Manny Villar poses for a photo op while talking over the cellphone
With the anomalous c5 road extension controversy still unresolved, presidential candidate Manny Villar faces anew another controversy.
Indigenous farmers belonging to the Dumagat ethnic group accuse the presidential candidate and his wife, Congresswoman Cynthia Villar of fraud in the acquisition of a P1.5-billion loan from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) in 1998.
The Dumagat farmers said their land was used by the future first lady lady solon from Las Piñas to secure a loan for Optimum Development Bank (formerly Capitol Bank), which was owned by the couple, from the BSP.
“We are the rightful owners of the land used by Optimum Bank to pay its debts to the BSP using dubious documents,” said Gina Jarvinia, one of the 28 landowners who attended the conference.
Jarvinia presented Original Certificate of Title No. P-858/Free Patent No. 257917 to show that they were the rightful owners of at least 715 hectares located in Barangay San Isidro, San Jose del Monte, Bulacan, foreclosed by the BSP after Optimum Bank failed to repay the loan.
Nieves Tecson, spokesperson of the group, said the farmers decided to speak up now “because Villar is running for president.”
“This is our only chance to be heard. It must be now because we are scared nothing will happen with our fight if he becomes president,” Tecson said.
She said they started their fight against Villar in 2008 when they filed a complaint against him with the Ombudsman. Unfortunately, nothing has been resolved yet.
Villar’s legal counsel Nalen Rosero Galang said: “This revived issue is another clear indication of the obsession of Senator Villar’s opponents to link him to an anomaly, any anomaly.
“We reiterate that Capitol Bank’s transactions with BSP were all aboveboard and legal. The properties transferred to BSP were all covered by titles existing on file with the Registry of Deeds,” he said.
2 Comments
is this the same parcel of land (the one I heard before is located somewhere in Cogeo or Antipolo) where Villar was also accused of land-grabbing? Which is, some say, the reason why Villar’s company wasn’t able to develop said land
this isn’t very surprising… if he has the gall to fund roads leading to his subdivisions with public money, how much more getting the land of farmers who would ordinarily not have an avenue to complain?