Please End our 21 Years of Waiting

The following is an open letter of a friend from Riyadh to Her Excellency President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. We are giving space to this letter in the hope that one of our readers might be able to help. Thank you.


Her Excellency Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
President of the Republic of the Philippines
Malacanang Palace, Manila


Dear President Arroyo,

For the last 21 years I and my wife have been waging a lonely battle for the delivery of the title to a piece of land we bought back in 1985.

The first ten years of that battle was fought in the halls of the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) where three decisions, all in our favor, were rendered by the Honorable Board of said agency.

The other eleven years were spent at the Legal Department under the Office of the President, where the case was appealed by the owners and developers of the subdivision from whom we bought our land. During that period, under three presidents, three more decisions were rendered; again all in our favor. In the absence of an appeal to higher court, the last decision rendered by the Legal Department became final.

Last February, my attorney filed a petition for writ of execution with the local HLURB office in Baguio City. Eager to take possession of the title to our property after 21 years, the first thing I did when I went home for my annual vacation last March was to follow up the status of our petition. I was told by the Baguio office of HLURB that they are still waiting for the records of the case to be forwarded to them by the main office in Quezon City .

Having known from experience how slow things move if no one follows up personally, I went to HLURB Quezon City to ask when the records will be sent to Baguio. The staff at the Appeals Division informed me that they do not have the records of the case. In fact they do not know its present status and where the records are. I have to tell them that it is with the Legal Department in Malacanang. I was then asked to request the Legal Department to forward the records of our case to HLURB so that our petition can be acted on.

I went to Malacanang the following day, April 2, 2008, and as instructed requested the office of the Honorable Manuel Gaite to forward the records of our case, OP Case 98-F-8397, to the Appeals Division of HLURB.

When I returned here in Riyadh after my vacation, I made it a point to call either Richard or Olga of the Legal Department to inquire if the records were already forwarded to HLURB. Unfortunately, though, up to now after almost five months the records are still with Malacanang. I was told last week that the task was reassigned to another lawyer because the previous lawyer handling the task resigned. Only God knows what reason will be given to me the next time I call Malacanang; and only God knows how long will I and my family still wait.

Your Excellency, kindly knock at the doors of your staff at the Legal Department so that they may wake up from their deep slumber, and end our waiting.


Most sincerely,