Final lesson: All citizens and organizations must comply with the laws of the State.

(Baonghean) -After receiving public feedback on the issues raised by the newspaper related to land at Dong Cay Dua Stadium, Cong Thanh Commune (Yen Thanh) and Cua Nam Lake Tourism and Entertainment Area (Vinh City); Nghe An Newspaper continues to provide information to clarify the above matters.

On October 3, 2011, we returned to Cong Thanh commune to directly meet and discuss with households who voluntarily donated land to build Dong Cay Dua stadium to serve the sports cluster of 4 hamlets: Ru, Dong Rao, Ngoc Thuong and Long Tien. The households we contacted all said that the land area they voluntarily donated had been granted red books according to Decree 64 and the land donation to build the stadium according to the planning of the commune government was for the purpose of serving the sports needs of the people of the 4 hamlets in accordance with the legal procedures of the state. Mr. Le Van Luc, a parishioner of Ngoc Thuong hamlet, said: "When we knew clearly the purpose of building the stadium to serve the cultural and sports needs of the people of the 4 hamlets according to the planning of the government, for the common good, my family voluntarily donated 3 meters of land. Regarding the construction of works on the stadium, in my opinion, the government needs to clearly explain to the people the wrong reasons in order to have a solution". Mr. Bui Huu Tram said: After learning about the commune's policy on planning a sports cluster for 4 hamlets, our family voluntarily donated 3 meters of rice field. For the past 4 years, the stadium has been built and put into effective use, meeting the cultural and sports needs of the people. Of course, the management of Dong Cay Dua stadium will be the State, specifically the Cong Thanh commune government." We also met another parishioner who voluntarily donated land to build Dong Cay Dua stadium, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Dan. According to her: "Although I do not know clearly about the related events that happened recently because I just returned from visiting my children in the South, I think the stadium must be used for the right purpose so that children and grandchildren have a place to play sports, reducing social evils...".

In the cluster of 4 hamlets, Long Tien hamlet was recognized as a provincial-level Cultural Village. We met with parishioner Tran Van Hoang - Deputy Secretary of the hamlet's Party cell to find out. Mr. Hoang frankly expressed: "The construction of the surrounding wall and house on Dong Cay Dua stadium is illegal. Because the land area for the stadium construction was voluntarily donated by the people but is under the management of the State. At the same time, this stadium was built to serve the sole purpose of meeting the cultural and sports needs of the people. I also had the same opinion with the priest and the Parish Council, how to handle the above incident, in my opinion, must be done with love, with reason but must comply with the law and the Land Law of the State"...

The people who voluntarily donated land to build Dong Cay Dua Stadium all hope that the project will continue to be used for its intended purpose, which is to serve the people's cultural and sports needs. However, the Cong Thanh commune government also needs to explain so that the people can understand clearly: In Vietnam, land belongs to the entire people, therefore, land is the property of the entire people, in which the State is the representative and exercises the powers of the owner. The State allocates or does not allocate land, recognizes or does not recognize land use rights, or the State reclaims land, and determines the purpose of land use through planning and land use plans. Thus, the voluntary donation of land by the people to build the above stadium is in accordance with the State's regulations and can only be carried out on the basis of proper implementation of the Land Law.

Discussing the solution to the incident that occurred at Dong Cay Dua Stadium in Cong Thanh Commune, Mr. Tran Van Dai - Standing Deputy Secretary of Yen Thanh District Party Committee said: The Standing Committee and local branches determined that propaganda is the main focus so that the priest and the Pastoral Council of Ngoc Long Parish can see their wrongdoings and voluntarily dismantle the illegally built structures. If after mobilization and persuasion they still do not comply or deliberately do not understand the wrongdoings, the state authorities will proceed to dismantle them to maintain discipline and the law.

