SC junks developer’s bid to recover lands from PCGG

MANILA, Philippines —  The Supreme Court (SC) has denied a petition by property developer Ortigas & Co. Limited Partnership (OCLP) to recover two properties that it claimed it was forced to sell to the Marcoses.

In a 70-page decision penned by Senior Associate Justice Marvic Leonen, the SC’s Second Division ruled it found no error on the part of the Sandiganbayan when it dismissed OCLP’s complaint that sought to nullify the transfer titles and recover OCLP’s 16-hectare land and a 2.4-hectare property that were sequestered by the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) after the ouster of then president Ferdinand Marcos Sr. and his family in 1986.

The decision, dated Oct. 10, 2022, was posted on the SC’s website on Tuesday.

The two properties traverse Pasig, San Juan, Mandaluyong, Quezon City and Rizal province.

The OCLP filed the complaint against PCGG, Asset Privatization Trust, Anchor Estate Corp. and Mid-Pasig Land Development Corp (Mid-Pasig).

The lands were registered in the name of Mid-Pasig, believed to be one of the dummy companies of the Marcoses.

Alleged threats

In its petition, the OCLP alleged that Marcos Sr. and then first lady Imelda Marcos summoned OCLP president Francisco Ortigas and asked him to donate the subject properties to them to be used as their residence, as a museum for Marcos memorabilia and for investment.

When Ortigas rejected the proposal, a “visibly angered” Marcos threatened to “use his vast powers to harass the company and its officers” if the firm’s board of directors did not abide by his wishes, the OCLP said.

The firm said its board acceded to Marcos Sr.’s demands out of fear. A deed of conditional sale (DCS) was executed over the 16-hectare land in favor of Marcos’ nominee, Maharlika Estate Corp.

A supplementary agreement was appended to the deed of sale with respect to the 2.4-hectare land.

However, in 1971, Maharlika Estate’s rights and obligations in the DCS were transferred to Mid-Pasig, which the OCLP claimed was owned and controlled by Marcos through his dummies, along with Maharlika Estate.

After the 1986 revolt that ousted the Marcoses from power, Maharlika Estate and Mid-Pasig surrendered the titles and possession of properties held for Marcos to the government, which included the two properties. These properties were placed under the PCGG’s control.

It was then that OCLP filed a letter-complaint before the PCGG seeking to recover the properties, claiming that these were forcibly taken from the OCLP through intimidation and undue influence by the Marcoses.

The PCGG, however, dismissed the request and explained that it had no jurisdiction to annul the contracts with Mid-Pasig, prompting the OCLP to bring the case to court.

On March 13, 2020, the Sandiganbayan First Division dismissed the OCLP’s petition over the firm’s failure to prove that the properties were unjustly taken by the Marcoses.

In affirming the Sandiganbayan’s decision, the SC agreed that the evidence and circumstances surrounding the sale of the properties do not support the petitioner’s claim of intimidation.

The SC noted that while abuses proliferated under martial law, “it is not per se a consent vitiating phenomenon.”

The High Court also noted that OCLP’s president and the board of directors “are people with great business acumen” who “cannot so simply be pressured into giving away two properties.”

The SC did not give merit to OCLP’s claim that the low selling price of P40 per square meter proves the defect in its consent to give away the properties.

It agreed with the PCGG and Mid-Pasig that the price was reasonable since OCLP sold parcels of land in the same area for prices ranging from P50 to P62.79 per square meter.