Lot heirs insist property case against them bogus

CEBU, Philippines - Alice and Karen Woolbright, two of the nine children of the late Eddie Woolbright, and their lawyer Jess Garcia, insisted they have “clean and genuine titles” to the lot where Imperial Palace Waterpark and Spa is built and the cases filed against them contesting the claim were bogus.

This after the lawyer of the Philippine BXT Corp., developer of the water park, answered on behalf of the company accusations that they did not abide with their part in the agreement in the payment of the sale of the property.

The Woolbrights sold six parcels of land to BXT in 2005 for a purchase price of $4 million as well as an agreement to transfer nine condominiums to the Woolbrights.

Controversy started after the property owner’s claim that BXT has not given them the nine units until now and still lacks a huge part of the payment.

BXT corporate lawyer Lito Astillero said in a previous interview though that they have fully paid the purchase price and that the Woolbrights may probably be referring to the $150,000 that is half of the payment for the taxes which was said to have been agreed upon that the taxes would be paid in full by the Woolbrights.

Astillero said that they will not transfer the nine units yet to the Woolbrights unless two pending cases filed against the family as well as BXT in 2006 will be settled.

Two cases were filed by heirs of the first property owners from whom the Woolbrights bought the seven-hectare property, saying that they did not give consent to sell their part of the property, which is part of the six parcels of land.

The Woolbright sisters explained though that they have “clean and genuine titles” and that the civil case is “clearly a sham and bogus”.

“You were very much aware, after conducting the necessary title search and due diligence on the lots, that our titles were clean and valid, and that the lots were devoid of any liens, encumbrances, third-party claims and pending threatened litigation,” the Woolbrights said.

The Woolbrights said that they have never encountered any problem with the title of the property which has been with them for around 18 years already, not until now with the selling of the property to BXT.

The Woolbrights also said BXT itself allegedly admitted the questionable status of the two cases in their affidavit submitted to the United Coconut Planters Bank and Trade and Investment Development Corporation of the Philippines as they applied and was given a loan of P1 billion.

The Woolbrights said that this representation which the creditors of the bank relied on, the application of the loan was approved and the loan proceeds were released to BXT which was used for the completion of the project.

According to the Woolbrights, they thought that the loan was not approved because BXT told them they cannot make any loans due to the cases. The Woolbrights said that they only got hold of the papers recently proving that the company was able to get the loan.

Garcia said that company cannot make the cases as a reason for them not to do their part of the agreement and that it is not the fault of the Woolbrights if there will be cases against them.

The Woolbrights also clarified that the $150,000 was just a re-imbursement of half the taxes, which they have already paid in full in 2006. — AJ de la Torre/BRP (THE FREEMAN)