MANILA, Philippines—The Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) has taken possession of a 1.1-hectare portion of the Payanig sa Pasig property which it sequestered 28 years ago.
PCGG Chair Andres Bautista said the Pasig City Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 72 sheriff enforced on Wednesday the Oct. 21 order of Judge Marilou Runes Tumang evicting the tenants at Gold Park.
Andres Bautista, head of the Philippine Commission on Good Government. AP
Bautista said the government had lost more than P1 billion in income because of the illegal occupation by tenants of a sizeable portion of the 18.5-hectare Payanig sa Pasig estate, which was surrendered by businessman Jose Yao Campos to the PCGG shortly after the 1986 People Power revolt.
Campos was president and majority stockholder of the Mid-Pasig Land Development Corp. (MPLDC) which manages the Payanig sa Pasig property at the corner of Meralco and Julia Vargas Avenues.
The businessman ceded control of MPDLC and its landholdings to the PCGG after admitting that he and the other shareholders were only acting as nominees of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos.
The PCGG chair said the court sheriff along with lawyers of the PCGG and the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), assisted by the local police, took over the 1.1-hectare lot from Gold Park Inc. after evicting 25 illegal tenants.
“The implementation was peaceful and the property is now under the control and supervision of the PCGG and MPLDC,” Bautista said.
Judge Tumang had granted a request by the OSG for the recovery of the property occupied by GPI and its tenants after she ruled in favor of the PCGG and the MPLDC in their complaint of unlawful detainer with damages.
The court, in granting the relief sought by the PCGG and MPLDC, ordered GPI and its tenants to vacate the 1.1-hectare lot and to pay over P44.6 million in rental arrears from December 2001 to October 2006.
GPI was also directed to pay the government P770,000 monthly plus interest while it retains possession of the property.
Bautista pointed out that as of June last year, total government income losses from the Payanig sa Pasig property had breached the P1-billion mark as cases for unlawful detainer against other illegal tenants in the 18.5-hectare estate continue in court. Jeannette I. Andrade
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