SM ‘attempts’ to claim Capitol properties

SM PRIME Holdings Inc. (SMPHI) allegedly attempted to claim ownership of 39 parcels of land within the properties of the Provincial Government, asserting that the company won in the bidding held last year for the lease and sale of said properties.

Last March 23, SMPHI, through its lawyers Puno and Puno, filed an application for Notice of Lis Pendens in relation to the case of SMPHI against Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr., the members of the Provincial Awards and Disposal Committee of Real Properties and members of the Provincial Board pending before the Regional Trial Court Branch 50.

A lis pendens is a written notice that a lawsuit has been filed involving the title to real property or some interest in that real property.

The said request for the application of Lis Pendens on the Transfer of Certificates of Lots within the Capitol property was denied on March 26 by the Register of Deeds (ROD) of Bacolod City.

ROD lawyer Bonifacio Lamberto Kho denied the lis pendens request, saying the action filed by SMPHI was one of a special civil action and, therefore, beyond the scope of the ROD's powers.

Last May 10, as a follow-up move, SMPHI filed an Affidavit of Adverse Claim before the ROD to establish that "SMPHI has legal rights and interest in the said parcels of land owned by the Provincial Government of Negros Occidental located on Bacolod City."

The claim, however, was denied anew by the ROD.

Based on documents, ROD denied the move as it has been a subject of a prior denial for an annotation of a Notice of Lis Pendens.

ROD was not fully convinced with the opinion of the adverse claimant that the latter has a direct claim on the properties of the registered owner merely on good reasons of the adverse claimant. (TDE)