Acquire Land In The Philippines?- A Fil Am Question

[Call me bubba]

here is another item regarding who or whom can own land.

thanks to DEAR PAO for this info

Dear PAO,

I was born and raised in the Philippines. My parents are both Filipinos at the time of my birth and up to this moment.

However, I migrated to the United States when I was about 20 years old and became a naturalized US citizen some five years after. Am I allowed to acquire a residential lot in the Philippines?

XM

Dear XM,

As a rule, the acquisition of alienable public and private lands in the Philippines are reserved to Filipino citizens only (Section 2, Article 12, 1987 Constitution).

Except in the cases of hereditary succession, no private lands shall be transferred or conveyed except to individuals, corporations or associations qualified to acquire or hold lands of the public domain (Sec.7, id.).

A different rule, however, shall apply to former natural-born Filipinos who later became naturalized citizens of another country.

Sec. 8, Article 12 of the 1987 Constitution provides that notwithstanding the provisions of Sec. 7 of this Article, a natural-born citizen of the Philippines who has lost its Philippine citizenship may be a transferee of private lands, subject to limitations provided by law.

Section 5 of Republic Act 8179 sets forth the maximum area of land, which may be acquired by foreigners who are former natural born Filipinos, to wit:

“SEC. 5. The Foreign Investments Act is further amended by inserting a new section designated as Section 10 to read as follows:

”SEC. 10. Other rights of natural-born citizen pursuant to the provisions of Article 12, Sec. 8 of the Constitution. - Any natural-born citizen who has lost his Philippine citizenship and who has the legal capacity to enter into a contract under Philippine Laws may be a transferee of a private land up to a maximum area of five thousand [5,000] square meters in the case of urban land or three [3] hectares in the case of rural land to be used by him for business or other purposes. In the case of married couples,

one of them may avail of the privilege herein granted: Provided, That if both shall avail of the same, the total area acquired shall not exceed the maximum herein fixed.

In case the transferee already owns urban or rural land for business or other purposes,

he shall be entitled to be a transferee of additional urban or rural land for business or other purposes which when added to those already owned by him shall not exceed the maximum areas herein authorized.

A transferee under this Act may acquire not more than two [2] lots which should be situated in different municipalities or cities anywhere in the Philippines

Provided, That the total land area thereof shall not exceed five thousand [5,000] square meters in the case of urban land or three [3] hectares in the case of rural land for use by him for business or other purposes.

A transferee who has already acquired urban land shall be disqualified from acquiring rural land and vice versa.

You are undeniably a former Filipino citizen for having been born to your parents who are both Filipinos.

Hence, even if you are now a naturalized US citizen, you are still allowed to acquire residential lots in the Philippines, subject only to the limitations set forth above.

http://www.manilatimes.net/index.php/dear-pao/37046-filipino-american-seeks-to-acquire-land-in-the-philippines

[Ynot]

I believe countries like the Philippines and Thailand should allow foreigners to own land in thier own name. 

 

In Australia, anyone can purchase a property.  Its highly unlikely the Foreign Review Board would step in and deny a property transaction involving a foreigner where the purchase related to residential property, however, if it was to do with a large cattle station, perhaps they would cast their eye over it.  

 

If the Philippines and Thailand loosened the property ownership laws, I dont believe it would drive up property prices too much if at all.  Any price hike would be localises to the areas the foreigner wanted to live.   Other areas would not be affected.  The benefit of allowing foreign ownership is that you may attract more foreigners  which means there is an added bonus of spending our hard earned money in the Philippines adding to their economy.

 

To safe guard themselves, they could restrict property ownership to 1 property, thereby allaying fears of foreigners buying up all the land.

 

In fact I think the prices of property in the more developed areas are quite high.  The prices of some condos and houses are well beyond the reach of most hard working filipinos.  

[JJReyes]

The columnist for "Dear Pao" is obviously a lawyer responding to an inquiry in legalese. The first lesson in communication is KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid. I enjoy watching PBS Newshour where Marcia Coyle, a regular commentator has this wonderful ability of dissecting US Supreme Court decisions, mostly complex legal issues, in a way you can understand. 

[Call me bubba]

The columnist for "Dear Pao" is obviously a lawyer responding to an inquiry in legalese. The first lesson in communication is KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid. I enjoy watching PBS Newshour where Marcia Coyle, a regular commentator has this wonderful ability of dissecting US Supreme Court decisions, mostly complex legal issues, in a way you can understand.  :th_thbestpost:

Yes JJreyes

 thisDEAR PAO is a very interesting & helpful Column, 

i regularly review what he/she has to say, when I find a "useful"item thats relevant to the Forum,This forum,

i will make a post, hope that others will take the time to read what new "legal advice is offered"

 

the url has recently changed here is the new link

 

http://www.imanilatimes.net/category/legal-advice/

[Thomas]

I agree I disagree  :)  to they stop born Filipinos to owe land 

but I understand they want to stop foreigners to buy big parts of poor countries as RP and Thailand.

If the Philippines and Thailand loosened the property ownership laws, I dont believe it would drive up property prices too much if at all. Any price hike would be localises to the areas the foreigner wanted to live.

Not only. I suppouse e g foreign fruit companies would buy HUGE farmlands and RP is short of such land allready, a lot of RP farmers have to small farms allready to have chance to earn enough...

 

But I believe it would be better for RP, if they allowed foreign investors to get majority share (=51 % instead of 40 mostly) to get at least control over their investments...

[i am bob]

I agree I disagree :) to they stop born Filipinos to owe land

but I understand they want to stop foreigners to buy big parts of poor countries as RP and Thailand.

If the Philippines and Thailand loosened the property ownership laws, I dont believe it would drive up property prices too much if at all. Any price hike would be localises to the areas the foreigner wanted to live.

Not only. I suppouse e g foreign fruit companies would buy HUGE farmlands and RP is short of such land allready, a lot of RP farmers have to small farms allready to have chance to earn enough...

But I believe it would be better for RP, if they allowed foreign investors to get majority share (=51 % instead of 40 mostly) to get at least control over their investments...

And China would then just buy a majority share of the Philippines! No more oil or mineral rights to worry about! No navy required!