‘Gov’t no longer owns Arlegui Mansion'
MANILA, Philippines – The Arroyo administration has no right to offer the Arlegui Mansion outside Malacañang Palace to incoming President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III as his official residence or as an office of his transition team, a lawyer representing the owners of the property said.
Lawyer Lorna Kapunan told radio station dzMM the Arroyo government also has no right to undertake renovations on the property since the government no longer owns it.
“Those [renovations, offer of use to Aquino] are acts of an owner. The Republic is no longer the owner. As a matter of fact, that is too presumptuous,” Kapunan said.
Kapunan represents the owner of the mansion, Tarcila Laperal Mendoza, who is close to 100 years old.
Elena Bautista, chief of the Presidential Management Staff (PMS), earlier announced that the 1,400-square-meter mansion was being renovated.
She said this was being done in case the incoming president wants to live in Arlegui or use it for his transition team.
Aquino earlier said he does not want to live in Arlegui since it’s too big for a bachelor like him.
SC orders return of Arlegui
Kapunan said Malacañang, through a compromise agreement entered into in 2009 by former Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita with Mrs. Mendoza’s family, already acknowledged the October 2007 ruling of the Supreme Court (SC) returning the property to its rightful owner.
The property was forcibly taken from the Laperal family when former President Ferdinand Marcos was elected to office in 1965. The late president cited security as the reason for expropriating the property.
The SC also reportedly ordered the government to pay back rentals of P20,000 a month starting July 1975, plus annual interest once the ruling becomes final. The ruling became final in 2008.
Kapunan, however, clarified that the computation of the government’s “debt” to the Laperal family for the property should include the inflation rate.
In the compromise agreement, she said Malacañang agreed that the government would pay the Laperal family around P83 million.
The lawyer added that the government’s first payment was made only last week amounting to P5 million, minus P500,000 withholding tax. She said her law firm is currently in a dispute with the government over the imposition of the withholding tax.
‘Republic’ can be ejected from Arlegui
Kapunan said Mrs. Mendoza and her family, who were forced to live in the United States after the property was confiscated by the Marcos government, can already “eject” the “republic” from the property, based on the court’s decision.
However, she said Mrs. Mendoza volunteered to waive the right and give the government 6 months to complete the payment.
During the interview, Kapunan also said that she has recently talked to former Social Welfare Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman. She informed her that some persons claiming to be connected with Aquino’s inner circle allegedly threatened that “they can do anything with the property.”
She claimed that these people allegedly with Aquino, whom she refused to identify, are asking the law firm and the family to allow the next administration to rent out the property.
Kapunan said she also asked Soliman to “walk your talk,” referring to the Aquino’s promise of a zero-corruption administration.
President-apparent Aquino and his family lived in the 12-room mansion after his late mother, Corazon Aquino, opted not to stay in Malacañang Palace after the 1986 EDSA people power revolution.
Former President Fidel Ramos also chose to live in the Laperal Mansion. It was converted into an office during the time of former President Joseph Estrada and Mrs. Arroyo, who both chose to live at the Palace.
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