Yvonne Yuchengco, Malayan Insurance co, and others to face graft and corruption case

In a final and executory ruling, the Supreme Court (SC) has ordered the Office of the
Ombudsman to file graft charges against a ranking official of the Land Registration Authority for
tampering with 39 titles covering condominium units in Ortigas Center in Pasig City.
In an Entry of Judgment dated April 1, 2014 but released to the media only recently, the High
Court said the order for the Ombudsman to file a complaint for violation of Sections 3(a) and (e)
of Republic Act 3019 against Pasig City Register of Deeds Policarpio Espenesin and private
respondent Francis Serrano has become final and executory and is hereby recorded in the Book
of Entries of Judgments.
The entry was signed by Corazon delos Reyes, SCs Second Division deputy clerk of court and
chief of the Judicial Records Office.
In a decision penned by Associate Justice Jose Portugal Perez, the High Tribunal found
Espenesin guilty of grave misconduct and imposed upon him the penalty of dismissal from
service.
Espenesins retirement pay and benefits were also ordered forfeited by the High Court.
Serrano worked for the Yuchengco-owned Malayan Insurance Co., while Espenesin headed the
Pasig Registry of Deeds. The case arose from the complaint filed by Oscar Ampil who claimed
that Malayan president Yvonne Yuchengco, treasurer Gema Cheng and Serrano connived with
Espenesin in replacing or snopaking the name of ASB Realty Corporation with Malayan
Insurance on the 39 titles. Ampils complaint stated that the titles cover condominium units at the
posh Malayan Plaza in Ortigas Center.
ASB Realty Corporation, Ampil claimed, was erased and replaced with Malayan Insurance.
His complaint was previously dismissed by the anti-graft office for insufficiency of evidence.
But Ampil, a creditor of ASB, which claimed to have interest in the condo units, sought redress
with the High Court.
It was learned that Malayan Plaza is a joint venture between Malayan Insurance and ASB Realty
Corporation.
The Plaza was initially developed by ASB in the mid 1990s but Malayan Insurance, which
owned the land, assumed and eventually finished construction of the condo units.
The altered titles were supposed to be part of ASBs share in saleable areas of the Plaza based on
a memorandum of agreement it executed with Malayan.
Source: http://www.manilatimes.net/sc-to-ombudsman-file-graft-charges-vs-land-title-
scammer/100075/