Agonizing days

Wilfredo S. Torres’ attempts to seize a portion of Maria Montessori School in Quezon City, backed by a local court and police, were agonizing for school president-directress Maritza Tecson.

“Those were agonizing days,” said Tecson, who admitted feeling “helpless” after the Quezon City Regional Trial Court-Branch 224 denied all motions to stay Torres’ moves to possess the property.

Sept. 6 proved to be terrifying: Torres’ group, a court sheriff and a truckload of policemen swooped down on the school and Wilcon Builders’ construction site on Visayas Avenue to serve the writ of possession.

“I felt so agitated. But I had to put up a brave front. It would have been easier to barricade an empty property. We were running a school. We can’t let the kids go somewhere, and bring them there,” Tecson said.

After failing to take over a portion of Wilcon’s future depot in the face of Wilcon lawyers’ resistance, the raiding team did not push ahead with its plan to enter the school later that day.

In case they did, the school guards, who were beefed up that day, were ready to thwart them, Tecson said.

Reprieve came on Sept. 9 when the Court of Appeals issued a 60-day temporary restraining order upon the petition of the K-Ville Townhomes homeowners who also faced eviction.

Torres is claiming ownership of 1,500 square meters of the 5,000-sq m Montessori, which at one point had to suspend classes for its 1,000 grade school and high school students because of the dispute.

But Tecson and her lawyers maintained that they were in possession of a Torrens title, and that this was legal.

In June, Tecson received an invitation from Torres’ lawyers for a talk over the court order reconstituting seven titles covering a 24-hectare prime property near Visayas Avenue in Torres’ name.

On the advice of her lawyers, she ignored it.

Then in July, Tecson received a notice from the Quezon City Assessor’s Office informing her that tax declarations had been transferred to Torres’ name. Posthaste, she met with Land Registration Authority officials, who eventually petitioned Branch 84 to nullify two of the seven titles.

A few weeks later, she received a notice to vacate the property. “We were surprised. We were not party to a case, and then suddenly, we get this notice. We were not informed about an ongoing reconstitution,” she said. “Worse, we were given three days to vacate.”

She met with local officials, and then filed pleadings with Branch 224 to stay the orders, but to no avail. She eventually filed a petition for injunction with the Court of Appeals, which is separate from the K-Ville petition.

Looking back, Tecson wondered: “The LRA is supposed to be the protector of Torrens title. What was the register of deeds doing when these things were being processed?”