Monday, March 31, 2008

Can I Buy The Philippines?

At the beginning of the year, I promised that this blog will return to its roots. That is, to post some law topics that I do hope to be interesting enough to be read by my non-lawyer friends. I must admit, I have learned so much from looking at the photos of some of my idols here in blogosphere like Ferdz, Oggie, Langyaw, Sidney and many more. So in return, I just hope that I can share not only my current enthusiasm in photography but also share my world of numbers and laws.

This will only be my second post about law this year and I have chosen to feature land and property ownership in the Philippines dedicated to all those foreigners whom in one way or another have landed in this humble blogsite.

As a general rule, only a Filipino citizen or a corporation organized under Philippine law, where at least 60% of the capital stock is owned by citizens of the Philippines, may own land in the Philippines. A foreigner may own land by hereditary succession, or if he is a former natural-born Filipino.

The Supreme Court held that hereditary succession only applies to intestate succession or succession by operation of law, and not to testamentary succession. Otherwise, the general prohibition against land ownership by a foreigner may be negated. When the foreigner is a natural-born Filipino, he may acquire private land subject to limitations provided by law. For instance, he may own a maximum area of five thousand square meter of urban land or three hectares of rural land.

In case of real properties, there is generally no prohibition against foreign ownership of real property other than land. Thus, foreigners may own houses but not the land upon which they are built. They can however lease this land.

Foreigners may own condominium units, provided the land on which the condominium stands is owned by a corporation where at least 60% of the capital stock is owned by citizens of the Philippines even after a foreigner acquires ownership of a condominium unit.

Although a foreigner is not allowed to own land, he can however lease private land in the Philippines. The maximum period of the lease of private land to foreigners is twenty-five years, renewable for another twenty-five years upon mutual agreement of the parties. Subject to certain conditions, however, a foreign investor may lease private land for a maximum period of fifty years, renewable once for a period of not more than twenty-five years upon mutual agreement of the parties. For the foreign investors to take advantage of the longer lease term, the law requires, among other, things that the purpose of the lease is the establishment of industrial estate, factories, assembly or processing plants, agro-industrial enterprises, land development for tourism, industrial or commercial use, or similar priority productive endeavors.

Although the law does not provide for this, there is also another way of buying the Philippines – that is for the foreigners to enter into a multi-billion IT and telecommunications contract with the president, her husband and her cabinet members in exchange for renouncing a claim against a group of islands which historically belongs to the Philippines. Now… this will be another interesting topic and requires a solo post of its own.

Personal Note:

Congratulations to all my friends who passed the 2007 Bar Examinations:

ATTY. ENRICO INTERIOR
ATTY. JOHN ALBERT REYES
ATTY. RACHELLE ERNIE


Welcome to the wonderful and crazy world of LAW!!!

73 comments:

  1. this was very interesting! thank you for the cool info!
    Wiley Willows Photoblog

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  2. thanks for the info. the foreigners owns almost 80% of the big resorts in Boracay today.

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  3. Interesting post na! Are you Atty. Lawstude? Hehe!

    (:

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  4. You are selling the Philippines? Di ba pag-aari na nga ng mga Koreano and Pilipinas. Pansin ko lang kasi everywhere I go halos puro Korean establishments na at Korean Flag ang nakikita ko.

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  5. so im ok then.. Im already british but I inherited my land there. I thought if you're a foreigner, then that's it... No chance to own land... thank u for sharing this.

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  6. wow! seryosong usapan dito ngayon!

    salamat sa info. =)

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  7. @ luke wiley - thank you. i am just diversifying this blog, hope it doesn't bore u.

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  8. @ the dong - not only in boracay but in galera, baguio and other places too.

    they usually marry a filipina in order to operate these resorts.

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  9. @ kyels - just mixing-up law and travel in a single post and practicing also my law side.

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  10. @ joe - di naman, i am just stating here what the law provides with regards to real property ownerships here in the Philippines.

    Koreans? I heard a weird story that they are investing a lot in our country as a front in digging-up yamashita treasures. i don't know if it's true.

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  11. @ kris jasper - yeah your ok 'coz you are a former pinoy. also, if u are born here, you have a dual-citizenship, thus, you can acquire land here.

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  12. @ coldman - just flexing some law muscles. salamat sa pagbisita.

