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The coming electoral exercise is important for us a nation, let us weigh all matters with wisdom and maturity.  

LITO BANAYO
MALAYA Column for Thursday, 25 February 2010
 
Norzagaray is a character issue
 
            The papers today will most likely carry the news that the Magdalo have endorsed the candidacy of Money Villarroyo for president.  That was a done deal more than a week ago, never mind what the group keeps saying that their members will yet vote on the matter.  When Chiz Escudero was yet a candidate, they went for him, with Noynoy Aquino placing second among their choices.  Now they are going for Money Villarroyo.  Whatever their reasons, this article is dedicated to what little idealism, if any, is left in their hearts.
 
            Vilarroyo, after all, is not after their votes.  Villarroyo is only after their propaganda value, and the announcement at this time that the two publicly known polling companies are doing their field surveys is deemed considerable, which is why Villarroyo values their endorsement so much. (How much?)  The same goes for Cardinal Vidal, whose “blessing” of Money is spun for propaganda value.  And holy man Mike Velarde’s orange revolution in Hong Kong.
 
            In the C-5 scandal, Villar clearly used his power as Speaker, then as senator when he was chair of the Finance Committee with power over the national budget, and as Senate President, in order to cause public monies to be channeled into a redundant project where his corporate and family interests would profit handsomely.  He caused the diversion or re-alignment of a previously planned stretch of road into another area where his properties would be traversed, thus enhancing their real estate value.  In so doing, at least 2 billion pesos in road right-of-way payments already paid mostly to Bro. Mike Velarde was laid to waste.  The original road was to have traversed the religious leader’s property in Paranaque.
 
            Because the new C-5, whatever else Villar chooses to call it, is more circuitous (parang ahas), the better to pass the properties which Manny Villar owns, the stretch of road cost government more to construct.  Which is why the Senate Committee of the Whole is dunning him for the cost of the road.  And in evaluating the road right-of-way payments, Villar again made certain that his properties would be paid big.  Bigger than the other property owners in the area.  As when he was paid 14,000 pesos per square or thereabouts, the adjoining property owned by the heirs of Democrito Plaza, represented by Rodolfo “Ompong” Plaza who is now running for senator under Erap’s coalition, was paid only 4,000 pesos. Ompong and family was happy about the valuation, not knowing that Villar got three and a half times more. All told, the Senate concluded that the disadvantage to government was 6 billion pesos, and asked Villar to reimburse the taxpayer so.
 
            But C-5, per Villar’s propaganda machine, which means his paid media and likewise “paid” free media, harped on its usefulness to the motoring public, especially those who have to pass Coastal Road and Quirino Highway instead, the latter a toll road, the other a narrow thoroughfare connecting Zapote with Paranaque, built during the American occupation, just like MacArthur Highway in the north. Its called a “spin”, and oh, how much money went around!
 
            In Tagalog, “naloko ni Villar ang gobyerno; nakinabang siya sa salapi ng gobyerno;  inaksaya niya ang salapi ng bayan; ginamit niya ang impluwensya at kapangyarihan para makinabang”.  This is both against the law and against moral values.  But the C-5 issue remained abstract to many, especially the masa, because “nakinabang ang motorista”, as Villar’s paid free media kept arguing.  What the masa felt discomfiting was that Villar evaded the issue even before his peers in the Senate.  As the neighborhood barber would say, “Iilan-ilan lang sila sa Senado, hindi pa niya ma-eksplika doon”, and his customer would add, “May itinatago siguro”.  To which the Senate President who replaced Villar, veteran lawyer Juan Ponce Enrile declared --- “Duwag”.
 
            But Norzagaray is otra cosa.  In Norzagaray, as we detailed yesterday, Villar got possession of some 480 hectares of land, most of which would be classified under the IPRA law as “ancestral domain”, and, in the words of the DENR, “forest land” which under the law are “beyond the commerce of man”.  In 1964, the Republic deemed it socially justiciable and justifiable to award portions of these forest lands in the foothills of the lengthy Sierra Madre, to farmers who have demonstrated continuous use and occupation of said publicly-owned lands.
 
