The group asserts that the property carries a perpetual encumbrance – a authorized restriction on its use and sale primarily based on a 1936 regulation
CAGAYAN DE ORO, Philippines – An alumni group has referred to as on the federal government to rescind a 2021 property deal between the Jesuit-owned Xavier College-Ateneo de Cagayan and developer Cebu Landmasters Included (CLI), asserting that the land is a public asset that can not be bought for industrial use primarily based on a 1936 regulation.
In an announcement launched on Monday, September 29, the Involved XU Dad and mom, Lecturers, Alumni and Communities Included (COPTAC) mentioned it has filed a verified criticism with the Workplace of the Solicitor Common (OSG), urging it to research and provoke reversion proceedings earlier than the court docket.
COPTAC company secretary Lilli Marlene dela Serna mentioned the assertion was authorized by their board headed by Rachel Polestico, Ro-Ann Bacal, Gemma Velasco, Astrid Bana, Eduardo Montalvan, Orland Ravanera, and Floro Dalapag.
Dela Serna instructed Rappler that COPTAC’s place is that the property carries a perpetual encumbrance — a authorized restriction that limits its switch and use strictly to academic, spiritual, or charitable functions.
The criticism covers about 14 hectares of Xavier-Ateneo’s 64-hectare Manresa property in uptown Cagayan de Oro, which COPTAC mentioned has a good market worth of not less than P18,000 per sq. meter. The mission kinds a part of the college’s deliberate “Campus of the Future,” to be constructed inside a mixed-use township in Cagayan de Oro modeled after Bonifacio International Metropolis in Taguig.
In 2021, Xavier-Ateneo claimed that the enterprise was given the inexperienced mild by the Vatican.
The plan was first disclosed in 2018 in a letter from former Cagayan de Oro Archbishop Antonio Ledesma, who mentioned the college supposed to promote its 6.3-hectare downtown campus and one other 14.3 hectares to assist fund the 20.6-hectare uptown improvement.
The alumni group claimed that the property was initially granted to the Jesuit-run faculty below a gross sales patent issued pursuant to the Public Land Act through the Commonwealth interval. It identified that the outdated regulation restricts its sale and use for industrial functions.
COPTAC mentioned Xavier-Ateneo violated the restrictions by getting into right into a three way partnership with CLI, arguing the deal triggers the state’s proper of reversion. It added that legal guidelines lifting restrictions on free patents or residential gross sales patents don’t apply on this case.
“Permitting the switch will end result within the unjust privatization of a property of huge worth to the nation,” the group mentioned in its criticism.
It referred to as on the general public to help any authorities motion “to stop the lack of a public asset that ought to stay dedicated to training and neighborhood service.”
The OSG, nonetheless, has but to behave on the criticism submitted by COPTAC.
For his half, Fr. Mars Tan, president of Xavier-Ateneo de Cagayan, maintained that Manresa is a titled personal property of the college and shall be used for a brand new campus and a wildlife sanctuary. He confirmed that the 14-hectare uptown property was bought by the college to CLI to assist finance the campus improvement mission.
Tan mentioned he additionally doubted if the Commonwealth Public Land Act nonetheless applies as a result of the land is already personal property, and that the town authorities and the Division of Atmosphere and Pure Assets (DENR) have granted permits for improvement.
“We’re additionally consulting our lawyer to double examine,” Tan mentioned, noting that their authorized counsel had already cleared XU of any impediments. However he added that the college would formally reply to COPTAC’s criticism “in due time.”
The Public Land Act, or Commonwealth Act No. 141, was enacted in 1936 and stays in power as the principle regulation governing the classification, administration and disposition of alienable and disposable public lands. It units out the foundations for homestead, free patent, gross sales patent and lease preparations, and imposes restrictions on transfers and utilization.
The regulation has been amended a number of occasions, together with by Republic Act 730, Presidential Decree 2004, and Republic Act Nos. 6940, 10023, 11231 and 11573, nevertheless it has by no means been repealed. The latest modifications simplified titling procedures, significantly for residential and agricultural free patents.
The DENR, by the Land Administration Bureau, continues to implement the act. Provisions on gross sales patents granted to colleges, church buildings and establishments stay unchanged, with restrictions on sale or switch nonetheless in place.
In 2021, the alumni group registered its robust opposition to the Xavier-Ateneo-CLI deal and plan to relocate the college’s historic downtown campus in Cagayan de Oro, citing issues over transparency and cultural heritage. – Rappler.com
