Tag Archives: Putput Freehold Lands

Pastoral Care

AN OFFICIAL STATEMENT OF HIS GRACE ARCHBISHOP FRANCESCO PANFILO, SDB REFUTING FALSE SOCIAL MEDIA CLAIMS REGARDING THE PUTPUT FREEHOLD LANDS

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Thursday 16th January 2020
The Roman Catholic Church of Rabaul would like to inform the general public of the decision of His Honour Kokopo National Court of December 2019, in the case of Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Rabaul v Benjamin Samson and others. (OS No 269 of 2018).

The purpose of this statement is to refute the false statement shared on social media that “the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Rabaul has no interest in Putput Freehold Lands”. It is important to note that the decision of the Court was only in relation to Portion 808 and not the other four portions which are known collectively as the Putput Freehold Lands. The other portions are:

Portion 580 Marambu Plantation Area: 102.83 hectares

Portion 807 PutPut Plantation Area: 154.11 hectares

Portion 806 Warangoi Plantation: 128.08 hectares

Portion 435: 16,486 hectares.

The total area is around 17,000 hectares. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Rabaul lawfully acquired this land, evidenced by a Deed of Transfer in 1966. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Rabaul accepts the court decision of December 2019 as it must. Further noting the comments of the Court the Archdiocese is considering its legal options going forward from this decision. The Archdiocese is committed to working on doing what is necessary to ensure certainty of titles to the Putput Freehold Land. This is necessary to ensure fair distribution of the land to the different customary groups who have established customary connections with the land. This will be done free of charge. It is important that the land is distributed in a manner which promotes peace, unity and harmony and not division.

We would like to express our disappointment that we have encountered so many obstacles in attempting to carry out this work. However we remains committed to doing so as it is important that all issues relating to PutPut Freehold land, especially that of appropriate distribution, are addressed once and for all.

Negotiation can only proceed once issues relating to titles are settled.

+Francesco Panfilo, SDB,

Archbishop of Rabaul