90-year-old widow's properties hostaged

Telecoms man Joey de Venecia strikes up a catchy campaign line for his planned senatorial run. A free cell phone for all, he proposes. How? He says telcos like Globe, Smart and Sun can easily provide cheap handsets in exchange for subscription lock-ins of, say, two years. Handsets sell in China for as low as $10 or P500, which the telcos can give away if only to expand their networks.

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Ninety-year-old widow Eufemia P. Almeda is desperate. She is land-rich but cash-poor, having paid a staggering P256 million in estate tax to divide with children all her late husband’s property. Thrice weekly dialysis in the last two years depleted her remaining bank deposits. She needs to sell buildings and condos in Makati to continue medical treatment. But she can’t do so. For some strange reason, the Register of Deeds (RD) refuses to transfer her inheritance in her name. Neither can the heirs liquidate their shares to rescue her, for the RD is keeping the titles in the name of their deceased father. So Eufemia is crying help from government agencies to compel the bureaucrat to free their assets from hostage.

Only Makati RD Dorylene SB. Yara can explain her intransigence. But Eufemia swears it all started when they declined the services of a fixer at Yara’s office. A certain “Baby” had approached them to say she’ll facilitate all their needs. But the Almedas saw no need for under-the-table dealing. Not only had they paid the right taxes and transfer fees, but also hold a formal court award of the inheritance. Lawyers and experienced staff had submitted all the documents in the RD’s official list of titling requirements. Besides, bribery is against the matriarch’s religious and personal values. Her sad encounters seem to tell her that honesty is wrong. Hopefully, the Ombudsman, Malacañang, justice department and police can restore her faith in government.

Eufemia’s husband Ponciano died in 1997, leaving behind several tracts of land and buildings. In Makati are Marvin Plaza and 27 condo units in it, Almeda Arcade, and a Forbes Park mansion. Since the titles were all in the name of Ponciano and Eufemia, she and her ten adult children needed a judicial ruling to partition the inheritance. The Makati estate court granted it in Dec. 2008 after tax settlements and a momentary family feud.

Soon afterwards Eufemia’s aides began working on the transfer of property titles to the Almedas, based on the court resolution. During one of their visits to the office of Register of Deeds Yara, “Baby” walked up and offered them a deal. Eufemia was to cough up P1 million for each of the 27 condo titles, but only P200,000 would be receipted. RD and BIR officials supposedly would divvy up the difference, and Eufemia would get her titles. Eufemia was stunned. She already had paid the taxes assessed by no less than then-BIR Commissioner Guillermo Parayno. What for should she pay P200,000 or P1 million per condo? And what about the other pieces of property?

On Mar. 18, with medical bills piling up, Eufemia requested RD Yara for a list of documentary requisites to transfer her estate shares in her name. It took Yara all of five weeks to reply, but this was to say that Eufemia was unclear what kind of transfer she meant. The surprised Eufemia reiterated her request with the self-explanatory court ruling again attached, and sent her aides over. A registry clerk handed a list, which Eufemia asked Yara to confirm. Again to Eufemia’s surprise, Yara did not reply, but her deputy Teresita Montemayor did, and it was to say anew that the nature of transfer should be specified. Eufemia dispatched her youngest son Marlon to clear thing up with Yara, who claimed she never received the mother’s letters. Meanwhile, Eufemia sold a condo for emergency cash, and again requested for title transfer to the buyer’s name. She has yet to receive Yara’s reply to that last communication in July. Each time Eufemia’s aides would follow up the titles, only clerks would face them to state Yara’s new unexplained requirements.

The Almedas reported to Land Registration Authority administrator Benedicto Ulep. But even Yara’s boss was unable to explain why she was imposing requirements piecemeal. He was also bothered to learn that Yara had not forwarded to his office the files of another Almeda property with her contested decision and appellate fees paid. Eufemia sued Yara before the Ombudsman for neglect, inefficiency, and incompetence. The anti-graft investigator has ordered Yara to explain herself.

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The 8th annual Asian conference on corporate social responsibility (CSR) unfolds Nov. 19-20 at Crowne Plaza, Pasig City. Among the speakers are tycoon Jaime Zobel de Ayala on “CSR during hard times,” Rafael Alunan on “Spreading CSR in the organization,” and Atty. Mike Toledo on “CSR advocacy thru the new media.”

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“The best affirmation of truth is when you have experienced it in your heart, confirmed by deep conviction and validated by your action.” Shafts of Light, Fr. Guido Arguelles, SJ

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