Dispute over Arlegui property solved; Noynoy may stay at guesthouse

MANILA, Philippines - President-apparent Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III may stay in the presidential guesthouse on Arlegui street during his six-year term if he so decides, as the legal battle over the property has been settled with finality by the Supreme Court (SC).

SC spokesman Midas Marquez said the Court has ruled with finality ordering the government to pay the real owner of the property, Tarcila Laperal-Mendoza, at least P8 million in rentals accumulated from the time it was seized from her by the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos.

Marquez revealed yesterday that an entry of judgment had been registered in the SC records on Dec. 12, 2008, affirming an Oct. 2007 order to the Office of the President (OP) to pay Mendoza.

He said it is up to Aquino if he wants to stay in the said property upon assumption of office.

In that ruling approved unanimously by members of the first division of the High Court, including now Chief Justice Renato Corona, the government was ordered to return the 4,924-square meter Arlegui property to Mendoza.

The SC division then upheld the decision of Manila regional trial court Branch 37 in Aug. 2003, declaring Mendoza as the real owner of the property covered by Transfer Certificate Title (TCT) No. 118527.

Mendoza claimed that she had been in possession of the property until the first week of July 1975 when a group of armed men who introduced themselves as members of the presidential security group of Marcos forcibly entered her residence and ordered her to turn over to them the title to the said property and compelled her and the members of her household to vacate the same.

Out of fear for their lives, the owner said she handed her owner’s duplicate certificate copy of TCT No. 118527 and left the property.

Mendoza later found that her title had already been cancelled by virtue of a deed of sale in favor of the government allegedly executed by her and her deceased husband on July 15, 1975.

“The evidence adduced indeed adequately supports a conclusion that the Office of the President, during the administration of then President Marcos, wrested possession of the property in question and somehow secured a certificate of title over it without a conveying deed having been executed legally to justify the cancellation of the old title in the name of private respondent and the issuance of a new one in the name of petitioner Republic,” the SC then said.

But the High Court modified the trial court’s ruling and cut the value of the property and the amount of compensation to be paid to Mendoza.

Instead of paying over P2 billion as ordered by the RTC, the SC said the OP should just pay Mendoza the amount of P20,000 a month beginning July 1975, representing rental, until it vacates the property and the possession is given back to her.

The SC also directed the OP to pay additional interest of six percent per annum on the total amount due upon finality of the decision until it is fully paid. The government is further ordered to pay Mendoza’s attorney’s fees equivalent to 15 percent of the amount due her.

The Court described as “unconscionable” and “ridiculous” the order of Judge Vicente Hidalgo for the government to pay Mendoza the amount of P1.48 billion representing the rental for the subject property on top of the P143 million representing the acquisition cost of the disputed property, exclusive of interest.

It noted that the property is relatively small in terms of actual area and had an assessed value of only P2.39 million. It also stressed that the Arlegui property had minimal rental value during the long martial law years, given the very restrictive entry and exit conditions prevailing at the vicinity at that time and even after.

The decision was penned by then Associate Justice Cancio Garcia.

Former Chief Justice Reynato Puno and Associate Justices Angelina Sandoval Gutierrez and Adolfo Azcuna concurred in the ruling.   – With Aurea Calica