------------------2/15/20------------------------
i reported to tita jane and tita georgia via messenger about the meeting with the first buyer to tell them not to worry it's just taking time because they first need to purchase the lot beside ours. tita jane replied saying she does not agree with the buyers condition. i was baffled. the buyer did not set any condition that concerns us. she was also upset why they were not informed of the meeting and from now on i am not allowed to meet any buyer without tito virgilio and tita georgia present. i agreed and realized after all the things i've done so far i've demonstrated nothing but incompetence and i can't be trusted. but actually, i informed them of the meeting which will be on feb 12 but it was postponed because the buyer was still in manila. i told tita jane that i was informed about the new schedule by tita doris only 2 hours before the meeting. i was busy meeting with manoy eddie about the inheritance tax. my meeting with manoy eddie was 1:30 near cebu doc and the meeting with the buyer was at 2pm at pardo so i did not have time to inform tita jane. i also assumed tita doris also messaged them about the new schedule. i apologized to tita jane and told her next time i won't make these kinds of assumptions. i was happy tita jane forgave me.
but it's more dangerous that i'm not allowed to meet with a buyer without tito virgilio and tita georgia becasue tita georgia is always in camotes and tito virgilio never replies to any of my messages. in the past 2 months i've sent him numerous texts and he never replied to any of them. he also never answers any of my calls. it's dangerous because what if a buyer wants to meet but i can't contact tito virgilio and tita georgia is in camotes so i postpone the meeting and the postponement of the meeting is the cause for the deal not to go through so we don't make the amnesty deadline and P170M of our properties get confiscated.
tita jane's judgement made me realize that if i don't step up my efforts to help the family, the heirs will surely lose everything.
besides, let's say i'm a bad person and i conspire with a buyer to try to screw the crystal family, what possible damage can i do? nothing !!! not even the smartest person can. not even someone as powerful as duterte can do the slightest mischief that can screw the family. however these kinds of bad judgement such as not allowing me to meet with a buyer alone could lead to a lost opportunity which could easily be the cause that we lose everything. so far it's only tita doris working hard to find a buyer. i haven't really made an effort yet to find a buyer because i have no time but once i do i always go all out once i put my mind on something. i would wake up early in the morning and do nothing but work hard on it the whole day - post to all real estate web sites, approach as many realtors as i can and inform all my friends. but it would be paralyzing for me if a potential buyer wants to meet and but i can't unless tito virgilio (who never answers my calls and replies to my messages) and tita georgia (who is always in camotes) is there. this handicap could be the reason that we end up losing everything.
tita jane argued that if the buyer is really interested they should be willing to meet us halfway and we should not be like puppies. i told her we don't have the luxury to be imposing that because we are at the brink of losing P171M worth of properties and we would never know if or when kowtowing to a buyer might save us. it's better to be safe than sorry. i told them that if a buyer tells me to meet up because he wants to urinate all over me, i will show up and allow the buyer to urinate all over me. i said i don't want to pass by this house we are standing on right now (main house) someday on my way to fix papa's house and realize you don't live here anymore because it got confiscated by the government.
tita jane also argued that we should not worry because they have 3 other interested buyer. i argued that we are not sure any of those 3 will actually buy and we never know if a buyer would have been our savior but because we insisted on meeting halfway the buyer backed out and we end up not beating the amnesty deadline so we now owe P34M in penalties and because we can't pay, the BIR confiscates P170M worth of our properties.
i was also shocked when tita jane messaged me that the 2 brokers we met with the previous day were scammers because a lady sitting next to the table (who happened to be the wife of one of the brokers) was recording our conversation. but when i asked what makes them think that, she said tito virgilio told them and she also noticed the lady was busy on her phone. i was simply dumbfounded. good thing tita jane told me they haven't done anything yet to offend the brokers. she told me we should not meet with those brokers anymore even if they come up with an earnest money because they might give us an earnest money but will never buy and we end up getting tied up to them. that's when i lost my temper and angrily told her that earnest money agreements always has an agreed upon expiry date where if they back out, we end up pocketing the earnest money and we would be free to negotiate with another buyer. we just need to set the time period short enough so we don't loose significant amount of time if they back out. fortunately she agreed with me.
