CONGRESSMAN HERMILANDO
February 26, 2010
As my name has been mentioned in the Declaration issued by the Blessed Mary Mother of the Poor, Inc. dated February 16, 2010, may I state the following:
1. That I was also moved and inspired by the devotion of Fr. Fernando Suarez to the Blessed Virgin Mary when I first met him in July, 2006 in Batangas City;
2. That as requested by Fr. Suarez, I agreed to convince my business associates to donate one-hectare of land in
3. That it was announced by the Foundation of Fr. Suarez that donations and pledges for the building of the Shrine started to come in from around the world after the January 7, 2007 blessing and inauguration of the plan that was presented to Archbishop Ramon C. Arguelles of the Archdiocese of Lipa;
4. That it is true that the reception to the Healing Ministry of Fr. Suarez has been so successful, that he asked for more land; that the donation be increased from 1 to 2 hectares, and later, up to 5 hectares during the past three (3) years;
5. That it was not easy for me to ask my business associates to increase the donation from 1 to 5 hectares because there was already a development plan in place for the area by Architect Palafox, even before I met Fr. Suarez. And there was also a contract to develop the area into a world class resort village, with residential subdivision, commercial areas and tourism facilities;
6. That with the approval of my business associates and Developer, Architect Palafox change the plans several times because the area to be donated had to be moved and adjusted several times to fit the requirements of the project of Fr. Suarez;
7. That I am glad that after three (3) years, the Sto. Nino Chapel was completed on January 18, 2010. As of date, only the Sto. Niño Chapel has been constructed on the 5-hectare property. The actual construction of the Shrine of the Blessed Virgin Mary has not yet started above ground.
8. That with the spread of devotion, Fr. Suarez was inspired to plan for more facilities and asked me to donate and/or to sell more land for the project. I relayed the request of Fr. Suarez to my business associates and Developer, and they did not agree to donate more land to the Foundation, and cannot sell additional land at One Hundred Fifty (P150.00) per square meter. The Developer had the whole area appraised by an accredited appraiser that submitted three prices for the different parcels in the area: approximately Two Thousand (P2,000.00) Pesos; Three Thousand (P3,000.00) Pesos; and Four Thousand (P4,000.00) Pesos per square meter. That the best parcel appraised at more than Four Thousand Pesos (P4,000.00) per square meter was the one allocated for donation to the Foundation.
9. That in the meeting in December, 2009, attended by Fr. Suarez, myself, some officers of the Foundation and my business associates, it was announced that there is a donor for fifty (50) hectares in Cavite close to Tagaytay, and that Fr. Suarez is already transferring his ministry from Montemaria to Cavite;
10. That it is not true that the promised 5-hectare donation was not delivered to Mary Mother of the Poor Foundation as of November, 2009. The Deed of Donation was signed by my business associates and received by the Mary Mother of the Poor Foundation in August 14, 2008.
11. That the Deed of Donation which was signed by the donor was not signed by the donee, Mary Mother of the Poor Foundation, because the Foundation has not yet been accredited with the Bureau of Internal Revenue and that the technical description of the 5-hectare was not completed by the Geodetic Engineer hired by the Foundation until November, 2009.
12. That there has been no change on the terms of donation, except size (one to five hectares) and locations of the land. It is not true that some conditions of the Deed of Donation have been changed in November, 2009, and it is not true either that the promised 5-hectare donation was withdrawn or not delivered due to the shortcomings of the donor;
13. That it is true that only after the December, 2009 meeting with Fr. Suarez, when he announced the transfer of his ministry from Batangas to Cavite, that I personally informed the Archbishop through my brother, Rev. Fr. Ernesto Mandanas, Jr., that the 5-hectare can already be donated to the Archdiocese, but under the same terms and conditions under the Deed of Donation signed earlier by the donor, primarily for the construction of the Shrine of Mary Mother of the Poor, taller than the Statue of Liberty;
14. That sometime in 2008, Fr. Mandanas even suggested to me that the donation should be in favor of an institution with juridical personality under the Canon Law. However, I respectfully refused Fr. Mandanas because I have already committed to donate the land to Fr. Suarez. A written resolution from the Foundation was then made so that only upon the completion of the project will the land be transferred from the Foundation to the Archdiocese of Lipa or to the Companions of the Cross.
15. It is true that Rev. Fr. Mandanas mentioned to me that the Archdiocese of Lipa will accept the donation only if Fr. Suarez will commit to build the Statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Initially, Fr. Suarez replied that he was most willing, and that it was very good idea that the land will be donated to the Archdiocese, and that he will commit that the Shrine will be constructed in Montemaria.
16. That on February 1, 2010, Fr. Suarez announced that he will not be able anymore to commit to build the Shrine because the major donors and the Board of Trustees of Montemaria project have decided to pull out the building of the Shrine in Montemaria “due to the perceived greed and commercialization of the land around the intended Shrine.”;
17. That as regards this issue of “greed and commercialization”, neither my business associates nor the Developer was part, or even involved in the acquisition of approximately 300 hectares adjacent to our area. And they have not yet sold even a single square meter of land in the area.
18. That I am most happy to learn that a generous gift of not only 50 hectares but 100 hectares in the vicinity of Tagaytay has been offered to Fr. Suarez, where the ministry is now transferring from Batangas
19. That I am personally sad about the transfer of Fr. Suarez from Batangas to
20. That I humbly bow to the decision of Fr. Fernando Suarez - that it is the will of God that the transfer be made from Batangas to
Thanks be to God!
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