PROPERTIES CLAIMS

Properties Claims 

By Van Nguyen




Encouraged by the letter of the Episcopal Conference of Vietnam to the prime minister (1997), the Reverend Tran Dinh Thu, the founder and superior-general of the Congregation of Mother Coredemptrix, sent an open letter to the highest authorities of the Party and State, requesting the highest organs of the regime to render to Catholic community the monastery the lands, and physical properties at Thu Duc District, Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, which the State had dispossessed. The dispossession took place in September 1988 following the conviction of the People’s Court that gave the Reverend Tran Dinh Thu twenty years in prison. The demand came to no answer. Instances of properties claims dragged on as years came by.

      Dong Nai Province

       

      The Tra Co Incident

The dispute over land properties between the State and the Church in various Catholic parishes ensued and came to no concrete solution  In November 1997, news about opposition against the local authorities by the  parishioners of Tra Co, Binh Minh Commune, Thong Nhat District, Dong Nai Province, reached the Vietnamese communities overseas. The incident resulted from serious dispute that unlatched wrath of the parishioners.  Back in 1991, a lot of thirteen thousand square meters of land belonging to the parish was confiscated by the district authority of Thong Nhat District. The confiscation was executed following a directive from the authorities of the province. However, later, in 1996, the authorities of the commune of Binh Minh pronounced its decision to confiscate the land and requested the authorities of the province to issue decision to invalidate the decision by the district authorities. The dispute over land of the parish of Tra Co between the parishioners and the commune authorities on one side and the conflict between the local and district authorities on the other complicated the situation, leading to a string of incidents that increasingly aggravated the dispute over land after that at Tra Co Parish. The Reverend Nguyen Quang Toan, a priest of the parish of Tra Co, was appointed the intermediary to reconcile the parishioners with the authorities. His efforts nevertheless came to no result.

    

Protests burst out on November 4, 1997. The chairman of the Fatherland Front of the province of Dong Nai, Nam Triet, met Fr. Nguyen Quang Toan, and asked for help, contacting the pastor of Tra Co Parish to calm down the growing discontent of the parishioners. At the meeting, the pastor suggested that the chairman should personally address the matter to the parishioners. The suggestion was agreed upon the meeting between the chairman and the parishioners was scheduled on November 6, 1997. The pastor would be the coordinator. Discussions on the purpose of use of the land confiscated were nevertheless conducive to both agreements and disagreements.       

Coincidentally, new troubles blew up in the district of Long Thanh, which is adjacent to Tra Co Parish.  On  January 8, 1998, a group of women blocked the road to the upper area of Long Thanh to protest the Army’s attempt to expulse the families in the area from their houses, which had been built at the times of the Vietnam War and which were distant and separate from the military site. The military authorities at the site nevertheless said that these houses were built unlawfully on its ground and must be removed for the enlargement of the road.

The inhabitants protested against and resisted the military authorities’ order to arbitrarily evict them from their houses. 

   

The friction grew tense. The protesters blocked circulation at Long Thanh on Highway I, which links the provinces of the South and North Vietnam. The highway patrol police showed it unavailing within hours to disband the protesters who resisted with force. The police called in reinforcements. A security detachment with modern antiriot equipment was dispatched to the scene. The protesters were subdued, arrested, and taken away. The following day the spokesman of the police pronounced that the protesters were arrested because of causing public disorder.

     

The dispute did not end there. Other incidents entangled the situation. The parish of Long Thanh, which also belongs to the province of Dong Nai, It is one of the parishes of the diocese of Saigon lying along Highway I in the Long Thanh area. Long Thanh Parish is one of the most populated parishes of the diocese. According to a census in 1995, the parish sheltered 1,200 Catholic followers. The parish is located near the district of Thong Nhat . Dispute over land the authorities and the parishioners ever increased. Incidents of protest pushed more than 10,000 followers to participate in a demonstration against the administration previously. This protest at Long Binh certainly served as a catalyst for unrest at Tra Co, Thong Nhat District.

