REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
CITY PROSECUTORS OFFICE
SAN JOSE DEL MONTE CITY, BULACAN
LOIDA C. IGNACIO,

Complainant,

-versus-
NPS Docket No.
L. JOSEPHINE GOTIANUN YAP,
_________________
LORETA M. SANTOS, RUBELLA
C. MENDOZA, REYNALDO
JUANITO S. NIEVA, and
RIZALANGELA L. REYES,
Respondents.
x-----------------------------------------x

COMPLAINT-AFFIDAVIT

I, LOIDA C. IGNACIO, Filipino, of legal age, with office address at Rm.

th
801, 8 Floor, CityState Building, Shaw Boulevard, Pasig City, after having
been duly sworn to in accordance with law, hereby depose and state that:

1. RESPONDENTS. – The Respondents in this criminal complaint are as

follows:

a. L. JOSEPHINE GOTIANUN YAP, a Filipino, of legal age, the

President of Filinvest Land, Incorporated (“Filinvest” for brevity),
with office address at Filinvest Bldg., No. 79 EDSA, Mandaluyong
City 1550 where she may be served with subpoena and other legal
processes;

b. LORETA M. SANTOS, a Filipino, of legal age, Reservation and

Document Services Head of Filinvest at the time of execution of
the subject Contract to Sell, with office address at Filinvest Bldg.,
No. 79 EDSA, Mandaluyong City 1550 where she may be served
with subpoena and other legal processes;

c. RUBELLA C. MENDOZA, a Filipino, of legal age, the In-House

Accounts Servicing and Rediscounting Head of Filinvest at the
time of execution of the subject Contract to Sell, with office
address at Filinvest Bldg., No. 79 EDSA, Mandaluyong City 1550,

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 where she may be served with subpoena and other legal
processes;

d. REYNALDO JUANITO S. NIEVA, a Filipino, of legal age, the FVP-

Operations Head of Filinvest, with office address at Filinvest Bldg.,
No. 79 EDSA, Mandaluyong City 1550, where he may be served
with subpoena and other legal processes; and

e. RIZALANGELA L. REYES, a Filipino, of legal age, the VP-HRAD &

Customer Care Head of Filinvest, with office address at Filinvest
Bldg., No. 79 EDSA, Mandaluyong City 1550, where she may be
served with subpoena and other legal processes.

2. CRIME CHARGED. – Herein Complainant hereby charges the above-

named Respondents for the crime of violations of Sections 9 and 17,
in relation to Section 39 of Presidential Decree No. 957, otherwise
known as The Subdivision and Condominium Buyers' Protective
Decree, the ultimate facts of which are discussed hereinbelow.

3. STATEMENT OF ULTIMATE FACTS. – On or about July 2010, my

husband and I purchased a parcel of land, designated as Lot L7 Block
No. B42, Phase I in the subdivision project of Filinvest, i.e. Melody
Plains Subdivision (“Property” for brevity).

a. On October 2010, a Contract to Sell1 was executed by the parties

(“Contract” for brevity). My husband, Ernesto Gutierrez Ignacio
and I, signed as buyers. On the part of the seller Filinvest,
Respondent Santos signed as Reservation and Document Services
Head and Respondent Mendoza signed as In-House Accoutns
Servicing and Rediscounting Head. The contract was was
notarized by Notary Public Avelio L. Salcedo at Parañaque City.

b. Over the years, i.e. June 2010 up to January 2016, my husband and
I paid the installments due.2 There were times when we were
delayed in payment. However, we duly paid the interest and late
payment charges imposed by Filinvest. I did not receive any
notice from Filinvest regarding any adverse notice pertaining to
the Contract.

c. On 23 January 2016, while conducting an ocular inspection of the

Property, I was apprised by the owner of the neighboring property
that there is another person claiming the lot. The said person
already had the same re-surveyed.

1 Attached as Annexes “A” to “A-2” are copies of the Contract to Sell Notarized on October 2010,
Schedule 1 and Schedule 2, respectively.
2 Attached as Annex “B” collectively are the copies of the payments made from 23 June 2010 up to 01
January 2016.

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 d. I was so surprised, disappointed and appalled to receive such news
considering the installment payments were received by Filinvest.
I never received any denial of the payments made, nor advise that
the Property is already sold to another person.

e. On ____________________, I sought clarification with the

customer relations officer of Filinvest, Mr. Rendel Avar, regarding
the misunderstanding. However, Mr. Avar informed me orally that
the Contract to Sell in our favor was already cancelled. I asked for
the document they executed cancelling the Contract.

f. There was no written notice from Filinvest, prior to and after the
inquiry with Mr. Avar, as to the cancellation of the contract.

g. On 12 February 2016, I wrote a letter3 addressed to The

Management of Filinvest, demanding an explanation as to why
the contract was cancelled without notice and due process. I
likewise complained that Filinvest continued to accept payments
from me via bank deposit despite the alleged unilateral
cancellation by Filinvest. I stated in my letter that I demand for
Filinvest’s immediate reply.

h. Filinvest, nor any of the Respondents who are supposed to be part

of the Management Team, ignored and failed to give any response
to my letter dated 12 February 2016. I waited and followed up on
the response for several months, to no avail.

i. I have been paying the installments on the Property since 2010, as

evidenced by the schedule of payment and bank deposits to
Filinvest bank account attached in this complaint-affidavit
collectively as Annex B. My husband and I are ordinary
employees. We planned to make use of the property to earn extra
income to sustain us in our retirement years. Every single centavo
paid for the Property is a product of our labor and hard work.
Hence, the cancellation of the contract has caused me and my
family great anxiety that we had to seek legal counsel on the
matter.

j. Thus, in 2017, I sought the legal advise of CGV Law on what

remedies we can explore to recover the Property. I wanted to
avoid filing any case because I know it would entail so much time
and consume the meager resources of my family.

