Sandigan set to auction off seized Estrada asset
Published December 2nd, 2007
The Sandiganbayan Special Division has taken steps to liquidate assets confiscated from former President Joseph Estrada.
Acting through the Sheriff and Security Services Office, the graft court issued invitations to nine major national dailies last Friday to participate in a raffle to be held on December 7, 2007.
The raffle will determine which publication would carry the announcement of the auction of two lots identified by the court as part of Estrada’s ill-gotten wealth.
Invitations were sent to Malaya, BusinessWorld, Business Mirror, Daily Tribune, Manila Times, Philippine Star, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Manila Bulletin and Manila Standard Today.
The notice of sale would be published in the winning newspaper for once a week for two consecutive weeks pursuant to court requirements.
The lots – one measuring 5,192.88 square meters and another with an area of 1,953.04 sq.m. – comprise the so-called Boracay mansion located at 11th Street, New Manila in Quezon City.
However, where once stood an extravagant mansion that boasted of white sand-ringed swimming pool equipped with a wave-making machine, only a skeleton of cracked walls and rusty steel bars remains in the midst of overgrown jungle of weeds, wild bushes and vines.
Gone were the volleyball court-sized bedrooms, 26 ceiling-mounted air conditioning units, three full-sized kitchens and the artificially lit indoor pond under a glass-walkway.
A court official who asked not to be identified said the lots would be sold as a package with no minimum price set.
The same official said the date and conditions of the actual auction would be announced later.
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