            Yet, real estate syndicates in cahoots with crooked bureaucrats found opportunity when the Malolos, Bulacan Registry of Deeds was razed by fire in 1987.  They produced spurious documents purporting to show several transfers of ownership over the land, the earliest of which, as written in the face of the titulo torrens, was executed during the Japanese occupation when no civil government was in place, and which subsequent amendment by the post-war Commonwealth under Sergio Osmena declared “null and void”.  And the latest of which was to Villar’s corporation, Manila Brickworks, which in turn assigned the deeds to Capitol Development Bank, another Villar corporation.  Capitol fell under the weight of Villar’s foreign-denominated loans which his Camella and Palmera used, with the massive help of NHMFC, again with massive infusions of additional capital from government financing institutions, when the Philippine peso faltered during the Asian recession of 1997.  Villar and Capitol saw their liabilities double instantly at the end of Fidel Valdez Ramos’ term, when as congressman, he was the buddy-buddy of Jose de Venecia, the man who lost the presidency miserably to Joseph Estrada.
 
            His corporate fortunes dwindled, almost gone with the wind when liabilities were compared with assets, Villar first “bought” the speakership, astonishing his former patron Joe de V himself, and forthwith manipulated deal after deal in order to save his “brown taipanic”  empire.  Among the massive transfusions of the people’s money that went to the aid of Villar were two emergency loans covered by two promissory notes signed by Mrs. Cynthia Villar herself, as president and CEO of Capitol Bank, for a total of 1.5 billion pesos, given by the fiduciary trustee of the Republic of the Philippines and the people of this sovereign state, no less than the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.
 
            Did not the hawk-eyed loan analysts of the BSP notice the provenance of the torrens title surrendered by Optimum Development Bank, the successor-in- interest of Capitol Bank which closed in 1998 or thereabouts?  That does not seem quite likely.  That’s why they are the “central” bank; if ordinary banks do utmost diligence in ascertaining and verifying properties before they part with the loan proceeds, how much more the bureaucrats of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas?  Assuming arguendo, as Villar’s apologists in the internet claim, that the title also passed on to them, then why in hell’s name did they pass dubious titles to the Bangko Sentral.  And why in heaven’s name did the BSP accept the same? 
 
            Likelier scenario is that Villar used his power as Speaker to get the top officials of the Bangko Sentral to order their subordinates to “close their eyes” and “shut their mouths”.  Aha, bank secrecy!
 
            In fine, the Bangko Sentral which later foreclosed on the unpaid 1.5 billion, was left with spurious titles, executed during the “null and void” period of the Pacific War.  An erudite man of the cloth, when the whole caper was explained to him, exclaimed, “Mickey Mouse!”, as in pareho ng mickey mouse money, Villar hocked mickey mouse titles. (Those above 50 years old will know what “mickey mouse” money means; those younger, please ask the older ones.)
 
            Na-gantso ang Bangko Sentral!  In another day and age, forthcoming four months hereinafter, Mr. and Mrs. Manuel Villar will have to explain this mystery to the Ombudsman.  After June 30, assuming Villar is not the “duly elected” president, the Bangko Sentral will be material witness to and culpable party likewise.  Which is probably why Manuel Villar y Bamba so desperately needs to become President of the Republic.  To cover his tracks.  What a roll it has been!
 
            Which is why he “bought” the speakership in 1998, to the consternation of his now friend and fine dining partner, Joker Arroyo, who on August 17, 1998, denounced Villar for unspeakable crimes of larceny and profiteering in the floor of the House.  To cover his tracks between 1992 when he was first elected congressman, to 1998 when he became Speaker.  Then in 2001, he was elected senator of the realm, in the aftermath of his having impeached his benefactor Erap, where he became the chair of the Senate Finance Committee with power over the public purse.  And from which he re-built his empire by deal after deal after deal, including C-5, including Daang Hari, including Daang Reyna and Savannah upon Pavia, Iloilo, and including paying fake Norzagaray titles to the Bangko Sentral.
 
            In C-5, only the amorphous “Republic” was disadvantaged.  In Norzagaray however, some 47, perhaps more, poor Filipino families of Dumagat descent, are now in hard struggle with the Bangko Sentral, which insists on the property rights it acquired by foreclosure from Villar, against their legitimate and genuine titles issued by the Republic in the time of Diosdado Macapagal. 
 
            Ninakawan ng lupa ang mga Dumagat!  Land-grabber pala?  Na-gantso na ang Bangko Sentral, pinagsamantalahan pa ang kaawa-awang mga magsasaka?  And his ads have him saying “Tatapusin ko ang Kahirapan”.  Tell that to the Marines, este, Dumagat pala.
 
