Supreme Court returns prime Makati property to 'RJ'

MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court has ruled with finality the return of a foreclosed 8,000-square meter prime lot property in Makati City to media entrepreneur and music icon Ramon “RJ” Jacinto.

In its decision, the SC upheld the ruling of the Court of Appeals that Philippine National Bank (PNB) should not have foreclosed on the property and that the lower court had no right to declare Jacinto’s RJ Ventures Realty in default without a trial on the merits.

Jacinto’s company won the bidding for the PNB-owned property located at the corner of Buendia and Paseo de Roxas in 1996 for $140 million, making a 20-percent downpayment while the then government-owned PNB extended an 80-percent mortgage.

However, the onset of the Asian financial crisis in 1997 forced a suspension and a restructuring of the project. Jacinto then executed a letter of agreement with PNB on June 2008 as a condition to redominate its mortgage from a dollar to a peso loan.

Upon the assumption of the Estrada administration in 1998, Jacinto said PNB, however, reneged on the restructuring deal by foreclosing on the property.

Jacinto, who is closely identified with former President Fidel Ramos, resisted PNB’s foreclosure by securing an injunction form the Court of Appeals but PNB continued to foreclose while appealing the injunction.

 “This case was the most difficult thing I have undergone aside from Martial Law. Our family lost our steel mills during Martial Law. For the second time, the President of our country went after me politically. I was singled out,” Jacinto pointed out.

The property and all other collaterals have been returned by the SC back to “status quo ante” or the status prevailing before the foreclosure when Jacinto had possession of the Buendia lot.

“For 12 and a half years, this has been an albatross around my neck. I am glad the courts have vindicated me. I hope that with this decision, PNB and I can finally work things out amicably and move the project forward,” Jacinto said.