The petition to reclaim land of Cau Ram Parish is against the law.
(Baonghean.vn)Recently, the Vinh City government has conducted dialogues and issued many documents responding to the petitions of Cau Ram Parish and some parishioners regarding the Cua Nam Lake land (part of the Cua Nam Lake amusement, entertainment and tourism area construction project according to the planning approval of the Prime Minister and the decision of the Provincial People's Committee since 1993), but some dignitaries, officials and a part of parishioners continue to complain. With responsibility and an objective viewpoint, respecting the truth, Nghe An Newspaper continues to inform about this issue...
It must be affirmed that the Cau Ram Parish's continuous petition to reclaim land belonging to the Cua Lake Tourism and Entertainment Area Project
For example, to build Ban Ve Hydroelectric Project (Tuong Duong)or the Hua Na Hydropower Project (Que Phong), thousands of ethnic minority households have left their old homes to build new lives in resettlement areas. All for the common good, for the future electricity of the Fatherland. Therefore, there cannot be organizations and individuals "claiming land" that has been planned by the State to build projects serving the community's interests, and there cannot be land disputes between the State (owner) and organizations and individuals.
Returning to the origin of the land planned for the above Project. The old Cau Ram Church was built in 1926 on a land area of about 25,000 m2 in Block 6B and Block 7, Cua Nam Ward. By 1968, the church was destroyed by American bombs and was no longer a place for religious activities of Cau Ram Parish. After that, with the consent of the government and the Xa Doai Bishop's Office, Cau Ram Parish was moved to operate at the Trung My family's carpenter's house, Hung Dong Commune (Vinh City) until 2000 (when the new church was completed in Block 6A, Cua Nam Ward).
On October 12, 1976, the Executive Committee of Cau Ram Parish transferred the remaining two-story building on the old Cau Ram Church land to Hop Duc Association for 13,000 VND so that this facility could expand production (with legal documents). Legally, in 1976, although the legal regulations were not yet complete as they are today, the property and land transfer documents were quite strict and complete, including the representative of Cau Ram Parish, Mr. Ba Dinh Loan, Head of the Parish Executive Committee, writing a request, signed on October 12, 1976; below was the certification and approval by the signature and seal of Priest Nguyen Duy Thuong, parish priest of Cau Ram. At the same time, it was signed and sealed by the Administrative Committee of Ward 2, Vinh City, signed and sealed by Mr. Pham Van Chuong. Thus, this transfer agreement was legal in the spirit of complete voluntariness in accordance with the principles of civil law.
The transferee, Hop Duc Cooperative, has paid in full to the Executive Committee and Priest of Cau Ram Parish. The transfer money was used to renovate the churches in the parish. From 1976 to 1993, the remaining land and two-story house were put into the business of building materials by Hop Duc Enterprise and were no longer under the management and use of Cau Ram Parish.
At the dialogue between Cau Ram Parish and Vinh City People's Committee on the morning of October 14, 2011, in response to questions regarding whether or not there was a transfer in 1976? And whether this transfer was legal? Vinh City authorities presented relevant documents at the request of the Cau Ram Parish Executive Committee.
However, Father Hoang Sy Huong - Parish Priest of Cau Ram, said that the document of land sale of Cau Ram Church in 1976 is invalid. In fact, the priest is deliberately denying an obvious fact: the existence of the original document proving the legality of the transfer between Hop Duc Cooperative and Cau Ram Parish, which originated from Cau Ram Parish.
Furthermore, the fact that Father Hoang Sy Huong stated that the parish had previously only sold the 2-storey house on the land, not the land, because the priest and the Parish Executive Committee did not have the right to decide on the land of the parish. Thus, it proves that he acknowledged the "legality" of the above document and that the transfer in 1976 between Cau Ram Parish and Hop Duc Cooperative was real. Further evidence: there must have been the consent and signature of the Hop Duc Cooperative Management Board in the document sent to the Handicraft Union Committee and Vinh City Bank on October 19, 1976 requesting "to resolve the withdrawal of money to pay for the Church...." for the above agreement to be implemented, and at that time the Parish Executive Committee had received 13,000 VND to repair the family churches.
After receiving the transfer, Hop Duc Cooperative continuously used the above land for the purpose of production and trading of construction materials until December 20, 1993, when the Prime Minister issued Decision 603/QD-TTg approving the overall plan of Vinh City. Accordingly, the land that Hop Duc Cooperative is legally using is determined to be located in the planning area for the construction of Cua Nam Lake Park to serve the recreation, entertainment and tourism of Vinh City people and Nghe An people in general.
To gradually implement the above planning, in August 1995, Vinh City People's Committee allocated 720.7 million VND from the budget to compensate Hop Duc Cooperative for site clearance and assigned Cua Nam Ward People's Committee to manage the above land to build an amusement, entertainment and tourism park. On September 4, 1997, Nghe An Provincial People's Committee issued Decision No. 3533/QD-UB approving the investment project to build Cua Nam Lake amusement, entertainment and tourism area.
