Lawyer for Quezon City homeowners welcomes CA ruling on disputed lot

MANILA, Philippines–A lawyer has hailed a recent Court of Appeals decision nullifying the turnover of a 23.7-hectare property in Tandang Sora, Quezon City, to the alleged leader of a land-grabbing syndicate.

“We’re very happy to have the case resolved. We will wait for the finality of the order,” lawyer Wally Young said in a phone interview.

Young represents the Quezon City homeowners in the appellate court case against Wilfredo Torres and a lower court judge which gave him ownership over the disputed property.

Last Sept. 18, the appellate court’s Former Special Sixth Division declared null and void the 1996 decision and 2011 order by Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 224 Judge Tita Marilyn Payoyo-Villordon granting Torres ownership of the nearly 24-hectare property through the reconstitution of land titles under his name.

The subject property covers several middle-class subdivisions in Quezon City, including K-Ville Townhomes in Sanville Subdivision of which Young is also a homeowner.

The appellate court nullified Villordon’s decisions after it determined that the actual occupants of the land Torres was claiming were never notified of the suits he filed in her sala.

After being served writs of possession by the Quezon City court more than three years ago, the homeowners asked the Court of Appeals to overturn Villordon’s decision in September 2011, Young recalled.

In April 2012, the appellate court stopped the implementation of the writs of possession.

“We hope [Torres] will no longer appeal this with the Supreme Court but with his act so brazen and gross, we expect the Supreme Court will [also] uphold the CA decision,” Young said.

He added that in August 2011, a month before the appellate court case, he had filed an administrative complaint against Villordon for “gross ignorance of the law.”