Manoling Morato speaks up to air side on Joy Belmonte's libel charges
Published Feb 19, 2019 04:32 pm
By Chito Chavez
Former Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) chairman Manuel “Manoling’’ Morato admitted that it was a mistake for their family to remain silent all these years that led to the supposed illegal sale of their property.
Manoling Morato (FACEBOOK / MANILA BULLETIN)
After libel and cyber liber cases were filed by Quezon City Vice-Mayor Joy Belmonte against him, Morato said his family decided to come out in the open to clear the air on what transpired over the land controversy that led to the filing of the complaints.
Being the eldest among the six siblings, Morato said he wanted to keep the family’s affairs private, away from the media limelight and the public’s eye but recent circumstances led him to act otherwise.
To clear the air, Morato clarified the controversy hounding their family is not a quarrel by two brothers about a “Quezon City lot’’ but it was the demolition of the ancestral home of “our parents here inside the compound’’.
The property in question which is at the center of the family feud is the lot located at 99 Scout Gandia St. corner Tomas Morato St. Barangay Sacred Heart Quezon City where the ancestral home of Morato’s late parents used to be located and where the matriarch Dona Consuelo lived from 1939 until her death in 2002.
Morato accused his youngest brother Pepito and his other cohorts of hoodwinking them to advance his manipulative ways in being able sell the questioned properties through illegal means.
He claimed that Pepito forged and manufactured “everything signatures, thumb marks and letters” explaining why he was able to sell the house.
In an emotion filled declaration, Morato flanked by his sisters Elvira Cuenca and Teresita Lazatin said “their youngest sibling Pepito took over the estate of their mother through fraudulent means’’.
Morato recounted that in 2008 Pepito borrowed “all the titles that my mother entrusted to me’’ convincing him that his brother needed then to avail of the “tax amnesty’’ offered by then President Gloria Arroyo.
“He never returned them back to me up to now, just to find out that he and his partners took over our properties in Quezon City and Quezon province,’’ Morato said.
Morato said the documents including the three titles where the ancestral house stands were never returned with all the structures in the area suddenly being demolished by the cohorts of Pepito and his company.
“Those are the documents he is now manipulating,’’ he added.
Morato said that Pepito insisted the ancestral home located at 99 Scout Gandia St. corner Tomas Morato was sold or donated to him contrary the “Will of “my mother’’.
Through manipulative, fraudulent and deceitful means, Morato claimed that Pepito sold their properties to the Belmonte family.
“Our lawyers have all the documents including the deed of sale between you and the Belmontes without our knowledge and consent. The property belongs to the six of us and you completely took over yourself,’’ Morato asserted.
Morato said that he has three sisters and two brothers Pepito and Francisco.
The former PCSO chief explained the supposed dialogue with Pepito to clear the air did not materialize as his youngest sibling wanted to talk to his other siblings “one by one’’ and not as a collective group.
Knowing his youngest brother, Morato described him of being shrewd, cunning, devious and manipulative making them and his three other siblings to reject the move.
He mentioned that his three sisters have not talked to Pepito for more than 10 years due to his supposed immoral ways.
Morato added this has been the case even if he tried vainly to patch things up among the Morato siblings privately adding that only the second youngest sibling Francisco who had previously squabbled with his youngest brother numerous times finally sided with Pepito.
In a telephone conversation, Morato claimed he felt hurt and insulted when former House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. who has been a family friend for over 40 years allegedly told him that he can have the whole 21-storey building if the Moratos win the case.
On the claim that his complaint was politically motivated, Morato said it has nothing to do with “Joy Belmonte’s mayoral tussle with fiercest rival Vincent “Bingbong’’ Crisologo but at the same time declared that “I will not vote for Joy Belmonte’’ whom he had known since the vice-mayor was a little girl.
He also clarified that “this is not a fight about the lot or inheritance’’ but the desecration of our parents’ ancestral home by my youngest brother Pepito’’.
“Government official cannot favor their relatives up to the third or fourth degree of consanguinity. We have filed a case in the Office of the Ombudsman. And RA 10066 of President Gloria was violated as well. Said law demands that no structure 50 years old and above can be demolished without going to court. And the ancestral home of our parents was over 70 years old,’’ he added.
Morato showed the questioned lot in the said compound where the old house used to stand is now a huge excavation site where the construction preparations for the 21-storey hotel/condo are being done since April 2018.
However, Jose Cuenca, Morato’s nephew and son of his sister Elvira said “what saved the Morato lot from being further degenerated were the narra trees’’, work was suspended due to environmental regulations.
On Monday, Vice-Mayor Joy Belmonte filed libel and cyber libel cases against Morato before the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office in connection with an article entitled “Joy Belmonte Swak sa Graft’’ published in the February 15 issue of the tabloid “Saksi Mga Balitang Totoo Ngayon’’ accusing her of filing a resolution that favored her three siblings in a transaction in the city.
Appearing before the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office, Belmonte said the story written by Joel Amongo is a “factually incorrect and malicious’’ article in a suit that was already dismissed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Office of the Prosecutor.
