Foreigners face deportation over illegal activities: mayor

BAGUIO CITY – The city government will file deportation proceedings before the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation against Koreans and other foreigners who are engaged in illegal activities, especially buying lands identified as watershed reservations and subsequently putting up illegal structures thereat.

Domogan issued the warning after receiving reports that some Koreans and other foreigners have been visiting the controversial Forbes Park, a vital watershed reservation in this mountain resort city, where some areas were issued certificate of ancestral land titles (CALTs) and were subdivided and sold to innocent buyers.

Domogan reminded Koreans and other foreigners, who were hoodwinked by alleged land speculators to buy the subdivided lots, that they could face deportation proceedings if they insist on buying the titled lands in the reservation and constructing structures without required zoning clearances and building permits.

The city mayor ordered the city building and architecture office not to issue any building permit to any individual interested to construct structures within the Forbes Park reservation since the CALT issued to over 23 hectares is highly irregular.

Moreover, the local zoning board of adjustment and appeals (LZBAA) will not issue any vocational or zoning clearance to individuals interested to put up structures in the watershed reservation considering that it was not identified for commercial or residential purposes.

Because of the increasing number of land speculators in the Forbes Park reservation, Domogan appealed to prospective buyers of real property in the city to check the validity of the papers of the properties being sold to them so that they will not be hoodwinked by enterprising individuals to give a large sum of money and later on lose their lands since it was fraudulently issued.

He claimed buyers of real property must be careful in buying the lands sold to them so that they will not waste their hard earned money into a questionable transaction which might lead to the land speculators who are now proliferating in the city.

Due to the overlapping provisions of the country’s land laws, speculators are now taking advantage of the same into fooling innocent individuals to buy lands in the city which turn out to be products of questionable transactions over the past several years.

While land is a precious asset and everyone is raring to own a piece of land in the city, Domogan advised buyers of real property from Metro Manila and even foreigners to first investigate the lands being sold to them and not be easily carried away by the sugar-coated words of brokers so that they will be able to get for them the best deal and a good and clean property in the future.

Section 78 of Republic Act (RA) 8371 or the Indigenous Peoples rights Act (IPRA) provides that Baguio city will maintain its townsite sales status but prior land rights recognized by the courts, judicial bodies and other qusai-judicial agencies will be respected and recognized.

The city has a total of 57 square kilometers in total land area and over 80 percent of the same has already been inhabited by either legitimate landowners or squatters. -- Dexter A. See