Surigao del Norte Representative Robert Ace Barbers called on the Land Registration Authority to explain why the agency granted 320 land titles, which amount to billions of pesos, to Chinese national Willie Ong.
Barbers, who serves as the chairman of the House Committee on Dangerous Drugs, said this irregularity must be accounted for in the committee's next hearing.
Willie Ong, allegedly a businessman, is suspected of being a drug lord. Ong's Empire 999 real estate firm owns a warehouse in Mexico, Pampanga, from which 530 kilos of shabu, valued at P3.6 billion, were extracted.
Barber said the LRA and the Office of the Solicitor General must confiscate the lands so Ong and his associates will have nowhere to store and transfer any illegal possessions.
"The fact na ikaw [Ong] ay mayroong 200 at higit pang titulo, at hindi ka Pilipino, eh wala kang karapatan na magkaroon ng lupain dito sa ating bansa," Barber asserted. "Therefore, ang aming panawagan ay i-file na kaagad yung kaso at i-forfeit at i-confiscate yung kanyang mga lupa."
["The fact that Ong has more than 200 land titles, and isn't Filipino, means he has no right to own land here in our country. Therefore we appeal that the case be filed immediately and his titles forfeited and properties confiscated."]
Barbers has also demanded an explanation from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) as to why foreigners like Ong were given original birth certificates and passports to make it appear as though they were true Filipinos.
