'RJ' to question Court of Appeals reversal of Buendia property ruling

MANILA, Philippines - Businessman Ramon ‘RJ’ Jacinto, chairman of RJ Ventures Realty, underscored yesterday the recent decision of the Court of Appeals to return the Buendia property to the Philippine National Bank (PNB).

In a press statement, RJ Jacinto asked: “How can the Court of Appeals defy a Supreme Court decision that RJ Ventures Realty cannot be considered in default until a trial on the merits is completed?”

According to him, the recent decision of CA Justice Barza to return the possession of the property back to PNB also disregards completely the Supreme Court ruling that “status quo ante” should prevail among all collaterals which means the status before foreclosure should prevail while a trial on the merits proceeds.

“If RJ Ventures Realty is not yet in default how can some collaterals be foreclosed and some returned when it all stems from one transaction? If you take a house illegally, how can you just return the garage?” RJ said.

“In the meantime, possession will still remain with us pending appeal,” he added.

He said the Buendia property dispute has made the rounds for 10 years all the way to the Supreme Court. “How can the Court of Appeals be more powerful than the Supreme Court?”

“We are filing a motion for reconsideration and will take this issue up to the Supreme Court again if necessary,” RJ said.

RJ Ventures Realty lawyer Dennis Manzanal further stated that Justice Barza based his decision on RTC Judge Villarosa’s earlier decision which was overruled by RTC Judge Baybay who gave possession to RJ implementing the Supreme Court’s status quo ante decision.

“With all due respect, CA Justice Barza should have considered our argument that Judge Villarosa’s decision was part of tainted records with snow-paqued pages which were probably inserted last minute and which we don’t consider part of the official records. So Justice Barza based his decision on a spurious document,” Manzanal said.

“The whole justice system will be undermined if inserting pages and decisions into court records is not exposed or corrected,” he added.