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  13. very interesting. i like reading this stuff. =D

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  14. kakaiba post mo ngayun ah. at least informative and may patama pa. spratleys yun ryt?

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  15. Nyaha! Pwede naman...

    Congrats nga pala sa mga friends mo na nakapasa sa Board Exam! Huh!? Hirap nun ah....

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  16. Interesting post. Thank you for the info.

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  17. Interesting entry... very complete and accurate!

    Keep posting those law posts!

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  18. Interesting.
    But why's that?

    And if a foreigner marries a phillipine citizen?
    Then can he buy land?

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  19. @ acey - glad u liked it. ill try to share more in my future posts.

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  20. @ una - hahaha. just can't help to be political sometimes.

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  21. @ richard - hirap talaga. too bad my best buddy didn't make it.

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  22. @ vanessa - thank you and glad u got interested.

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  23. @ sidney - thank you, ill try to post law topics that i think will be interesting enough for everyone.

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  24. @ quintarantino - the wisdom of these laws is to let the philippines remain with the filipinos.

    marrying a filipino citizen does not automatically make a foreigner a filipino, so still, he cannot own land.

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  25. Nice informative post attorney, hope to see more of this.

    Ibig ba sabihin nun, yung mga resort sa boracay na foreigners ang may-ari ay di sakanila yung lupa non?

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  26. Hey, thanks so much for the valuable information :) Now I'm thinking maybe I should get a dual citizenship :)

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  27. Could this be the reason why many of the property owners in our subdivision are wives of foreigners? :)

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  28. Interesting post about law in a foreign country. I have a quiz in my post today, you might like to view them. :)

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  29. Very informative. Legalities and accounting are my weak points and it's nice to get to know something.

    Maybe some post about legalities in starting up your own business? :D

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  30. Uy buti ka pa natatandaan mo pa ang batas! he he. ako kasi madaling kinalawang.

    Anyway, many foreigners have indeed gone around the law by marrying Filipinas and registering the land under their wives' names. Or they sometimes use Filipino fronts. For Boracay for example, they buy the land in the name of a Filipino but they keep the right to develop it. Pag ayaw na nila, ibinebenta na lang ang rights. So the pasahan continues.

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  31. i like legal education. here in the office, one of the persons i like talking to is our business development executive who is a lawyer.

    and that right example you gave? now that's really interesting. hahaha.

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  32. i meant, last example you gave, not right example. hehe.

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  33. @ vinzent - the law does not allow foreigners to own land but they can own the structures in the resort built on philippine lands.

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  34. @ bw - dual citizenship is involuntary. it arises, when as a result of concurrent application of the different laws of two or more states, a person is simultaneously considered a citizen of said states.

    if you are born in USA from Filipino parents, then you have acquired dual citizenship.

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  35. @ abaniko - that could be the reason. it has to be pointed out however that prohibition applies only to land and not to the houses.

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  36. @ alicesg - i'll definitely check the quiz. thanks for dropping by.

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  37. @ ferdz - hmmm. that's a nice topic but it is quite broad. commercial law and taxation are two of my fave subjects and i happen to practice both of them. i'll try to make a primer-type post on how to start your business (regulations and taxes to follow) hopefully soon.

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  38. @ panyero r-yo - yan ba kinakalawang? ang galing nga eh.

    well, smart guys (or advisers) will always find a way to go-around the law.

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  39. @ collapsingbarrycade - glad to share some of my legal thoughts as well as some political (ly incorrect) tirades. have a nice day.

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  40. lawstude, you can make a separate blog for law and taxation, wherein you'd wear your suit and tie instead of the sando.

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  41. I've known a lot of Korean nationals who own properties here using names of Filipino partners. Ganyan kadali malusutan ang law natin :(

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  42. despite the laws, foreigners, in reality, are lax in owning a real property here in the Philippines. it is also how lax the Philippine laws are.


    I agree with you on that particular "ANOTHER WAY OF BUYING PHILIPPINES"

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  43. Very informative. I'm proud to have a lawyer blogfriend ;)

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  44. Ang ganda naman ng batas natin ...sa papel.

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  45. nice travel blog you got here... very informative... thank you for sharing.;)

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  46. I do really like your blog. It's really more fun in the Philippines. I'm so happy to read your blogs.

    Condo Units Makati

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