[ Manila Bulletin Online ] June 17, 2008
By EDMER F. PANESA
The Sandiganbayan has finally slammed the door completely on the claim of Greenhills Properties Inc. (GPI) over the 18.4-hectare prime property in Pasig City that was turned over to the government in 1986 by a crony of former President Ferdinand Marcos.
In a seven-page resolution, the anti-graft court’s First Division threw out the motion for reconsideration the GPI filed last year after its motion for leave to intervene in Civil Case Nos. 0093 and 0147 was denied for lack of merit.
The division, chaired by Presiding Justice Diosdado Peralta, said it found "no cogent reasons to disturb" the court’s June 25, 2007 resolution.
"The issues and arguments raised by GPI are mere reiterations of their positions contained in its ‘Motion for Leave to Intervene’ to which this Court has already deliberated upon exhaustively and discussed carefully in its resolution," it added.
The court maintained that the complaint-in-intervention filed by GPI "is nothing but a money claim and as such, the intervenor’s rights are best protected in a separate proceeding."
GPI wants to intervene in the civil cases separately filed by businessman Ricardo Silverio and the Ortigas Co. Ltd. Partnership (OCLP) against the government, represented by the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG).
GPI’s claim is couched on the fact that it owns 18.19 percent of the outstanding capital of OCLP, which is seeking to recover the property.
The property is previously the site of the "Payanig sa Pasig" theme park and now a bustling commercial center under the control of the PCGG, the agency tasked with recovering the ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses and their cronies.
It is located along Meralco Avenue and between Ortigas Avenue and Julia Vargas Ave.
PCCG Commissioner Ricardo Abcede had said an independent appraiser hired by the agency last year assessed the property at between P15 billion to P18 billion.
GPI was incorporated by limited partners who broke away from OCLP in 1985 and was assigned said partners’ holdings in OCLP.
However, the court noted that at the time of the assignment of shares to GPI, the property subject of the case was not part of the computation of OCLP’s net assets.
At the same time, the Sandiganbayan pointed out that the GPI claim is subordinate to that of OCLP because its interest would only arise only if the latter obtains a favorable judgment in its case against the PCGG.
Last year, Ilocos Norte Rep. Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. also filed a motion for intervention in lawsuits filed by Silverio and OCLP against the PCGG.
Marcos claimed the socalled "Payanig Property" was legally purchased by his father from OCLP for R6.4 million at R40 per square meter on May 31, 1968.
OCLP however claimed the older Marcos had forced the company to give up its rights over the property for a losing price.
The Marcos scion presented a copy of the Deed of Conditional Sale where businessman Jose Y. Campos represented his father in the deal and had the property registered under the name of Maharlika Estates Corp. Maharlika later changed its name to Anchor Estate Corp., which in 1971 transferred its rights to the Pasig property in favor of Mid-Pasig Land Development Corp.
According to Bongbong, the three real estate firms - Maharlika, Anchor and Mid-Pasig -- were all created by Campos in behalf of the late President.
In 1986, threatened with several graft charges and confiscation of his assets after the Marcos ouster, Campos signed a compromise deal with the PCGG.
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