“The Philippines’ Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission is investigating similar practices in the country where likely front groups persuade tillers with huge properties to lease their farmlands and later convince them to sell.
Foreigners suspected of amassing real estate, particularly farmland, appear not to be an isolated problem for the Philippines — the United States has had long experience with a creeping takeover of its territory.
The Federal government has pushed measures to arrest the trend which could provide valuable lessons for the local efforts to regulate massive property purchases by foreign entities that is now happening.
A report by major US network NBC News indicated that federal and state lawmakers are pushing to regulate foreign ownership of US real estate because of fears that Chinese entities are creating a national security risk.
A similar concern was raised about huge purchases by groups associated with foreign entities of otherwise ignored lots near military camps and coast lines that may have future military value.
The report cited thousands of documents filed with the US Department of Agriculture showing the amassing of land by exploiting a federal oversight system in which the reporting of foreign ownership is lax and enforcement minimal.
Any foreign individual or entity that buys or leases US agricultural land is required by federal law to report the transaction to the Department of Agriculture within 90 days, yet some purchases were not reported for years.
The report cited one case where it took more than 20 years for a purchase to be reported.
No one has been fined more than $121,000 for failure to make a report, according to the story.
NBC News was able to review filings of foreign purchases and leases of agricultural land in 35 states.
The vast majority of the transactions were by European wind power companies leasing land from US farmers to build wind turbine farms.
One Italian wind company disclosed 40 new leases of farmland in just one rural Illinois county. The same company had leases in at least four other states.
Also found were 11 purchases by Chinese entities that had been reported to the USDA.
A US-based company purchased by Chinese capitalists went on a buying spree in 2022 and 2023 in Missouri and North Carolina. The company, Smithfield Foods, was bought by a Chinese firm in 2013.
America-based Swiss firm Syngenta was also bought by a Chinese firm in 2017. It filed six disclosures on a total of 772 acres spread across Iowa, Florida and California, purchases that were reported to the USDA when the company was still controlled by the former Swiss owner. Syngenta owns or leases a total of 6,000 acres, or 2,430 hectares, in the US.
Federal agencies require tests for seeds and chemicals that companies plan to sell. “All of these activities are conducted on fields and farms in the US to benefit American farmers,” according to Syngenta.
A Hong Kong company bought 365 acres in North Dakota but did not disclose its purchase to the USDA. It reported the transaction later after national security concerns were raised by the NBC News report.
After NBC reported that the purchases by Fufeng USA were raising alarms in Washington, a local USDA official contacted the company and the disclosure came after. Further raising an alarm was that the lots were near a US Air Force base.
Opposition by local, state, and federal officials halted the development of the Fufeng plant. Fufeng still owns more than 300 acres in Grand Forks, according to the county recorder’s office, a footprint less than a quarter the size of the average family farm in North Dakota.
Like the Philippines, there is weak enforcement of regulations in the US.
The Philippines’ Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) is investigating similar practices in which likely front groups persuade tillers with huge properties to lease their farmlands and later convince them to sell.
Under the Philippine Constitution, foreigners are prohibited from owning land in the country, but they can legally own a residence.
Among the amendments being pushed in the Charter change effort in Congress is relaxing the absolute ban on foreign ownership of land.
Foreigners go around the constitutional ban by using dummies and syndicates that manufacture documents to fake the identities of individuals.
As the methods to elude the Charter limitations evolve, the government response must adapt and ensure that the patrimony is protected.
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