Pastor denies Baguio mayor’s land fraud claims; urges probe

BAGUIO CITY – A religious pastor denied allegations of Mayor Benjamin Magalong that he, a “general” and their alleged cohorts had been collecting money in exchange of fake land deals here at Purok 28, Barangay Irisan.

Pastor Alex Lupian said Magalong could have been deceived and misinformed by persons like land claimants who were protecting vested interests over the lot that he owns over the area.

Lupian said the property is the same estate that Magalong himself had investigated and found to be valid and enforceable in the Criminal Investigation Detection Group report sometime in 2015.

He urged Magalong to review the voluminous report.

Magalong was then national CIDG chief at that time.

Lupian urged anybody in government or private entities to file a case against him so the truth will come out.

The pastor said Magalong could start a full-fledged investigation on the matter.

He added a “can of worms” of shenanigans of former and present city or line agency officials could come out of the investigation.

Lupian said he has all the legal papers to prove ownership of the property he acquired through legal means.

He said he sold parts of the property since he owns it, but squatters have set up structures in other areas of the lot.

According to the pastor, he met Joel Mayol, the purported former general in Manila who volunteered to secure the property when he told him squatters have set up structures over the area.

A city government press release cited Magalong as saying Mayol had been involved in fake land deals and enticing people from the lowlands to buy.

Lupian said Mayol is preparing legal moves with his lawyer following Magalong’s allegations so he was not commenting on matters related to Mayol yet.  

But he said the picture of Mayol that Magalong showed during a press conference at city hall when he made the “expose” was not the person that he knew as Mayol but a different person. 

He said the Mayol that he knew was a good person.

Lupian added Judge Cecilia Dulay-Archog of the Regional Trial Court, First Judicial Region of Baguio recently ruled that he owned the property when a claimant tried to prevent him from fencing the area. 

He said he was at a loss how claimants were able to get OCTs over lots where they set up structures.

Lupian said he has the mother OCT 097 and OCTs derived from the mother OCT were irregular since the purported owners could not show deeds of sale or donation over the properties.

“I told them if they can show me the deeds of sale over the properties they are occupying, then I can give them the land for free, but they cannot,” he said.  

Lupian urged Magalong to conduct a full-fledged investigation over the matter to set the record straight so he will not be put in a bad light.  

He said the mayor could start with the City Registry of Deeds on how the fake OCTs were issued.

The Sandiganbayan sentenced last January a former Register of Deeds chief of Baguio City to eight years imprisonment after being found guilty of graft over an illegal land transaction in 2010.

The Sandiganbayan 1st Division, ordered former Baguio  Register of Deeds Juanito Ampaguey to be perpetually disqualified from holding public office.

The Office of the Ombudsman charged Ampaguey with graft for allegedly cancelling on April 14, 2010 a certain Ong's transfer certificate of title for a parcel of land in Baguio City, consisting of 755 square meters, by issuing a transfer certificate of title in favor of spouses Ferdinand and Rhighina Samidan, without requiring the owner's duplicate copy of the TCT or a court order.

Other legitimate land owners have complained that their land titles were “overlapped” by other titles in the office among other anomalies.   

This could have happened in the case of Lupian’s property, sources said. 

Lupian said aside from the ROD, the Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources could also be asked on how papers of claimants over his property were processed.

Lupian said he was not hiding contrary to what Magalong said. “I’m here at my house most of the time. What can they arrest me for?”

On allegations that he was transacting properties here in Barangay Loakan and Philex, Tuba, Benguet, he said these were the figments of imagination of an official of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples.

Another source said the NCIP official was close to a former city top official whose daughter is reportedly collecting monthly “amortization” over other lots in the area.

Lupian said the NCIP official just wanted to get a cut from the millions of royalties to be paid by Philex Mining Corp. to indigenous peoples in Tuba.

A memorandum of agreement was reportedly made earlier by the IPs that they will be paid as one and that projects they will have as a result of the royalties would be stipulated.

However, the IPs reportedly fought over the money and could not come up with a common stand.

Lupian said he was the one who mediated which resulted to unity among them.

Following this, the NCIP official reportedly tried to discredit Lupian by trying to get into the good graces of the IPs so he could get a cut of the millions of pesos in royalties. --AD