SC asked to allow release of landgrabbing case records

MANILA, Philippines - A lawmaker appealed to the Supreme Court yesterday to allow the release of records pertaining to the dispute over a 23.7-hectare prime property in Quezon City that a lower court has awarded to a suspected landgrabber.

Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo said the people, particularly the thousands of home and establishment owners occupying the property, have a right to know the details of the case.

They have the right to know what happened and what led Regional Trial Court Judge Branch 224 Judge Tita Marilyn Payoyo-Villordon to award the land to suspected landgrabbing syndicate leader Wilfredo Torres, he said.

He said the House justice committee, which is looking into the land dispute, wants to have all the records so it could have an informed decision on what remedial measures to recommend. The committee subpoenaed the records two weeks ago and gave clerk of court Arnaldo Mendieta until Wednesday last week to deliver the documents.

However, instead of case records, the committee received a letter signed by Villordon and Mendieta, informing the panel that they could not turn over the documents without permission from the Supreme Court. The two said they have written the high court to seek permission.

It was Villordon who ordered the Quezon City Register of Deeds early this year to issue seven reconstituted titles to Torres despite opposition from the Land Registration Authority (LRA), which had found the claimant’s mother title to be spurious.

The LRA had recognized the residents’ titles to their individual lots within the disputed land to be genuine. The contested area is near Visayas Avenue and is mostly residential.

When registry chief Elbert Quilala refused to issue titles to Torres, Villordon ordered his arrest and detention. It was only after he was jailed that Quilala issued seven titles to the landgrabbing suspect.

Cavite Rep. Elpidio Barzaga Jr., who moved for the production of case records during the committee’s first hearing last week, said they need the documents to check the history of the controversy.

“We were informed that there was a 1997 decision awarding the land to Torres. Under the law, that decision, if it existed, could be enforced only for 10 years or until 2007. What was exactly the case Villordon ruled on? We want to verify those things,” he said.

He said if Villordon tried to enforce the 1997 decision, “then what she did was illegal.”

Barzaga said the committee would also like to know if the Office of the Solicitor General amply protected the interest of the LRA and the land titling system.