Madrigal house leased to Sinos for P260,000 a month

The house in Ayala Alabang that antinarcotics agents raided early Friday belonged to one of the corporations controlled by the late philanthropist Consuelo Madrigal-Collantes whose multibillion-peso estate is the subject of a convoluted ownership dispute.

The Chinese suspects leased the 1-hectare property on 504 Acacia Avenue for P260,000 a month, beginning last July, according to Evangeline Almenario, the public information officer of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).

Almenario said the property was registered under Fuerte Holdings, but declined to give further details on its owners.

But two sources separately confirmed that Fuerte Holdings was a real-estate company that is “99.99 percent” under the control of the Madrigal-Collantes estate.

Fuerte Holdings

Based on various published reports arising from the dispute over the Madrigal-Collantes estate, Fuerte Holdings was one of the companies whose ownership was being contested by Collantes’ niece, former senator Jamby Madrigal. The latter alleged that the firm and 17 other ventures had been excluded from her aunt’s last will and testament.

Fuerte Holdings’ latest general information sheet, which it submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission last year, named as its chair and president Gizela Madrigal Gonzalez-Montinola and Susana A. S. Madrigal, respectively.

Gizela is the wife of Aurelio Montinola III, the president of Bank of the Philippine Islands and an executor of Collantes’ will, while Susana Madrigal is the sister of the former senator.

Contacted for comment, Aurelio Montinola said the Alabang property “was not part of the estate so we are not handling it.” He suggested contacting the Fuerte Holdings lawyers and named Romulo Mabanta.

Renting to wrong people

“Most likely an unfortunate case of unknowingly renting to wrong people,” he said.

The childless Collantes died on March 24, 2008. In her will, she left her estate to her widower, Manuel, a former foreign affairs minister, nieces Ma. Susana Madrigal and Gizela Gonzalez-Montinola, and grandnephew Vicente Gustav Warns.

But her niece, Jamby, who was left out of the will, went to court and sought to have the will invalidated, claiming it may have been forged.

When a Makati City court denied her motion, Jamby’s lawyer noted that since the will only itemized P26 million worth of properties, the bulk of Collantes’ estate should be distributed to all her legal successors, including Jamby.

The executors, however, said Collantes had intended to dispose of all her properties, including those not specifically itemized in the will, to her intended beneficiaries, a claim that was disputed by Jamby.

In July 2011, a Makati regional trial court ruled that Jamby Madrigal was a rightful heir of Collantes. Her lawyer said they would seek to nullify the sale of all Collantes properties that were done prior to the court order.