       

Repressive developments at Thong Nhat revealed tactics somewhat similar to those executed by the authorities in the uprisings in Thai Binh, North Vietnam, in 1996.  Opposition was resilient, and repression was massive and harsh.  Catholic laity in Tra Co is originally the natives of Thai Binh, who immigrated to the South after the Geneva Accords of July 1954. Women and children constituted the majority of the protesters that showed defiance against the police. They attempted to block the main axle of traffic. This dispute over land between the local authorities and the Catholic laity at Tra Co reportedly ended in mass detention and imprisonment. Nine parishioners were arrested; seven among them were women. They were accused of having taken part in a violent demonstration that took place at Long Binh, Thong Nhat District in January 1997. They were then put on trial by the People’s Court of the district and sentenced to prison terms that ranged between 16 months to 4 years on charges of causing public disorder.

     

The report by the security services of the province of Dong Nai on the complicated situation that happened in the parish of Tra Co, Binh Minh Commune, Thong Nhat District, Dong Nai Province, during November 6-9, 1997 reveals the following instances of friction between the authorities and the laity:

The Catholic laity of Tra Co did not comply with the decision of the People’s Council of the province of Dong Nai according to which the authorities of the province confiscated the land of the parish of Tra Co to build a communal center consisting of buildings for general public interests. The decision met with opposition of the population of the parish.  Every day, 15 or 20 old women of fifty to seventy years of age gathered in sit-in demonstrations to keep this land. At any moment, they provoked the authorities. In early November, the situation became complicated when Fr. Toan with about 50 parishioners came back from a trip to Quang Ninh in the North...

November 6

In the morning Mass, Fr. Thuan, the pastor of the parish, informed the laity about the actual situation. The next morning, November 7, at 7:00, the People’s Council of Thong Nhat District would summon the council of the parish for “a session of work.”  The parish was asked to come to terms with the council the district authorities on the receipt of a sum of money to indemnify the parish for the land they had confiscated. The use of the land was foreseen by the authorities' plan was to build an administrative communal center for the commune of Binh Minh. At the announcement of this news, a part of the parishioners, mainly composed of old women, agreed they would accompany the parish council to come to the district.

November 7

The group of parishioners who reassembled in greater number at the lot of land confiscated. Excited, they waved slogans written in red letters on large banners of 90 centimeters in width and 2 meters in length: “We denounce crimes of extortion, thieves of land of the Church of the parish of Tra Co,” “We demand the authorities of the district of Thong Nhat and the commune of Binh Minh to render land to the Church of the parish of Tra Co,”  and “Long Live President Ho Chi Minh.”

      

The People’s Council of the province thus gave the order that all banners be recuperated. The agents of security of the province and competent services gave orders to the provincial party committee and the commune people’s councils prepare a schedule for a session of work with the diocese of Xuan Loc. The first session was to take place at 8:00 A.M., November 8, in the administration premises of the People’s Council. The vice-chairman of the provincial People’s Council in charge of religious affairs, the president of the Fatherland Front of Vietnam of Dong Nai Province, the authorities of the Civil Action should be present there. Bishop [Nguyen Minh] Nhat sent a message to the provincial People’s Council announcing that he would come, and he would be accompanied by the priests Trinh and Su. 

The Service of Security of the province insisted on the taking part in this meeting of the Office of Police PA 38 and the Security Section of the district of Thong Nhat  to follow up the situation closely and be ready to deal with the local clergy and parishioners. The security services were to prepare files on the principal instigators, ringleaders, active participants in the opposition manifestations. They were instructed to interdict people to film and photograph the scenes of incidents to prevent evil elements from using films and photographs for propaganda and propagating news disadvantageous to the administration. The Office PA 38 and the Security of the district of Thong Nhat were to constantly inform the Security of the province on the developments of the situation. The former organ must also report the situation to the Ministry for the Interior, the Provincial Party Committee, and the People’s Council of the province.