as a side note, my meetings with tita jane and tita georgia have been such a miracle. for the first time in my life there are people outside of silicon valley that would let me finish when i'm talking and an even bigger miracle is that they would actually listen when i talk. it's unbelievable !!! i never thought that outside of silicon valley it's possible for me to convince a thirsty person to drink water. i consider this the biggest achievement of my life and i will cherish it for the rest of my life (the analogy here is that everything i'm doing is to convince the family to simply get what they want (inheritance) and not have it confiscated by the government.
i told them that everyone is guilty or contributed to the blunder and debacles that happened in the past. i told tita jane there were many things anyone could have done to establish common sense procedures and protocols which would have prevented any disaster. all the holes and possible pitfalls were right there in front of their faces since the corporation was formed and nobody bothered to point them out. when i borrowed a power drill from tito mari pages he asked me to sign in their log book so there is a record on who borrowed any tool. instead of being offended like what most normal people would, i was impressed. i was even more impressed when i saw his name in the log book meaning he would also enter his name in the log book even if he owns the tools. i told tita jane to stop relying on her other siblings for expertise because they already blew it and it's time she steps up and take charge. i told her this is now her time. she should manage her siblings instead of depend on them. her siblings are very emotional and get insulted at any whim which can cause the entire family to be paralyzed end up losing P170M worth of properties.
i told her that she should be very careful about tito virgilio's insistence that every buyer gives us an LOI. example if the buyer is about to sign the deed of sale and give us a check for the down payment (which we desparately need to beat the amnesty deadline), and tito virgilio looks for the LOI just say you left it at home and pray that suffices him. if he asks you to go home and get it then go home and come back 2 hours later saying you misplaced it and can't find it anymore. if you don't do that and he gets angry and won't sign the deed of sale we will have to find another buyer and if we can't then we lose everything. tito virgilio already made it clear in our meeting at st marks hotel that for him respect/trust is more important to him and he is willing to lose everything if he doesn't get that trust or respect from the family. keep in mind tito virgilio is already very happy with his spirituality or religious devotion and he does not need money to be happy in the remaining days of his life. tita georgia argued that an LOI is important because it let's us know the details of their intent. i told her she is correct but that argument is irrelevant because as long as a sale can go through without an LOI, then we should not be demanding it because right now we are not in the position to do so because we are already at the brink of losing everything. however, if the inhertiance tax has been paid, then we have the luxury to be demanding such absurd and unnecessary requirements if we want to feel superior or respected. thankfully she agreed with me.
i hope anyone who reads this learn the lessons i'm teaching. it's basically about being logical and how to not let emotions hinder as from accomplishing our goals. it's basically about how to be happy in life. in the meeting, tita georgia and tita jane kept examining the compensation agreements with the sosa firm where we agreed to give them the mactan lot and front lawn of the main house. they even argued if the thumb print of lolo while he was in the comma was valid or not. i told them even if there was no agreement or the agreement is invalid, atty oscar can still invoke the quantum meruit law where he will be awarded 10% of all the recovered properties which will involve endless court hearings and even if we win by that time the amnesty has already expired and we still end up losing everything anyway. i told them that we are already all very blessed and 99% of all humans that ever existed will wish they were on our shoes so they should just try to be happy and not worry about things that are out of their control.
i hope my writings also gives you lessons on the nuances of filipino culture that would make our lives a lot easier if we know them. when tito geralded commented about my haircut, i told them that i only had this haircut to develop possibly very valuable connection with manoy eddie because he has a similar haircut so i took a picture of him and gave it to my barber. in our meeting the other day i told him i used his haircut as my model. these little things can go a long way in developing valuable connections. tita jane told me that it's also like that in the states which means she did not disagree with me.
