House panel blames courts for Quezon City land row

MANILA, Philippines - The House committee on justice blamed at least two Quezon City courts yesterday for the dispute over a 23.7-hectare prime land near Visayas Avenue, which a suspected landgrabber is claiming.

“It is the sense of the committee that conflicting decisions of the courts caused confusion on ownership of the property and weakened our land titling system,” committee chairman Rep. Niel Tupas Jr. of Iloilo told his colleagues and scores of affected homeowners.

Tupas said in 1997, Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Emilio Leachon ordered the reconstitution of the titles to the property in the name of suspected landgrabbing syndicate leader Wilfredo Torres, who supposedly inherited the land from his mother, Dominga Sumulong.

However, in 2000, another RTC judge, Demetrio Macapagal, ruled that Sumulong’s land title was spurious and therefore “null and void.”

He said in 2005, a third RTC judge, Tita Marilyn Payoyo-Villordon, made a similar ruling, citing a report from the Land Registration Authority that the title of Torres’ mother was bogus and therefore no reconstituted titles could be issued to Torres.

“But one year later, Judge Villordon made a complete turnaround and recognized Torres and his mother as the legitimate owners of the disputed property,” he added.

“These conflicting decisions weaken the country’s land titling system. It’s as if the judges existed in a vacuum. That’s why we want to hear from them so we can make an informed decision on what remedial measures to recommend to the House,” he stressed.

He lamented that despite invitations extended by the committee, no representative of the Quezon City courts and the Supreme Court showed up in yesterday’s hearing.