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Private agri firm asserts claim over gov’t sequestered lands in Palawan


Philippine Agri-Business Center Corp. (PABC), a private farming firm, has asked the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division to award in its favor two parcels of land in Busuanga, Palawan, which is being claimed by the government as part of the Marcos ill-gotten wealth in a 20-year-old P51-billion lawsuit. The pieces of property were included in Civil Case No. 0024 filed by the Presidential Commission on Good Government on July 27, 1987 against the late president Ferdinand Marcos, former First Lady Imelda Marcos, Peter A. Sabido, Luis A. Yulo, Roberto Benedicto, Nicolas Dehesa, Jose R. Tengco Jr, Rafael Sison, Cesar Zalamea and Don Ferry. The government is seeking award of P50 billion in damages and P1 billion in legal fees. PABC identified the parcels of land as the Busuanga property covered by Transfer Certificate of Titles No. 6110 and 6111. Based on Yulo's submissions in the case, the Busuanga property used to be controlled by the Yulo King Ranch (now YKR Corp) was a grazing expanse covering an area of 7,000 public lands on lease from the government and 120 hectares acquired from private persons. However, in its Motion for Summary Judgment filed last January 10, PABC did not state the exact land area involved in its claim. The company, through counsel Quisumbing and Torres law offices, argued that it is entitled to regain outright possession of the pieces of property because none of the private defendants in Civil Case No. 0024 or even the PCGG has a valid claim. It said YKR Corp and Yulo's heirs only declared that they could not “admit or deny" PABC's claim of ownership because PCGG took away all the corporate records of YKR Corp. "Their answer does not affirmatively allege that (they) own the Busuanga [property] or that the alleged documents in the possession of the PCGG will show that (they) own the Busuanga [property] matters, which should be within their personal knowledge. (This) should be deemed to be an admission of the facts stated in PABC's Request for Admission," the claimant firm said. It further noted that the PCGG acknowledged that the Busuanga pieces of property were not covered by the sequestration order it issued on April 2, 1986. Sabido on the other hand did not file any answer despite due notice. While the PCGG based its claim on Presidential Decrees Nos. 1387 and 1297, PABC pointed out that PD 1387 only designated the Busuanga stretch as a pasture reserve but made a proviso that the land was still “subject to private rights, if any there be." PD 1297 simply placed 40,000 hectares of grazing land in Busuanga, Palawan, under the management of Yulo King Ranch pursuant to a technical assistant agreement with the government. "The Republic is gravely mistaken. [It] should be deemed to have failed to specifically deny the matters stated in PABC's request for admissions, including PABC's registered title to the Busuanga property," the farming company said. - GMANews.TV

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