Star Assets Management Ropoas Inc. is contemplating filing cases against those behind the news item that the company was auctioning off properties covered by the writ of preliminary injunction, saying it has tarnished the reputation of the company.
Lawyer Ramon Edison C. Batacan, legal counsel of the company, explained that the company, which has auctioned off properties under the Special Purpose Asset Vehicle law, said none of the 17 properties under the writ of preliminary injunction were subject of the auction that started in 2007.
Batacan explained the news story “created a misimpression on the mind of the public” about the company. “It had affected the auction (that the company did on October 23) and the other auction activities in the future,” he said.
He added there were already prospective bidders who withdrew their bids after reading the story. “It could have translated into sales,” he said.
He explained that all those that were auctioned off by the company were free of legal problems and that “we are a law-abiding company.”
He said the company, which has acquired 7,000 properties for auction all over the country from five banks, has started investigating as to who were behind the news story “but we have yet to get to the bottom of it.”
The law, Republic Act 9182, was signed in January 2003 to lure financial companies to get rid of their non-performing assets and make them more liquid. The law was established in an effort to address the then growing non-performing loans of banks.
Marites Avila-Ocampo, assistant manager of the Legal Division of the company, said the company sold the properties it acquired from the banks with titles already released by the Registry of Deeds. Ocampo explained that properties that are covered by the injunction could not be auctioned off considering that these properties are still under the name of the original owner.
The lawyers were referring to a story that appeared in local newspapers claiming that some buyers were complaining that they acquired properties during the auction fair of the company that were subject of a court battle.
In the story, a supposed bidder claimed that what attracted them to the auction were the low prices and that the properties could be acquired through instalment.
Based on the story, among those offered for auction were 17 properties at the Green Heights Subdivision in Davao City that were subject of the writ of preliminary injunction issued by Regional Trial Court Branch 13 Judge Emmanuel C. Carpio in July 2003.
The writ of preliminary injunction was issued in favor of the Lui Enterprises Inc. and Eli L. Lui who questioned the transfer of the properties to the Philippine Bank of Communication, which in turn transferred them to the company.
Batacan said his company also auctioned off several properties acquired from the same owners as those that owned the questionable properties, but all these properties were already titled in favor of the company and were not subject of any legal battle. [AD]
