NPC sues GSIS officials for landgrabbing

The National Press Club of the Philippines (NPC) on Thursday filed administrative charges against Winston Garcia, president and general manager of the Government Service and Insurance System and 15 other GSIS officials for “grabbing" NPC’s lot and building in Intramuros, Manila. In its complaint filed at the Office of the Ombudsman, the NPC, through its lawyer Berteni Causing, alleged that Garcia and the members of the GSIS Board of Trustees, including Jesus Santos, lawyer of First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, “blatantly violated" laws when they “willfully and surreptitiously grabbed" the property, “owned and possessed" by the organization since 1953. The NPC said that in 1953, then President Elpidio Quirino, through Republic Act 905, donated to the club, a part of the land at the corner of Jones Bridge and Magallanes Drive in Intramuros, which is now the NPC compound. The club said GSIS officials violated the Freedom of the Press Clause of the Constitution, Article 32 of the Civil Code, R.A. 905 and Letter of Instruction (LOI) No. 500, when they took hold of the property. "What will happen to the National Press Club without its land and the National Press Club Building standing thereon?...To take it away from the NPC that works for all journalists is to destroy the liberty our forefathers paid with their lives and blood," said Causing. Causing filed the case assisted by NPC Director and Press Freedom Committee chairman Joel Sy Egco, who denounced the GSIS action as "one of the gravest crimes against freedom of the press." "If they would take away the property, they would take away that most important facet of liberty- press freedom. Where would our successors go? Where would future journalists go in times of danger and attacks?" Egco said. GSIS claimed it acquired the property in April 1975 after it won the public auction conducted by the City of Manila for failure to pay real estate taxes of P26,000, P116,000 and P142,000. GSIS took part in the auction because it wanted to protect the loans it extended to the NPC in previous years. However, NPC said auction was void because it violated R.A. 905, which prohibits the land’s transfer "without the prior consent of the President of the Philippines." Causing said that on January 28, 1977, then President Ferdinand Marcos after invoking his legislative power under martial law and recognizing RA 905, issued LOI No. 500 ordering the GSIS General Manager and Board of Trustees to convey to the NPC half of the property. He said LOI No. 500’s effectivity on March 21, 1977, settled NPC’s past financial disputes with the GSIS. "But the GSIS blatantly defied LOI No. 500 by canceling the NPC's title and registering the land to its name on June 1, 1994, about 17 years since the law became effective," Causing said. NPC said GSIS further violated the law when Garcia ordered the land divided into two lots with both documents of title under its name. "So mad at the press, Garcia ordered the filing of an unlawful detainer case against the NPC, seeking to eject it from its home for more than half a decade," Causing said. - GMANews.TV