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FORMER
central bank governor Jose L. Cuisia Jr. has branded as
“ridiculous and baseless” the allegations of stealing
P134 million in invested funds from his in-laws and
conspiring in an attempt on the life of his
sister-in-law, Cynthia Lopez.
Cuisia
cited a resolution of the Manila Prosecutor’s Office
dated December 8, 2005, dismissing all charges against
him and his wife Victoria in the estafa case filed by
Domingo and Emila Jose and his siblings, Cynthia Lopez,
Gerardo Jose and Luis Jose, for lack of evidence. That
dismissal, he noted, had long become final for failure
of the complainants to appeal it to higher authorities.
Second,
stressed Cuisia, there is no complaint, civil or
criminal, against him and Victoria filed by Cynthia
Lopez, the supposed victim of an attempt on her life. In
fact, the case filed by Cynthia Lopez against her
brother, Rene Jose, for attempted homicide neither
included Jose nor Victoria Cuisia.
The
former central bank chief decried the “continuous
disinformation and defamation” by his wife’s siblings in
an apparent attempt to include him “in a purely family
squabble among the Joses.” Cuisia was reacting to
reports that appeared in several newspapers on November
14, 2007, including one in the BusinessMirror (page A12)
with the title “CA Affirms Disinheritance of Cuisia’s
Wife.”
Lawyers
of Cuisia branded as false the report that the Court of
Appeals had upheld a decision by the 85-year-old Emilia
del Rosario-Jose to disinherit her son Rene Manuel Lopez
and daughter Victoria Cuisia, for allegedly
misappropriating her P134-million funds.
Besides
the fact that the CA “did not uphold any decision to
disinherit our clients, Ma. Victoria Jose-Cuisia and
Rene Manuel Lopez,” the estafa case against the Cuisia
spouses, concerning the P134 million allegedly owned by
spouses Domingo and Emilia Jose, had long ago been
dismissed by the Office of the City Prosecutor of Manila
for lack of (even) probable cause, said lawyers Carmen
Babista-Lazaro and Denise Jordan Arenillo.
“The
truth of the matter is that the case for the probate of
the Last Will and Testament of Emilia del Rosario-Jose
is still ongoing and the Regional Trial Court of Manila,
Branch 34, has not issued any ruling on the alleged
disinheritance contained in the purported Will,” the
lawyers added.
“The
petition for certiorari filed on July 10, 2006 with the
Court of Appeals imputed grave abuse of discretion on
the presiding judge of the Regional Trial Court of
Manila (Branch 34) for denying the motion to dismiss the
proceeding for the probate of the Last Will and
Testament of Emilia Del Rosario Jose filed by our
clients, Ma. Victoria Jose-Cuisia and Rene Jose for
being void. The petition is based on the ground that the
purported Will does not contain any disposition of Mrs.
Jose’s property, and failed to indicate the value of the
properties comprising Mrs. Jose’s estate which in
effect, makes the entire Will, including the
disinheritance, void.”
The
Special Eighth Division of the Court of Appeals,
explained the lawyers, “merely denied the petition for
certiorari which prayed for the dismissal of the
petition for probate of the Last Will and Testament of
the Emilia del Rosario-Jose for being void as to form
and substance. The Court of Appeals merely ruled that
the defects imputed by Ms. Cuisia and Mr. Jose on the
petition for probate are merely formal defects which do
not affect the jurisdiction of the Court.
“In
short, the Court of Appeals did not uphold any decision
on the probate case itself but only affirmed the
resolution of the lower court that the petition for
probate is sufficient in form and substance and, thus,
should not be dismissed.” This ruling of the Court of
Appeals is still not final, the lawyers added, since
they intend to file a motion for the reconsideration of
this decision. |
