Harassment

I received a letter last June 9, 2019, Sunday from R.S. Caparros Associates & Co. Construction Managers, “prepared by Elizer A. Torres, PE, unsigned by R.S. Caparros Associates & Co…

It was noted and signed by Architect Philip Austria Construction Manager, copy furnished Engineer Eric Dimaculangan of Sta. Lucia Land.

I rang up Engineer Dimaculangan, engineer of Sta. Lucia Land in-charge of the excavation to ask him what this letter is all about.  He said that the 70-year-old Narra tree planted by my father they will already cut and my small connecting gate to my sister’s house, Mrs. Teresita Morato Lazatin will be closed.  These people fail to realize that we have always lived in a compound since the 1950s when our ancestral home was constructed.  We have had that small passage way since the 1950s, measuring 1 ½ meters which we consider “right of way;” inside the compound.  Please note that we have to stay connected in case of emergency, God willing nothing happens for we are in our 80s.  Your group cannot expect us to jump over the wall!

I told Engineer Eric Dimaculangan why the letter sent to me was only addressed to me.  I cannot make a decision alone for I am only one of the plaintiffs who took to court our youngest brother, Jose L. Morato, for producing falsified documents in court, but instead asked Judge Rafael Hipolito of RTC Branch 215 to inhibit himself because the trial proper was supposed to have started last January 21, 2019.  But on January 15, Jose L. Morato who signs Jose Tomas L. Morato to connect himself to my late father, Tomas B. Morato, First Mayor of Quezon City in 1939.  But I yet have to see Jose L. Morato’s baptismal certificate if he was indeed named Jose Tomas L. Morato because none of us had a second name in our birth certificates, as I recall.

In an article in the Inquirer, he claimed that he was keeping quiet about our differences so as not to destroy, (he said) “the iconic name of our father.”  But he was the one who blew it; blemished the name of our father and threw it out of the window for demolishing the ancestral home of our parents and sold the property that belonged to us, six children according to the Holographic Will of my late mother in whose name the property was.  Mahiya naman siya at siya ang sumira ng pangalan ng ama namin.

The Inquirer called it “a quarrel between two brothers.”  Not at all; and far from it.  We are six children and five took him to court for falsifying the documents.

THIS CASE IS A CASE OF OWNERSHIP.  Jose L. Morato does not own the property and never did.  He produced a one page “Deed of Sale,” untitled, undated, typewritten, not notarized and faked signatures of two witnesses, Andrea E. Epino, our cook long dead; and a Carmelo E., also long dead.  Plus two others later added and we were told are the private secretaries in JLM Trading Corporation.  Those names were not there before.  JLM did not seek for our consent to think that we live next door.  There was deceit committed.

When Jose L. Morato presented this document in Court, Judge Rafael Hipolito remarked: “What kind of Deed of Sale is this?  No title, no date, not notarized.”  The Judge further asked: “Do you mean you own all the three properties?” Cockily, Jose L. Morato answered: “Yes” with bravura.  Hindi na nahiya for he was not telling the truth.  The Judge should not have inhibited himself.  When our lawyers asked for reconsideration, Judge Hipolito said: “You are wasting your time.  The case was re-raffled to another Judge wasting almost a year of hearings.   

The only thing authentic in that short bond paper is the signature of my mother.  According to her caregivers, Jose L. Morato would make my mother sign blank bond papers or thumbmark my mother’s finger wherein he typed authorization to him to deposit/withdraw from my mother’s dollar and peso accounts in the BPI on Morato Avenue.  Jose L. Morato according to the former BPI General Manager, Mama’s authorization for JLM to withdraw will suffice.  To this day, he has not accounted to us five other children how much savings my late mother had in the BPI.  My mother passed away in May 31, 2002 at the age of 92.  To this day, we know nothing as to how her dollar and peso accounts were closed.  No accounting was given to us.

The DENR has promised us that the Narra tree, a 70-year-old tree cannot be cut, by law.  The permit granted by the DENR was only “for pruning.”  I beg the DENR to keep a close look for Jose L. Morato had all the trees inside the garden of my parents’ ancestral home cut, including old Korean pine trees planted by my father seventy years ago; and many other old trees.   The Narra tree is just outside the wall of my late parents’ ancestral home, beside the easement of the side-walk.  But as of last week, because of the insistence of Sta. Lucia Land, the contractor of the 21-storey condo/hotel in a residential area, was given by the DENR a permit to only prune the tree, but NOT cut the tree, nor slowly kill the tree by attacking its roots as they are slowly doing.  It’s a slow death what they want to happen.  Parts of the roots were scraped and the DENR issued an order to re-enforce it or the Narra tree will die.

Sta. Lucia Land is fronting for my brother and the political family he sold it to through falsified documents.  The owners of my late mother’s property must come out upfront.  Sta. Lucia Land allowed itself to be used to cover-up for who truly owns our parents’ property now.  I was told by Sta. Lucia Land whose owner I know that they did it because he owes the owner now a favor who helped him remove the squatters from one of his lands here in Quezon City.  He was honest enough to tell me.

Now the harassment continues from the present owner of the three lots wherein my late parents’ ancestral home once stood which they demolished last April 2018 without telling us – my three sisters and myself.  It was a surprise attack which guilty people resort to.

We are seeking the help of the Office of the President for we are being harassed and bullied by Jose L. Morato’s group.  The latest letter I received addressed only to me which should have been also addressed to my other siblings for they too have to express their opposition.  Allow me to quote the letter from R.S. Caparros Associates & Co. and Architect Philip Austria.  “We are formally informing you that we will conduct excavation at the area where you are using as access to your kitchen.  We already told you before that we will excavate the said area temporarily and restore it after we complete the construction of the ground floor and will give back it for your usage.  We are hoping for your cooperation for better result.”

Pardon me, Mr. Caparros and Architect Philip Austria.  It’s not my access to my sister’s “kitchen” but to her house next door to me.  Imagine cutting us off for 5 months or more while you construct the basement of the 21-storey condo/hotel in a residential area.  The cases in court have not yet been resolved, as to the ownership of our parents’ property.  Your clients claim they own my parents’ properties, that they bought it in “good faith.”  That is not true.  We were harassed not to know about the take-over.  None of you can invoke “good faith” for none of you went through due diligence.  All of you did it in bad faith.  Itinago ninyo ang transaction among yourselves and left us the other heirs completely unknowing of what you are doing.  The forged documents started way back in 2014 and my siblings and myself were caught by surprise in 2018 when we were barricaded while our ancestral home was being demolished and all the estate properties of my parents inside the house were lost.  We can no longer find where they are.

To President Duterte: Mr. President, please help us get justice for we cannot get justice from the Courts in Quezon City for over a year and a half now.  Thank you, Sir.    

For comments and suggestions email at mlmorato@yahoo.com