‘Fake news pala, ha?’: Ping gives details of 4 ‘fraudulently’ titled, illegally reclaimed lands in Taguig

In an X post on Saturday, Aug. 29, Lacson said the four parcels of illegally reclaimed land in Taguig City have been initially identified as covered by “fraudulently” issued land titles, while at least four other parcels have no plotted title lots in the digital file of the Land Registration Authority (LRA).

“Since Sen. (Alan Peter) Cayetano keeps publicly asking for evidence, I’ll give it to him, in the spirit of public interest,” he said, referring to the Senate Minority Leader.

Lacson said the details of the four “fraudulently” titled parcels, which he stressed was “NOT FAKE NEWS,” include:

(a) one covered by an Administrative Patent, involving 9,204 square meters under an Original Certificate of Title (OCT);

(b) one covered through Judicial/Ordinary Land Registration Processing covering an area of 5,000 square meters under an OCT;

(c) one covered by a Homestead Patent involving 181,077 square meters under a Transfer Certificate of Title (TCT); and

(d) one involving 193,027 square meters under a TCT.

Some details, including the names of those to whom the titles were issued to, as well as the OCT and TCT numbers, were withheld for the time being as the investigation is still ongoing.

“All of these will likewise be turned over to the Ombudsman fact-finding team for their further appropriate action,” he added.

Earlier, Lacson bared that the LRA was checking the origin and history of several newly uncovered land titles covering some 38.83 hectares of illegally reclaimed areas on the Taguig City side of Laguna Lake.

The uncovered land titles were based on the materials provided by the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) to Lacson’s office.

“I requested the LRA to backtrack the history of the issued OCTs (original certificates of title) and other modes of titling, so we will find out how they were manipulated with the end in view of filing criminal charges against those responsible,” Lacson said,

He added that these titles may be declared void ab initio (void from the start) once the PRA initiates forfeiture proceedings in accordance with law.

Earlier, Lacson said several crates of documents from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) related to anomalous projects in Taguig City were also set to be turned over to the Office of the Ombudsman.

— Ellson Quismorio