The Freeman

Phl “owner” loses case vs woman

- — Gregg M. Rubio/rhm

The Lapu-Lapu City Prosecutor’s Office has dismissed the falsificat­ion case filed by a group that claimed ownership of the entire Philippine archipelag­o against a resident who fenced her property.

Assistant City Prosecutor Geronima Baring found the complaint filed by a certain Alfredo Aton against Marian Vasquez lacking in probable cause for a trial to proceed.

Aton, representa­tive of Tiburcio Villamor Marcos Tallano Tagean IV who claimed to be the owner of Lot No. 3063 of the cadastral survey through “The Universal Queen of Queens Foundation, Inc.,” sought the prosecutio­n of Vasquez for allegedly presenting documents to show her ownership of the said lot.

Baring said Aton primarily relied on his “sweeping claim of ownership” on the basis of mere machine-copies of documents which under the Rules of Evidence, “have no probative value for being not property authentica­ted.”

The group Alpha Omega World Developmen­t Marshall Programme earlier claimed that Lapu-Lapu City is part of the Hacienda Filipina owned by the royal clan entrusted to the Universal Queen of Queens Foundation­s, Inc.

It asked the Lapu-Lapu City government and all its instrument­alities to stop what it described as “illegal dispositio­n, selling, leasing, conveyance­s, and developmen­t” of private ancestral land domains allegedly owned by the TallanoTag­ean Royal Clan.

In response, City Attorney Yuri Beluan told the group that the claim appears to be contrary not just to existing government records of titles and ownership but also to prevailing laws of the Republic of the Philippine­s.

Beluan said the documents submitted should be thoroughly verified in considerat­ion of their “highly dubious character.”

Beluan warned the group that the absence of authority to use seals and emblems of the United Nations, its organizati­ons and agencies, and of the different instrument­alities of the Philippine government, and the signatures of different government officials will expose them to criminal liability.

“Hence, with the foregoing, please stop arrogating upon yourselves that you own the whole Philippine archipelag­o. Please also stop threatenin­g the city with your notices,” read a letter of Beluan addressed to Aton.

The group has been sending demand letters to government agencies and authoritie­s, businessme­n, private entities and ordinary residents nationwide asking them to pay billions of pesos, in cash or in kind, for using the lands in the Philippine­s.

The demand letters, which bore different dates and addressed to many recipients reminding them on their “obligation” to pay for the lots they used for business purposes, were sent to Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

In a letter dated June 5, 2014, lawyer Henry de Veyra, manager for Currency Issue and Integrity Office, Investigat­ion Division, informed the group that the concern raised was not within the purview of the BSP.

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