Jamby questions validity of late billionaire aunt's will

MANILA, Philippines - Senator Maria Ana Consuelo “Jamby” Madrigal on Thursday formally questioned the authenticity of her late billionaire aunt’s last will and testament in where she was excluded as an heir. In a 15-page motion for leave to intervene filed before the Makati RTC, Madrigal expressed strong doubts on the validity of the will left by her deceased aunt, Consuelo “Chito” Madrigal-Collantes, and that was submitted to court for probate. Madrigal, through her counsel Ernesto Francisco Jr, said Collantes’ alleged signatures on the will and the Verification and Certification of Non-Forum Shopping appear to be different from one another. Madrigal said of these two signatures, only one belongs to her aunt. She filed the motion to intervene in a hope to stop the distribution of Collantes’ properties to her heirs, namely her widower, former Foreign Affairs Secretary Manuel Collantes; Madrigal’s elder sister, Susana; grandchild, Vicente P. Gustav Warns; and niece, Gizela Gonzales-Montinola. Collantes died on March 24 in her North Forbes Park residence in Makati. She has no child. The deceased Collantes’ lawyer, Enrile Teodoro, has asked the court on April 17 to issue Letters Testamentary to the executors of the will in order to start with the distribution of the properties to the named heirs. In questioning the validity of her aunt’s will, Madrigal explained that the last will attested and subscribed by three witnesses is “different” from the last will attached to Teodoro’s April petition, with the former paged in letters while the latter was paged numerically. Madrigal further alleged that the transcript of the stenographic notes in the testimony given by Collantes on June 7, 2006, “will show that the deceased was referring to another will, that is, one that contains a listing of real and personal properties or one that has annexes containing a listing of real and personal properties.” She stressed that the alleged Last Will and Testament that was submitted to the court for probate does not contain a listing of real and personal properties or has no annexes containing a listing of real and personal properties. Moreover, Madrigal revealed that the Community Tax Certificates her late aunt and two other instrumental witnesses attached in the Joint Acknowledgement of the Last Will and Testament are all expired. The Joint Acknowledgement, according to Madrigal, is considered void as the two instrumental witnesses, Karen E. Tolentino and Erlinda V. Casuncad, have not presented “competent evidence of identity” as required under the 2004 Rules on Notarial Practice. - GMANews.TV