Sunday, August 17, 2008 Withhold payment for lot, court told
THE Estate of Don Filemon Sotto warned the Regional Trial Court (RTC) against turning over any payment to the Palictes for a lot expropriated by the Cebu City Government, saying lot ownership has not been settled yet.
In a supplemental manifestation submitted to the RTC Branch 9, legal counsel Makilito Mahinay said ownership of the property is still under review in the Supreme Court (SC).
Payment, he said, should therefore be deferred until a decision is reached.
Mahinay submitted a copy of the Estate of Filemon Sotto’s manifestation to the Cebu City Council, which the latter referred to the City Attorney’s Office during their regular session last Wednesday.
He said that by filing an intervention in the case filed by the heirs of Matilde S. Palicte against the City Government, his clients were doing the courts, the City and its taxpayers, a favor, and were sparing them from a possible liability.
Beneficiaries
“But when this Honorable Court (Branch 7) refused the intervention, it simply exposed the City of Cebu and the purported beneficiaries of the expropriation to a certain risk,” read the manifestation.
City Hall lawyers have earlier asked the court to take custody of whatever funds will be covered by its garnishment order, and to defer the payment of the property until the ownership of the lot has been finalized.
They feared that the City will be paying P21.6 million to illegitimate owners of the expropriated lot.
Mahinay also reminded the court that his clients have previously notified the parties concerned that it is also claiming ownership of the property.
The lot in question is an expropriated property in Barangay Capitol Site, for which the Palicte heirs are collecting some P20 million from the City as payment.
Matilde S. Palicte is an illegitimate child of Don Filemon Sotto.
Garnishment
Last June, RTC Branch 9 Sheriff Antonio Bellones ordered the garnishment of the City Government’s deposits, but the concerned commercial bank’s officials have yet to turn over the money to the court.
If the court releases the funds covered by the garnishment order to the Palicte heirs, the Estate of Don Filemon Sotto will not lose anything, Mahinay said.
He said that if the SC decides in their favor, the Estate of Don Filemon Sotto can simply disregard the lot expropriation.
“The Estate believes that the levied funds are still within the power and control of the Court as long as it continues to remain under its custody while waiting for the decision of the SC,” Mahinay said.
“Certain errors or indiscretions made in the past need not be repeated. After all, it will not be the Estate of Don Filemon Sotto who will be hounding this Honorable Court the moment the SC resolves the ownership in its favor but the City of Cebu, its taxpayers and the beneficiaries of the expropriation,” he added. (LCR)
