The Sandiganbayan’s Special Division on Wednesday convicted Estrada of plunder and ordered the attachment of about P540 million in his bank accounts and the 7,400-square-meter property on 11th Street in New Manila, Quezon City.
The place has come to be known as the Boracay mansion because it has a pool with sand brought in from the island resort in Aklan.
Estrada is said to have bought the property for Laarni Enriquez, one of the women with whom he had children.
On Friday, Quezon City Treasurer Victor Endriga said the property now belongs to the city government because its owners had not paid back taxes for it.
Endriga said the city government already owned the property even before Estrada was convicted.
He said the mansion, whose registered owner is St. Peter Holdings Corp., was among the properties listed as delinquent since 2000 because the owner had not paid the P1.7-million property tax.
“We don’t know that the property was the controversial Boracay mansion because our system only provides us with the list of real properties in the city that have failed to settle their tax obligations for five consecutive years,” Endriga told The Manila Times.
He said he mailed a notice to St. Peter Holdings at its office in Strata 100, Pasig City, but the office had closed.
The city government put the place on auction in 2005, but nobody submitted bids. That automatically made the Quezon City government the owner of the property.
Endriga said the owner could still redeem the property if it pays the P1.292,842 in back taxes and P440,741.72 in penalties.
A Sandiganbayan insider contested the Quezon City government’s claim to the Boracay mansion.
The source, who did not want to be identified, said the property was seized in favor of the government as “fruits of the crime” under Section 45 of the Revised Penal Code.
In ordering the property seized, the Court invoked Section 45 and not the civil case of attachment under the Rules on Civil Procedure and Republic Act 1379 or forfeiture of ill-gotten wealth, normally used in the case of the Marcoses, the source said.
He confirmed that the property is under the name of St. Peter Holdings, which he said is owned by the businessman Jose Yulo. He said Yulo did not lay claim to the property apparently fearful that he might be implicated as a “dummy” of Estrada.
Endriga said he will inform the Sandiganbayan about the status of the Boracay mansion and promise to conform with whatever order the antigraft court would issue regarding the property.
On Friday, Special Prosecutor Dennis Villa-Ignacio said he has formed a task force to recover Estrada’s assets.
Villa-Ignacio told ABS-CBN News the task force will have 5 members and 12 investigators.
He said his office have three bank accounts of Estrada but these only contain less than P300 million.
By Jefferson Antiporda and Jomar Canlas Reporters
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