            Now he presents himself to the people, asking them to entrust to him stewardship and leadership of these benighted lands, the better perhaps to cover up his tracks.  Six years of no Ombudsman, no Sandiganbayan special court, no Supreme Court to touch him, only a Congress under the “speakership” of Gloria Macapagal, (and the Senate Presidency of Joker Arroyo (just in case Gloria duns him), whose Arroyo we might as well append to his name, hereinafter spelled Villarroyo.
 
            A friend from the other side of the political fence insisted Gloria is faithful to her Gibo, and only su esposo Juan Miguel, alias Mike, is sponsoring Villar’s candidacy on the sly.  My retort:  Hindi ko naman sinabing Villapagal.  Ang sabi ko ---Villarroyo!
 
            Thursday last week, the farmers presented their case to media, because the Ombudsman before which their lawyers filed a case in 2008 had not bothered to lift its manacled fingers.  And the Bangko Sentral, which had strangely been given a new Transfer Certificate of Title to their properties, and the dastardly deed known to them only in 2004, had been as quiet as the sphinx of Egypt.
 
            Media hardly covered and hardly reported it. The desks were bought (save a few), the reporters taken for a ride.  Manna spread hugely from the Villarroyo horn of plenty.   The issue was cleverly kept from the prying attention of the public, which must rightfully assess the fitness for public office of anyone who would be president of the benighted islands.  Anyone, whether Villarroyo, or Aquino, or Gordon, or Gibo, or Erap, Jamby, JC, Bro. Eddie and whoever else. 
 
            What is it we keep reminding people about the qualities their leaders must possess?  Character plus competence.  With emphasis on character. 
 
            Competence is easy.  An allegedly “incompetent” Magsaysay surrounded himself with competent people.   A competent Marcos, surrounding himself with more competent technocrats, plundered and enslaved the people of these benighted nation for 21 years.  A competent Macapagal-Arroyo once again demonstrated, for ten years, how character must take infinitely more importance than competence.
 
            Manny Villar is “competent”, no doubt about it.  Cunning, quick to seize opportunity, adept at using influence, manipulative of power --- magaling talaga!  And Gibo is just as competent, judging on his words and his educational background.  But questions of character do not hound Gibo.  A morally upright character is what Money Villarroyo does not possess.
 
            Elect him president, he will not end poverty.  He will be “lalong pahirap”.  More than Marcos and Arroyo combined.
 
            In Edsa we threw out Marcos after suffering under the yoke of authoritarianism which promised to end poverty as well, but pushed us deeper into misery, notwithstanding over-priced infrastructure.  In Edsa Dos, we installed Arroyo, and look where we are now, among the world’s most corrupt, most un-competitive, most benighted.   What will six years of Money Villarroyo in Malacanang, Joker Arroyo in the Senate, and Gloria Arroyo in the House bring to these islands?
 
            Basket case, that’s what.
 
(banayo_at@yahoo. com)
 
             
 
 
LITO BANAYO
MALAYA Column for Tuesday, 23 February 2010
 
Norzagaray, Bulacan
 
            Norzagaray is a small town in the northeastern fringes of Bulacan, in the foothills of the Sierra Madre.  It is bounded on the north by the town of Angat, and to its south is San Jose del Monte City, now a bustling center where once the squatters ejected from Intramuros resided.  The foothills of the Sierra Madre where the provinces of Rizal, Quezon and Bulacan straddle are ancestral home to the Dumagats, indigenous Filipinos who used to subsist on hunting and slash-and-burn farming, otherwise called kaingin.  But because of population explosion and its proximity to Quezon City, Norzagaray lands have become a bit more valuable.  It certainly would make a good venue for low-cost housing.
 
            Last Thursday, some 47 farmers, some of them still pure Dumagats, others of inter-married stock, trooped to a small restaurant at the vicinity of Quezon City Hall, and were met by a few reporters who listened to their story.  They were accompanied by a lawyer and a spokesperson, a certain Mrs. Tecson, who showed documents to prove their case.
 
            This is their story:
 
            They have cultivated some 480 hectares of land in Norzagaray since the late fifties.  Some of them, the Dumagats particularly, had forebears who were there since the times when the fair-skinned invaded these islands.
 
            In 1960, they went to the Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources and applied for free patent to the lands they had continuously been in possession of.  In 1964, in the reign of Diosdado Macapagal, they or their parents were awarded, under Original Certificates of Title (or OCT.  Note the word “original”) No. P-858 Free Patent No. 257917, dated April 27, 1964, by the Bulacan Register of Deeds.
 
