Newly Discovered 2nd Main Cause of Land Abandonment Sunday, April 13, 2008 The first cause why Filipinos have been abandoning their land is the false beckon of college and university education with its false promise to give graduates riches (e.g., emancipation from poverty) which end up to be white collar city jobs or overseas domestic works. The third cause is: the sudden demise of farm productivity from 1960 to 2014 due to the diminishing return of using inorganic fertilizers and pesticides. We have spent long spaces discussing the first and third causes. We are now posed to discuss to some length this newly discovered (understood) second cause. In my frequent travels and constant meetings with grassroots people and their leaders, I see many ‘facts’ not available to ‘glass-surrounded’ or ivory-towered executives (I used to be like that in the corporate staff! But now I’m in the frontline of the battle field of this so-called Armageddon battle of ideas, philosophies, ideologies and systems!). THE BIR LIE Here is one new discovery which caused anger from whomever I told about it: My friend who is an experienced land surveyor once asked the BIR: “I understand that one best way to help the people avoid costly inheritance tax with all its surcharges is to simply inform the heirs of every newly deceased landowner that ALL THEY MUST DO IS SIMPLY INFORM THE BIR ABOUT THE DEATH OF THEIR, SAY, FATHER. And that’s it. No fee whatsoever. No cost. “And no future group of heirs suffering and incurring so much losses of money, relationship and life due to the resulting inheritance land troubles (read: family civil wars!). “And there would have been no future group of heirs suffering from poverty due to the inability to use and maximize the development and productivity of their inherited land! “And there would be no piece of land in arrears! “And look, there would be no chance for greedy men from the banks or the business world to easily grab the land neglected due to only one error: the BIR lied to land owners by withholding them the truth that the law requires them to immediately inform the government, specifically the BIR, about the death of the landowner to avoid even paying estate tax!” Look, there is that law that by timely information from the surviving heirs, they would not even be taxed with estate or inheritance tax, and there would of course no surcharges reaching tens of thousands among the majority of heirs in the land and to hundreds of thousands to some!. That is what my friend surveyor told me. And I think I did not misheard it. “So,” to continue my friend’s question to the BIR official, “why did the BIR not tell the people that all they have to do is inform the BIR in case of death? What on earth is your motive why you did not tell the people about this? Why don’t you tell them? Why allow people to stay ignorant of the law?” Do you know the straight answer of the shameless BIR? “If the BIR or the government informed the people about this law or regulation, then, there would be no infringement. And if there is no infringement, then there would be no such huge surcharges (penalties) as we have now all over the land! Violation works. Ignorance is our friend. We have to keep the people as ignorant as possible so there will be more violations and thus, penalties which translates to wealth to the cunning government officials! “Therefore, it is advantageous to the government to keep the people ignorant or uninformed!” And I add: The BIR or government is helping greedy land grabbers get land from the poor in that so easy a manner. All you have to do is let tax surcharges pile up, so as to discourage or frighten the poor heirs, which is what happened. Abandonment is the common fate of many family lands. Abandoned land is so cheap. So, this, subtly, very subtly, benefited the land grabbers in the government and in the business world. I came to know some years ago from another surveyor that there are some groups of people, including surveyors, who are in the look of lands abandoned and no longer taxed by its owners or the heirs. This land in arrears, he explained to me, is an easy prey for the clever because this land would be seized back by the government, and when that happens, the vultures – read: land grabbers – will act with grace! That’s land grabbing made easy! *** I wanted to write a book entitled “Computer Programming Made Easy” and then, “Business Made Easy” and then, “Anything Made Easy”. And now I suppose I am destined to write first the “Land Grabbing Made Easy”! *** Do you know how much losses have been incurred by this simply greatest evil lie by the BIR? While it is true in many cases that the 2-hectare inheritance land, for example, could not support all 10 heirs, and so, some or most of them were forced or bound to adventure in some other far away places to find their luck, it is also true that fewer would have been required to go if the ancestral land, small as it is, were only legally subdivided and titled to its individual heir. The BIR lie resulted to piled up so-called inheritance or estate tax. Result: the heirs were angry and thought it would better to resort to ‘kalang-kalang’ (verbal division/agreement) which resulted to some bigger and some smaller shares. Kalang-kalang is not legally binding; this caused some fear or uncertainty and insecurity.; Piled inheritance tax did not always result to kalang-kalang, but directly to total abandonment; Some “better” hands bid them: opportunities of employment in Mindanao, etc; study in college, work in the cities, work abroad. Thus, the land has been slapped by three hands: (1) college; (2) city