Case seeking to recover land in Kang-Irag revived

After more than a decade of gathering dusts in the court files, a civil case seeking to recover a parcel of land that was allegedly part of the ill-gotten wealth of alleged cronies of former president Ferdinand Marcos has been revived.

Regional Trial Court executive judge Fortunato de Gracia last week ordered the reinstatement of civil case no. 14938, which Leonila Gadapan Bendanillo, represented by her only surviving daughter Arcadia Labrador, filed against Philippine Games and Holiday Corporation, Plaridel Seno, and Philippine Tourism Authority for the reconveyance of ill-gotten wealth of Marcos cronies based on implied trust.De Gracia granted the reinstatement of the case upon the motion of lawyer Ramon Ceniza, the new counsel for the petitioner.

The late lawyer Jose Palma previously handled the case for the petitioner.The case involved a 50,197-square meter lot located in barangay Babag, Cebu City, which former PGHC president Anos Fonacier and other alleged cronies of Marcos acquired along with several other adjacent lots to comprise the 1,000-hectare Kang-Irag Sports Complex. Kang-Irag Sports Complex, a project conceptualized by Fonacier, is located in the valleys of barangays Babag, Malubog, Sirao, and Sibugay, about 20 kilometers from the downtown of Cebu City.

Allegedly using his influence at the time, Fonacier had convinced Marcos to approve, through the Philippine Tourism Authority, the project that involved the construction of a golf course, a sports complex, camping grounds, hiking and horseback riding trails.

On March 10, 1980, Marcos approved it through the then tourism minister Jose Aspiras.The complainant accused PGHC and Plaridel Seno, who succeeded Fonacier as president, of using their power, with the help of the PTA, in taking ownership of vast tracts from the Kang-Irag mountains allegedly by “means of threats, intimidation, fraud, tricks and misrepresentation, inducement of vendors to commit mistake and other inequitable or unconscionable conduct.”

The complainant alleged that she was one of those landowners there who were forced to sell their lands to the Fonacier group, accusing the latter of deceiving the landowners into believing that the land will be used by the PTA for public purposes. —Fred P. Languido/RAE