Cebu gov told to pay bank $700,000 in damages

Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia —Photo from Gov. Gwen Garcia FB page

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia may have to hand over some $700,000 (about P39 million) to a bank after the Supreme Court rejected her petition challenging the alias writ of execution that required her to pay damages to Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp., Ltd. (HSBC) for failing to settle her debt for a loan obtained in 1996.

An alias writ of execution is a follow-up order to help enforce a judgment when the initial attempt was unsuccessful.

In its decision on G.R. No. 255252 promulgated on Dec. 4, 2023, but made public only last week, the Supreme Court’s Second Division ordered the Makati Regional Trial Court (RTC) to enforce its 2012 resolution requiring Garcia to pay HSBC $700,000 in damages, including a 12-percent legal interest from July 17, 2000, and P404,560.50 in legal costs.

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However, Garcia’s camp claimed there was no “real and imminent threat” to enforce any action against her even after the Supreme Court’s ruling.

“Unless and until the Supreme Court decides with finality that this case could still be revived, any attempt to enforce a decision that has been dead for 10 years would be premature,” said lawyer Alex Avisado Jr., Garcia’s legal counsel, in a statement posted Saturday night on Sugbo News, the official news arm of the Cebu provincial government.

The loan

The case stemmed from Garcia’s $900,000 loan from HSBC to buy a light cargo transit barge in 1996, during which time she was not yet in politics and running a family business, which she allegedly failed to pay or reimburse (Garcia was governor from 2004 to 2013; a House of Representative member from 2013-2019; and governor since 2019).

By March 31, 2020, Garcia’s outstanding debt to HSBC amounted to $720,000 plus $103,522.91 in interest, prompting HSBC to file a complaint for a sum of money with prayer for preliminary attachment against Garcia and her now former husband before the RTC.

The local court and the Court of Appeals both ruled in favor of HSBC, ordering Garcia and her then-spouse to pay the bank for damages and the actual cost of the lawsuit.

In 2012, the Supreme Court issued a minute resolution upholding this ruling with some modifications to the amount.

Once the resolution became final, the Makati RTC issued a writ of execution and instructed the sheriff to collect from Garcia and her husband the amounts owed.

In February 2018, HSBC requested and was granted an alias writ of execution because Garcia had still not made the payment.

Dilatory petitions

In dismissing Garcia’s petition for review on certiorari, the high tribunal called out her alleged “dilatory” petitions, causing the five-year effectivity period of the 2018 alias writ of execution to lapse.

Citing its ruling in Mendoza vs. Court of Appeals, the Supreme Court noted that it would be vigilant “to nip in the bud any dilatory maneuver calculated to defeat or frustrate the ends of justice, fair play and the prompt implementation of final and executory judgments.”

“Appealing an order which is known to be unappealable, such as an alias writ of execution, abuses court processes and hinders the dispensation of justice,” the high tribunal said in the decision penned by Associate Justice Antonio Kho Jr.

‘Don’t be swayed’

While they have not yet received a copy of the SC decision, Avisado urged the public not to be swayed by “incomplete, misleading, and malicious news reports obviously designed to tarnish the good image of the governor.”

According to Avisado, the case stemmed from a 2012 decision of the RTC Branch 57 in Makati City which awarded the amount of $890,347.92 and later reduced by the Court of Appeals to $700,000 in favor of HSBC.

Garcia contested the ruling before the SC, saying it had no basis and since HSBC wanted to enforce collection at a sum of $2,800,000.

While this case was pending in the SC, Avisado said HSBC then filed a petition to revive the court’s judgment since it has been more than 10 years since the decision had become final.

“Unfortunately for HSBC, the Regional Trial Court of Taguig Branch 153 dismissed the petition since the action had already [been] prescribed and the award could no longer be enforced. This prompted HSBC to elevate the dismissal to the Court of Appeals where it is now pending,” the lawyer explained.