NBI probing online, land titles cases

BATAAN — Most of the cases being lodged and investigated by the National Bureau of Investigations are online scams and land titles disputes-fake and real ones.

This was revealed by Atty. Nathaniel Ramos, agent in charge of the NBI in Bataan, in an impromptu interview newsmen who asked the public to report to their office and file complaints regarding these kind of cases.

Although such cases of online scams are most being lodged in PNP cybercrime office, Ramos said that they are also investigating a lot of online scams in the province.

Another topping cases being investigated their office is the land disputes, such as land grabbing, selling of fake land titles, land grabbing, among others.

In Bataan, squatting of lands-private and public- are common and perennial headaches of authorities. And these kind of businesses are making money.

In Limay town, a woman who owned more than 14 hectares of land also lodged complaint before the NBI after “professional squatters” dubbed as “land grabbers,” suddenly occupied her land.

‘These professional land grabbers are even armed with guns to threaten the rightful owners; we were even fired upon when we inspected our land.’

One of those land grabbers was able to put up a swimming pool and a concreted house despite the absence of a legal documents for him to possess the land he was occupying illegally.

This land grabber, according to the land owner who requested her name be witheld for fear of repercussions, had been able to sell  portion of her land to policemen and private individuals  despite the lack of legal documents to own these lands.

“He (land grabber) was able to earn a huge amount of money from the land he grabbed by pretending that he owned my land,” the woman owner told NBI in her complaint.

Some buyers are biting to buy land in Bataan-whether it has a verified land title or rights only- then resell it to a bigger amount. Other land grabbers have resorted to immediately constructing fences and put up houses made of light materials to hold their grip of the land they are illegally occupying.

“These professional land grabbers are even armed with guns to threaten the rightful owners; we were even fired upon when we inspected our land,” lamented a land owner.

What prompted these land grabbers to squat unattended lands, particularly along the mountainous areas, is that they are invoking a ‘policy’ of the government to enrich idle lands and plant trees to make it productive.

But some squatters as observed by the media and NBI, are purely professional land grabbers and organized syndicates.