Thursday, May 12, 2011
Court seizes Ligot assets
Ex-comptroller Jacinto Ligot
P40M taken by court from ex-comptroller
By John Constantine G. Cordon, Reporter
THE Sandiganbayan has garnished about P40 million in various assets owned by former military comptroller Jacinto Ligot.
According to the two-page Sheriff's Report dated May 6, the anti-graft court has frozen four bank accounts of Ligot in the Armed Forces and Police Savings and Loans Association Inc. (AFPSLAI) worth P7.4 million, five parcels of lots and condominium units.
The report, prepared by Sheriff Romulo Barrozo, showed that the AFPSLAI accounts of Ligot had been seized.
During an interview, Barrozo, however, said that the accounts "may have already been withdrawn."
When he was about to garnish the AFPSLAI accounts, according to the Sandiganbayan sheriff, the savings and loans association handed him a check worth only P2.9 million, which it said corresponded to the four accounts.
"They [AFPSLAI] mistakenly handed me the check when there was no execution yet, only the freezing of the accounts but as shown by the check, the accounts may have been withdrawn already," Barrozo said.
The anti-graft court said that the AFPSLAI accounts amounted to P7.4 million.
Aside from the bank accounts, the Sandiganbayan also garnished the P25-million unit of Edgardo Yambao, Ligot's brother-in-law, at 19A Essensa East Forbes Condominium in Taguig City (Metro Manila).
The anti-graft court attached to its garnishment order Yambao's P1.4-million house on 307 Katipunan Avenue, Loyola Heights in Quezon City.
It also attached Ligot's unit at 201 2/F Pamayanang Diego Silang Project II in Taguig City.
Although the unit, estimated to be worth P507,000, was listed under the name of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority, Barrozo was able to acquire the title for the unit and freeze it.
The sheriff's team also moved to attach Ligot's property in Parkview
Condominium in Makati City (also in Metro Manila) worth P7.8 million.
But the Register of Deeds of Makati City sent Barrozo a notice of denial, saying that the unit was still under the name of Megaworld.
"We are already moving to attach the Parkview Condominium because the Office of the Special Prosecutor already showed that Miguela Ligot-Paragas [Jacinto's sister] has already started to pay (for) the condominium and will already transfer the unit to Paulo Ligot [Jacinto's son]," Barrozo said.
The Sandiganbayan sheriff's also attached two lots—one in Tanay, Rizal province, worth P2 million listed under the name of the former military comptroller and the other in Muntinlupa City (also in Metro Manila) worth P1.2 million owned by husband-and-wife Edgardo and Maria Isabel Yambao.
To date, the Sherriff's Division has frozen P40 million of the pieces of real and personal property out of the P135 million that it had been ordered to seize from Ligot, a former lieutenant general in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
Barrozo said that his group is set to also attach Ligot's pieces of property in Malaybalay City, Bukidnon province, where the former-AFP comptroller served as commander of the Philippine Army's 403rd Infantry Brigade from June 1996 to October 1999.
Ligot also served for a year as comptroller of the Army from April 1995 to May 1996.
He was the chief comptroller of the Armed Forces from November 1999 to March 2001.
--
Antonio L. Buensuceso Jr.
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