Court freezes P37M from Balili money

CEBU, Philippines - Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Ester Veloso ordered the partition of the P98.7 million-proceeds from the sale of the Balili property among the heirs of the late Luis Balili.

But in the same order, Veloso included in the sharing or partitioning of the sale the P37.8 million that the Capitol seeks as refund from the Balili family.

This means that this amount is reserved for the Capitol, and will be released to the Province on the condition that the separate Balili property-related case in the sala of Judge Raphael Yrastorza will already be resolved.

Provincial Attorney Marino Martinquilla said the money is now secure and he is confident that the Capitol can get this back.

Capitol spokesperson Rory Jon Sepulveda also stressed that with the order of the RTC, it is clear that the money the Capitol paid to the Balili is intact, contrary to allegations that some brokers and even government officials got shares from it.

“Kinsa tong diskump-yado, all he has to do is to go to the RTC. Tua ang tanan records didto giunsa pagbahin ang kita sa property,” he said.

The Province paid Romeo and Amparo Balili the sum of P98,926,800 for whole property at P400 per square meter.

But it filed a case seeking the P37.8 million as refund for the submerged portion and those filled with mangroves. These portions have a total area of 94,526 square meters.

The province maintains its position that the property is titled because there has no case yet filed for the cancellation of the title.

“No case pending for the cancellation of the title, so as it is, it is a titled property. Nobody could show nga naay kaso. The title remains clear. The register of deeds attested to that, it is titled,” said Sepulveda.

Martinquilla had said that the Province should get a refund as it did not know from the start that the land they bought had submerged areas. These were not disclosed by the defendants nor by their agents, he said, causing “great damage and prejudice” to the Capitol.

Had they known about this, Martinquilla said they would have bargained and paid only for the dry land areas. (FREEMAN)