it's starting to look like my instincts are right because when manoy eddie went to toledo to get the requirements for our inheritance tax, he was being snubbed by the folks at the assessor's office the same thing they did to tita georgia. before, tita georgia told me that she can't pay the realty taxes for the toledo properties because they won't give her a tax dec. turns out the people working in assessors office of toledo were relatives and friends of our enemies who tried to grab our land where we won the court case. manoy eddie simply mentioned the name of his very powerful friend that scared everyone in the assessors office so they immediately became helpful to manoy eddie. turns out that tax dec is a requirement for the inheritance tax processing and without it we won't be able to pay before the amnesty deadline and we end up losing everything. tita georgia argued that even without manoy eddie, we could still have gotten a court order or motion to force them to assist us. i argued why go through the hassle and besides it can take time and we might not be able to beat the deadline. she agreed with me. this also refutes tito virgilio's claim that he already has complete papers ready to be submitted to the BIR for computation and it was unnecessary for me to spend a lot of money getting manoy eddie's help. furthermore, manoy eddie's value is also that he has contacts in the BIR which can give us favorable assessment on the values (property value assessment is subjective). so we might even end up saving a lot of money instead. most importantly, we must realize that what we are paying manoy eddie is insignificant compared to what's at stake, which is P170M worth of properties. i told them it's very important we never unnecessarily burn bridges like what tito virgilio did when he scolded manoy eddie because we never know when they can be a life saver. tito virgilio was quizzing manoy eddie on inheritance tax procedures and when manoy eddie was not able to answer some of the technical questions he yelled, "ARE YOU EVEN A BROKER?" when manoy eddie said no tito virgilio yelled, "I'M A BROKER !!!". i explained to tita jane in yesterday's meeting that these runners are not highly educated, they are not professionals unlike an accountant or lawyer and sometimes the way they operate is just ad hoc but the important thing is they get things done and they give us what we need and save us a lot of time, effort and even money (in our case).
when tita georgia and tita jane was processing to lift the levy stamp on the mambaling tax dec, they were given special treatment in city hall and they were able to accomplish it with less time and effort because of the valuable connections i've already developed in only a short period of time i've been involved.
i also expressed my frustration after realizing tito virgilio is actually an expert with these matters because 3 months ago i met with him and told him i'm going to to process the inheritance tax and he never told me that it's actually very simple because he already has the complete documents ready to be given to the BIR. only after he knew i advanced P25k to manoy eddie that he got involved and tried to help. and even until now it's been 2 weeks he still hasn't given me the complete documents that he claims he has good thing i was able to convince atty mark and manoy eddie to forgive us and continue to help us. and now it's obvious tito virgilio's documents are incomplete because the toledo properties don't have a tax dec yet so fortunately for us, manoy eddie is helping us with this very critical requirement. also the whole time i was in the states, i was hammering tita georgia to jump start the inheritance tax processing and she never had time because she had obligations in camotes. i made her realize that she was actually jeopardizing P170M worth of properties in exchange for her civic duties. besides she can be more effective with her civic duties when we get our properties sorted out or sold because she would have the funds to personally help her constituents.
i also mentored them on the importance of communication because they are very poor in responding timely to my messages. tita jane explained that st marks has poor wifi connection. i argued that even uneducated street kids would know how to solve that issue. what's even funny is that when i asked tita georgia about why aside from the main house there are 3 other buildings that show up in the list of holdings of lolo and lola (that manoy eddie just got from the assessor's office), she said those are the houses of tita jane, tito bertie and tito gerry and it hasn't been completely transferred. i told them that we have no choice but to include it in the extrajudicial or else we won't be able to pay the inheritance tax. tita jane got furious and demanded that those items be removed. she told tita georgia to do the processing so it will be removed from the list. i told tita georgia to not procrastinate and do it first thing monday morning because tita jane won't sign the extrajudicial if her house is in it (even if there really is no danger of losing her house) and if this processing takes time it might jeopardize our ability to beat the amnesty deadline and we end up losing everything.
i told tita jane that lolo and lola's spirit is at work again because the reason why we had this unplanned meeting is when i was dropping off my babygirl in redemptorist church (she joined the passion play for easter), i saw her in st. mark's lobby paying her bill so i told her we should meet because i have some very important questions which i messaged her but she was not responding. during the meeting she complained why i did not message this issue (her house still being in the list of lola and lola's holdings) to her? i said i did and showed the message on her phone. she told me the wifi connection in st. marks is very poor. so i told tita georgia next time tita jane comes her she should immediately install a new sim and put a 1 month unlimited internet.
