GR 106413; (July, 1996) (Digest)
G.R. No. 106413 July 5, 1996
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES, petitioner, vs. TACLOBAN CITY ICE PLANT, INC. and ALLIED BANKING CORPORATION, as Trustee of the COLLEGE ASSURANCE PLAN PHILS., INC., and SANDIGANBAYAN (Second Division), respondents.
FACTS
The Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) sequestered the Price Mansion in Tacloban City in 1986, believing it to be ill-gotten wealth of Benjamin “Kokoy” Romualdez. Respondent Tacloban City Ice Plant, Inc. (TCIP) claimed ownership, presenting a 1978 Deed of Sale from the heirs of the original owners. After hearings, the PCGG issued an order on February 27, 1987, lifting the sequestration, finding TCIP’s ownership claim sufficiently substantiated and that the property was not ill-gotten. Despite this, the PCGG retained possession and later included the mansion as an asset in Civil Case No. 0035 against Romualdez before the Sandiganbayan. Upon TCIP’s motion, and with the PCGG and Solicitor General expressing no objection, the Sandiganbayan issued a resolution on June 28, 1989, ordering the property’s deletion from the asset list and its turnover to TCIP. The PCGG still refused to comply. TCIP subsequently sold the property to respondent Allied Banking Corporation.
ISSUE
Whether the Sandiganbayan committed grave abuse of discretion in issuing its October 1, 1991 and July 23, 1992 resolutions declaring its June 28, 1989 order final and executory and ordering the Republic to comply.
RULING
No. The Sandiganbayan did not commit grave abuse of discretion. The Court found its resolutions were based on the PCGG’s own factual finding and order lifting the sequestration, which the Republic never appealed and thus became final. The Republic’s subsequent inclusion of the property in the Sandiganbayan case, while simultaneously representing it had no objection to its exclusion, constituted estoppel. The principle of conclusiveness of judgment applies; the PCGG’s unappealed order lifting sequestration is conclusive on the issue of TCIP’s prima facie ownership for purposes of the sequestration. However, the Court granted the Republic’s alternative prayer. A third-party claim was filed by Universal Broadcasting Corporation (UBC), another sequestered entity allegedly controlled by Romualdez, asserting ownership. This new claim, not previously adjudicated, presented a genuine issue requiring a hearing. The Sandiganbayan was ordered to conduct a hearing to determine UBC’s claim and the Republic’s right to retain possession, suspending the effect of its challenged resolutions pending this determination.