Jamby goes after her inheritance, files case

MANILA, Philippines – Sen. Jamby Madrigal has filed a case in court contesting her being disinherited from the estate of her late multi-millionaire aunt and high-society icon, Consuelo “Chito” Madrigal-Collantes.

The senator is mum on the issue and her staff said she considers the matter “personal.” Lawyer Ernesto Francisco Jr., who is representing the senator in the case, confirmed there is such a “situation” but would not elaborate.

People close to the Madrigals said Jamby was a favorite of Chito, the only sibling of the senator’s father Antonio. Chito actively supported her niece’s successful Senate bid.

Makati City Regional Trial Court Branch 148 has been checking the authenticity of Chito’s last will and testament for about two years now. A report said the last will does not include Jamby.

Francisco said he had sent a letter to the beneficiaries questioning the validity of the will and how the estate was partitioned.

The childless Chito died on March 24, leaving her vast fortune to her husband, Marcos-era foreign minister Manuel Collantes, Jamby’s elder sister Ma. Susana Madrigal; lawyer Gizela Gonzalez-Montinola, wife of Aurelio Montinola III, president of the Bank of the Philippine Islands; and to a minor grandchild, Vicente Gustav Warns.

A report said Chito had already advanced Jamby’s share in the Madrigal fortune – estimated at P100 million – when she underwrote her senatorial campaign in 2004.

The Madrigal matriarch was also said to have issued specific instructions in her will that she would not tolerate any feud over her undisclosed fortune, even after her death.

“I do not wish any conflict between my beneficiaries involving my estate after my death,” Chito, a top corporate lawyer in her younger days, said.

“Anyone of the beneficiaries who should contest or question the acts or decisions of my executor/trustee in any proceedings, whether judicial or otherwise, shall be disqualified to be a beneficiary of my residuary estate,” the report added, quoting her will. — Aurea Calica