Silahis Hotel owners want SC to review takeover case

MANILA, Philippines - Silahis International Hotel Inc. (SIHI) and Pacific Hotel Corp. (PHC) have asked the Supreme Court to review a regional trial court order depriving the firms of their properties.

In a statement, the firms said they have filed a second motion of reconsideration before the High Court for the review of their case “for the higher interest of justice to prevent the finality of the Court of Appeals’ legally erroneous and patently unjust decision.”

“They deserve a full discussion and deliberation by the court,” Jocel Panlilio, son of the owners, said.

Panlilio said the issue stemmed when Judge Lyliha Abella-Aquino of RTC Manila Branch 24 ordered the cancellation of SIHI and PHC ownership titles and the dispossession of their properties.

The companies then filed an administrative complaint against Aquino and the sheriff of RTC Manila Branch 24 after 15 armed men were brought to take away SIHI and PHC’s properties.

Panlilio said the case being handled by Aquino during that time only involved the nullification of Pacific Wide Realty and Development Corp.’s supposed winning bid and did not involve SIHI and PHC’s properties.

He stressed the issue of property possession and ownership of the two firms is a separate matter pending before another court, the RTC Manila Branch 1.

Before seeking help from the High Court, SIHI and PHC already filed an appeal before the Court of Appeals but this has been denied.

The firms then filed a petition before the Supreme Court but this was denied afterward. A motion for reconsideration was subsequently filed but was also denied.

The second motion for reconsideration has been filed by the firms last May 30, and Panlilio hopes the SC would look into the SIHI and PHC case.

Panlilio noted that second and even third motions for reconsideration have been entertained by the High Court before “in the interest of substantial justice.”