Here's my explanation of what happened in the Ivory Wood, Acacia Estates case. I find the articles quite confusing, so I thought of doing a more straightforward post about it.
Disclaimer: The information is based on court documents. I do not intend to cast judgment on anyone; I am simply trying to derive lessons from the ordeal.
1. A bus company, Liberty Transport, owned a lot in Taguig.
2. Liberty's Employees (LE) filed a labor case against Liberty and won in 2006. The Labor Department annotated Liberty's title to the Taguig lot with a levy in favor of the LE.
3. In 2009, the lot was liquidated/auctioned off to pay the LE (?). The winner of the auction was the same employees who had won the labor case.
4. In June 2009, the employees ALLEGEDLY sold the property to Taguig Land for P1.9 Mn. This company was later folded into DMCI. The employees were paid Php100,000 (?) each for the sale. The employees ALLEGEDLY signed a Deed of Absolute Sale (DOAS) and waiver and quitclaim (WQC) that frees Liberty's owners and Taguig Land/DMCI.
[This is where the drama starts. This is the employees' side of the story.]
5. Not long after the sale, the LE filed a motion to cancel the sale of the property, saying that the documents were falsified (one of the signatories to the DOAS/WQC had already died as far back as 1997, and another is reportedly missing).
6. The LE claimed that the supposed DOAS/WQC that they signed [from how I understand it] was a blank piece of paper that was supposedly an Acknowledgment Receipt for their share of the case's winnings.
7. The LE also claimed that they never authorized anybody to sell the property.
8. The court proceedings then stretch to where we are today, a Senate hearing.
9. While the case was ongoing, DMCI developed the lot into Ivory Wood, Acacia Estates, and turned it over to buyers in 2018.
10. This year, DMCI said, "The buyers of Ivory Wood will be given the option to either transfer to another condominium project or to get a full refund based on the current market value plus damages."
Discussion:
1. I'm surprised to know that the property in the case was an existing project of DMCI. Why would regulators allow the construction/sale if the property still had legal proceedings? Apparently–annotations/claims against a property can be canceled and reinstated later. 🤦🏻♂️
Lesson 1: Developers' reputation/license to sell doesn't ensure that a pre-selling property comes without problems. I can only think of minimizing the damage from the ordeal by "not putting all your eggs in one basket." The Ivory Wood buyers are actually lucky that Taguig zonal values were revised recently. At least, they'll be getting more.
2. The story highlights the inherent risks of dealing with a party represented by an Attorney-in-Fact (AIF). Later, the AIF's Principal may claim they never authorized the AIF and that the SPA was falsified.
Lesson 2: Have some other evidence (other than a notarized SPA) to show that the AIF is duly authorized by the Principal. For example, keep a recorded Zoom meeting with the Principal authorizing the AIF if the Principal is domiciled abroad.
3. The story also highlights the dangers of lodging properties in a corporation. Assuming a labor case is filed against a company, the court may annotate a levy on the company's properties (assuming the company is insolvent).
Lesson 3: We all know that the Labor Courts in the PH favor the employees. It's probably best to lodge the property in a different company from the corporation with employees.
4. I remember that in old lectures, the rights of buyers in good faith were protected. That is to say, the buyers of Ivory Wood should continue to own the Ivory Wood units that they have bought (and DMCI should compensate Liberty's employees separately). Apparently, not.
Lesson 4: Be careful purchasing properties with third-party claims. Even if you were a buyer in good faith, the property may still be confiscated.
Lesson 5: Never sign a blank piece of paper. If there's an empty space around the signature line, possibly indicate under the signature line what the document is for.