8/12/2019 Oscar Ambil Sued Espensin, Serrano and Top Mico Officials Yvonne Yuchengco

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Oscar Ambil sued Espensin, Serrano and top Mico

officials Yvonne Yuchengco

MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court has ordered the Office of the Ombudsman to filegraft charges against the former Pasig City registrar of deeds and a lawyer over the alteration of

38 condominium certificates of title (CCTs) for a building whose ownership is being disputed by

a realty firm and an insurance company.

In a 33- page decision issued July 31 and written by Justice Jose Perez, the Court’s Second

Division said there was probable cause for the Ombudsman to charge former registrar PolicarpioEspensin and lawyer Francis Serrano with violations of Section 3 (a) and (e) of Republic Act No.

3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

The court said Espensin was also administratively liable for grave misconduct and should have

 been dismissed from service for violating the rules of title registration and merely relying onSerrano’s word that the CCTs should be altered.

Division chair Justice Antonio Carpio and members Justices Arturo Brion, Mariano del Castillo

and Estela Perlas-Bernabe concurred in the ruling.

The case stemmed from the complaint of businessman Oscar Ampil, an unsecured creditor of a

sister company of the ASB Realty Corp., which in 1995 entered into a joint development projectwith the Malayan Insurance Co. (Mico) for the construction of a condominium, the Malayan

Tower, in Ortigas Center.

Under an agreement, Mico contributed the land on which the building would be put up and ASBwould acquire ownership after paying P640 million.

In 2000, however, the ASB was unable to fulfil its obligations to Mico after the realty firm’scompany filed for rehabilitation proceedings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Two years later, ASB and Mico again entered into another agreement whereby Mico was to

assume the entire responsibility for the development and completion of the tower.

At that time the ASB had already paid Mico around P427 million of the purchase price for theland.

On March 11, 2005, Espensin issued 38 CCTs for 38 units and allotted parking spaces in thename of ASB. However, the same day, he issued another set of CCTs covering the same units,

this time in the name of Mico.

Espensin later claimed that Serrano, saying he represented both Mico and ASB, had requested

the changes in the ownership of the titles because of simple error. The registrar said he consented

as the titles had not yet been issued.

8/12/2019 Oscar Ambil Sued Espensin, Serrano and Top Mico Officials Yvonne Yuchengco

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To protect his interests as creditor, Ambil sued Espensin, Serrano and top Mico officials Yvonne

Yuchengco and Gema Cheng in the Office of the Ombudsman for falsification of public

documents and graft. Ambil said the 38 units were reserved to ASB under its agreement withMico.

The Ombudsman, however, dismissed the criminal case of falsification due to lack of probablecause.

Ambil also filed an administrative case against Espensin but the Ombudsman found the registrarguilty only of simple misconduct and suspended him for a month. Espensin went to the Court of

Appeals which acquitted him of the charge in July 2009.

Ambil elevated both cases to the Supreme Court.

In its ruling, the high court agreed with dismissal of the falsification case but faulted theOmbudsman’s ruling for being silent on the graft aspect, adding that it had been ultimately

established that Espensin, at Serrano’s urging, had altered the CCTs.

As registrar, the court said Espensin was tasked to review the deeds and other documents for

conformance with the legal requirements of registration. The justices said that when the issuance

of the first set of CCTs was recorded on the registry, the law states that these may not be changedwithout a court order.

“Espensin relied on Serrano’s word alone that a supposed error was committed. The ownership

of the units remains in dispute and, by necessary inference, does not lie as well in Mico. By his

 baseless reliance on Serrano’s word and representation, Espensin allowed Mico to gain an

unwarranted advantage and benefit in the titling of the 38 units in the Malayan Tower.”

The ruling added that the court was only dealing with the preliminary investigation aspect of the

case and was not ruling on the guilt or lack of guilt of the Espensin and Serrano considering thatthe dispute was still being threshed out by the Construction Industry Arbitration Commission.

With regard to the administrative case, the Court said Espensin’s actions “clearly demonstrated adisregard of well-known legal rules” and was therefore guilty of grave misconduct punishable by

dismissal for service.

As Espensin has already retired from service, the court ordered the forfeiture of all his retirement

 pay and benefits.

Source: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/482933/sc-orders-filing-of-charges-vs-ex-registrar-

lawyer#ixzz34DHEkBrf