P300-M Unpaid back rentals: Vacate town hall lot, Cainta government told

The municipal government of Cainta, Rizal was told to vacate the three-hectare property where the town hall stands for failing to pay P300 million in back rentals to a company which owns it.

Lawyer Harry Roque said his client, Knecht Inc., a trustee of the stockholders and creditors of the dissolved Rose Packing Company (Rosepack), owns the Cainta municipal hall property, which has a total area of 31,447 square meters.

"As you know, the municipality claims a title to the land from an alleged expropriation proceeding that was never completed, and which stands on shaky ground," Roque said in a May 18 letter to Cainta Mayor Mon Ilagan.

Under the Ilagan administration, Roque said many improvements have been made "illegally" on the property.

"We therefore demand that the municipal government of Cainta, Rizal vacate the premises of our client’s property within five days upon receipt of this letter," he said.

Roque also demanded a proper accounting of all the proceeds from the facilities used by the municipal government and those rented out to third parties from the time they became due and demandable under the law.

Lawyer Crispino Pablo Jr., municipal legal counsel, said the municipal government though is willing to pay the back rentals.

"The only issue this office believes to be material under the premises, is the due payment of just compensation as well as the rightful payee of the same should that be either the Rose Packing Inc., the United Cigarettes Corp. (UCC) or the Philippine Commercial International Bank," Pablo said in a letter to lawyer Homobono Adaza, lead counsel of businessman Rene de la Riva Knecht.

Rosepack, which manufactured the first canned pork and beans in the country, was larger than Purefoods in the 1960s.

It went moribund under the PCIB management during the Marcos years.

The company is seeking damages from PCIB in the Pasig City regional trial court.

In 1993, however, then Cainta mayor Benjamin Felix built municipal buildings inside the Rosepack compound and even rented out its idle factory.

Eight years later, UCC, a non-existing company having voluntarily liquidated in 1973, obtained a title for the land through an order from the Pasig City RTC.

But in a ruling last March 14, Ronald Ortile, director of the legal affairs department of the Land Registration Authority (LRA), said the issuance of Transfer Certificate of Title (TCT) No. 664156 in the name of UCC was "erroneous and improper and should therefore be rectified."

Ortile, however, said neither the LRA nor the registry of deeds may alter or amend, much less cancel, the TCT without an order from a competent court.

The LRA decision prompted Roque to demand that the Cainta municipal government vacate the old Rosepack compound.

Roque warned that his client would be compelled to seek redress from the courts to protect its right and interests.

For his part, Knecht said the municipal government is losing P3 million monthly due to Ilagan’s alleged inaction on his demand for the payment of back rentals.

In a statement, Knecht said Ilagan even renovated part of the old Rosepack factory at a cost of P12 million, which is now the subject of an audit by the Commission on Audit.

Knecht is also asking the Office of the Ombudsman to investigate the municipal government of Cainta for building the town hall in the old Rosepack compound.