Today’s Headlines
BY IRA P. PEDRASA, Reporter
Palace loses Arlegui lot
MALACAÑANG has been ordered by the Supreme Court to vacate a lot along Arlegui Street — where the Presidential Guest House is located — which the government seized over three decades ago during the Martial Law years.
In an 18-page decision penned by Associate Justice Cancio C. Garcia, the high court’s First Division affirmed parts of an a Manila Regional Trial Court ruling which declared Tarcila Laperal Mendoza as owner of the 4,924.6-square meter lot.
The lot, at 1440 Arlegui Street in San Miguel, Manila near the Malacañang Complex, is currently the site of the Presidential Action Center and some units of the Office of the Press Secretary, Palace officials said.
Mrs. Mendoza, now 90 years old, said members of the Presidential Security Group seized the property in July 1975.
She said she also handed over the title to the property "out of fear".
Mrs. Mendoza filed a case at the Manila RTC, which in 2003 asked the government, via the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), to answer her lawsuit.
The OSG, however, failed to submit its comments within the periods prescribed and on August 27, 2003 a judgment in favor of Mrs. Mendoza was issued.
The government was also ordered to pay her compensation of P143.6 million and rental of P1.48 billion.
The government appealed to the Supreme Court, claiming the Manila court committed serious jurisdictional errors by not giving the defense time to provide evidence.
The Supreme Court, however, noted: "The [government] may have indeed been deprived of such hearing, but this does not mean that its right to due process had been violated ... The handling solicitors simply squandered the Republic’s opportunity to be heard."
It thus ruled that "Granting private respondent’s basic plea for recovery of the Arlegui property, which was legally hers all along, and the reinstatement of her cancelled certificate of title are legally correct as they are morally right."
The high court, however, noted the trial court’s "erroneous" computation of compensation.
It said an award of P20,000 per month since July 1975, or around P8 million plus interest, "while perhaps a little bit arbitrary, is reasonable and may be granted" since the area is small in terms of its actual value. The area also had minimal rental value during the Martial Law years, the high tribunal noted.
The Supreme Court said the Office of the President should carry the burden of paying the monetary reward, and not the Republic, since it had beneficial use of the property.
Taxpayers are not bound to pay the claims and "it behooves that office to make the appropriate budgetary arrangements towards paying private respondent," it said.
Palace officials declined to comment extensively on the Supreme Court order.
Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Sergio F. Apostol said he had not heard about the order, but added "I will make the legal opinion if they (the Palace) consults me."
In a text message, Press Secretary Ignacio R. Bunye said: "We will wait for a copy of the ruling."
From Philippine Daily Inquirer:ARLEGUI MANSION
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By Juliet Labog-Javellana
Inquirer
Last updated 01:13am (Mla time) 10/11/2007
MANILA, Philippines--MALACAÑANG can have her Arlegui property, but Tarcila Laperal-Mendoza wants just compensation for it.
For well over three decades, Mendoza could not forget the day presidential security guards of the Ferdinand Marcos regime stormed her "Blair Mansion" and kicked her and her family out in 1975, with nothing but the clothes on their backs and memories of their house to take with them.
The 93-year-old matriarch thought she had gotten justice when the Supreme Court ordered last week that Malacañang return the 4,924.2-square-meter property on Arlegui built in the 1930s, near the Palace compound, to her and compensate her.
The mansion owned by the Laperal family was restored by National Artist Leandro Locsin in 1971. After it was seized by the Marcos regime, the Arlegui property served as an adjunct of the Office of the President and later as Residence of Presidents Corazon Aquino and Fidel Ramos. It is now occupied by the Office of the Press Secretary.
But Mendoza, now living in the United States, was dismayed by the outcome of her 32-year quest for justice, according to her lawyer Alberto Borbon Reyes II. Reyes said Mendoza recalled that when the presidential guards kicked them out of their house, they were not allowed to bring anything with them.He said all the antique furniture, including Mendoza's favorite rocking chair, the priceless paintings and other possessions were left in the house with centralized air-conditioning.
"Everything inside the house, besides the memories. How can you recover that?" Reyes said.
For all the aggravation, the matriarch would receive P20,000 "rent" per month since July 1975, inclusive of a 6-percent interest rate and attorney's fees.
In its ruling, the high tribunal nullified the decision of Manila Regional Trial Court Judge Vicente Hidalgo to award Mendoza P1.48 billion in rent and P143.6 million in just compensation, saying the amount was "mind-boggling" and excessive.
The Supreme Court pointed out that the assessed value of the Arlegui property was P2.38 million.Reyes said Mendoza was informed by phone about the high court ruling after reading about it in the papers on Tuesday and getting a copy of the decision.
"She was dejected," Reyes told the Inquirer Wednesday.
"For us, P7 million is probably a lot of money. But what about all the things that she went through for 32 years? That is simply not enough," he said.
"It is not reasonable. It may even be unconscionable for all the sufferings she went through," the lawyer said.
A US general lived there. The house was called the "Blair Mansion" after an American general occupied it. The matriarch belongs to a landed family which had properties in Mendiola, Manila, and in Baguio City.
Mendoza, then a 60-year-old doctor who also taught at the University of Sto. Tomas, borrowed money from relatives after her family was forced out and purchased a unit at the Ritz Tower in Makati City to live in.
She pursued her fight to reclaim her property through the four administrations after the Marcos regime was overthrown in 1986. Reyes said Mendoza moved to the United States in 2000. Her husband Perfecto, also a doctor, later died. She has a daughter, Fortunata, several grandchildren and nephews and nieces helping in her fight.
Reyes said Mendoza could not believe that her house was only worth P20,000 a month. He said Mendoza never had any doubt that she could recover her property.
"She expected to win but not to have this unreasonable amount," Reyes said.
Mendoza, whom Reyes described as still "very lucid" despite her age, would seek a reconsideration of the high court ruling.
"She hopes we can enlighten the Supreme Court, that we can get a reasonable amount," Reyes said.He said the high tribunal might have overlooked the fact that the property was almost 5,000 square meters, and the mansion itself about 2,000 square meters.
"She was wondering which justice [of the Supreme Court] will rent his own house for P20,000," Reyes quipped.
While the high tribunal put the property's value at P2.38 million, the two parties have already discussed a possible P600 million settlement before the high court handed down its ruling, providing for the P7-million compensation for Mendoza. The property's assessed value now is P1.7 billion, according to the Asian Appraisal Company Inc.--a company agreed upon by the family and the solicitor general to look into its current worth.
Reyes said Mendoza was no longer interested in returning to her house, particularly with its state of disrepair and neglect. Reyes said he saw how the old glory of the mansion had been lost, with the once stately rooms now turned into a warehouse and the swimming pool filled with filth.
"The mansion is now dilapidated. It may not be right for the Office of the Press Secretary to return it to her in this state. Even an apartment owner expects that his property be restored to its original form," he said.
Reyes said Mendoza felt that the P7 million would not be enough to repair the mansion. Besides, he said the high court ruling did not put a deadline for Malacañang to vacate the property.
"She thinks that she might be dead when they will return it to her," he said.
Reyes said the neighborhood is also not an ideal place for Mendoza to live in.
"It may be impractical for her to return to her house. She's 93 years old and it may not be healthy for her to live in a neighborhood where you will be faced with tanks and soldiers. It may be a secured environment but when they bomb Malacañang, you will be bombed too," he said.
Besides, he said Mendoza was aware that her property had acquired a historical value with two Presidents calling it home. "Her position is that the government can have her property because of its historical value," Reyes said.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakin...ticle_id=93775
Nakakagulat kasi madami kang account !