Quadcomm wants OSG to look into alleged land acquisition by Chinese

THE House of Representatives' quad committee handed documents to the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) on Monday for an investigation into alleged land acquisition by Chinese through fraudulent Filipino citizenship. The evidence was gathered during the committee's investigation of Philippine offshore gaming operators. Among those present at the turnover were quad committee leaders Robert Ace Barbers, Dan Fernandez, and Joseph Stephen Paduano as well as Assistant Solicitors General Hermes Ocampo and Gilbert Medrano. Barbers said the committee had recommended that the documents be given to the OSG so that it could conduct its own investigation for possible forfeiture proceedings for these properties. Ocampo said they would look into the status of the pieces of land. He said that if real estate is in the name of a Chinese, then the OSG would "file the necessary actions" — escheat or reversion. The quad committee suggested that the OSG work with the Land Registration Authority, Securities and Exchange Commission, Philippine Statistics Authority, Department of Agrarian Reform, Bureau of Internal Revenue, and the Department of Justice. In its letter to Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra, the quad committee, citing national security, recommended that the OSG "expedite the review of these documents." The letter, wherein the committee endorsed the documents to the OSG, was signed by quad committee leaders Barbers, Fernandez, Paduano, and Bienvenido Abante Jr.