The Office of the Solicitor General has filed petition for escheat before the Regional Trial Court of San Carlos asking that ownership of the estate of the late Juan Caminos that covers the bulk of the property in the center of Escalante City be declared in favor of the Republic of the Philippines.

The Solicitor General argued that Juan Caminos died on July 15, 1939 and left no heir entitled to his estate. Escheat is a proceeding whereby the state by virtue of its sovereignty steps in and claims the real and personal property of a person who dies and leaves no heirs, Solicitor General Eduardo Nachura said in his petition filed Nov. 30, 2006.

Those who claimed to be Caminos' heirs have failed to prove kinship, Nachura added.

Escalante Mayor Santiago Barcelona told the DAILY STAR the estate of Juan Caminos covers about 62 hectares in Barangay Balintawak or about 80 percent of the center of Escalante City.

Amado Parreño, lawyer of the heirs of Juan Caminos, on the other hand, said the claim of the Solicitor General will fall flat on its face as it has no leg to stand on.

It is not true that there are no heirs to the property, we will oppose the petition that was instigated by Barcelona as a political tool for the May polls, Parreño told the DAILY STAR.

Parreño pointed out that on Jan. 14, 1982 a Court of Appeals ruling granting the claim on the property of Juan Caminos to his heirs became final and executory.

He also pointed out that in 2006, an Escalante Sangguniang Panlungsod resolution and letter of request of Barcelona was submitted to the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office of Cadiz City asking for the nullification and cancellation of the titles issued in the name of heirs of Juan Caminos and that the property in question be declared public lands.

The CENRO in response said it appears that the issue as to who are the heirs of Caminos had already been resolved by virtue of a Nov. 16, 2006 order of San Carlos RTC judge Rolindo Beldia Jr.

Beldia declared Fermin Caminos Varca Jr. as one of the heirs of Juan Caminos, being the child of Perla Caminos Varca, the eldest daughter of Vicente Caminos, Parreño said.

Meanwhile, Parreño said the heirs of the estate of Juan Caminos represented by duly appointed administrators - Perla Varca and Crispina Esparcia and himself -- have filed a civil case for recovery of possession against Escalante City and Santiago Barcelona.

He said the heirs of Juan Caminos had donated the land where the Escalante City Hall, public plaza, market and elementary school stand to the government even prior to the CA ruling in their favor.

However, sometime in 1995 the city constructed several buildings on Lot 3925 and encroached on 1,750 square meters of their property, Parreño said.

The building encroaching on the heirs property, Parreño said, houses the Escalante Sangguniang Panlungsod, Sangguniang Kabataan, Civil Registrar and Department of Social Welfare and Development.

Parreño said they have asked the court to order the City of Escalante to vacate their property or to pay them its fair market value and other reliefs.*CPG

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