Land grabbing through the Judiciary?

Almost a year ago I wrote an article about a modus operandi involving members of the Judiciary who, according to sources, are allegedly in conspiracy of grabbing titled lands and awarding it in favor of their cohorts. In that article, I narrated about the story of a friend who became a victim of these big time land grabbers in robes. Just to recall, this friend of mine was the registered owner of a parcel of land somewhere in  Tagaytay City whose Original Certificate of Title (issued pursuant to a decree of registration priorly issued by a judged of the same court) was nullified by the subsequent Judge of the same court through the mere expedient of issuing a summary judgment based on a single piece of affidavit executed by the claimants. My friend elevated his case to the Court of Appeals, but the alleged modus operandi in the trial court was sustained. My friend says that the case is still pending appeal before the Supreme Court.

Now, we have the brouhaha about the alleged P10 million bribe offered to a Justice of the Supreme Court. It is said that this is a smear campaign to dissuade the Honorable Justice from a dispute involving a QC land now pending appeal before the SC. As reported in the newspapers, when asked to comment about the issue, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago confidently remarked that the present campaign to tarnish the record of the SC Justice is allegedly under the command of another SC Justice who has an interest to protect about the issue of land dispute. This recent development is a clear hint that the alleged modus operandi of land grabbing involving the Judiciary is indeed real and is in fact, still up and continuously working its way to the High Court.

This unending attack on the credibility of the Judiciary is a consistent reminder to all Judges and Justices to act more vigilantly and always be on guard in preserving the integrity of the office they were appointed to. This would entail the Judges and Justices to, among others, stick to the truth, even if this would mean going against the personal or business interests of another member of the Judiciary. If this turns into reality, I am sure my friend who was victimized by the alleged judicial land grabbing would get his land back in time. — TRANQUILINO ELICANO JR., MD