DAVAO contractor Bayani Escora has accused two lady officers of Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company (Metrobank) of perjury for allegedly making false statements under oath about a piece of land he
owns in Buhangin, Davao City.
In a two-page complaint filed with the Makati City prosecution office, Escora identified the respondents as Cynthia G. Ruiz, assistant vice president of Metropolitan Bank & Trust Company (Metrobank), and Ruth
Salome A. Magpayo, legal officer of Metrobank under the Special Accounts Management-Remedial and Litigation Division.
Escora, builder of Davao City Council’s building, said the case involved a parcel of land in Buhangin containing an area of 8,268 square meters covered by Transfer Certificate of Title T-187484 of the Registry of Deeds of
Davao City.
He said the property was previously mortgaged on July 1, 1996 as a security of a loan he made with Metrobank.
Upon partial settlement of the loan, Escora said the original owner's duplicate copy of the title of the property was released to him on January 7, 1997 through a Partial Cancellation of Mortgage duly signed by Alfredo
D. Lim, first vice president of the bank in Davao City. A copy of the Partial Cancellation of Mortgage is with Escora.
The former owner of the padlocked Durian Hotel, however, learned that Magpayo had executed an affidavit of loss dated June 9, 2009 at Makati City claiming, among others, that "part of the properties ceded to
Metrobank by way of Dacion en Pago" is his parcel of land.
He said the affidavit of loss signed by Magpayo was annotated on the original copy of his land in the Registry of Deeds of Davao City.
Escora found out that the affidavit of loss was executed by Magpayo for the purpose of filing a petition asking the register of deeds to issue an owner's duplicate copy of the title under his name through an under oath
authorization signed by bank assistant vice president Ruiz.
In fact, Escora said a petition was filed by Metrobank with Branch 10 of the Regional Trial Court in Davao City for the issuance of an owner's duplicate copy of TCT T-187484 under his (Escora's) name.
It is not true that the title of the land was lost as claimed by the Metrobank officers, Escora said, because it has always been with him "from the moment it was released to me by the said bank up to the present."
Assisted by lawyer Manolo Flores, Escora said that contrary to the claim of the Metrobank officers, the title was not given up to the bank by way of Dacion en Pago.
The complainant said the acts of the Ruiz and Magpayo in knowingly making untruthful statements about the title constitute perjury.
"Their willful and deliberate assertion of falsehood under oath is not according to belief or conviction as to its truth because the said title is not actually lost as shown in the records of the bank's Partial Cancellation of
Mortgage," he said. (BOT)