i also lectured them about the importance of perseverance. let me point out just one of the many examples - why is it that nobody bothered to verify the status of other toledo properties and why they were not included in the extrajudicial? tita georgia said because atty camiso is a bad lawyer because he scolds them. i told them unfortunately, it's not his problem. it's our problem. are you saying we will just allow P170M worth of our properties to be confiscated by the govt only because atty camiso insulted you? it's true atty camiso does not go out of his way to help us but he doesn't really have to. what i did was study all the court documents so that all he has to do is answer a few technical questions here and there. i narrated to them how i got things done. it's actually funny:
i went to atty oscar and asked why 76ha of toledo is not in the extrajudicial. atty oscar said he forgot why and referred me to atty camiso. he was not in his office so his secretary told me that tita doris has his number and we can just text or call him. i went to tita doris who immediatelly called atty camiso and we got to talk. there were 3 questions i wanted to ask. after only the 2nd questions, atty camiso yelled, "HAY SALAMAT DUNA NA GYUD NINYO NA KAMAO MO BASA !!!". i told him my uncles and aunts are ateneo graduates of course they know how to read. atty camiso told me to dig up (ukay) the documents in toledo. i asked what i should ask the people working there he shouted, "ayaw pangutana !!! ikaw gyud ang mangukay". i said but i can't just go there and start rummaging through random documents all over the place. i need them to point me to something, maybe a case number or a date. the phone connection got cutoff. so i asked tita doris to simply text him asking for the information i will need which is suppose to be just a 1 sentence reply but instead atty camiso replied that he will setup a meeting with me. i got so furious but there is nothing i can do but wait. everyday for a week i kept following up with tita doris if atty camiso has already scheduled the meeting (even if all i needed was 1 sentence from him). finally after 1 week, atty camiso scheduled the meeting. i was jumping up and down for joy.
in the meeting i asked my very simple question and he told me to go to toledo and dig up the decision of the court case. i asked what case number he said he forgot. i gave him the 3 case numbers (r-166, t-381 and t-215) and asked which one it is and he said it's t-381. i told him i have the decision with me and showed it to him. he said, "naa raman diay na". i'm actually very thankful because it made me realize my parent's inability to file and organize important documents is maybe a generational thing. he read the decision and told me that the properties have not been substituted in favor of the heirs. i told tita georgia and tita jane that no matter what they say about atty camiso, this is where his expertise becomes very valuable because unless i'm a laywer, there is no way i can interpret the decision no matter how hard i try. so i then asked atty camiso if it's still possible for us to do the substitution. he said no. i then asked, does that mean we should include them in the extrajudicial? he said yes. i asked if the 38ha carped lots is officially carped and if there is anything we can do about it. he told me to go to DAR to find out. i then asked that if it's officially carped, should we still include it in the extrajudicial? he said yes or else we won't get paid by land bank. notice my series of questioning and how i was not expecting atty camiso to spoon feed me and tell me what we need to do. we have to persevere and not be entirely dependent on the lawyer. we need to be proactive because if we don't then we lose everything. it's that simple.
i told them the past 3 months since i got involved, i rarely got to touch a golf club because i'm super busy with the many important things to do for the extrajudicial/inheritance tax. you have to ask yourself why is it that i'm doing them and not you? realize that if nobody does it then we lose P170M worth of properties. let's go through the list of candidates: papa - can't be stressed because of his health. tito gerry - dead. tito bertie - dead. tito mike - in the states and works a full time job or he starves. tita angie - in dumaguete and has a full time job. tita doris - lacks education. tito virgilio - healthy and no job but not willing to help because the family does not trust him. where does this leave us?
the answer is simple: the 2 of you.
tita georgia said the reason why they did not do the things i've been doing is because they lacked funds. i said i understand but remember 3 months ago i already pledged that i will provide any necessary funding but while i was in the states hammering in messenger for you to jump start the inhertiance tax processing you said you will be in camotes. it's time we should realize the importance of these tasks and make it a higher priority or else we lose everything. they both agreed.
you told me all the monetary and emotional damages tita doris and her family has done to you. but realize any more inaction, mistakes or blunders on your part will make tita doris' blunders look like peanuts because it could spell losing everything. i told tita doris the irony of this whole thing is that she is suppose to be the black sheep but if only all her siblings are like her then it would have made my job easier because she is the most cooperative and hardworking. i'm not trying to put anybody down as i've been telling you i have many imperfections of my own. i'm not trying to say i'm a better person i'm simply trying to say the things we need to do and the attitudes we need to change to prevent our family from losing P170M worth of properties
------------------- 2/9/2020 ------------------
my message to tita jane and tita georgia via fb messenger:
i did mention a few times in our past meetings that we should agree our goal is to sell the properties and divide equally. maybe it's my fault i wasn't being clear enough and that we need to focus on the goal if we want to be successful. being goal oriented is very important for success in anything we do. the problem is that tito virgilio's goal is different. remember the meeting in st marks when i asked why he did not go through with the agreement with Ang where we can just pay in installments? or why is it that he did not get a computation for tax estimates in the BIR since he already have the complete papers ready for computation? his reply was because not everyone in the family trusts him so he did not want to help the family and getting his share of the millions is not important to him.