      

In the morning of November 7, the People’ s Council of the district of Thong Nhat had a session of work with the council of Parish of Tra Co, commune of Binh Minh, to discuss the subject of requisition of land and the sum of money to pay for compensation. However, the session came to no result because the council of the parish and a certain number of notables argued that it was up to the laity to agree on     decision, and the council of the parish could take no responsibility regarding this matter.

   

In the afternoon of that day, the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee decided themselves to draw up an evaluation of the situation. It decided that it had to communicate to the Secretary-assistant of the Party Permanent Committee, the Vice-chairman of the People’s Council of the province, and the President of the Fatherland Front of the province to have a session of work with the People’s Council of the district of Thong Mhat. , scheduled to take place in the evening of November 7. The session of work was destined to prepare for a meeting with the Bishop of Xuan Loc, which was foreseen to take place on the morning of November 8, 1977.

The Task of the Security of the Province

The Office PA 38 in association with the district and competent forces is responsible for security in all areas. Both organs had tried to recuperate the banners on persuasion but obtained no result. Executing rhea Province Party Committee’s directives, the assistant-chief of Office PA 38 reassured the People’s Council Office of the province of the time and place for the session of work with the diocesan office. The Bureau PA 38 would set up a secret meeting between competent authorities and the bishopric office. Vehicles, medicine, and medics would be in place in case the situation worsened.

   

November 8

At 8:00 A.M., the session of work between the People’s Council of the province and the bishopric office of Xuan Loc took place. The participants were there. They were the vice-chairman of the People’s Council of the province, the authorities of the Office of Religious Affairs of the province, the authorities of the Committee of Civil Action of the province, the president of the Fatherland Front of the province, and Bishop Nguyen Minh Nhat. The bishop was accompanied by the priests Trinh and Su.       

    

First, there was a lecture on the decision of the People’s Council  of the province confirming the requisition of thirteen thousand (13,000) square meters of land in the commune of Binh Minh, on the decision that allows the liberation of a sum of money destined to the compensation, on the decision that ratifies the project of building of a cultural, political and social center of the commune of Binh Minh, and on a decision to delegate the chairman of the People’s Council of the district of Thong Nhat and the care for planning layers of work. At the same time, the People’s Council of the province evaluated and appreciated positively the contribution of the bishopric office in explaining things and convincing the Catholic laity of complying with law and order, as it had done previously at Tan Thai. On this base, the diocese was asked to continue to support the authorities.

       

At 10:45, a certain number of women lay on the ground along Highway I; other women dragged large rocks to raise obstacle to the traffic. At 13:30, members of the Permanent Section of the Party and the authorities of the people’s Council of the province, and the chairmen of people’s councils and authorities of the security services of the neighboring districts came to the meeting. They came to the conclusion that the actual attempt of the enemy was a provocation destined to set a fire from a burning point. The following measures were foreseen as appropriate by the authorities:

Continue to follow closely the situation and insistently direct the security forces so that they will be able to ease flow of   traffic. Organize activities for other cadres in such a way that they will be able to educate with perseverance the population and explain to them what is happening so that they will not get caught in a net by the provocation of the enemy. At the same time we must organize sessions of study to educate people in the neighboring areas and apply appropriate measures to prevent the troubles from expanding. Still, we must establish files on extremist elements so that we will be able to bring their cases to trials before the Court of justice. The military commander and the directorate of the security service of the province are responsible for security, closely following the evolution of the situation, to report in time on the unfolding of events to the commander-in-chief of Military Zone VII, the General Military Staff, and the Ministry for the Interior in such a manner that the superior authorities could issue orders [...]  

       

At 14:00 o’clock, the representative of the bishopric region of Xuan Loc and the representative of the province came to the scene. They tried to persuade the protesters into breaking up the demonstration, but the situation turned to become increasingly complicated. Extremists broke the windows of the vehicle of the Office of the People’s Council of the province. Thousands of people continued to crowd in front of the headquarters of the commune of Binh Minh. The Security Service of the province gave order to the officers in charge to evacuate the personnel at the commune headquarters to preserve forces. At 21:30, everything was   right and traffic circulation at the scene was safe.

