Woman, daughter nabbed for selling fake land titles

CEBU - Two suspected members of a syndicate selling fake land titles were arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation after the Register of Deeds was alerted by the real owners of the property in the posh Maria Luisa Estate Park that the suspects are trying to mortgage in a lending company.

Cresilda Jimenez and her daughter Pauline Marie, all of Laguna, were arrested by the NBI operatives inside the office of the Register of Deeds at the Department of Agriculture Compound at past 5 p.m. last Monday.

Another woman, Evelyn Arnejo, believed to be their cohort was also held in custody by the NBI after several identification cards using different names were found in her possession.

Criselda and her daughter misrepresented themselves as Lelith and Leah Loteyro, owners of the 18,000-square-meter property inside the Maria Luisa Estate Park, which the suspects wanted to mortgage for P5 million with the Cebu Blue Mountain Financing Corporation.

Cresilda and Pauline Marie Jimenez through Singaporean national but of Indian descent Danny Woorthy and his wife Zherilyn Ty applied for a real property loan from the financing company using a fake land title as equity.

The financing company, as a matter of standard operating procedure, verified the Transfer Certificate of Title of the property sought to be mortgaged from the Register of Deeds.

Audey Uy, a messenger of the financing company, said he texted his friend in the Register of Deeds to verify if TCT No. 113430 is clean and free of any encumbrances.

Register of Deeds employee Gerardo Nabua referred the query to administrative officer Evelyn Buaya. Uy went to the Register of Deeds last Monday to personally compare the copy of the TCT submitted to them with that of the duplicate copy of the original they have kept.

According to Buaya, upon comparison with the original TCT in their file they found out that the one presented to them for comparison was faked. However, before she could leave the office at 5 p.m. last Monday, the suspects together with Woorthy arrived to further verify the authenticity of their title.

The suspects allegedly represented themselves as the Loteyros. However, Buaya who was earlier alerted by the real owners called up the NBI for assistance.

NBI operatives immediately jumped off to the Register of Deeds office where the suspects were arrested.

NBI special investigator Arnel Pura said that the Register of Deeds was earlier requested by the real owners of the lot not to entertain any request for replacement, or to report of a lost TCT 113430, because the original copy is with them.

The request was made after the adjacent lot was allegedly mortgaged without the knowledge of the owners. – Fred P. Languido/MEEV   (THE FREEMAN)