unfortunately i am not a god and i don't have the power to convince everyone in the family to trust him or respect him the way he wants. it's out of our control. so the only way we can move forward is to have a dialogue with him and try to convince him to make a sacrifice for the sake of the family because it could mean being able to afford critical medical treatments that is a matter of life and death. imagine if tito gerald did not have any health insurance when he had aneurysm? not to mention tito bertie's family is suffering hardships and keep in mind this will really sadden lolo and lola because they love all of you so much.
don't get me wrong i really admire tito virgilio that he knows more about the law than the lawyers. and actually everything that tito virgilio is doing is correct because his priorities are now spiritual and preparation for the afterlife which makes sense because our life here on earth is just a blip compared to eternity. that's why he can't tolerate small imperfections even if it's necessary to accomplish the family's goals. we need to plead to tito virgilio and make him understand that many family members still need to accomplish their wordly goals and aspirations.
also plead to tito virgilio that we should not worry too much about small imperfections. example the reason why i became very successful is because i lied in my resume so i got in to altera and i was able to help my siblings and parents and now i'm trying to help lolo and lola. but my lying never hurt anybody, in fact the company i worked for was very happy with me for 15 years. also tita jane's family literally broke the law when they were illegals but again they never hurt anybody in fact they contributed a lot to the country in taxes and her children are now a very big asset to the country in terms of technical knowledge and workforce.
it was the same with atty mark and his runner. maybe they were not that perfect according to tito virgilio's standards but the important thing is they finish the job which i'm sure they would have. maybe we pay more compared to if we do it ourselves but remember we are all busy and we don't get the advantage of having friends inside the BIR that could lower the fair market value estimates and even save us money all in all. and as i keep saying even a delay of 2 months could mean a loss of opportunity where a buyer would have bought one of our properties for easily P5 million more. that's why speed to me was a priority and not the cost which insignificant if you only look at the big picture or the millions you will all be receiving pretty soon.
also atty mark is very influential politically and we never know when our family or tita georgia might need him especially that jojo is in politics. atty mark was a very big loss to our family especially that tita georgia has very strong aspirations to help the people of camotes.
but in heaven, political connections on earth is irrelevant so i understand perfectly why tito virgilio did not mind burning the bridge with mark or any lawyer. but we need to plead to him that many in the family are still struggling in this world like tita georgia and tito bertie's family. tita angie's health is worsening and tito mike was not even able to attend his grand reunion in la salle because he did not have any money. it really broke my heart especially that tito mike and tita jane helped me tremendously for 2 years while i was still struggling to find a job.
but keep in mind this is just a small hiccup the worst thing it can do is just delay a little bit and the very good news is that everyone has already agreed to an extrajudicial that everyone will sign. so don't worry but we still need to keep pushing and work hard and be very responsive and try our best to communicate effectively
------------------- 2/7/20 -------------------------------
this afternoon tito virgilio and tita jane met with attorney mark and his runner who i hired to get a computation from the BIR. tito virgilio raised his voice and asked the runner manoy eddie, "ARE YOU A BROKER?" manoy eddie said no he just has friends inside the BIR. tito virgilio said angrily, "I'M A BROKER !!!". so atty mark said that it's really not a problem if they don't want their services then they will just stop processing our BIR inheritance tax. i then kept hammering tito virgilio to be clear if atty mark should continue serving us, not just with the inheritance tax but also the transferring of the titles to the names of the heirs. as usual he kept changing topic and won't give a clear answer but i was persistent. he never gave an answer. he claims he already has all the complete papers ready to give to the BIR for computation. i told him why didn't he give it to the BIR when the amnesty started and why didn't he tell me about it when i kept telling them we need to find insiders in the BIR to help us with the inheritance tax. i then apologized for being so stupid because i should have known he he had all the papers because i'm suppose to be a psychic. i then explained that since the beginning i kept telling them i'm just ignorant and stupid just 2 months ago i did not even know what is an extrajudicial or what is a manager's check and i just got worried when tita jane told me that all our properties can be confiscated by the BIR if we don't pay the inheritance tax before the amnesty expires. i did not know how long it takes to process it so just to play safe i hired atty mark's runner who has friends in the BIR. i also think time is money and delaying the inheritance tax even 2 months could mean the loss of an opportunity for a good deal. there could be a buyer who is willing to pay a much higher price but because we can't sell any property until the inheritance tax is paid, we could lose that buyer and end up selling later to a much lower offer, so we could easily lose P5 million so even if we can process the taxes ourselves i think it's wise to just pay up to get it done faster. i told them there are so many geopolitical risks and economic risks and we can easily go into a recession where it would be much harder to sell properties and if we do we can only sell at a much lower price. and also the estimates of fair market value as a basis for the tax computation is very subjective and being friends with the runner could easily lower our taxes by P1 million. but i'm just ignorant with these things so they have to make the decision but nobody objected with me hiring atty mark when i kept bringing it up in the meetings so i assumed they agreed. he kept testing atty mark about the estate tax law. he tried to show that he knows more about the law than atty mark. i then asked him why he did not process the inheritance tax himself before. what changed? he replied, "ikaw". he said it's only now that he is willing to work with the family because of my involvement. i told him i was flattered and as long as we keep moving forward it does not really matter to me what route we take. in the parking lot he told me to focus on the new extrajudicial that atty tan will make. when i got home i messaged mark apologizing for what happened.
