Residents join fray in Quezon City land row

More than 20 residents of a disputed property in Quezon City are now asking the courts to let them take part in the litigation to cancel the allegedly spurious land titles of Wilfredo S. Torres.

The intervenors—mostly residents of the K-Ville Townhomes—appealed to a Quezon City court to allow them to become parties in the case for cancellation of the seven titles held by Torres which covers the areas where their residences are located.

They also asked for the issuance of a temporary or preliminary injunction against Torres and his faction to prevent them “from disturbing the intervenors’ peaceful possession over their properties.”

The Land Registration Authority earlier filed a civil case seeking the cancellation of the titles in the names of Torres and Manuel Alino, saying that they had been found to be forgeries.

20 hectares

The seven titles cover more than 20 hectares of contested property in the Visayas Avenue area, occupied by a school, a church and several residential subdivisions.

Torres, an alleged leader of a land-grabbing syndicate, has claimed ownership of the property, claiming to have inherited it from his mother, from his mother, Dominga Roxas Sumulong. After Torres claimed to have lost the titles in a Quezon City Hall fire, the Quezon City Register of Deeds issued him a title to the property. A judge later issued a writ of possession on the property in Torres’ favor.

In their motion for leave to intervene, the litigants said they are “indispensable parties” as they are the actual and lawful possessors of the lots included in the disputed transfer certificate of title (TCT).

They pointed out that unlike defendants Torres and Aliño, their TCTs were issued in their names by the Register of Deeds and that they also hold tax declarations for the properties.

The civil case for cancellation is now pending before Judge Luisito Cortez of Branch 84 of the Quezon City regional trial court.

The LRA, through the Office of the Solicitor General, asked the court to declare void the seven TCTs and their derivative titles, if any.

The case involves TCTs 117147 and 117143, 17147, 162418, 162419, 162423, and 162424, which are all in Aliño’s name. The latter allegedly bought the property covered by the titles from the Torres group, later subdividing into lots with individual titles. Torres is also claiming the seven titles for himself, having sued to cancel the supposed sale of the property to Aliño.

Spurious

The intervenors, however, claimed in their motion that the issuance of the TCTs to Torres had been “spurious and duplicitous” and did not confer on him any rights whatsoever.

In asking for an injunction, the residents said Torres has “exhibited ruthlessness” in trying to take over certain properties, such as the Maria Montessori School and Wilcon Depot early this year.

“They have successfully sowed terror and instilled fear upon the lawful possessors … that cause and continue to cause them immense anxiety and sleepless nights,” they added.

The residents also cited four previous rulings by separate Quezon City courts on the land titles allegedly owned by Torres’s mother, Sumulong, which had ruled against them.

Originally posted at 07:12 pm | Thursday, November 03, 2011