If you had been offered a lot on C-6 Road in Taguig City for a temptingly low price, your money could end up literally down the drain.
The local government issued a warning on Monday against a scam involving the sale of parcels of land by the highway that runs along the shoreline of Laguna de Bay.
For a P500 membership fee, prospective victims are invited to join Building Enhancement for Livelihood and Environmental Network (Belen) Inc., an organization that can supposedly help them own lots along C-6 in Barangay New Lower Bicutan.
Fake document
The area being offered, however, is actually on the side of the road that is underwater and belonging to the local government and the Laguna Lake Development Authority, according to Generoso Ignacio, Taguig housing office chief.
Belen Inc. agents convince buyers that the company owns land covering 80.9 hectares along the thoroughfare which connects the southern part Metro Manila to Rizal province.
Ignacio said the agents would produce a fake document stating that a certain Lorenzo Villar Elambo would transfer land rights to Evelyn “Belen” Fuentes, owner of Belen Inc.
Aside from the membership fee, an interested buyer needs to pay an additional P10,000 for the land survey and another P20,000 to start the construction of a house at the site.
The lots being advertised in New Lower Bicutan were priced at least P9,000 per square meter, Ignacio said.
On Dec. 23, 2017, supposedly Fuentes’ birthday, around 60 land buyers were told to assemble at a site in New Lower Bicutan for the “inauguration” of their future community on C-6.
But instead of being welcomed by Fuentes and other Belen Inc. officers, they were met by local Taguig officials and the police who had been alerted about the gathering. “One of them said he didn’t know it was a scam, after buying two lots from Belen [Inc.],” Ignacio recalled.
The areas that were “sold” have since been fenced in by the local government.
No complaints yet
Ignacio said police had identified Belen Inc. as a newly formed “squatting syndicate” operating in Taguig, Parañaque, Pasig and Quezon City.
“These kinds of syndicates are never tolerated in Taguig. They will be prosecuted in accordance with the law,” Mayor Lani Cayetano said in a statement.
Cayetano cited Republic Act No. 7279, or the Urban Development and Housing Act of 1992, which punishes squatting with six years in prison and a maximum fine of P100,000.
As of Monday, however, no formal complaint has been lodged against any Belen Inc. agent or officer.
Ignacio said the city council would meet to discuss the legal actions to be taken against Fuentes and her company.