Posted on 10:51 PM, January 26, 2010 [ BusinessWorld Online ]
THE SANDIGANBAYAN failed to auction off the so-called Boracay Mansion supposedly owned by former president Joseph E. Estrada after expected bidders failed to show up in yesterday’s bidding.
In a phone interview, Sandiganbayan Chief Sheriff Edgardo Urieta said two prospective bidders have inquired on the P142.918-million property since the process started last month.
"Nobody showed up during yesterday’s bidding," he said.
"We now want to have its custody transferred to the Bureau of the Treasury. We have done that in the 1980s. Under the rules, we can’t auction it [anew]," he said.
Sandiganbayan closed the bidding at 2:10 p.m. Media were invited to cover the event for transparency.
Renato Bocar, Sandiganbayan executive clerk of court, has said that the property at 100, 11th Street, Barangay Mariana in New Manila, Quezon City has fetched a fair market value of P142.918 million based on the 2008 valuation of the Commission on Audit.
Sandiganbayan earlier described the property as "totally damaged, vandalized and not anymore livable."
The Boracay Mansion is one of five properties supposedly in the name of Mr. Estrada. The Sandiganbayan ordered its forfeiture after the deposed leader was convicted of plunder in September after a six-year house arrest. He was pardoned by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo after a month.
During the aborted Senate impeachment proceedings prior to Mr. Estrada’s ouster in 2001, prosecutors claimed the former leader used money from illegal gambling to acquire the mansion. -- Ira P. Pedrasa
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