Sandigan to push sale of Erap's Boracay mansion

Sandiganbayan Sheriff Edgardo Urieta on Monday maintained that they will push through with the planned auction of the two lots comprising the so-called Boracay Mansion confiscated from former President Joseph Estrada. This, despite a contending ownership claim by the Quezon City government on the disputed property. Urieta said he is merely implementing the order of the Sandiganbayan Special Division on how to dispose off the property, and that he cannot call off or defer the sale of the property without an order from a “competent court" opposing the auction. “We are only acting as per order of the Sandiganbayan Special Division," Urieta said. Last week, the Quezon City government asked Urieta to exclude from the auction the bigger of the two lots measuring 5,192.88 square meters. Victor Endriga, city treasurer, asserted the city government’s claim over the property saying the lot has been transferred and registered in its name on July 4, 2007 after the previous registered owner, St. Peter Holdings, incurred six-year’s worth of tax arrears. Urieta said the Quezon City government should have addressed its letter to the court, so it can hear its arguments on the ownership claim. “The letter-request for exclusion should have been addressed to the court so their arguments can be heard," he said. Urieta said the Sandiganbayan is already drafting an announcement of the mechanics and conditions of the public auction which will be published in the Daily Tribune, the newspaper that was drawn during a raffle among nine major dailies last December 7. The announcement will be published once a week for two consecutive weeks and will set the date of the actual auction. The Boracay mansion, a property located in New Manila, Quezon City, was declared by the Special Division to be part of Estrada’s ill-gotten wealth when the deposed leader was convicted of plunder last September 12. Based on documentary evidence presented by prosecutors, the court held that the P142 million used to pay for the property came from the Jose Velarde account which was declared to be beneficially owned by Estrada. Estrada however maintains that he is not the owner of either the Velarde account or the Boracay mansion. - GMANews.TV