Tuesday, April 21, 2009 [ sunstar.com.ph ]
By Rimaliza Opiña
A REAL estate developer whose properties have been allowed by the Court of Appeals (CA) to undergo validation is planning to appeal an earlier decision of the same body, which denied validation of its other properties.
Prime Peak Properties Ltd., through its corporate communications office, said that after the CA allowed the validation of five transfer certificates in Barangays Dontogan and Sto. Tomas, they will work out the validation of its four other properties in Outlook Drive by appealing the March 26 judgment of the CA.
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These properties are said to be expanded.
Prime Peak's plan came amid the affected residents filing of a motion for reconsideration last April 14.
"The petitioner (Prime Peak represented by Gloria de Guzman) is never qualified to apply for validation of her questionable titles under Section 2 of Presidential Decree 1271. The greatly expanded areas of her titles modifying the original decree of registration amounts to a re-opening of the original decree which is prohibited under PD 1271," the residents argued.
Section 2 of PD 1271 prohibits validation of titles if registration was obtained through fraud or misrepresentation. PD 1271 is the Act, which nullifies decrees of registration within the Baguio townsite reservation.
In the meantime, the company denied reports that residents who live in the subject properties will be displaced.
Michael Frederick Musngi, counsel for Prime Peak, said in a statement there would no mass displacement.
"No such move is being planned," Musngi said, reiterating the company's plan of ceding the occupied properties through a socialized housing scheme or donation for government buildings such as the Sto. Tomas barangay hall and the Dontogan and Sto. Tomas elementary schools.
In a separate interview, Vonjeres Yuvienco, spokesperson of Prime Peak president Lorenzo Aguilar, said no major development will be done in the properties at this time.
Having been the subject of a controversy in the past, Prime Peak admits it will take another effort for them to gain back confidence of former and prospective clients.
"It will be a slow recovery. We have to prove ourselves again," Yuvienco said.
As a subdivision developer, Prime Peak has to secure various permits and licenses from the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board, the City Council and the City Treasurer's Office, he added.
Since the controversy of its expansion of properties beyond its original size, Prime Peak is said to have lost an unquantifiable amount because current and even prospective clients then backed out from transacting with the company.
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