The Task of the Security Service of the Province

The Security Service of the province organized reconnaissance mission, continued to control the situation, and put in place the security forces of 30 motorized police units of the district to form a reinforcement detachment. This security unit will be ready to reinforce the highway patrol police in the maintenance of safe traffic and circulation

   

The Security Service of the province of Dong Nai sent communiqués to the security services of Ho Chi Minh City and those of Binh Duong, Binh Thuan, and Ba Ria - Vung Tau, asking for assistance with plans of support. Besides, the Security Service of the province, without loss of time, made a concrete plan of actions to face the worst situation and in case firearms will be used.  Tactics of the plan for approval are to be arranged during the meeting of the Committee of the Party of the province the General Direction of First Corps of Military Zone VII, the provincial authorities of the Security Service, which is to be held at the People’s Council Office at 8:00 A.M., November 9, 1977.

     

At 6:00 A.M., November 9, a section of Highway I at Binh Minh Commune was still not cleared. The Security Service was given the order to coordinate activities with other services to prevent the population of Song May from coming to Binh Minh. The highway police patrol used vehicles equipped with loudspeakers deployed forces to secure order and clear the obstacles to road traffic and circulation. The People’s Council of the province informed Bishop [Nguyen Minh] Nhat about the actual situation so that he could contact the parish of Tra Co and contribute to the reestablishment of order.      

LAND DISPUTE

     Land dispute between the State and the Church became a serious problem. On September 19, 2008, Msgr. Nguyen Trung Thanh, the Superior of the Redemptories Order, asked the Vatican to intervene in the matter. Months of protests and arbitrary detentions sparked unrest in various parishes throughout the country. In many parishes, Catholics staged mass rallies. Several parishes demanded to return to the Church the properties the State had confiscated in the land reforms of 1954-1956 and the land appropriation following the takeover of South Vietnam in 1975. Many Catholics were detained for taking part in the movement, although they had no intention to challenge the authorities or create chaos. Only could an intervention from the Holy See prevent regrettable confrontation. The dignitary stressed that "the Catholic Church and the Redemptorists Order have plenty of documents to prove that land properties are theirs and that these physical properties are never under State management. The Church and the Redemptorist Order are entitled to legal ownership of the land." The dignitary also filed a report to the Vatican for intervention. As the Vatican had no diplomatic ties with Hanoi, no intervention was made. The dispute became increasingly tense...

The Law on Land 1940/CT-TTg

In January 2009, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung promulgated the Decree 1949/CT/TTg regarding land properties of all religions. The promulgation of the law took place amid serious land disputes between the State and the Roman Catholic Church of Vietnam. In general, the law articulates mostly provisions on land of the Churches previously improvised by State laws, codifying the authority of administration of the State over land. Land belongs to the people, and the State is the manager. Actually, land conflict originates from diverse factual complexities following the land reforms in the North in the years 1956-1960. The nationalization of land after the Communist takeover of South Vietnam in 1975 creates even more legal intractable problems, generating flaws and errors and confrontation and unrest.    

 Dispossession of Properties of the Church

    A case in Evidence

The school Pham Van Chi of Sixth Precinct, formerly the primary school Binh Phuoc is situated on the land of the cathedral of Binh Phuoc, which is the legal property of the archdiocese of Saigon. After the Communist takeover of Saigon, the parish lent under coercion the property to the State for public use. On June 16, 1998, the direction of the school without consultation from the parish of Binh Phuoc and the archdiocese unilaterally started to dismantle piece by piece the construction structure of the school and transform it into a new one. The parish of Binh Phuoc reacted, demanding the direction of the school, an administrative organ of education office of Sixth Precinct, to stop the work. The parish proposed to the competent authorities to let it take care of the construction, and the directory would then make use of it. 

