Appeals court halts title award in QC land dispute

MANILA, Philippines—The Court of Appeals has indefinitely suspended implementation of a questioned court awarding ownership of a 23.7-hectare prime property in Culiat, Quezon City, to alleged  land grabber Wilfredo Torres.

In granting a writ of preliminary injunction, the appellate court staved off the planned eviction of over 3,000 residents of K-ville Subdivision and seven other middle-class subdivisions from their homes.

The court said it had “painstakingly gone over the records of the case” to determine if K-ville residents were entitled to such a relief in challenging the legality of the writ of possession which a Quezon City regional trial court granted to Torres on May 26, 2011.

“There is no doubt that petitioners have a clear and unmistakable right to be protected by the writ of preliminary injunction sought,” the court said in a seven-page ruling.

“There is likewise no uncertainty as to the urgent necessity of an injunctive writ to enjoin the implementation of the assailed decisions and orders,” it added.

If implemented pending the ruling on the issue of ownership of the prime lots, the court said the petitioners “will undoubtedly suffer grave irreparable injury.”

It noted the argument of the petitioners that they had been given individual transfer certificate of titles covering the lots where their homes are built.

The court ordered the residents to post a P1 million bond in favor of Torres for whatever damages he may incur should the court decide against the petitioners.

It also directed Torres to submit within 10 days his comment on the motion for leave of court to file a petition for invention filed by 682 Community Association Inc.

The appeals court granted the injunctive writ after the lapse of the 60-day temporary restraining order it  issued on Sept. 29, 2011, which barred Quezon City RTC Branch 224 Judge Tita Marilyn Payoyo-Villordon from implementing the orders she separately issued on Nov. 16, 2010, and May 26, 2011.

The twin orders recognized Torres’ claim of ownership of the contested 23.7-hectare property.

In September last year, heavily armed members of the Quezon City Police District and private security personnel hired by Torres tried to forcibly take over a private school, a construction site of Wilcon Builders Supply and six subdivisions which Torres claimed stood on the property his parents owned.

Also threatened by eviction were residents of Sanville 1, 2, 3 and 4 subdivisions, K-Square and Metro Heights subdivisions, K-Ville Townhomes, Arfel Homes and Sadel Court.

Villordon’s orders will also affect the wedding venue Fernwood Gardens, including the St. Francis Chapel and a portion of the Claret seminary.

The ownership dispute over the property started on Oct. 31, 1990, when Torres filed a civil suit against the couple Manuel and Rosalina Aliño, the supposed registered owners of the property.

In his complaint, Torres claimed that his late mother, Dominga Roxas Sumulong, was the original owner of the land before she agreed to sell it to the Aliños on March 4, 1967, for P4.3 million.

The property supposedly encompassed some 43.1 hectares of private lands on Visayas Avenue.

Torres said he decided to sue the Aliños after he found out that the couple was able to register the property in their name despite their failure to pay his mother in full.

After six years, then Judge Emilio Leachon said the Aliños were in default and granted Torres’ petition to forfeit the supposed sale of the property in his favor.

But lawyer Walter Young, a resident of K-ville and counsel of the petitioners, said Torres had forfeited his chance to enforce the order as the 10-year prescriptive period in securing a writ of possession expired in 2007 since Leachon’s 1996 ruling became final and executory on Sept. 18, 1997.

To their surprise, Villordon directed the Quezon City assessor’s office “under pain of contempt” on May 26 to immediately issue a transfer of tax declaration for the new transfer certificate of title in Torres’ name.