            Then, in March of 1987, a fire gutted the office of the Registry of Deeds in Malolos, burning all copies of OCT’s in their vault, necessitating TCT reconstitution proceedings.  (Sometime back, the same thing happened in Quezon City, creating consternation when fake titles started sprouting, and a slew of contested property conflicts arose).  Being poor and un-sophisticated, the farmers did not at the time file for title reconstitution.
 
            Meanwhile, on April 24, 1998, Mrs. Cynthia A. Villar, as president of Capitol Development Bank, and Anacordita H. Magno, its first vice-president, signed a promissory note in favor of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) for 1.168 billion and another for 332 million, for a total of 1.5 billion pesos, payable after 180 days, or due and payable on October 21, 1998.  At the time the emergency loan of Capitol became payable, Manuel B. Villar had risen from a third-term congressman to Speaker of the House of Representatives.
 
            Meanwhile, Capitol Development Bank was closed and its assets as well as liabilities were transferred by the Villars to Optimum Development Bank, with a certain Arturo P. de los Santos as its executive vice-president.  In June of 2001, Optimum through De los Santos signed a deed of real estate mortgage over the Norzagaray lands in favor of BSP.  He once more co-signed for Manila Brickworks, Inc., which was identified as the owner of the lands.  Both Manila Brickworks and Capitol Bank, later Optimum Development Bank, were/are owned by the Villars.
 
            To cut a long story short, BSP took possession of the titles mortgaged by Capitol/Optimum and Manila Brickworks because the Villars failed to pay their 1.5 billion loan.  Clearly, as we will later discover, the BSP took the titles surrendered to them at face value, little noticing the provenance of its TCTs.
 
            And the Malolos Registry of Deeds forthwith transferred the Norzagaray land titles in favour of Bangko Sentral.  Such that when the farmers who held titles over land given to them by the Republic in 1964 filed for reconstitution in 2004, they were told that the same lands had already been transferred to the BSP!
 
            Upon investigation by the Registry of Deeds and subsequently the DENR, which succeeded the divided Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources (DANR) in the disposition and supervision over all public lands, it was discovered that the BSP-foreclosed titles surrendered by the Villar bank and corporation emanated from OCT No. 287 dated 25 July 1944. This was issued under a sales patent  which derived its existence from Sec.122 of Act 496 of the Land Registration Act of the US Government. However during July 1944, the country was under Japanese occupation and hence there was no valid title issued under the said Act and therefore the said “Original” certificate of title is clearly a FAKE and all transfer certificate of titles arising from the said FAKE title are null and void.
 
            In fine, what the Villars, through Capitol/Optimum Bank and Manila Brickworks paid to the Bangko Sentral in partial settlement of their billion-peso loans, were FAKE titles!  And aside form the BSP, which was clearly defrauded, victims now are the poor farmers of Norzagaray, who cannot have their titles reconstituted.  If a farmer-family wants to obtain a loan so that they can send a son or daughter abroad to work as an OFW (Villar’s advertised beneficiaries of his generosity, for instance), they cannot do so, because the BSP also holds title to the same.
 
            At one time, the farmers said, the Villar corporations sent security guards to drive them away from their land, but they resisted.  This seems to be a pattern, as we shall see in other land disputes involving the Villars. 
 
            The farmers went from office to office, from the prosecutors office of Bulacan, as well as the DENR.  They even went to the office of Senator Ping Lacson after they heard about the mysteries of the C-5 double appropriations.  But Lacson’s Ethics Committee could not take cognizance of the letter-complaint of the farmers because then Sen. Pres. Manuel Villar was not yet a senator of the Republic at the time the complained offense was committed.  He was yet a congressman, and later Speaker, and his wife Cynthia was not yet even a congresswoman at the time she signed the promissory notes to Bangko Sentral.
 
            The farmers, through Gina S. Jarvina and Valentino Amador, et al, filed a complaint with the Office of the Ombudsman on September 2008.  Despite follow-ups, nothing has been heard from the Ombudsman.
 
            Now the man who purveyed their lands to the Bangko Sentral as foreclosed property due to non-payment of a 1.5 billion peso loan contracted for by his wife Cynthia, is running for president of the Philippines.  And the poor farmers whose ancestors have continuously lived and cultivated the paltry lands of Norzagaray are deathly afraid that if Villar becomes president and his wife Cynthia becomes First Lady, they would lose their lands and their homes altogether.
 
            Kalaban na nila ang Bangko Sentral, the bank of all banks.  Kalaban pa nila ang susunod na Pangulo ng Pilipinas?
 
 
[banayo_at@yahoo. com]     
   














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