that
in DAR surveys "(Villar landholdings) were in
fact agricultural at the time the CARP law was
enacted" and that "in real property tax
declarations filed prior to June 15, 1988 by
the original landowners, the Villar housing
projects were previously declared as
agricultural. "

The same source also said that as early as
1996 "nag-scenario thinking na kami, how we
would meet the challenge if someone comes
knocking at our door and ask for DAR
permits. Pera lang ang katapat niyan."

Going around the law

"We made it a point to complete the
documentations, like the waivers of farmers.
Kung wala nang tenants, in effect wala na
ring complainants, " the source added.

Another executive of a Villar firm said they
had devised a number of sophisticated schemes
that "allowed us to go around the laws."

One of them is by executing a deed of absolute
sale (DAS) with the original landowner but
leaves blank the exact date of the transaction.
The document will neither be notarized nor
presented to the Register of Deeds for
registration and issuance of the land title.

Either the landowner or an attorney in fact
(usually a Villar lawyer or a senior company
official) will file with DAR an application for
conversion of the particular land. Once the
conversion order is secured, the DAS is brought
out, dated accordingly and presented to the
Register of Deeds for the corresponding transfer
certificate of title or TCT.

Or securing the "cooperation" of the municipal
assessor, municipal planning and development
officer and the town's register of deeds in
changing the description of the agricultural
property and declare it instead as residential,
commercial or industrial, and pay the
corresponding real property tax.

In the Visayas and Mindanao where C & P Homes
Inc. is called Communities Philippines Inc.,
the Villar real estate empire is slowly flexing
its muscle with several housing projects.

'On safe side'

Interviewed at the company's regional office
in Cebu City, lawyer Pamela Gako, CPI marketing
manager, declared that "as much as possible, we
go through the process."

Asked if their development projects had land
conversion permits from DAR, Gako said the
Villar firms "try to comply with government
requirements. "

"Generally speaking, we try to be on the safe
side," Gako told the Inquirer. Whatever that
means.

She pointed out that some of their projects
were "located within zones classified as
residential by local government units." She
did not elaborate.

Sources in the Chamber of Real Estate &
Builders Association in Cebu claimed the Villar
group was developing more than 100 hectares of
prime agricultural lands in the outskirts of
the city.

Gako neither confirmed nor denied the
disclosure. Instead, she said "some areas which
are located near existing projects are under
study." She declined to comment further.

Without referring to the Villar firms, Elmo
Bañares, DAR Director for Central Visayas,
explained that premature conversion is against
the law because "it diminishes the mass of
agricultural lands which can be distributed to
qualified agrarian reform beneficiaries. "

"They are called agricultural lands simply because
they are intended for agriculture. It is DAR, not
LGUs, which has exclusive jurisdiction over what
lands can be or cannot be converted into non-
agricultural uses," Bañares emphasized.

Before his transfer to Cebu, Bañares had denied a
Villar application for conversion involving an
11.6-hectare agricultural property in Barangay
Abilay Norte, Oton, Iloilo.

In land conversion applications, developers are
usually represented by former owners of the subject
lands. In this particular case, the Villar firm
Camella Homes was represented by landowners Apolonio
Gallantes, Domiciano Gampay, Jesus Casuela, Panfilo
Guelos, and Juanito Embecido.

Bañares said he disapproved the application
"because the (seven) parcels of land were irrigated
lands. They were supposed to be non-negotiable. We
stuck to our findings which included the existence
of an overflowing irrigation canal in the area."

Reversal

To DAR-Region 6 staff's surprise, the National
Irrigation Authority issued a certification saying
the subject landholdings were "not irrigated lands
within the areas programmed for development under
the NIA Irrigation Development Program."

The NIA ruling, among other reasons, prompted the
DAR central office to reverse the regional office's
decision. "Of course, we know better than that.
We're not born yesterday," said a DAR staff member.

On April 16, 1998, DAR-Region 6 disapproved another
application for land conversion by a group of Oton,
Iloilo, landowners, again representing the Villar
group of companies.

In a two-page decision, a copy of which was
obtained by this reporter at the DAR central
office in Quezon City, regional director Dominador
Andres said: "The regional Center for Land Use,
Planning and Policy Implementation investigating
team and executive committee recommended that the
conversion (of 30.2 hectares in agricultural
lands) to residential use be denied pursuant to
AO No. 20, which states that irrigated or
irrigable lands are non-negotiable for
conversion."

Interviewed in Jaro, Iloilo, Andres asserted
"there is no way for the DAR regional office to
recommend for its approval. We're talking here
of irrigated land which is non-negotiable. We've
done our part. Trabaho lang ito, walang
personalan."

At the DAR headquarters, Prof. Jose Domingo,
outgoing director of the Presidential Agrarian
Reform Council, said checking if the Villar
firms (or any other land developer for that
matter) had secured DAR permits for heir housing
projects was not an easy task.

"In the first place, there has never really
been a meticulous act on the part of the
department to look at all into communities where
land conversions were made," Domingo admitted.

Villar empire

At least 50 of the ongoing housing projects
of the Villar group, covering some 16.6 million
square meters, are in the provinces of Bulacan
and Cavite, the same documents disclosed. The
landholdings are covered by 1,217 titles.

Land conversion projects in Bulacan, with an
area of 10,264,715 sq.m., are classified by
C & P Homes Inc. as "North" projects.

