QC government, Sandiganbayan battle looms over Boracay mansion
The Quezon City government is challenging the legality of a Sandiganbayan order to auction an abandoned mansion in New Manila, Quezon City, which the anti-graft court said belongs to ousted President Joseph Estrada.
Victor Endriga, Quezon City treasurer, said the city legal department will ask the Supreme Court to stop the public auction of the 5,200 sq. meter property known as the “Boracay mansion,” which the city government has seized for unpaid real estate taxes from 2000 to 2005 of P2 million.
“The
The title to the Boracay mansion is now in the name of the city government, he added.
Endriga said a city legal team headed by lawyer Christian Valencia attended the hearing at the Sandiganbayan yesterday
to determine when to file the petition for a temporary restraining order before the SC.
The city goverment plans to convert the Boracay mansion into a museum and library, he added.
Endriga said that the Local Government Code grants local governments absolute power over properties forfeited for failure of owners to pay taxes due to the government.
Any move to put the property on public auction will be opposed by the city government all the way to the Supreme Court, he added.
The property’s registered owner, St. Peter’s Holdings, did not settle its tax obligations despite being given enough time to redeem the property, Endriga said.
It was learned that the office of St. Peter’s Holdings could no longer be located. – Perseus Echeminada
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