Land titling computerization suffers new legal setback

The government's bid to computerize its land titling system is facing another legal challenge as the Quezon City Regional Trial Court (QCRTC) issued last week an order to freeze all properties of officials engaged in the Land Registration Authority (LRA's) P4-billion project.

Judge Marciano Bacalla of the QCRTC Branch 216, in his writ of preliminary attachment, said properties of those involved in the project have to be safeguarded to ensure their capability to pay for the damages of one company who had accused them of fraud and conflict of interest.

Bacalla's order applies to Mega Data group of companies president Rafael Garcia III, LRA administrator Alfredo Enriquez, former Justice Secretary Serafin Cuevas, his brother Filemon, and members of the LRA's pre-qualification, bids and awards committee.

AMA Group Holdings Corp., which lost a bid for the project, has accused the said officials of fraud in the conduct of the bidding. It charged Cuevas, in particular, of conflict of interest since his brother's company, the Amalgamated Motors Philippines, was part of Mega Data.

AMA is seeking P15 million in damages.

Bacalla said that should AMA fail to prove that it has incurred damages in losing the bidding, he will order the company to pay Mega Data officials and the Cuevases the amount it had asked them.

Acting on Bacalla's order, court sheriffs had frozen bank accounts belonging to the respondents at Security Bank.

AMA and another losing bidder, Photokina Marketing Corp., had claimed that the LRA's decision last month to award its 13-year build-operate-and transfer computerization project to Mega Data was fraudulent. They revealed that Cuevas, who was still justice secretary then, influenced the bidding.

Cuevas has strongly denied the accusation.

LRA's Enriquez, for his part, dismissed AMA's allegations, saying the bidding process "followed the law to the dot."

"The proposals they (AMA and Photokina) submitted were simply below standard," he said.