   

For three consecutive years, the proposal was not taken into consideration. In the end, the city general directory of education, by the decision No.547/QD-TTNN of June 27, 2001, claimed that the school Pham Van Chi is the property of the State, based on a text drawn up by the former pastor of Binh Phuoc, December 5, 1977, who, in his name, offered that school to the State. Nevertheless, this text was viewed unlawful. A pastor is not entitled to the right to ownership. He is not the proprietor; he is only a manager, and thus has no right whatsoever to offer the State the property of the Church.

On July 27, 2001, the Archdiocese of Saigon sent a letter of protest to different competent State authorities stating clearly that the interpretation and application of the law following the decision of the general directory of education was not lawful and satisfactory. It specified at the same time that the archdiocese is the proprietor of all Catholic establishments within the archdioceses and territory, including the school of Binh Phuoc.The archdiocese proposed to the authorities to discuss the matter with it. The archdiocese received no answer.

On August 3, 2001, the Office of Religious Affairs of the city contacted the archdiocese. The archdiocese prelacy proposed a holding of a meeting between the two parties concerned to discuss a certain number of options with which both parties could reach an agreement. The meeting took place on August 15, 2001 at the Office of Religious Affairs of the city.  In attendance were the authorities of the Section of Religious Affairs of the Sixth Precinct, the representative of the archdiocese, and the pastor of Binh Phuoc Parish.  The representative of the archdiocese restated the content of the letter of protest of the archdiocese of July 27 and protested against the authorities’ unilateral decision on the project of construction at Pham Van Chi School. The meeting came to a halt.

    

Several days later, the problem in question remained unsolved, the authorities of Sixth Precinct had the construction works at Pham Van Chi School started? The archdiocese saw in this move a violation of the right to property ownership and an act of dishonesty that would involuntarily provoke discontent and stir unrest. The archdiocese sent a letter requesting the authorities of the city to take necessary steps to remedy the situation. The letter also demanded that a meeting between the State and the Church should be held before any plan could be projected. The archdiocese maintained that the versions of facts transmitted to public opinion by the civil authorities were in contradiction with what they had said and were contrary to the truth.  (Archdiocese of Ho Chi Minh City, August 31, 2001.   For the Archbishop, the Vicar-general, P. Jean-Baptiste Huynh Cong Minh). 

   

The land dispute between the civil authorities and the Church become seriously tense under "Renovation." The Archdiocese of Saigon, in many instances attested with conclusive legal documents to its rights to ownership of physical properties. In the letter sent to the municipal authorities of Ho Chi Minh City, reproduced by the agency Viet Catholic News, September 9, 2001, the Archdiocese of Saigon reacted with rigor to the attempts of the local authorities to unlawfully build constructions on the lands belonging to the Church.

Tension persisted. Binh Phuoc School was renamed as Pham Van Chi School. The authorities of Sixth Precinct showed indifference to the aspirations of the Binh Phuoc parish, coincidentally flaming up irritation that ever rose in the local Catholic congregation.  Popular protests against the conduct of affairs of the authorities spread. Pressing demands for a solution to the problem multiplied. The archdiocese, in particular, expressed views according to which it never “transfers the rights to ownership to the authorities: The Church still has all legal rights to properties ownership. By not respecting these rights, one violates the law and commits injustice.” The archdiocese also stressed that “it is a duty of every Catholic to defend and protect the properties of the Church.”  The letter cited in detail incidents of friction between the local authorities and the representative of Saigon Archdiocese. It put into question the legal considerations of the administration with regard to the use of the physical establishments belonging to the Church. It equally demanded the State to clarify the purposes of usage of these establishments which it had confiscated or borrowed from it.

On July 27, 2001, in a petition to the central administration in Hanoi, the Archbishop of Saigon, again, claimed the rights to ownership of properties of the Church at the School of Binh Phuoc as well as those at all other schools belonging to the Church before 1975. He demanded the authorities to contact and discuss the problem concerned with the representatives of the Church every time they desired to create a certain project on the estates belonging to the Church. The demand was ignored, nevertheless. On August 23, 2001, the authorities of Sixth Precinct organized a festival marking the start of a new construction on Binh Phuoc school grounds without a notice to the archdiocese. Coincidentally, the representatives of the diocese were humiliated at the Bureau of Religious Affairs of the city after they came to report to their archbishop the situation at Bih Phuoc Parish.

