7 LRA employees, 6 others face raps over illegal titling

CEBU, Philippines —  At least 13 persons including seven employees of Land Registration Authority (LRA) assigned in the Registry of Deeds and six private individuals are facing multiple charges for allegedly conspiring with each other to deprive the original owner of the P1.5 billion worth of land.

National Bureau of Investigation-7 regional director Rennan Oliva said they filed the charges before the Office of Ombudsman for violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, Code of Ethical Standards for Government Officials/Employees, falsification of public documents, violation against the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, illegal access and computer related forgery, and other forms of swindling.

Oliva identified the accused employees of the Register of Deeds as certain lawyer Benedicto Taylan, deputy register of deeds of Cebu City; Analie Ulieras, claim assessment and printing clerk; Adonis Flores, cashier II and administrative officer III; Bihildes Lumayas, administrative officer V; Jean Ruby Bacotot, uploader; Ivy Cabanog, crafts and trade helper, and Gerelean Marquez, cashier or fee collector.

The private respondents were identified as certain Arries Llenos, Aireen Llenos, lawyer Federico Cabilao Jr., Stanley Villacin and Cristina Villacin.

According to Oliva, the land dispute began in 1994 when the 5.5 hectares land in Barangay Lahug, Cebu City was legally acquired by Eric Nubla Jr., his mother-in-law, Ingrid Sala-Santamaria, and a friend, Esteban Yau, for more than P12 million.

In 1999, Nubla immigrated to USA and left the owner’s duplicate copy of land title to his wife, Cecilia.

However, he learned in 2003 that a certain Villacin, a homeowner in the adjacent lot of their property, illegally obtained their property.

Currently, the LRA implemented a system of “e-title” which titles that were generated manually will now be converted into an e-title with the purpose of eliminating illegal titling, double-titling or any other discrepancy in the title.

With these, NBI-7 agent on case, Arnel Pura, said that the first fraud committed by the accused was the generation of an e-title which didn’t have the exact requirements, particularly the owner’s duplicate copy.

“There were only three requirements, one is verified petition, two is the original copy, this copy is in the possession of the Register of Deeds, the other is the owner’s duplicate of copy, mao ng in possession sa owner,” said Pura.

In the process of converting into an e-title, the owner must surrender all the mentioned requirements. However, in this case, there was no submission of the owner’s duplicate of title, a clear irregularity in the process, according to Pura.

“Instead, because of the accessibility, of these public officials on the records of the Register of Deeds, this original copy was retrieved by them and was used in lieu of the owner’s duplicate of copy,” said Pura.

The accused couldn’t present the owner’s duplicate of copy since it is with Nubla, which was accordingly “blindly” accepted by the accused employees of the Register of Deeds resulting into the generation of the fake e-titles naming the property to Llenos.

However, by 2018, the fake e-title was then accepted by the Register of Deeds to transfer the property anew to Villacin being the ultimate owner. Included in the title were three fake deeds of sale.

The investigation stemmed from the complaint filed by Nubla and his co-owners along with the referral of investigation by the LRA in Quezon City who conducted an internal investigation.

“This investigation lasted for four months…in gist the owner is deprived ownership of their land…as a whole through falsified deeds of sales and with the connivance of the officials and officers of the Register of Deeds in Cebu City, a fake title was produced,” said Oliva.

Over the falsified titles produced, the owners were deprived from their own property and further giving it to the third person which was Villacin, thus, evading to pay P50 million taxes due to the government during the process. — GMR (FREEMAN)