Press Release
June 26, 2007

Pia raises questions on 'Spanish title' sold to Koreans for Taal spa

Senator Pia S. Cayetano today raised questions on the legitimacy of the Spanish title that was supposed to have been sold to a Korean firm for a multi-million resort spa it is building along the crater of Taal volcano in Talisay, Batangas.

Cayetano noted that in a radio interview, Talisay Mayor Florencio Manimtim Jr. claimed that a certain "Doktora Galang" supposedly sold her title to a six-hectare land located along the volcano crater to the Korean firm, Jung Ang Interventure Corp., for the P72-million Taal Island Resort Spa.

Manimtim was also quoted as saying that the Spanish title was acquired by the lady doctor's ancestors way back in 1916when Taal was supposedly still classified as a hill, and not yet as the active volcano we know today.

She questioned the mayor's claim, however, pointing out that Taal had always been a volcano based on the records of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Philvolcs).

"Taal had a major eruption in 1911or a good five years before the title to the 'hill' was supposed to have been acquired. And even prior to 1911, the volcano also recorded eruptions in 1749, 1754 and 1878," she noted.

"As far as historical records would show, Taal had always been a volcano. What would be the legal basis for the titling of lands around its crater, when it is supposed to be public land, and subsequently declared a protected area at that?" asked the chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources.

But assuming that the Spanish land title was legitimate, Cayetano said the same should have been re-registered under the Torrens Title System by virtue of Presidential Decree No. 892 ("Discontinuance of the Spanish Mortgage System and of the Use of Spanish Titles") and Presidential Decree No. 1529 ("Land Registration Decree") issued by then President Ferdinand Marcos in 1976 and 1978, respectively.

"These decrees superseded the Spanish Mortgage Law, which means that all Spanish titles were already discontinued at that time unless these were re-registered under the Torrens Title System which our current laws recognize. Barring that, the titling of Taal volcano will remain a big question mark," she concluded.

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