Also related to the State's land law, specifically, some parishioners in Cau Ram Parish (Vinh City) due to lack of information or incomplete information, petitioned the Vinh City government to return land to the parish that had been planned to build Cua Nam Lake tourist entertainment area. As we mentioned in Nghe An Newspaper on October 3, 2011. In 1976, the Parish Council transferred the remaining infrastructure including the two-story house that was demolished after being destroyed by American bombs to Hop Duc Cooperative for management and use for an amount of 13,000 VND. Article 2 of the Land Law issued on July 24, 1993 stated: "The State does not recognize the reclaiming of land that has been assigned to others for use in the process of implementing the land policy of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam...". This is also consistent with the 1983 Catholic canon law proposed by the Vatican II community and approved by Pope John Paul II. Specifically, Article 1290 (volume 5) on church property, the contract and transfer section states that "What the local civil law has determined about contracts in general as well as in particular and about their dissolution, must also be observed in canon law with all the same force, for matters under the jurisdiction of the church". On August 5, 2010, the Chairman of Vinh City People's Committee issued Document No. 2420/UBND in response to the petition dated April 25, 2010 of Cau Ram Parish stating that the land assigned to Truong Giang Joint Stock Company to implement the Cua Nam Lake Tourism and Entertainment Area project was recovered by the Prime Minister from Hop Duc Cooperative according to Decision No. 1226/QD-TTg dated December 24, 1999, not the land managed and used by Cau Ram Parish, therefore the land reclaimation by the priest and promulgation of Cau Ram Parish is baseless and unacceptable. The Provincial People's Committee assigned Truong Giang Joint Stock Company to be the investor of the project to build the Cua Nam Lake amusement and entertainment area in accordance with Resolution No. 90/CP dated August 21, 1997 of the Government on the policy of socializing educational, medical, and cultural activities, encouraging economic sectors and people to participate in investing in the construction of public cultural and sports facilities on the principle of maintaining the purpose of use (building amusement, entertainment, and tourism areas). However, Truong Giang Joint Stock Company could not ensure the progress of the project. Therefore, to avoid misunderstandings that the government allocated land to the private sector, the Provincial People's Committee issued Notice No. 156/TB. UBND-DT requesting Truong Giang-Saigon Joint Stock Company to stop investing in the Cua Nam Lake amusement and entertainment area project. On June 28, 2010, the Provincial People's Committee continued to issue Decision No. 189/QD-UBND.DC to revoke the land and investment license of Truong Giang-Saigon Joint Stock Company so that Vinh City People's Committee could continue to implement the park construction project using the State budget.

Thus, it can be seen that the petition No. 106/HCR/11 dated June 3, 2011 by Cau Ram Parish requesting the government to move the current Cau Ram Church to the land planned for the construction of the Cua Nam Lake Tourism and Entertainment Area has no legal basis. This issue was also directly discussed and answered by Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Ho Duc Phoc with Bishop Nguyen Thai Hop and Priests Nguyen Van Vien - General Representative of Vinh Diocese, and Nguyen Khac Ba - Director of Vinh Major Seminary in the meeting between the Provincial People's Committee and representatives of the Vinh Diocese Bishop's Office on June 11, 2011.

In reality, not only in Vietnam but also in all countries in the world, land is owned by the State. When it is necessary to serve the purpose of national livelihood, the State has a policy of requisitioning this place and granting land use rights elsewhere, which is also natural. For example, in 1994, the Taiwanese government moved 4 Christian establishments in Taipei to build a highway and moved a number of Buddhist monuments near Park No. 7 in the capital because they obstructed the view of the park. Religious dignitaries and officials in the above countries have actively cooperated with the State, mobilizing religious compatriots to enthusiastically support and fulfill their civic duties. Right in Nghe An, in the common development of the homeland and the country, Catholic compatriots have done many good deeds, voluntarily donated land to open roads, build schools, clinics, cultural houses... to serve the construction of new rural areas such as in Hamlet 9, Hung Son (Anh Son). The hamlet has 113 households, 580 people, of which 93 are Catholic households with 454 people (accounting for 88%). Responding to the new rural construction movement, people have voluntarily donated 3,600m2 of garden land to expand the rural traffic safety corridor, contributed working days and materials to pour concrete volleyball courts, build campuses and hamlet cultural houses with a total value of 135 million VND, or 27 households in Cong Thanh commune have voluntarily donated 5,805m2 of land to build Dong Cay Dua stadium mentioned above... Thus, religions in every country share the same desire to connect "religion with life", "religion with nation", contributing to the cause of stabilizing and developing the country. The construction of a public park at Cua Nam Fish Lake land is also not outside the purpose of serving the community's interests, beautifying the street landscape for the common development of the city; or the Dong Cay Dua Stadium project must be used for the right purpose, which is to serve the people's cultural and sports needs, in order to build a new cultural life in residential areas. And it is also consistent with the spirit of the 1980 General Letter of the Vietnamese Bishops' Council "... All paths of the Church lead to man (DCCCN 14). This is also the meeting point between the Church and earthly society, because "whether they believe or not, people must contribute to building the world in a reasonable way, because they live together in this world" (MV 21,6)".

PV Group