Cops, sheriff back QC land takeover raids

WHERE IS THE WAR? Members of SWAT accompany the group of Wilfredo Torres in an attempt to take over Wilcon Depot and Maria Montessori School along Visayas Avenue in Quezon City. MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

In a Gestapo-like operation, more than 100 policemen and security guards swooped down on a construction site and a private school on Visayas Avenue in Quezon City to seize control of a parcel of land on behalf of Wilfredo S. Torres, earlier tagged by authorities as the head of a squatting syndicate.

They faced resistance and failed to gain control of the property.

Torres, 75, had secured orders from the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 224 transferring to him ownership of a 24-hectare property, which straddles the Montessori School, a construction site of Wilcon Builders Supply and six subdivisions.

Also threatened by eviction are homeowners of Sanville 1, 2, 3 and 4 subdivisions, K-Square and Metro Heights subdivisions, K-Ville Townhomes, Arfel Homes, Sadel Court, wedding venue Fernwood Gardens, including the St. Francis Chapel and a portion of the Claret seminary.

Backed by policemen and security guards, Quezon City RTC Sheriff Noel Lindo and Torres’ business partner, Samuel Rodriguez, served writs of possession on portions of the future depot and school.

Lawyers of Wilcon Builders, which is putting up a depot on the property, and Montessori stopped the armed men.

At past noon, Rodriguez ordered more than 20 security guards and hired men inside the sprawling 15,100-square meter Wilcon property to protect a 3,600 sq m area delineated by the sheriff as Torres’ property.

“You vacate this area. You’re trespassing; this is now our property. Get out,” Rodriguez, wearing dark sunglasses, barked at bewildered construction workers.

SWAT team

As the guards and members of a demolition team in civilian clothes moved inside the construction site, Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) police in full battle gear stood guard near the gate.

Raymond Palad, counsel for Wilcon Builders, arrived just in time to stop what he called the “Gestapo-like” takeover.

An incensed Palad tersely told Rodriguez and the sheriff that they could not take over a portion of the property without a turnover of possession and told them to order the guards and policemen out.

“Sheriff, there’s no turnover of possession. Take the guards and policemen out of here,” Palad shouted at them, threatening to file trespassing charges against all of them.

Rodriguez retorted that there was no trespassing since they were armed with a writ of possession, but he was pacified. The guards and the policemen eventually moved out.

Lindo maintained that he would turn over the delineated property of Torres to Rodriguez once it had been cleared of gravel, sand, construction materials and heavy equipment, possibly today.

Torres’ group was initially allowed inside to take measurements on the site, but later attempted to take over it.

“If we will allow that, then we will allow Torres to take 24 hectares of property on Visayas (Avenue),” Palad said.

Across the construction site of Wilcon Builders, Lindo also tried to serve a writ of possession on a 1,700-sq m portion of the school.

Sold to Aliños

Rodriguez, who is also the administrator of the Dominga Sumulong estate, claimed that portions of the construction site and the school were covered by the estate’s Lot No. 644.

Lot No. 644, along with Lot Nos. 648, 682, 685, 686, 687 and 690, was sold by Sumulong to spouses Manuel and Rosalina Aliño. Sumulong is Wilfredo Torres’ mother.

The Aliños subdivided Lot No. 644 into eight lots, and sold subdivided Lot Nos. 644-A, 644-B, 644-F and 644-G as well as 648, 682 and 690, all totaling 23.7 hectares, to Multi-Commercial and Realty Corp.

Since the Aliños paid P290,000 but not the balance of P4,020,420, Torres petitioned the QC RTC Branch 224 to annul the sale. He got a favorable ruling.

The court canceled the titles in the Aliño couple’s name and reconveyed these to Torres. It also ordered the reconstitution of transfer certificate of titles (TCTs) burned in a fire and the issuance of new ones in Torres’ name, and granted his prayer for a writ of possession.

Spurious

The Land Registration Authority (LRA), however, said that the purported owner’s duplicate of the title used by Sumulong as basis to reconstitute TCT No. 56809 was a forgery, and concluded that all titles emanating from it were spurious.

“We’re just enforcing an order on our property. Unless they secure a TRO (temporary restraining order), we will enforce it,” Rodriguez said before the takeover attempt inside the construction site.

Rodriguez, however, did not rule out an amicable settlement of the dispute with Wilcon Builders, indicating that the firm could buy Torres’ property.

Rodriguez maintained that the Sumulong title was legal, and that Quezon City RTC Branch 95 ruled in 1993 that the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) and the LRA had failed to prove this was fake.

Palad pointed out that Torres’ group could not take over the property without an official turnover by the sheriff.

Conflicting titles

But first off, he argued that the group could not just repossess it unless they go to court and get Wilcon Builder’s title nullified, since these involved two “conflicting titles.”

“The seven titles of Torres covering 24 hectares are fake titles,” Palad said, citing the LRA report on the Sumulong title. “If you ask them, they’ll show you their title. But they’re not sure if this is their property, which is titled to Wilcon Builders.”

He said Torres could not just do it through the reconstitution of titles, which he described as a “shortcut.”

Palad wondered why Torres could not wait for Quezon City RTC Branch 84 to rule on a case filed by the OSG and LRA to nullify two of the seven titles reconstituted in the latter’s favor.

“We will file charges against those who issued the illegal orders. But first we have to deal with the Gestapo-like actions of the court,” he said. “They’re rushing it all because of money. When this depot was not being constructed, there was no issue. Now they’re scrambling.”

“Are you sure that this reconstituted title is the same as our title and the rest of the titles in Visayas?” Palad later asked Jonathan Sempio, counsel for the Torres’ group.

Palad said his client would await the Quezon City RTC rulings on the cases filed by the OSG and LRA to nullify two of the seven titles before deciding what course of action to take vis-à-vis the Branch 224 rulings.

Rodriguez said in an interview that his group was willing to answer charges in court questioning the local court’s rulings, and to even appear in the Senate to shed light on the matter.

“We will reply to that,” he said of the K-Ville homeowners’ petition to nullify the Branch 224 rulings with the Court of Appeals. “Why did the LRA issue the titles if these were fake? They should resign from their jobs.”

He said his group would next repossess the 2-hectare Sitio Mabilog, also in Barangay Culiat.