----------------------- 2/4/20 ------------------------
met with tito virgilio, tita jane and tita georgia again to let them review the SPA that atty mark made for the runner of atty mark to collect the needed documents for the inheritance tax and also the SPAs for anyone in the states in case they prefer to delegate the signing of the extrajudicial to a sibling here.. tito virgilio rejected both he said he has a similar document that we should use so i said great we should use his document and i didn't stop hammering him when i can get the document. finally he caved in to my persistence and he said he still needs to look for it and kept changing topics. i never stopped hammering him when i can go to his house to follow up until he told me to go to his house tomorrow afternoon. i then kept hammering them to just edit the current documents to their liking so i can retype it and kept asking at what day should we decide to go with atty mark's document if tito virgilio's documents is not found. they kept changing topic but i never waivered and faltered i just kept humbly and respectfully asking for the day, should it be next weeik? 2 days from now? a year from now? it's their decision but they need to make a decision. they said tomorrow afternoon so that's very good news that means our goals won't be put on hold for another year because the SPA sample cannot be found. whew !!!
virgilio said that we could easily get the titles in Ang's possession because he was able to persuade Ang's lawyer to just pay in many installments and there is no deadline or time limit. i said great and asked when will the titles be given, in the first installment or when everything is paid because with the latter, it's as good as having to pay everything. he kept changing topics until tita georgia and tita jane got excited at the prospect and joined me in hammering him on when we will get the titles? tito virgilio never answered. i kept repeating that if Ang gives the titles after example the first payment of P100k for example, then that means we only have to pay P100k because why would be continue to pay when we already have the titles? we continued to hammer him on the question until we realized that he realized that Ang's lawyer has to be stupid to agree to such a deal. i then kept hammering tito virgilio that if Ang's lawyer agreed to the deal, why didn't he immediately request an agreement they could sign. again he replied that why would he help the family if nobody trusts him? i told him that it's the core teaching of christinianity to help those who think ill of you that was christ's last act which was to send to heaven the very people who crucified him and caused him immense suffering. i said all the bible study and church services will be irrelevant if you don't follow christ's teachings because the reason why you read the bible and go to church is to learn about christ's teachings.
we then made a pact that from now on, no matter what we would always cooperate and do what's best for the family especially that we have family members who are in poverty. you don't need to give the family what they want but you should always give your family what they need.. our meeting was at st marks and we walked to busog restaurant nearby to have dinner. the whole dinner, i maneuvered the discussion to tito gerald's and tita jane's sufferings and sacrifices in the states. tito virfilio was shocked and horrified and in disbelief at the sufferings tita jane and tito gerald had to go through in the states just so they can feed their family. tita jane doubled down and said their ordeal and sufferings started in butuan while taking care of lola's business which flopped for a long time they had to ask money from relatives just to be able to eat. that's why they were forced to migrate to america. we talked for about 3 hours and i guess it really solidified the spirit of cooperation.
