BCDA scores legal victory against illegal land titles

MANILA, Philippines - The Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) has scored a major victory against the illegal claimant of a property that is part of the former Fort Stotsenberg military reservation when the regional trial court (RTC) ordered its reversion to the government.

The victory came on the heels of BCDA’s intensified efforts to prosecute land-grabbing syndicates who have laid claim to government property under BCDA’s stewardship.

“We are sending a strong message to those who have and plan to claim government property as their own, that we will use the full extent of the law to get our properties back,” BCDA president and chief executive officer Arnel Paciano Casanova said.

In a letter to Casanova, Government Corporate Counsel Raoul Creencia said the RTC Branch 58 of Angeles City has ordered the cancellation of a land title erroneously issued to a certain Consorcia Bontuyan, paving the way for the return of the affected property to the state-run BCDA.

In his 16-page decision, Judge Philbert Iturralde ruled as null and void ab initio the Original Certificate of Title (OCT) No. 1 registered in the name of Bontuyan, and directed the latter to surrender the same with the register of deeds of Angeles City for subsequent cancellation.

The Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Officer, who was cited as a co-respondent in the case filed by the BCDA, was also instructed to revoke the free patent issued to Bontuyan in 1996.

On the other hand, the local register of deeds was ordered to initiate the cancellation process of Bontuyan’s OCT and all other land titles emanating from it.