A SELF-PROCLAIMED descendant of Rajah Soliman was charged Monday with fabricating land titles covering prime real estate property on which shopping malls and posh condominiums are rising.
Julian Tallano, along with his lawyers Robert del Rio and Romeo Campos, was named in the complaint filed by Maharlikans Center for Community in the Office of the Prosecutor in Pasay City that purportedly includes the area in a busy Quezon City shopping area where Trinoma stands.
The Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), which conducted an inquiry into the case, helped the Maharlikans prepare the complaint.
The six-page complaint against Tallano, who claims to be a “prince” and heir to the entire Philippine archipelago, listed five counts of violations of Article 172 of the Revised Penal Code (falsification by private individuals and use of falsified documents) and violation of Para. 4 Article 171 of the Revised Penal Code (making untruthful statement in a narration of facts).
The case was filed by Daniel Frianeza, who represented the heirs of Don Roberto Madrigal Acopiado.
Frianeza, of the Madrigal clan, told reporters that the three suspects used falsified documents and declared false statements in court proceedings.
The falsified records were reportedly taken from the Regional Trial Courts (RTCs) of Pasay City, the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), the Special Second Division of the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court.
The case stemmed from the decision by Judge Enrique A. Agana of RTC Branch 111 that the people claiming ownership of the lands owned by the Acopiados were part of a syndicate that altered and falsified land titles.
The complainant claimed that the copy of the decision was burned when Pasay City Hall was gutted by a huge fire back in January 1992.
Frianeza added that he provided the court with the original duplicate copies of the decision four months after the fire. But he noted that in 1997, Del Rio, who claimed that he was the attorney-in-fact representing the Acopiado family and Tallano, filed a petition before the same branch to reconstitute an alleged copy of decision he had with him.
The said copy was later declared by the reconstituted copy of the lost original.
Saying that the petition did not go through the proper raffle of cases, Frianeza noted that the process surprised him since the group was able to have the alleged decision rendered as the original copy.
The complainant also mentioned that in August 2000, Campos, who also claimed that he was the attorney-in-fact of Tallano, requested from the OSG a copy of an alleged “Order of Third Alias Writ of Execution, Possession and Demolition with Dismissal to Motion for Relief of the National Government.”
This reportedly revealed that the earlier decision showed that the titles of lands discussed on the case should be transferred to Tallano’s name.
Frianeza sought the help of the CIDG earlier this year to verify the Acopiado claim.
The complaints on the faking of land titles were reportedly consolidated by the CIDG Legal Office led by Virgilio T. Pablico into one case after seeing that the complaints point to the same syndicate allegedly responsible for the massive land grabbing, using the same modus operandi in acquiring and selling prime lots in the metropolis.