By Manuel L. Morato
My sisters Elvira Morato Cuenca, Teresita Morato Lazatin, Lolita Morato Quiros and myself are obligated to speak out regarding the case we have in Court here in Quezon City for close to three years because for some reason the ancestral home of our parents was demolished by a group of “investors” together with our youngest brother, Jose “Pete” Morato who without informing us in the compound suddenly demolished the six-bedroom home of my parents and carted away all the estate properties inside the house.
Modesty aside, the ancestral home of our parents inside the compound cannot be duplicated nor be reconstructed again for it was built in the 1950s by our father. It was a gift of our father to our mother which remained in her name until her death in May 31, 2002.
My sisters called my attention today that according to their friends known as well to Maria Rosario “Peewee” Roces Morato, wife of Jose “Pete” Morato, kept calling and expressed their concern why despite of the tarpaulin placed on the wall announcing that the ongoing excavation and construction at “99 Scout Gandia St. is under Court Litigation case No. R-QZN-18-04305” with an arrow pointing to the house of my late mother beside where I live inside our family compound.
My three sisters and I filed a case in Court here in Quezon City, RTC Branch 215. The demolition took place in April 1, 2018. It was Easter Sunday when we were taken by surprise. Our small gates leading to our mother’s house were barricaded. April 1 was April Fool’s Day, according to many friends. I had not connected it for it was Easter Sunday.
The other party and their lawyer presented the documents in Court and to our surprise, all of them were falsified. Our lawyers, Atty. Diosdado Macapagal (an old friend); and Atty. Dennis Manicad whose father was my lawyer. When the father passed away, the son took over and was also our Corporate Secretary in the PCSO; and for sometime Acting MTRCB Chairman.
The very documents which we did not have and had absolutely no knowledge of them were submitted in Court to our surprise. We could not believe how the maneuverings were done. Aside from fictitious, the passing on the alleged sales from one person to another was unbelievable.
For one, since we did not know about the transactions from one buyer to another buyer, handled by an unknown agent totally unknown to us. His name is Benjamin Sim who acted as if he was authorized to sell my mother’s properties. He is a small old man in height and happened to stand beside me and asked me: “Sino po kayo?” I gave him my name: “Si Manoling Morato po ako.” Ay kayo po ba si Manoling?
Ang sagot ko: “Opo.” He did not know me, neither did I know him. To think that he acted as the official representative of our closed family corporation, Javea Properties Corporation. It was a corporation concocted by Jose “Pete” Morato who convinced my mother to put all her properties in this corporation and kept telling my mother “Mama, kailangan ilagay ang mga properties to a closed corporation with you and the six children “kasi ang laki ng babayaran na taxes pag namatay ka.”
Bakit kamatayan ang pirming salita niya sa aming Ina? How morbid. Yon pala there was a second wave to it. When our mother died in May 31, 2002, the closed corporation “Javea Properties Corporation” was formed in 1999. Jose “Pete” Morato sent me a handwritten letter “that properties can only be sold among us six children and not to outsiders.” Evidently, that’s what he guaranteed to our mother who died and never got to know that there was a catch to his plans. No one of us had any idea that there was another plan, unknown to my mother and unknown to us five children.
Briefly, he started transferring the properties of the family in Javea Properties Corporation of which I was the Chairman for I am the eldest and the Executor of my mother’s Holographic Will wherein in her own handwriting states the succession: From me, to my sister next to me Elvira; then Teresita, Lolita, Francisco and Jose – the last.
Lo and behold, he eliminated us and jumped on all of us. The last became the first. Unbelievable? Well, he got my mother’s share. He claimed he bought it. He claimed that I renounced my rights to him; and the fifth, Francisco sold out to him. He ended up having the majority he claims. But no money entered the Javea Properties Corporation; neither was there a board resolution to what he was claiming. He then transferred all the family properties in the closed corporation to JLM Trading Corporation, his own corporation under his full control.
To make a long story short, he made me sign certain documents when I had heart surgery in 2012. In my weakest moment, he made me sign a document that he will help me sell the properties of our mother here and in Quezon Province. They all ended up with him.
Instead, it was submitted in court by his lawyer a document allegedly signed by me entitled “Waiver of Rights” which was superimposed in a document he made me sign in my weakest moment in the hospital after my open-heart surgery. In the witness stand, I told JLM’s lawyer: “Attorney, this is the first time I see that title “Waiver of Rights.” He immediately turned around.
Imagine, I disinherited myself when I have a letter from him asking me to cede to him a few meters of my mother’s garden – Elvira and myself. But my sister Elvira turned him down. On my part, I wanted to reconsider his request when I get well and out of the hospital. But he said that he would like to help me handle the estate of Mama. The document I was made to sign was antedated by two months to show that I was not yet in the hospital.
He had an arrangement with a notary public in a barbershop he goes to along Tomas Morato Avenue to always leave a space in his record book. It was an old practice for a long time. But we must thank God that the truth wills out, sooner or later.
What my sister was alarmed about this morning was the call of a mutual friend telling her why is the construction continuing when there is a case in Court? Being known to both sides, she said that the wife of Jose “Pete” Morato told her that all the condos in the 21 storey building in a residential area are all sold out.
It is cause for concern for us for despite the tarpaulin on the wall that the property is under litigation in Court, the construction goes on and never stopped.
Wala po kaming magawa. As my friends in the Quezon City Hall have been telling me to tell our lawyers to “get out” of the Courts in Quezon City for we will never be given a chance.
I can believe it. We have been dribbled to three Courts already. The first, RTC Branch 215, they asked the Judge to inhibit just as the case was leading to trial proper in January of 2019. It was granted and re-raffled to Branch 92. With one hearing, the other side won. Then re-raffled again to where it is now, RTC Branch 219.
RTC Branch 215, we were able to get a TRO for 20 days was granted to us. But it was not obeyed by the other party. And not penalized for disobeying the 20 days the TRO was issued for. We could have saved my parents’ ancestral home, but the group of Jose “Pete” Morato did not obey the Court order. The Sheriff who brought to my office the TRO issued by the Judge told us when we asked him: “Na-deliver na po ba doon sa kabilang partido?” Ang sagot: “The order was crumpled and thrown away; at ang sabi: “Balewala yan sa amin.”
Briefly, to summarize: (1) The other party violated Republic Act 10066 that no structure 50 years old and above can be demolished without the permission of the Court in order to preserve historical sites. My parents’ ancestral home was over 70 years when my late father constructed it in the 1950s. It’s a huge 6-bedroom house that cannot be duplicated now. Marble, Baguio colored stones, iron grills by Casa Español; Narra and Molave which are prohibited to be cut. Only the branches can be cut now. The house was considered an historical site, my late father having been the first Appointive Mayor of Quezon City by President Manuel L. Quezon in 1939.
(2) The purpose of the tarpaulin is to inform the public to be careful to buy on pre-selling. We were afraid that our name would be dragged. Naawa din kami sa mga OFWs who buy properties, site unseen.
(3) What hurts us most ay ang ikinakalat ni Jose “Pete” Morato na ninakawan daw namin siya sa Spain. God is our witness. There were properties sold during the lifetime of our father and mother. Some were left to us. But in every sale, Jose “Pete” got his share. Pare-pareho kaming anim.
I was not in Spain when some sales were made by a sister, Lolita and Francisco who were both there.
All the documents were sent to us and the signature of Jose “Pete” appears that he got his share in all. Kami pang magkakapatid ang pinalabas na magnanakaw kaya daw niya kami ninakawan dito. That’s not justifiable at all!
Need I say more?
For comments and suggestions email at mlmorato@yahoo.com