‘Payanig sa Pasig’ property not PCGG's to auction off, firm says

BLEMP Commercial Philippines, Inc. (BLEMP) has opposed a plan by the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) to sell off an 18.4-hectare property in Ortigas Center in Pasig City saying the government does not own the land.

In a statement issued on Saturday, BLEMP lawyer Dennis Manalo said the PCGG has no right to auction off the property that used to be called “Payanig sa Pasig” as the commission has no valid title to show ownership.

Manalo said the PCGG has not even been paying real property taxes on the Payanig lot. Manalo said BLEMP is the lawful owner of the property because it holds the original titles of the 18.4-hectare lot.

Manalo said BLEMP acquired the propety in the early 1970s from its registered owner Mid-Pasig Land Development Corporation. Manalo said BLEMP has a duly executed Deeds of Absolute Sale signed by all of Mid-Land's board of directors, including Jose Campos, “and consummated by the simultaneous delivery of the original titles thereto”.

Manalo said BLEMP's owners went into hiding during Martial Law when they learned that President Ferdinand Marcos wanted to take the property from them.

“After the EDSA revolution, BLEMP tried to advise the PCGG about the true ownership of the property but they were ignored. Since then, BLEMP has paid close to a billion pesos in real estate taxes alone,” Manalo said.

Just last week, the PCGG announced that it will auction the property off for a minimum price of P16.4 billion or P89,461 per square meter.

“The PCGG is dreaming when it made its baseless and hasty announcement that it will auction the said property... This pie in the sky stems from the ludicrous insistence that Jose Y. Campos ceded the said property by way of compromise to the PCGG,” Manalo said.

“Jose Y. Campos cannot surrender to the government property what he no longer owned” Manalo said, referring to the known Marcos associate who turned over the property to the PCGG.

At the press conference announcing the plan to sell off the property, PCGG chairman Andres Bautista admitted that the commission is "not in possession of the 10 hectares of the property."

The PCGG has sent notices to tenants on the property, and is waiting for updates on pending cases before the Sandiganbayan, he added.

“We're basically telling buyers, this is the current state of affairs, they will be conducting their own due diligence in respect to the property, we will provide to them all the documents so that they can see,” Bautista said. — Elizabeth Marcelo/JDS, GMA News