“This is why I have decided to file a libel case against Saksi: Mga Balitang Totoo Ngayon and also against Mr. Manuel "Manoling" Morato - who serves as the source for the story - for the publication of the article,’’ Belmonte said.
Manoling Morato (FACEBOOK / MANILA BULLETIN)
After libel and cyber liber cases were filed by Quezon City Vice-Mayor Joy Belmonte against him, Morato said his family decided to come out in the open to clear the air on what transpired over the land controversy that led to the filing of the complaints.
Being the eldest among the six siblings, Morato said he wanted to keep the family’s affairs private, away from the media limelight and the public’s eye but recent circumstances led him to act otherwise.
To clear the air, Morato clarified the controversy hounding their family is not a quarrel by two brothers about a “Quezon City lot’’ but it was the demolition of the ancestral home of “our parents here inside the compound’’.
The property in question which is at the center of the family feud is the lot located at 99 Scout Gandia St. corner Tomas Morato St. Barangay Sacred Heart Quezon City where the ancestral home of Morato’s late parents used to be located and where the matriarch Dona Consuelo lived from 1939 until her death in 2002.
Morato accused his youngest brother Pepito and his other cohorts of hoodwinking them to advance his manipulative ways in being able sell the questioned properties through illegal means.
He claimed that Pepito forged and manufactured “everything signatures, thumb marks and letters” explaining why he was able to sell the house.
In an emotion filled declaration, Morato flanked by his sisters Elvira Cuenca and Teresita Lazatin said “their youngest sibling Pepito took over the estate of their mother through fraudulent means’’.
Morato recounted that in 2008 Pepito borrowed “all the titles that my mother entrusted to me’’ convincing him that his brother needed then to avail of the “tax amnesty’’ offered by then President Gloria Arroyo.
“He never returned them back to me up to now, just to find out that he and his partners took over our properties in Quezon City and Quezon province,’’ Morato said.
Morato said the documents including the three titles where the ancestral house stands were never returned with all the structures in the area suddenly being demolished by the cohorts of Pepito and his company.
“Those are the documents he is now manipulating,’’ he added.
Morato said that Pepito insisted the ancestral home located at 99 Scout Gandia St. corner Tomas Morato was sold or donated to him contrary the “Will of “my mother’’.
Through manipulative, fraudulent and deceitful means, Morato claimed that Pepito sold their properties to the Belmonte family.
“Our lawyers have all the documents including the deed of sale between you and the Belmontes without our knowledge and consent. The property belongs to the six of us and you completely took over yourself,’’ Morato asserted.
Morato said that he has three sisters and two brothers Pepito and Francisco.
The former PCSO chief explained the supposed dialogue with Pepito to clear the air did not materialize as his youngest sibling wanted to talk to his other siblings “one by one’’ and not as a collective group.
Knowing his youngest brother, Morato described him of being shrewd, cunning, devious and manipulative making them and his three other siblings to reject the move.
He mentioned that his three sisters have not talked to Pepito for more than 10 years due to his supposed immoral ways.
Morato added this has been the case even if he tried vainly to patch things up among the Morato siblings privately adding that only the second youngest sibling Francisco who had previously squabbled with his youngest brother numerous times finally sided with Pepito.
In a telephone conversation, Morato claimed he felt hurt and insulted when former House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. who has been a family friend for over 40 years allegedly told him that he can have the whole 21-storey building if the Moratos win the case.
On the claim that his complaint was politically motivated, Morato said it has nothing to do with “Joy Belmonte’s mayoral tussle with fiercest rival Vincent “Bingbong’’ Crisologo but at the same time declared that “I will not vote for Joy Belmonte’’ whom he had known since the vice-mayor was a little girl.
He also clarified that “this is not a fight about the lot or inheritance’’ but the desecration of our parents’ ancestral home by my youngest brother Pepito’’.
“Government official cannot favor their relatives up to the third or fourth degree of consanguinity. We have filed a case in the Office of the Ombudsman. And RA 10066 of President Gloria was violated as well. Said law demands that no structure 50 years old and above can be demolished without going to court. And the ancestral home of our parents was over 70 years old,’’ he added.
Morato showed the questioned lot in the said compound where the old house used to stand is now a huge excavation site where the construction preparations for the 21-storey hotel/condo are being done since April 2018.
However, Jose Cuenca, Morato’s nephew and son of his sister Elvira said “what saved the Morato lot from being further degenerated were the narra trees’’, work was suspended due to environmental regulations.
On Monday, Vice-Mayor Joy Belmonte filed libel and cyber libel cases against Morato before the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office in connection with an article entitled “Joy Belmonte Swak sa Graft’’ published in the February 15 issue of the tabloid “Saksi Mga Balitang Totoo Ngayon’’ accusing her of filing a resolution that favored her three siblings in a transaction in the city.
Appearing before the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office, Belmonte said the story written by Joel Amongo is a “factually incorrect and malicious’’ article in a suit that was already dismissed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Office of the Prosecutor.
“This is why I have decided to file a libel case against Saksi: Mga Balitang Totoo Ngayon and also against Mr. Manuel "Manoling" Morato - who serves as the source for the story - for the publication of the article,’’ Belmonte said.