The Land Registration Authority (LRA) has confirmed the lack of legitimacy of the land titles currently being issued and sold by a local cooperative covering Baguio land as part of a recent inquiry and probe into the organization’s operations.
The LRA was tapped by Councilor Betty Tabanda after a recent council session earlier in February brought up concerns over the validity of land titles being issued by the Bagong Lahing Pilipinas (BLP) Multi-Purpose Cooperative, which is selling “titles” for portions of Baguio land, supposedly obtained through judicial procedure.
The LRA, in a response to the City Council, confirmed that not only are the titles fake or spurious, the continued selling of said land titles are clearly unlawful and illegal.
“We would like to state for the record that the purported land title issued by BLP Multi-Purpose Cooperative appears FAKE or SPURIOUS (sic) for a certificate of title shall only be issued pursuant to judicial or administrative proceedings and NOT (sic) through a cooperative such as BLP Multi-Purpose Cooperative,” the February 19 letter from the LRA states.
Additionally, the LRA clarified that the said titles do not resemble, both in appearance in quality, actual certificate of titles issued by the government, emphasizing the BLP is defrauding people who purchase their certificates.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources Cordillera office (DENR-CAR) also issued an advisory warning the public to not patronize BLP for the illegitimacy of its operations and land titles, citing a National Drive Against Professional Squatters and Squatter Syndicates (NDAPSSS) that labels the BLP a “squatting syndicate” or an organization that illegally attempts to claim land by informally settling lands en masse and presenting fake land titles for said land.
During a session on Tuesday, February 12, the council engaged with BLP’s vice-president, known under the alias Jovito Salonga, who asserted that they are authorized to sell ancestral land titles under Presidential Decree 1529 and the Land Registration Act. Salonga claimed that BLP obtained authority through the implementation of the Torrens System during the American regime.
However, the City Council disputed the legitimacy of these titles, asserting that titles acquired through judicial procedures cannot be valid as judicial titling in the city is no longer applicable due to the declaration that all portions of Baguio City, except private lands, are part of the Baguio Townsite Reservation.
Due to numerous questionable details regarding BLP’s operations, the council issued a resolution requesting the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to investigate BLP. They also sought assistance from the NCIP and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
In 2019, the NCIP Cordillera office had traced a fake, fraudulent title to a certain Ang Bagong Lahing Pilipino Multi-Purpose Cooperative, a registered cooperative under the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA). However, the cooperative was allegedly suspended due to an unresolved 2017 show cause order from the CDA.
Even earlier, in 2015, an organization named Ang Bagong Lahing Filipino Development Foundation Inc., specializing in providing land titles and possessory documents, was flagged by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in an advisory for not being registered with the Commission.