On April 21, 2000, the Prime Minister issued Decision No. 49/QD-TTg approving the general adjustment of the construction of Vinh City, Nghe An Province until 2020. Based on the drawings attached to this Decision, the land currently used by Nghe An Tourism Company will continue to be planned as a green park. Due to the slow and ineffective implementation of Nghe An Tourism Company, based on the commitment of Truong Giang, Saigon Joint Stock Company, Nghe An Provincial People's Committee issued Decision No. 497/QD-UB-DT dated February 16, 2004 transferring the investor of the Cua Nam Lake Amusement, Entertainment and Tourism Area Project from Nghe An Tourism Company to Truong Giang, Saigon Joint Stock Company.
However, because the progress of Truong Giang Company was too slow compared to the commitment, on June 28, 2010, Nghe An Provincial People's Committee issued Decision No. 189/QD-UBND-DC to reclaim the entire land in Cua Nam Ward and assign Vinh City People's Committee to develop a plan and put it into use according to the approved planning. Currently, Vinh City People's Committee is completing the necessary procedures to implement the construction of a public park using budget funds, serving the entertainment needs of the people in the area. Thus, the State has adjusted Vinh City's planning many times, the government has also changed investors many times, but the purpose of using the above land to build a public park remains unchanged.
Regarding Cau Ram Parish, more than 10 years after the transfer to Hop Duc Cooperative, that is, in 1989, the parish submitted a request to rebuild Cau Ram Church, but because the old church location had a part of the area used to build Phan Dinh Phung Street, the remaining area was transferred to Hop Duc Cooperative for full use, so the People's Committee of Nghe An province did not resolve it.
In 1998, based on the proposal of Cau Ram Parish, the Provincial People's Committee proposed 3 locations for the Parish Executive Committee to choose from: Tam Dong ice cream shop land (in Cua Nam ward), Electromechanical Enterprise land (Doi Cung ward) and Kho Vom land managed by Construction Company 1.
Then the Provincial People's Committee agreed and approved the Parish Council's choice to use the Kho Vom area of Construction Company I to build the current Cau Ram Church. In addition to allocating 11,000 m2 of land, based on the parish's request, the province supported compensation for land clearance. After being allocated the land, Cau Ram Parish built a new church in Block 6A, Cua Nam Ward and put it into stable use from 2000 until now. Thus, it can be seen that the Vinh City government and Nghe An province have paid special attention to creating conditions for the people of Cau Ram Parish to have a place for religious activities.
However, since 2010, Cau Ram Parish has submitted four petitions to reclaim the land of the old Cau Ram Church for religious purposes. This is baseless and against the law. Because the land has been planned to build a public park to serve the community since 1993.
Furthermore, for the past 35 years since the transfer to Hop Duc Cooperative (in 1976), Cau Ram Parish has no longer managed or used the above land. Article 1 of the 1987 Land Law states that "land is owned by the entire people and is uniformly managed by the State". The 1993 Land Law, in Clause 2, Article 2, continues to clearly stipulate: "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, the Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam...". The 2003 Land Law, in Article 1, stipulates that "Land is owned by the entire people and is represented by the State as the owner". In Clause 2, Article 10, it continues to reaffirm that "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 Vietnamese State".
On the other hand, according to Resolution No. 23/2003/QH11 dated November 26, 2003 of the 11th National Assembly, the State does not review the policies on land management and socialist transformation policies related to land issued before July 1, 1991 and the State does not recognize the reclaiming of land that the State has managed and arranged for use in the process of implementing land management policies and socialist transformation policies related to land. The State completes the legal procedures for the entire people's ownership of the types of land that the State has managed and arranged for use in the process of implementing land management policies at certain times.
Regarding the name "old Cau Ram Church", it is just a habit of people to call the names of previous places, for example, the old Provincial Party Committee Area, the old Post Office Bridge Area, the old Eye Station Area, the old Military Household Area... which absolutely cannot be used as a basis to determine that it is land owned by Cau Ram Church. Thus, the land claim of Cau Ram Parish is against the provisions of the law and there is no basis for resolution. Currently, Vinh City and Nghe An Province should only focus on considering and choosing the investment method, using the land area in accordance with the approved planning and ensuring the implementation progress so that people can soon benefit.
As for the Parish Council and some parishioners who are violating the law, they should fulfill their duties as "God-fearing, patriotic" citizens in the spirit of respecting the law, maintaining discipline and law for the common goal of building a heroic Red City, worthy of a first-class urban area and developing towards becoming a central urban area in the North Central region. To resolve this issue, in addition to the efforts of authorities at all levels, on the part of parish priests with the responsibility of shepherding the souls of parishioners, they need to set an example, educate followers in patriotism, exercise their rights and obligations as citizens and be aware of obeying the law as stipulated in Article 2 of the Ordinance on Religious Beliefs and Religions; have goodwill to quickly end complaints that violate the law as mentioned above. At the same time, guide parishioners to "Live the gospel in the heart of the nation to serve the happiness of compatriots" as in the spirit of the 1980 joint letter of the Vietnam Bishops' Council.
Reporter team
