Suntay heirs seek SC’s help in P71-M expropriation case

The heirs of the Suntay family, who are descendants of revolutionary hero Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo, are asking the Supreme Court for help in releasing to them a P71-million payment for the expropriation of their 431-hectare property in Sablayan, Occidental Mindoro.

The property, owned by the late Federico Suntay and his late wife Cristina Suntay, a daughter of Aguinaldo, was expropriated by the government under Republic Act 6657 or the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

Suntay died in 2000 and named Josefina Lubrica as his agricultural land titleholder assignee with the authority to collect the proceeds of the sale of the property.

The Provincial Agrarian Reform Adjudicator of Mindoro Occidental later ordered the Land Bank of the Philippines to release the payment of P71 million for the expropriated property. To this day, however, the LandBank has yet to release the amount to Lubrica and the Suntay heirs.

The case was again brought into the limelight Monday after relatives of LandBank assistant vice president Leticia Camara, who was cited for indirect contempt by Judge Ernesto Pagayatan of the San Jose, Mindoro Occidental RTC, also asked the Supreme Court to have Camara released.

In Monday’s oral arguments for the writ of habeas corpus filed by Camara’s relatives and her lawyer, Francisco Ignalaga on Feb. 27, the SC’s Second Division was asked to order Camara’s release as she had already complied with the order of San Jose RTC 46 Judge Ernesto Pagayatan.

Camara, of the LandBank Landowners’ Compensation Department, was arrested on Feb. 12 while on her way to the bank’s main office in Malate, Manila from her home in Parañaque City. She was brought to the Mindoro Occidental Provincial Jail.

Pagayatan, whose sala was converted into a Special Agrarian Court, ordered the arrest of Camara and Teresita Tengco, chief of the LandBank’s Landowners’ Compensation Department for failing to release and deposit the P71-million as payment for a 431-hectare property in Sablayan, Occidental Mindoro owned by the Suntay family.

According to Ignalaga, there is no more reason to continue detaining Camara, as the LandBank complied with Pagayatan’s order and deposited P71 million in a LandBank account in the name of the clerk of court of Mindoro Occidental RTC Branch 46 on Feb. 14.

"Such order to deposit has been complied with by the LandBank. There was no reason for the judge (Pagayatan) to order her detention," he said.

Ignalaga said that Pagayatan, in his March 4, 2005 order, had merely ordered the LandBank to deposit the P71 million in an internal account. He also said there was no mention that the payee should be Lubrica, adding that this is Pagayatan’s reason for the detention of his client.

Camara is now out of jail after the Court of Appeals issued a writ of preliminary mandatory injunction last March 2. However, Ignalaga said Camara’s freedom is temporary, as Pagayatan can still overturn the CA injunction.

Lourdes Pagayatan told the court that her husband, the judge, did not cite Camara in contempt for personal reasons: "He did what he thought was right. He may have failed to state that the check should have been deposited in the account of Mrs. Lubrica."

According to her, the judge later ordered the LandBank to deposit the amount to Lubrica’s account from where it can easily be withdrawn.