3 Attached as Annex “C” is a copy of the letter of Complainant Ignacio addressed to The Management of
Filinvest.

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 k. On 14 March 2017, CGV Law wrote another letter4 to Filinvest,
attention to Respondents Nieva, Reyes and Atty. Romeo L.
Magtanong, regarding the illegal cancellation of Contract No.
10000079596. Despite receipt of the letter, we have not received
any oral or formal correspondence from Filinvest regarding the
explanation on the illegal cancellation of the contract and double
sale to another person.

l. The act of Filinvest of unilaterally canceling the contract without

notice and without complying with the procedure for cancellation
under Republic Act 6552 is illegal and should not be
countenanced. Section 3 of the said law provides that:

“Section 3. In all transactions or contracts

involving the sale or financing of real estate on installment
payments, including residential condominium apartments
but excluding industrial lots, commercial buildings and
sales to tenants under Republic Act Numbered Thirty-
eight hundred forty-four, as amended by Republic Act
Numbered Sixty-three hundred eighty-nine, where the
buyer has paid at least two years of installments, the buyer
is entitled to the following rights in case he defaults in the
payment of succeeding installments:

Xxx (b) If the contract is canceled, the seller shall refund

to the buyer the cash surrender value of the payments
on the property equivalent to fifty per cent of the total
payments made, and, after five years of installments,
an additional five per cent every year but not to exceed
ninety per cent of the total payments made: Provided,
That the actual cancellation of the contract shall take
place after thirty days from receipt by the buyer of the
notice of cancellation or the demand for rescission of
the contract by a notarial act and upon full payment of
the cash surrender value to the buyer.

Down payments, deposits or options on the contract shall

be included in the computation of the total number of
installment payments made.” (emphasis ours)

4. Filinvest, through Respondents, clearly violated Presidential Section

Decree 957 by employing fraud in the cancellation of the contract,
subsequently selling the same without the contract being cancelled in

4 Attached as Annex “D” is a copy of the letter of CGV Law dated 14 March 2017.

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 accordance with law and by not conducting its business in accordance
with law.5

5. Upon verification made with the Register of Deeds of Meycauayan,

Bulacan pertaining to TCT No. T-553775(M), it was discovered that
Filinvest and Respondents failed to register the Contract as required
under the law.

6. The non-registration of the Contract is a blatant violation of Section

17, Paragraph 1 of PD 957, which states as follows:

SEC. 17. Registration. - All contracts to sell,

deeds of sale and other similar instruments relative
to the sale or conveyance of the subdivision lots and
condominium units, whether or not the purchase
price is paid in full, shall be registered by the seller
in the Office of the Register of Deeds of the
province or city where the property is situated.

7. Respondents are all involved and in-charge with the administration of

Filinvest. Section 39 of P.D. 957 clearly provides for the persons liable
for violation of the Act in case of corporations, to wit:

“Any person who shall violate any of the provisions

of this Decree and/or any rule or regulation that
may be issued pursuant to this Decree shall, upon
conviction, be punished by a fine of not more than
twenty thousand (P20,000.00) pesos and/or
imprisonment of not more than ten years: Provided,
That in the case of corporations, partnership,
cooperatives, or associations, the President,
Manager or Administrator or the person who has
charge of the administration of the business shall
be criminally responsible for any violation of this
Decree and/or the rules and regulations
promulgated pursuant thereto.6”

5 Section 9. Revocation of registration certificate and license to sell. The Authority may, motu proprio or
upon verified complaint filed by a buyer of a subdivision lot or condominium unit, revoke the registration
of any subdivision project or condominium project and the license to sell any subdivision lot or
condominium unit in said project by issuing an order to this effect, with his findings in respect thereto, if
upon examination into the affairs of the owner or dealer during a hearing as provided for in Section 14
hereof, if shall appear there is satisfactory evidence that the said owner or dealer:
Xxx (b) has violated any of the provisions of this Decree or any applicable rule or regulation of the
Authority, or any undertaking of his/its performance bond; or
(c) Has been or is engaged or is about to engage in fraudulent transactions; or
Xxx (f) Does not conduct his business in accordance with law or sound business principles.
6 Section 39. Penalties

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8. The act of illegally depriving me and my family of our rights to the
property have caused us so much damage that I have no other
recourse but to elevate this matter to this Honorable Office. The
unscrupulous practices in the sale of subdivision lots should be dealt
with to the full extent of the law. No less than the Supreme Court has
pronounced that “public interest and welfare are involved in
subdivision and condominium development.” 7

9. To this end, this affidavit is being executed to attest to the truth of the
foregoing and in support of my accusation against Respondents for
violation of Sections 9 and 17, in relation to Section 39 of Presidential
Decree No. 957.

10. Lastly, it is requested of this Honorable Office that any order, notice
and other legal processes in this case be served through my counsel
CGV Law with at address Unit 302 Greenhills Mansion, No. 37
Annapolis Street, Greenhills, San Juan City, Metro Manila 1502.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this

__________________ in ____________________.

LOIDA C. IGNACIO
Complainant

Subscribed and sworn to before me this ________________________

in ______________________, Philippines. I hereby certify that I have
personally examined the affiant and that I am satisfied that he voluntarily
executed and understood his affidavit.

Assistant City Prosecutor

7 Spouses Chua v. Hon. Ang (G.R. No. 156164, September 4, 2009)