there was also a moment in the meeting with tita jane, tito virgilio and tita georgia when they were all baffled at me they were shaking their heads in amazement. first tito gerald asked me one by one how much i paid for each of the homes i invested in (hayward condo, 2 houses in vegas) and how much they've appreciated. tito gerald bursted out in astonishment at my big gains. then he warned me for the vegas house and the hayward condo i sold, to make sure to voluntarily pay the capital gains tax or i could get charged for tax evasion. i told them that i never had to pay a single cent of tax because even if i didn't live in any of my properties (capital gains on primary residence is tax free) , the electric/gas and water bills were and always are under my name which is ok because if the tenant fails to pay the service gets cut off. then i also continue to pay for the monthly membership of the golf course across the street (my properties are always nearthe golf course) even if i don't use it. so when i visit, my friends in the pro shop are always amazed they think i'm so rich because i don't bother cancelling the membership ($49/month) even if i haven't used the free range balls for years. for the hayward condo i sold, the IRS did send me a letter they are opening an audit. i immediately sent them the pdf's of all the bills and the membership payments of the golf course and the IRS replied that they closed the case.
-------------- 2/1/20 -----------------------
very very very good news !!! we have worked out all the issues and tito virgilio is excited to sign the extrajudicial. in fact he instructed me to expedite the inheritance tax processing and creating of the extrajudicial by atty oscar tan so we can start selling the properties.
yesterday i met with tito virgilio, tita jane and tita georgia in nonki banawa. i only had 4 hours sleep because as you notice from my barrage of posts i was preparing for the meeting crunching the numbers from 7pm to 7 am in the morning (12 hours). before the meeting with tito virgilio i briefed tita georgia and tita jane to just follow my lead and refrain from expressing any opinions. before we left crystal compound to meet with tito virgilio many in our clan gathered. i told them to start praying and they all closed their eyes, bowed their heads and literally started praying. it was so funny.
i started giving updates about the status of our properties - inheritance tax, toledo issues,etc .. i made sure to project everything i'm doing is according to their instructions. i always prefaced my statements with, " .... furthermore, as you instructed me, i .......".
i gave a clear accounting of the properties of toledo, that only 49 ha surely belongs to us, 28ha is questionable because of CARP and another 10ha (lot 4143) i still need to investigate why there is a letter from DAR that it is placed under a "government financial instution". i also showed them a court order that clearly says only 0.4 of 4130 (3.3ha) and .4 of 3820 (2.6ha) was awarded to us and no document shows we own any of the 4142 (4.5ha). they said this is the first time they are aware of this and agreed we should not worry about it. then i noted that i have a buyer that is very interested to buy our toledo property offering 2k/sqm. so even with just 49ha that already amounts to P100 million or P11 million per heir (just on toledo alone). then tito vigilio said, even if it's just 1k/sqm he will be very happy.
i then asked him for advice on what we can do to attempt to recover our CARPed properties. amazingly, all his advice matched exactly with what we did to resolve our javier issues. he told me to find a lawyer that went into private practice after serving a high position in DAR. he said there are 3 well known lawyers that successfully recovered CARPed farmlands. he was able to mention the names of those families but he said he can't remember the names of the lawyers and he will let me know as soon as he finds out. with regards to finding out the "petition for substitution" he advised me to approach atty mosqueda in toledo and assured me that lawyer will easily solve our issues right away. with regards to getting payment from National Power Corp regarding the towers for power lines, he told me to approach brionnes who lives in andres abellana. the entire meeting i was taking notes like i was a secretary.
i was still hesitant to bring up the word "extrajudicial" even if i was running out of time. by this time we were having dessert in dunkin beside nonki. all of a sudden i felt the place became bright. maybe it was cloudy and the sun suddenly came out. at that same moment, tito virgilio said that we need to get everybody to sign the extrajudicial because we can't sell any property without paying the inheritance tax and we can't pay the inheritance tax without the extrajudicial. it's like a bright force from the prayer group going on in crystal compound just descended upon us.
i still wanted to make sure all the issues regarding the extrajudicial are ironed out. i told them that i feel sad that we have to give the mactan lot to atty tan. i told them i feel sad because i went to all my lawyer friends and showed them the written agreement and they all told me we will just be wasting our time and money trying to contest the written agreement. tito virgilio and tita jane then told me to not worry about it. i then said they are right because the mactan lot is still small compared to the P18 million each of the 9 heirs would be getting once the other properties are sold.
i immediately adjourned the meeting and on my way to the parking garage, tito virgilio called me from afar and gave me a thumbs up. i rushed to crystal compound and the clan members were still waiting. i told them the good news and they almost cried in happiness yelling "praise the lord !!!".
