Sharon's firm 'does not yet own' QC property

MANILA, Philippines - A firm owned by actress-singer Sharon Cuneta cannot invoke ownership of a 398-square-meter prime lot in Quezon City despite a favorable ruling from the Court of Appeals (CA), the lawyer of another claimant to the property said yesterday.

In a statement to The STAR, Rudolf Philip Jurado clarified that the ruling of the former special 11th Division of the CA did not uphold the ownership of Sharon Cuneta Inc. (SCI) when it affirmed the earlier ruling of Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 84 that dismissed the claims of the family of retired Supreme Court Justice Justo Torres Jr. over the property.

The CA “merely awarded provisional possession thereof of SCI. In fact, the (CA) refused to decide the issue of ownership since the same is covered in a separate case pending before the regional trial court of Quezon City,” he said.

Jurado, who represents Torres, also stressed that the CA ruling is not yet final.

In the ruling penned by Associate Justice Edwin Sorongon, the CA held that “every person dealing with a registered land may safely rely on the correctness of the certificate of title issued therefore and the law will in no way oblige him to go beyond the certificate to determine the condition of the property.”

The CA also upheld the lower court’s orders directing the Torreses to vacate and surrender possession of the disputed property located on 205 Tomas Morato Avenue to SCI and to pay rent until they vacate the premises.

The disputed property, now covered by a transfer certificate of title issued and registered in the name of SCI, used to form part of a 797.2-square-meter parcel of land previously covered by another TCT allegedly under the name of Torres’ family.