American Man And Woman Wishes To Buy A Farm In The Phl

[Mr Lee]

I just got an email from a couple John and Jo because a friend on mine told him that I have all the answers about the Philippines, boy I must have that friend snowed because I have no answer for this couple at all, and surely do not know all there is to know about the Philippines, so I figured I would ask you all. OK so here is what the fellow asked me. I am an American and my wife is an American and we would like to buy a farm somewhere in the Philippines where it would be safe and where we could eventually earn a nice living from the produce. I want to get out of the US before it collapses and owning a farm will always keep my family fed. 1) Where would be a safe place to raise a family that would also have good farm land? 2) What are the laws for foreigners to buy farm land? 3) What could we grow to make a decent living? 4) How much does land cost in the Philippines per acre? 5) How do I go about finding good farm land at a reasonable price? My first thought was to reply for him to not bother because foreigners cannot own land, but then I thought maybe others might know a way because I know that a person can own part of a company, and there are big farms like Del Monte, so maybe there is a way that I do not know of, so that is why I pass this on to you all. For now I have replied that I do not have all the answers and gave him the url of this forum, so maybe he will join and ask his own questions, and I gave him the url for this post, so he can read it if he decides not to join. I hope John will join and ask his own questions beyond those I am asking for him.

[Old55]

Del Monte Philippines is a Filipino corporation.An American couple could lease farm land in a reasonably safe location if they had trusted Filipino help. It's highly unlikely there is any farm product they could grow or raise that would provide much more than a subsistence income. If they were to directly compete with locals it could cause an unsafe condition. If Jo were a Filipina with a supportive local family there could be a small chance they would be somewhat successful.

[Bruce]

Well... I will leave the legal issues of land ownership to Lee. However since these people have not yet done anything and are just starting the planning stages, I would offer them a little variation on the farm idea. There are lots of farms in Phils... and an existing network of produce buyers and resellers and what not to deal with. Looks hard for an outsider to crack. However, I read a very interesting article in the Manila paper (Standard? I don't remember) but it was a long well written about MILK. Yes, milk. And now the Philippines imports over 90% of it's milk and how there is a HUGE lack of dairy farms. So, If it was me, I would do some research on the subject, do some online searches of the Philippines papers in 2010 and find that article and locate the man who wrote the article and talk with him. He had extrapilated out the math and in his opinion, a dairy farm would be a huge success! And yes, there were not cows, but the local carabao things.... I am sure I spelled that wrong.... So before he looses a singe piso, maybe he should look into actually FILLING a need instead of simply adding his efforts to a already existing industry.

[Dave Hounddriver]

May want to read http://www.bcphilippineslawyers.com/philippines-regular-foreign-investment-negative-list-a/ before going further. You will see agriculture is near the top of the list.

[Art2ro]

http://www.philhomes...aws/foreigners/ By law, foreigners don't have the right to acquire land in the Philippines (there have been many proposals to amend this law but of this writing, it is unlikely to change). The simplest way for a foreigner to acquire real estate properties is to have a Filipino spouse purchase a property. Another alternative is having a Filipino partner when acquiring a property. The partner owns 51% or more and the remainder is owned by the foreigner. (Tip: The foreigner can have a blank deed of sale signed by the Filipino partner for security)Exceptions: Filipino citizens and corporations or partnerships that is at least 60% Philippine owned are entitled to acquire land in the Philippines. An exception to this rule, is foreign acquisition of a Philippine real estate in the following cases:

• Acquisition before the 1935 constitution.
• Acquisition thru hereditary succession if the foreign acquire is a legal or natural heir. This means that when you are married to a Filipino citizen and your husband/wife dies, you as the natural heir will become the legal owner of his/her property. The same is true for the children. Every natural child (legitimate or illegitimate) can inherit the property of his/her Filipino father/mother even if he/she is not a Filipino citizen.
• Purchase of not more than 40% interest in a condominium project.
• Purchase by a former natural-born Filipino citizen subject to the limitations prescribed by law. (natural born Filipinos who acquired foreign citizenship is entitled to own up to 1,000 sq.m. of residential land, and 1 hectare of agricultural or farm land)
• Filipinos who are married to aliens who retain their Filipino citizenship, unless by their act or omission they have renounced their Filipino citizenship.

Owning of houses or buildings is legal as long as the foreigner does not own the land on which the house is build.Setting up a corporation with 40% of the stocks in the foreigner's name and 60% to Filipinos is a good alternative. There must be a minimum of 5 stockholders, and foreigner can have the Filipino stockholders sign blank transfer of the stocks for security. RentThe land can be leased by the foreigner or a foreign corporation on a long term contract for an initial 50 year period and renewable every 25 years. A foreigner can rent a lot and at the same time legally own the house on the rented land.