Sandiganbayan upholds government claim on Manila property in ill-gotten wealth case

ANTI-GRAFT COURT. The Sandiganbayan in Quezon City.

Jansen Romero/Rappler

The commercial property in Paco, Manila, is registered under Taggat Industries owned by the late Alfonso Lim Sr. and his family

AT A GLANCE

• The Sandiganbayan court upheld the government's claim on a commercial property in Paco, Manila, linked to Taggat Industries in an ill-gotten wealth case from 1987.
• The court ordered the transfer of the property's title to the Philippine government, affirming a previous decision from 2015 regarding the assets of Taggat Industries.
• The ruling is supported by waivers from Alfonso Lim Jr. and the estate of Alfonso Lim Sr., relinquishing any claims over the properties involved in the case.

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MANILA, Philippines – The anti-graft court Sandiganbayan has upheld the government’s claim on a commercial property in Paco, Manila, registered under corporate defendant Taggat Industries, Incorporated in a 1987 ill-gotten wealth case.

In a ruling dated September 30, the Sandiganbayan Second Division ordered the Register of Deeds of the City of Manila to transfer the title of the property in the name of the Philippine government, affirming the court’s December 14, 2015 decision on the properties and funds owned by Taggat Industries.

The Second Division sustained the government’s stand that the Paco, Manila property is already covered by the 2015 judgment.

“Accordingly, the Register of Deeds of Manila is directed upon compliance with applicable registration requirements, to cancel Transfer of Certificate of Title No. 78732 registered in the name of Taggat Industries, Inc. and to issue the corresponding transfer certificate of title in the name of the Republic of the Philippines,” the court ordered.

The Presidential Commission on Good Government filed Civil Case No. 0030 against alleged Marcos crony businessman Alfonso Lim Sr. in July 1987. Based on court records, Lim, who died in 1995, once held multiple timber license agreements (TLAs) under seven logging companies, covering 633,880 hectares.

The court’s 2015 decision to grant the government petition for the recovery and return of the ill-gotten wealth listed in “Annex A” of its complaint — which includes the Manila property — is based on two separate waivers executed by the late businessman’s son, Alfonso Lim Jr. and the estate of Alfonso Lim Sr.

In 2010, Lim Jr. issued a waiver and quitclaim informing the anti-graft court and the PCGG that in consideration for the dismissal of the ill-gotten wealth case, he was waiving “all his rights, interests, and participations, if any, and quits any and all claims he may have, if any, over any and all properties specified and particularly described in Annex ‘A’ of the Amended Complaint.”

He also ceded any claim over a Tagaytay City property.

After this, the estate of Alfonso D. Lim Sr. filed a separate manifestation, confirmation, waiver and quitclaim stating that it is “unequivocally and completely waives and surrenders in favor of the Republic of the Philippines any and all rights, claims, and interests it may have over the sequestered properties in the above-entitled case.” – Rappler.com