    

In his appeal to the laity, the prelacy of Saigon Archdiocese reminded the Catholic community of the difficulties facing the diocese following April 1975 when the new regime proceeded with the appropriation of properties of the religion and transferred its legal ownership to the working class and peasantry. The then archbishop of Saigon, Msgr. Nguyen Van Binh, was reluctant to cede to the new regime the right to ownership of these establishments. It is a matter of replacing the old system of private tuition-free education with a public education that is entirely tuition-free. By mutual consent, the new system should give poor students means for education. The Church still has the rights to ownership of property. In addition, in various localities and parishes, the authorities could only "borrow" from the Church certain educational establishments for certain particular purposes. Requests for giving them back to the Church came to no answer.

A Thorn in the Sid

On October 7, 1975, the Archbishop, Msgr. Paul Nguyen Van Binh, by his letter No.576/VP to the Provisory President of the Republic of South ascertained that the archdiocese agreed to transfer to the authorities its educational establishments to facilitate  the tuition-free  education system for the benefit of the students as advanced by the government. Beginning in 1976, the dispute over the rights to ownership of the Church’s properties has never been satisfactorily solved for many causes. Clerical ranks at various parishes in Saigon archdiocese at the time never agreed to transfer the rights to private properties to the “Revolution. Many pastors strongly opposed coercive properties dispossession of the new regime, and the cadres to convince them to lend the “Revolution” certain physical establishments for temporary use or public purposes.  Others adamantly refused to “cooperate with the “Revolution,” and they were arrested and sent to “re-education.” The dispute over land and property between the State and the Church has persisted until the present day.  

By the end of 1990’s, “glasnost” and “perestrioka” fanned throughout the country, the great majority of Catholics thought that the time for change would come. In many parishes, parishioners engaged in the negotiation with the State on land and properties and asked it to return to the Church the establishments it had “borrowed” from it in the old days.  There should be a solution. The new policy of socialization, for instance, allowed semiprivate educational institutions and private schools “founded by the people” to function. The Church, being a “moral person,” would certainly play a role in the building of the nation. It should be given back its physical properties, particularly, cultural and educational establishments to serve this purpose. The Archbishop of Saigon, in particular, requested the authorities to stop the construction work at Binh Phuoc and to open dialogue between the municipality and the archdiocese to reach an agreement. To clarify his position on the subject, the Archbishop sent a communiqué to the Catholic clergy and laity of the Saigon Archdiocese, specifying the “Rights to Properties Ownership of the Church,” and the reasons for which the Archdiocese had ceded the rights to properties ownership  to authorities at  certain locations following the takeover of South Vietnam in April 1975.  

On October 15, 2001, the Service of Education of Ho Chi Minh City, in the name of the Ministry of Education and Youth and the Committee of Liaison of Catholic Education, in the name of the Archdiocese of Saigon, signed an eight-point joint communiqué the integral text of which pointed out two main points : 1) - The Archdiocese of Saigon is in agreement with the administration to transfer to the State the right to use the schools belonging to the archdiocese beginning the school-year 1975-76 for educational objective.  And 2) - These schools continue to be the property of the Catholic Church. In the case one would like to use these establishments for the service one should specify an objective other than educational. There should be prior consent of the two parties. No legal text has been issued thereafter, however.

 The Saigon Archdiocese always preserves its rights to ownership of property of the Catholic private establishments. The agreement between the two parties lacks, in principle, legal feasibility. The documents are established unilaterally by an individual, even though the individual is the archbishop himself. In addition, this “offer of establishments to the government is in contradiction with the principles of the Church and, as a consequence, is without validity. An individual is not entitled to the right to property ownership of the Church and its private establishments. He is not legally entitled to the right to “offer” them to anyone. These physical properties will ever remain the properties of the Catholic Church.