work; (3) BIR lie which begot fear. These three worked in tandem to discourage the heirs from concentrating or taking good care of their inheritance lands and drove them to the cities, foreign lands, to brothels, etc. NO FAIRNESS, NO PEACE. Many siblings or cousins or relatives have gone to court and some to the cemetery after quarrelling on inheritance land without legal (binding) and equal subdivision, such as the kalang-kalang often is. UNCERTAINTY, INSECURITY. Even those ‘lucky’ – read: often the greedy – to have held the control of the land felt uncertainty and insecurity so that they did not extend their planting or development to what his co-heirs own or would own. Since often a large portion are common and uncultivated, the rest of the heirs, mostly those who do not live there anymore, would feel hesitant to do any development action that would have benefited them all. HESITATION AT DEVELOPMENT. A great hesitation among the heirs caused the suspension of any development action. One time, after I caused my younger brother realize the lost years – read: decades – of neglecting our 3-hectare communal (ancestral) land, he took the initiative to plant mangoes and financed their maintenance or care. But after some 5 years, and there was a meeting of all our uncles, during the death of their mother (our grandmother), this issue was raised by a not-so-good an uncle who had been living in Mindanao. He told us in the meeting: “I felt offended upon knowing the Rolan planted mangoes on our communal land without our knowledge and permission” plus other sharp words. My younger brother stood and addressed the whole clan assembled: “Uncle, before I planted any mangoes, this bright nephew of yours already knew for sure I would never own them all. I also knew that out of tens of mango trees, I would be lucky to have a few lesser than my 10 fingers, knowing that there are many heirs. But uncle, that is not my point. I did not mind that. What I mind and hurt me is your long years of neglect that had caused erosion, and not just no development. Development means growth, increase. Not only was there no growth and increase, there was decrease of soil and fertility! And this means, dear uncle, poorer soil and poorer harvest should the time come when we shall possess this land after your death. Now it would be too late. And I saw that ahead of time. And so I took the initiative, never mind my money, to avert greater poverty that would befall me and my co-heirs thanks to your brand of intelligence that lack vision and love for the future generation!” That held the meeting into deep silence. And drove my younger brother hurting and he no longer came back to take care of what he had planted. And cogon grasses choke the young mango trees. Growth and development were choked. Our uncle’s behavior was merely one of the tip of a series of causes that started with the greed of the people behind and the conniving lie of the BIR to promote the interest of the land grabbers. F My brother’s decision to stop his development initiative was the additional step that choked (aborted) growth and development. My inability to come to the rescue such as personally manually taking good care of the mangoes also added to the chain. Only those over 20 mango trees which I could call exclusively my own are flourishing, near my house. Sort of selfish. I have been kept wondering and asking myself, “Wasn’t I selfish?” I admit I could not answer it straight except by justifying my inability to do so by saying, “I can’t consume all my time farming. I have the need to cultivate the minds of the nation – meaning, this work of making our people wiser.” So, it is not only my wife who complained; my brother too! NON-COMMITMENT TOWARDS DEVELOPMENT This present untitled or un-retitled land (in the case of land titled to the ancestor) caused the heirs to hands off – back off - and not commit in development works and initiative. So, DISCOURAGEMENT. The heir himself could not commit; he better go to other places; this is the decision of most. Big area but no one commits to develop. Small subdivided area but each designated heir-owner can devote all to maximize the development of his own small share-lot. Any would-be investor also cannot commit to invest for orchard or any other kind of development because there are so many owners, not just brothers and sisters but the nephews and nieces. This neglected state of the family lands also contributed to the fast losing of lands by the poor to government and then to the land grabbers inside the government and/or who connive with those in the government. Abandoned land in arrears would eventually be seized by the government which would “retail” them to grabbers in waiting. If no government sequester would occur, a cheap sale would be the next other case. The poor would be forced to sell their land at very low cost. Mostly to the rich haciendero. Still the poor lost. Whereas the only means to have land for the poor is via the turtle-paced government land distribution program called CARP (Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program). What is for the poor is turtle-pace. What is for the few who are rich are happening on a daily basis AT LIGHTNING SPEED…without hindrance, without opposition or with the least resistance and least opposition. *** ADDRESSING ALL MAKERS, from top down: Focus your eyes to this issue to make pertinent ordinances and laws. ADDRESSING ALL HEIRS: Understand the problem and think for a win-win solution, one which puts no one into disadvantage.
Posted on: Thu, 23 Jan 2014 22:00:46 +0000
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