Cuenco widow seeks review of estate case

A 90-year-old dowager residing in Makati City has petitioned the Department of Justice (DOJ) for the review and reinvestigation of a falsification of public documents complaint filed earlier by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) against her daughter-in-law and eight others including some of her grandchildren.

Doña Concepcion Cuenco vda. de Manguerra, a daughter of the late Sen. Mariano Jesus Cuenco and administratrix of the estate of her late husband, Don Mariano Manguerra Sr., asked the DOJ to reverse the Feb. 13, 1999 resolution issued by the Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office because due process was allegedly disregarded to favor the respondents.

She identified the respondents as Teresita Escaño-Manguerra, Christine Manguerra, Mamerto Manguerra, Paolo Manguerra, Jose Mariano Manguerra, Maria Patricia Concepcion Aberasturi, Miguel Angel Manguerra, prosecutors Victor Laborte and Jose Pedrosa of the Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office.

A close relative of the prominent Escaño family of Cebu, Escaño-Manguerra is the widow of the petitioner’s deceased son, Mariano Jr.

The petitioner’s legal counsel, Emilio Legaspi III, said that the Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office erred when it dismissed the NBI complaint since there was no preliminary investigation conducted before the resolution of the case was handed down.

Legaspi also pointed out that his client came to know of the existence of the questioned manifestation and project of partition documents attached them to their opposition to the settlement of the deceased Manguerra family patriarch’s estate, which is still within the 10-year prescription period contrary to the claim of the prosecutor’s office that it had already lapsed.

Acting on the request of the petitioner, the NBI previously conducted a thorough examination of the questioned documents and consequently concluded that the signatures of the petitioner and others were forged and spurious.

As a result, the NBI filed a complaint against the respondents in Cebu City where they are presently residing.