RTC junks Madrigal heirs’ appeals

A Makati City Regional Trial Court judge has junked the appeals of the heirs of the late philanthropist Consuelo Madrigal-Collantes who opposed the inclusion of her niece, former Senator Ma. Ana Consuelo “Jamby” Madrigal, in their aunt’s will.

Judge Ma. Rita Bascos-Sarabia denied for lack of merit the nine pleadings filed by the heirs, which primarily questioned the court’s jurisdiction over the case.

“This argument has no basis. It should be stressed that this court issued the July 12, 2011, order pursuant to the directive of the Supreme Court,” the order said. “Thus, the jurisdiction of this court… was with the imprimatur of no less than the Supreme Court.”

In the questioned July 2011 order, the court upheld a previous ruling allowing Jamby Madrigal to participate in legal proceedings covering the will of her aunt.

In effect, the court then named the former senator as a legal heir to the late philanthropist’s vast fortunes.

Madrigal-Collantes was childless when she died in 2006 and left her wealth to husband, Manuel; her niece Susana Madrigal, who is Jamby’s older sister; her grandnephew Vicente Gustav Warns; and another niece, Gizela Gonzalez-Montinola.

The judge also dismissed the heirs’ other arguments contesting the court’s act of granting a relief not indicated in Jamby Madrigal’s plea.

The court explained that it was necessary to determine Jamby’s legal standing in the suit—whether she was an heir to her aunt’s estate—before the court could decide whether she could intervene in the proceedings.

The court also maintained that its rulings were “well supported by the orders of both the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals, and well-settled jurisprudence.”