I write on my behalf and on behalf of the Ciantar family, owners of agricultural property at Is-Simblija, Rabat, with reference to Lino Bugeja’s opinion piece (September 22) wherein he claims that “for over seven decades” he has “personally trodden without any hindrance the scenic and historical pathways,” among others, on the land of Is-Simblija.

My family would like to point out that, for as long as we can remember, except for the one case described below, we have never seen or come across Mr Bugeja rambling at Is-Simblija or within our farm property where we have lived and operated on a daily basis as our ancestors, who lived here since centuries ago, have done before us.

The private paths within the holding of Is-Simblija serve and converge into the precincts of our private farm property and it is highly unlikely that, had Mr Bugeja rambled on this property, we would not have seen or encountered him.

I have only seen Mr Bugeja on this property once, some time around the beginning of 2008, when he entered our farm property, in a car, with a crew from Public Broadcasting Services to film within our private farm without our consent.

On that occasion, I informed him and the PBS crew that they were on private land.

It is also categorically denied that this agricultural holding has ever been used for rambling other than on isolated instances based on falsely assumed rights of way which have occurred since 2003 following preventive maintenance works carried out on our farm and which were wrongly interpreted as a public opening of a farm.

In fact, Mr Bugeja seems to have mixed up Is-Simblija with the property that once belonged to Ġużeppi Callus in Wied ir-Rum, an altogether different property (actually located about half a kilometre away) as stated in 2002 by Stanley Fiorini to whose studies Mr Bugeja refers.

In recent years, Mr Bugeja has published a series of articles in The Times and The Sunday Times insinuating the misappropriation of “public paths” at Is-Simblija.

He has also repeatedly mentioned Is-Simblija in negative contexts such as “insensitivity, wanton destruction and illegal misappropriation of public land by rapacious predators”.

While my family categorically denies these false allegations, it is noted that they have never been backed by documentary evidence.

We reserve the right to take further action against Mr Bugeja as other owners of similar agricultural holdings in the area did in the past, resulting in a public apology from Mr Bugeja.