The "South" projects, on the other hand, have
a total land area of 6,319,587 sq.m. Aside
from Cavite, some of the landholdings are
located in Laguna and Batangas.

DAR officials call the three provinces the
agency's "(land conversion) problem areas" in
the Southern Tagalog region, in addition to
Bulacan in Central Luzon.

The Villar firms have also acquired land-
holdings in Iloilo, Bataan and Cebu, among
other provinces.

In the municipality of San Jose del Monte,
Bulacan, alone, Villar companies like Palmera
Homes Inc. and Crown Asia have at least 40
ongoing development projects covering a total
land area of 1,326,110 square meters.

They include Northridge Prime Estates,
287,352 sq.m.; Northridge Heights 1-B, 24,933
sq.m.; Northridge Heights 1-C, 20,000 sq.m.;
Northwinds City 1,126,203 sq.m.; Northwinds 2
(A & B), 81,111 sq.m.; Northwinds 2-C, 11,420
sq.m.; Northwinds 3-A, 164,084 sq.m.; Northwinds
3-B, 105,880 sq.m.; Northwinds 4, 40,000 sq.m.;
Northwinds 4-C, 18,828 sq.m.; Northwinds 4-D,
7,555 sq.m.; Northwinds 4-E, 8,362 sq.m.;
Northwinds 5, 24,731 sq.m.; Northwinds 6,
52,425 sq.m.; Northwinds 7, 101, 249 sq.m.; and
Northwinds 8-B, 15,342 sq.m.

Also being developed in San Jose del Monte are
the following housing projects: La Poblacion
152,054 sq.m.; La Poblacion 1-B, 20,623 sq.m;
La Poblacion 1-C, 62,272 sq.m.; La Poblacion
1-D, 9,757 sq.m.; La Poblacion 2, 120,577
sq.m.; La Poblacion 3-B, 17,831 sq.m.; La
Poblacion 3-C, 51,162 sq.m.; La Poblacion 3-D,
14,711 sq.m.; La Poblacion 3-E, 57,759 sq.m.;
and La Poblacion 4,109,894 sq.m.

The same town is also the home of Carissa
Homes projects like Carissa 1-A, 59,534 sq.m.;
Carissa 1-C, 22,278 sq.m.; Carissa 2-A, 163,084
sq.m.; Carissa 2-B, 81,180 sq.m.; Carissa 3-A,
60,866 sq.m.; Carissa 4-A, 103,092 sq.m.;
Carissa 4-B, 40,736 sq.m.; Carissa 4-C, 5,000
sq.m.; Carissa 5-D, 12,400 sq.m.

In Malolos, also in Bulacan, Crown Asia is
developing La Ravena, covered by four land
titles and with a total area of 619,895 sq.m.

In the municipality of Teresa, Rizal, Palmera
Homes is developing four subdivisions- -Carissa
Homes East 1,161,210 sq.m.; Carissa Homes East
1-B, 24,310 sq.m.; Windhills Point, 100,988
sq.m.; and Windhills Crest, 32,956 sq.m.

In Cavite, the projects include Springville,
with an area of 736,000 sq.m.; Barcelona, 273,000
sq.m.; Bacoor, 401,700 sq.m.; Sorrento, 121,800
sq.m.; and Noveleta, 57,000 sq.m.

In Laguna, there are seven new land conversion
projects: WH-Main, 136,000 sq.m.; WH-2, 40,000
sq.m.; WH-Annex, 31,400 sq.m.; Bermuda I, 85,000
sq.m.; Bermuda 254,100 sq.m.; and Milan, 30,200
sq.m.

An unidentified Batangas housing project
covers a lot area of 100,000 sq.m.

Other projects

- San Jose del Monte, Bulacan--Carissa North.

- Pandi, Bulacan--Willowbend and Woodbridge.

- Antipolo, Rizal--Woodrow Hills, Maia Alta,
Hills of Maia Alta, Gardens of Maia Alta,
Cottonwood Heights, and Glen Oaks.

- Quezon City--Granwood Villas and La Brea.

- Kalookan City--Whispering Palms, Tierra Nova
Royale 3 and Residenza.

- Novaliches-- Tierra Nova.

- Imus, Cavite--Citta Italia and Nueva Imus.

- Dasmariñas, Cavite--La Mediterranea.

- Bacoor, Cavite--Springville Heights.

- San Pedro, Laguna--The Trails of La Marea,
Bermuda and Milan.

- Lipa City, Batangas--Plantacio n Meridienne.

- Noveleta, Cavite; Orani, Bataan; and Oton,
Iloilo-- (Still unnamed)

- Lapu Lapu City, Cebu--Camella Homes Cebu, Vista
Bella, Vista Bella Executives and Villa Marina.

- Talisay, Cebu City--Tierra Grande Estates.

- Talamban, Cebu City--Miramonte and Bellefonte.

- Ormoc City, Leyte--La Pradera.

- Cagayan de Oro City--Camella Homes, La Buena de
Vida and Frontiera.

- Talomo, Davao City--Solariega.


-end-

This was back in 1998. There might be more acquired
between 1998-present specially nagkaroon sila ng
massive expansion sa Cavite and Laguna among other
places. Whether or not conversion clearances were
provided for these properties between 1998-present
is irrelevant because these are non-negotiable
lands.


--a.b.d.c.