THE Tan family will have to pass a tough challenge before they will be able to recover the gold and diamond jewelry found by scavengers in the Umapad dumpsite in Mandaue City.
Mandaue City Legal Officer Giovani Tianero said that the police wouldn’t just accept a mere affidavit signed by the claimant.
Tianero said they should show proof such as receipts or a picture of the claimant wearing the subject items.
Lawyer Inocencio dela Cerna, the Tan family’s counsel, said they’re on the process of getting proofs but not necessarily the receipts because some of the items were given as gifts.
Dela Cerna said they already have some of the affidavits of support showing the circumstance that the items belonged to 83-year-old Vicente Tan.
He said they were also looking for photos when the valuables were worn by Tan.
“Anyway, we have two week to figure this out,” Dela Cerna said.
He also said that the family wasn’t after the monetary value of the jewelry but its sentimental value.
Dela Cerna also said that they failed to make a list of Tan’s jewelry items because his client could hardly remember what those items were and how many they were.
He said Tan’s wife couldn’t also remember because she’s suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.
Dela Cerna said Tan remembered he bought some of those jewelry items and some were given as gifts, but he only wore it on special occasions.
The Tans claimed that the box containing Tan’s jewelry was inadvertently thrown together with other garbage when they cleaned his termite-infested room.
Dela Cerna said Tianero told them there would be a process to claim the jewelry so that other claimants, if any, would be given a chance to show proof of ownership.
Tianero said that any claims at present would be entertained in due time.
Dela Serna said he understood the process but he was 100 percent sure that the items belonged to Tan.
Chief Insp. Michael Bastes, Investigation and Detection Management Branch of Mandaue City Police Office, said they would continue to recover other items and were checking reports that a scavenger sold a Rado watch for P10,000.
Mandaue City Mayor said he was still studying if there’s a liability against a scavenger who pawned a jewelry because there’s a clear violation of the law.
“One has a legal obligation to return it and turn it over to authorities,” said Cortes.
Dela Cerna, however, said that the Tans weren’t interested in filing a case against the scavengers and were only interested in recovering the jewelry./Correspondent Norman V. Mendoza with a report from Reporter Ador Vincent S. Mayol