A widow, Mrs. Carmen Ramos, is currently under threat to be evicted from her house anytime soon by a housing developer, who unjustly bullied her, even if she has overpaid her amortizations with the help of her sisters by over P1.4 million, or 58 percent more than the original contract price of P920,000.
Housing reforms will boost growth
Her case is worth the scrutiny by the government, as it is not an isolated one, as the same modus is probably affecting thousands of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), young couples forced into bankruptcy owing to surging penalties on their backlog housing loans as a result of irregular short-term work contracts, popularly called “endo,” and hard-up senior citizens, like Mrs. Ramos, who are victimized by some erring housing developers, who abuse lax policies, laws and enforcement.
Both houses of Congress may have to probe this case in aid of legislation to tighten the screws on laws so as to stop abuses by unscrupulous developers, like many celebrated cases in the past and, possibly, many more lurking somewhere and preying on ordinary citizens.
The courts and enforcement agencies need to be reformed as they seem to have also been abused by these developers. Perhaps, Vice President Maria Leonor G. Robredo, now our housing czar, could put the housing problem in order. GDP growth potentials could even hit as much as 10 percent to 12 percent a year if people have more regular, not contractual jobs, Albay Gov. Joey S. Salceda said. This means they can now go into long-term housing contracts, purchase more consumer durables on financing, and thus, trigger manufacturing and solid physical wealth creation that’s good for the economy.
Chief of Malice?
Ramos’S problem all started after her husband Celso Ramos died of pancreatic cancer in 2002. She informed the developer, Durawood Construction & Lumber Supply Inc. at 177 Sumulong Highway, Barangay Mayamot, Antipolo City, of her husband’s death only to be surprised the developer’s secretary tore their housing contract into pieces, telling her it was no longer valid and had to sign a new one. Unless ordered by developer-owner Orlando Bongat, no employee would have the nerve to tear off an official document and be discourteous to an elderly, a public-school teacher. This, by itself, smacks of “malicious mischief” violating Article 327 of the Penal Code, making this developer the “Chief of Malice.”
Legally, the old contract remains valid, owing to the conjugal nature of the property. But she had no choice, and was forced to sign a new contract, followed much later by a more onerous compromise agreement, after her arrearages started compounding interests, surcharges and penalties at a fast clip. Both documents are considered null and void ab initio or from the very start, as they were signed under duress and deception.
No insurance, no licenses?
Supposedly, a mortgage redemption insurance (MRI) is required with a housing loan so in case of death, the developer is paid the balance by the insurance, while the surviving spouse is also protected and no longer penalized. Why there was no MRI is Durawood’s negligence, and not the fault of widowed Ramos.
It turns out the developer, starting as a mere hardware of construction supplies, had no license to develop houses nor the permit from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to engage in financing at the time of transaction in 2000. Its accountant admitted in court that it was only in 2005 that a license to develop housing was issued under a new subsidiary, Duraville.
It appears Durawood has exploited her emotional vulnerability ever since her husband died, more so when she was out of job, prompting her sisters to take Government Service Insurance System salary loans to cover the backlogs, making them effective stakeholders to the property.
Durawood even demanded that on top of the arrearages Mrs. Ramos had to pay additional rentals of P10,000 a month as ownership allegedly has not been turned over to them yet. Durawood seems to usurp full ownership in violation of Article 312 of the Revised Penal Code, as the case was still under litigation.
Her sisters sought the legal opinion of the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB), being the authority on housing laws, with the courts simply as interpreters and arbiters of laws. It has not replied yet with its legal opinion, except to push for a dialog, which is unnecessary, given the deadlocks in court.
Courting disaster or disaster at courts
There were two courts handling the same case, with Regional Trial Court Branch 222 in Quezon City under Judge Edgar Dalmacio Santos, declaring on June 7 a “failure of Judicial Dispute Resolution,” and passing on the case that was reraffled to a third court, Quezon City RTC Branch 96, which scheduled new round of hearings on September 23, 2016.
Unfortunately, another court, under Judge Joel Socrates Lopena of Manila Trial Court Branch 33, has issued three eviction orders since February 2016, with the recent one on August 10, with a certain Sheriff Conrad threatening to effect the eviction, and force the sisters to come across again. The August 10 order has not been received yet, either due to snail mail or possible deliberate delays so they won’t have time to prepare.
The courts could not just effect the eviction pending third court’s new trials, HLURB’s pending legal response, etc. In the meantime, they claim they have lost four lawyers, one after the other, as they softened stance with one unethically joining the rival party, with some paid P200,000 in acceptance fees, which they raised through loans. The sisters believe their case is not isolated, as they are the only ones left in their subdivision with the others possibly forced out in the same manner.
All they want is a fair trial, but they could no longer afford to pay lawyers, who were never helpful anyway, as they never raised pointed questions, like why the original contract was not subpoenaed, why there was no MRI, or why both the main complainant landowner Bernardo Evangelista and his Atty.-in-Fact Developer Orlando Bongat never surfaced in the hearings and many more issues. It is rumored Evangelista was not paid, and is believed dead already. Whether these are true, the truth must come out in a fair trial. And before the government can aim to house everybody, it needs to inquire first how’s everybody doing with their housing.
E-mail: mikealunan@yahoo.com