BIZ BUZZ: Legal tug of war
Former Trade Ambassador Benedicto Yujuico scored a major, albeit temporary victory, in his quest to take possession of disputed portions of the 100-hectare Southlinks Golf Club in Las Piñas.
On March 18, 2022, the court Sheriff of the Las Piñas Regional Trial Court’s (RTC) Branch 254 served a writ of ejectment against Height Realty of businessman Johnny Gaw Yu and casino operator Kim Wong.
The ejectment order stemmed from Yujuico’s and Verde Golf Development Corp.’s petition claiming that certain portions of their properties allegedly overlap the sprawling golf course.
While the ejectment order was successfully served by the court sheriff, Yujuico’s camp suffered a stinging rebuke from the Court of Appeals (CA) when it promptly issued an injunction stopping the Las Piñas RTC and its agents from enforcing the writ.
In its ruling dated March 22, the CA’s Second Division stopped Yujuico’s camp from disturbing possession of the sprawling golf course near the plush Ayala Alabang Village.
The appellate court stressed that as early as 2019, no less than the Supreme Court upheld the validity of the titles and adjudged the said property in favor of Yu’s parents (or the so-called Yu Hwa Ping titles) as it dismissed the competing claim of property giant Ayala Land Inc.
The same SC ruling, which has since become final and executory, also declared as invalid certain titles including those held by Verde Golf Development Corp. as they are “filled with numerous, blatant and unjustifiable errors.”
Despite the ongoing legal tug of war over control of the prized estate in the heart of Alabang, Biz Buzz learned that “cooler heads” are allegedly trying to find a win-win formula to end the decades-old land dispute. For starters, the warring factions have reportedly expressed willingness to sit down and discuss ways to amicably sort out the legal mess.
But more than the protagonists in the case, residents of the upscale Southvale and Ayala Alabang Villages are praying for a final, peaceful settlement of the land row. After all, they don’t want a repeat of the massive traffic jam along Daang Hari Road when a portion of the Southvale Drive fronting the golf course was closed to traffic due to the land row. From the residents’ point of view, such uncertainty and inconvenience are not only undeserved but also bad for the village’s image and property values.
Thus, a final and amicable resolution of the Southlinks saga is one of the most awaited developments in the Ayala Alabang area. For further case developments, watch this space folks.
— Daxim L. Lucas
Thames’ postpandemic pivot
Many parents dream of sending their children to the United States for tertiary education but not everyone can afford to do so. But what if it’s possible to study in a reputable American university for just about the same cost as going to top local private schools like DLSU, Ateneo and UA&P?
This is the new proposition of Thames International School, which recently launched a scholarship partnership with University of North Carolina-Pembroke (UNCP) that opened up 200 slots for Filipino students for the coming school year.
The first two years of the program will be done online with Thames and the last two years will be on-campus in UNCP in North Carolina, where the students will get their final US degree. Thames thereby becomes an extension campus of UNCP.
“The University of North Carolina System is No. 6 among the state university systems in the United States. So, UNCP belongs to the top-tiered systems in terms of quality and student experience. Moreover UNCP is a medium-sized university at 8,000 students, so it’s not overwhelming but still big enough to have fun,” Joel Santos, Thames president, told Biz Buzz when we asked why Thames had picked this particular US university as partner.
“Finally it is a very safe environment for international students,” said Santos, who co-founded Thames in 1999 with LT Group’s Vivienne Tan.
As students will remain in the country during their freshman and sophomore years, they will get to know their local peers such that when it’s time to move to the US campus, they wouldn’t have to feel alone in a strange new setting.
The latest partnership includes undergrad degrees in nursing, premed, prelaw, computer science, mass communications, music and theater —thereby expanding Thames’ offerings beyond business degrees. UNCP associate vice chancellor Dan Kulmala was recently in the country to launch the program in Manila and Cebu.
The tuition is at $5,000 per year through the NC Promise Program of the State of North Carolina, compared with the average tuition fee of $30,000 with other US universities.
Among the notable alumni of the system are basketball stars Michael Jordan and Vince Carter, composer Richard Adler and former Sen. John Edwards.
Since its inception, Thames has worked with the British system, with foreign degrees given by three UK universities, one Australian and two Singaporean partner institutions. This is its first partnership with an American university.
