Mikey Arroyo in-laws ordered out of Forbes Park home

AN EVICTION team tries to force open the gates to a mansion listed as the property of a company owned by Herman Montenegro, father of Angela Montenegro, wife of Rep. Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo in Forbes Park, Makati City. The court has ordered the seizure of the property which was foreclosed by a bank and bought by a businessman at an auction last year. RICHARD A. REYES

A team composed of three sheriffs backed up by a 10-man eviction force and three policemen has thrice attempted but failed to enforce court orders evicting the relatives of Angela Montenegro, wife of Rep. Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo, from their two-story mansion in Forbes Park, Makati City.

The team first attempted on Monday to serve a writ of possession issued by Judge Winlove Dumayas of the Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 59 on the occupants of the house.

They were unsuccessful although they returned at 8 a.m. Tuesday in another attempt to enforce the court order.

The team’s efforts, however, were thwarted by Herman Montenegro, the owner of the house, and his lawyer, Arturo de Castro.

According to sheriff Rommel Ignacio, the two demanded a   writ of execution, not a writ of possession.  The document, along with the notice/demand to vacate, should be addressed to the “third party intervenor” in the case: Montenegro’s son, Gregorio, they added.

Gregorio is the present occupant of the house which sits on a 1,750-sq m lot at 132 Cambridge Circle, North Forbes.

The writ of possession (court order used to enforce judgement to recover a piece of land or property) dated Aug. 17, 2012 and notice to vacate dated Sept. 4, 2012, being served by the team are addressed to H. M. Montenegro and Associates Inc., a company owned by Montenegro.

De Castro, however, said that the team should notify the family and the third party claimant as the firm is not the occupant of the house.

Collateral for a loan

The Montenegros used to own the house which was built in the ’60s until it was mortgaged to the Bank of the Philippine Islands as collateral for a P135.8 million loan.

Rep. Mikey Arroyo with wife Angela PHOTO BY JIM GUIAO PUNZALAN

The property, however, was foreclosed by the bank. It was bought by businessman Emilio Tiu for P101.1 million in an auction last year.

A third attempt to serve the writ of possession Tuesday afternoon also resulted in the eviction team being turned away after they were confronted by a woman who said she was a kin of the Montenegros.

“There are children in this house and you are bringing goons here. This is a criminal [offense]. This is hostage! Bring it out in court! Are you animals that you would bring goons here? Shame on you!” she told the team.

No such thing

Ignacio, meanwhile, brushed aside the demand of the Montenegros and their lawyer that his team present a writ of execution.

“The writ of possession is enough; there’s no such thing as a writ of execution,” he told the Inquirer.

On the other hand, Tiu’s lawyer, Norman Bueno, observed that the Montenegros seemed bent on contesting the court order.

“There is resistance to the lawful order of the court [even though] it granted the writ of possession in August and all prayers and appeals were decided in [my client’s favor],” he said.

Angela Montenegro is the daughter of Herman Montenegro. She married Arroyo, her second cousin, in 2002. The couple are facing tax evasion cases in the Quezon City Regional Trial Court filed against them by the Bureau of Internal Revenue for their alleged failure to file their income tax returns for several years.