Properties Claims

Properties Claims

Phan Thiet  -- Nha Trang

In the small parish of Vo Xu of Phan Thiet Diocese, the land dispute between the Catholic laity and the authorities had ever lasted since the change of political regime in 1975. Until 1995, the parish claimed the rights to ownership of real estate of the Church and requested the State from returning to the Church the properties the local authorities had borrowed from it.  The believers showed firm determination, repeatedly protesting against the authorities’ conduct of affairs.  Their requests came to no answer.

   

In the sea-resort city of Nha Trang where the quarrel was long-lasting and   intense, the Catholics tried in vain for more than five years beginning in 1995 to claim their rights to ownership and requested the local authorities from returning to the Church its properties. On November 3, 1999, the Reverend Nguern Quang Sach, the general vicar of the Diocese Cathedral, addressed complaints with legal documents to competent authorities, demanding respect for the rights to ownership of the Church. The dispute concerned mostly the use of the Square of Our Lady in front of the cathedral. The cathedral and the surrounding area all belong to the Church. The parish is in possession of legal documents attached to the files presented to the authorities. Nevertheless, for twenty years, from 1975 to 1995, the area surrounding the cathedral which the municipal authorities borrowed from the Church has been defaced and left no traces of a worship site. Worse still,   municipal authorities take it for granted that it is their own property. They even ordered the clergy in residence to remove all constructions on the ground, including the statue of Virgin Mary, which is in contradiction with the obligation with which they should be comply as stated in  the contract between the pastor of the parish and the authorities.

      

In 1979, the authorities and the pastor, in fact, reached an agreement .according to which   parish agreed to lend the authorities of Nha Tang a lot on the ground of the Square of Virgin Mary including other constructions on it to build a center for cultural activities. Fifteen years later, the auth0rities voluntarily altered the obligations agreed to construct a bar and a telephone booth for commercial purposes. On July 11, 1994, the parish sent a petition to request that the Square of Virgin Mary of the cathedral be restored for religious purposes. All through 1995, the parish renewed the request winch came to no answer, nevertheless.

     

In 1999, engagements in claiming the rights to ownership of the Church multiplied as the authorities seemed to ignore all demands from the Church. To ease the circulation in the surrounding the ground of the cathedral, the municipal authorities curtailed a large part of the surface of the ground without consent of or discussion over compensation with the parish.  The pastor sent a letter of protest to the municipal authorities. In it, the priest suggested competent authorities for a compromise: The State would use some part of the ground for its purpose, and the rest of it would be rendered to the parish. The proposal came to no result. Instead, the municipal authorities informed the parish that, for public interests, they ought to use the whole area including the Square of Virgin Mary, and other constructions on it. The municipal People’s Council had decided to transform the area into a city park.  

    

In his petition to the municipal authorities, the general vicar Nguyen Quang Sach stressed the decision cited was a false obligation which was both arbitrary and illegal.  He presented as proofs legal documents and the titles of properties, the oldest of which were dated 1928. The petition leant on a large number of the latest texts of law and decrees with stipulations specifying that the land that the government borrowed from the Church must be rendered to it appropriately. The dispute remained unsettled. Until the recent years, visitors ever saw the statue of Virgin Mary wrapped in hard paper standing in the scorching sun.  

 The dispute over land property between the Church and the State has been a major issue over the years in the city of Nha Trang. The Church wishes that   State should respect the legitimate rights to ownership of land properties and return real estates and facilities it Thad dispossessed or borrowed from it. The State claims that land is the property of the people and the State is the manager, and thus it has all legal rights over the use of it for national interests. On August 15, 2005, the staff of Vo Thi Sau School on Vo Thi Sau Street, Phuoc Long Quarters, Nha Trang City, had its school building demolished to build a new one in its place. Immediately, the Order of St. Joseph and representatives of the Catholic laity held a rally in protest of the dispossession of the property. The school administration met with strong protest from Catholic congregation as the establishment belongs to the Order of St. Joseph, and the State authorities could only lease it on legal terms for 5 years. Nevertheless, the State did not comply with the obligation and took possession of the property illegally. The Order of St. Joseph could do nothing in face of competent au thirties’ indifference that drove it into submission. And, the school administration proceeded with the destruction of the existing educational facilities without consultation with the Order.

The Reverend Luu Minh Hoang, the legitimate manager of the estate,' repeatedly declared that the Order is the legal owner and that the establishment existed before 1975. He also confirmed that the Order of St. Joseph did not offer it to the State and that the Church only agreed to grant it a lease. After a dispute without an agreement between the school and the administration of Nha Trang on one side and the Order of St. Joseph on the other, the central administration had to step in. The school and the local administration gave in, and the construction at the site was stopped.  Nevertheless, the authorities set to work for other constructions on the site.

   

On September 21, 2005, Fr. Luu Minh Hoang, the representative of the Archdiocese of Nha Trang and the Order of St. Joseph, sent a petition to competent authorities demanding the local administration to return the property to the Church within the latest extension of time, scheduled on October 31, 2005. The authorities promised to dismantle and remove the seafood factory construction on the property of the Church, but other works of production were going on as usual.  On October 12, 2006, Fr. Luu Minh Hoang sent to competent authorities another petition. In it, the priest expressed his anxiety over potential unrest. Perpetual protest of the Catholic believers of the Nha Trang diocese would occur if the land of the Church would not be returned before October 31. He called on mass media for support and demanded the State to return to the Church the properties it had borrowed from it for temporary use. On November 2, when the Reverend Luu Minh Hoang came to meet with competent authorities, the administrative staff of the factory expeditiously reported the state of affairs to the municipal administration. By the official letter 1/11/05 UBND of November 1, the administration and the Section of Religious Affairs, again, promised to solve the problem within a short delay.  No solution had been put into consideration, however.     

     

On January 20, 2007, a turning point marked a new phase in the relations of the Vatican and Hanoi. The Pope received Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in an audience. New hope nevertheless died down.  A protest of the Catholics took place in Nha Trang to claim back the properties of the Order St. Joseph that had already been divided among various organs for unclear purposes by the authorities. Another State establishment was built on it illegally. The claims over land property of the Church became increasingly heady, but the administration still came up with no solution. All demands eventually came to oblivion.