Properties of Celso

The senate hearing today details some of the properties of Celso. What is shocking is that the land and properties listed under the trust fund of the preneed companies are still under the name of Celso and used by him. He sleeps in the One Roxas Triangle condominium and his son uses the 2,138 sqm resort in punta engano. Senator Enrile divulged the damning info that Celso has been trying to sell his Ayala Alabang house and lot for P200 million. This is the property that is located in 303 Country Club drive, which I have always maintained belongs to him, and is different from the 3,000 plus sqm lot that he sold last December for P57 million. In fact, last night (Sunday), the lights of the Country Club drive house were switched on indicating that Celso was there last night planning his moves for the next day's senate hearing. Of course, Celso may not have been there but was in the One Roxas triangle condo, supposedly belonging to the preneed trust fund. What came out per Carolina Hinola's account was that deeds of sale for these properties were signed by Celso as vendor but were not notarized. So for all intents and purposes, Celso still owns these properties.

Same thing with the Ford expedition and the house sold by the son of SEC commissioner Martinez to a legacy company: supposedly sold by the son but still in the name of the younger Martinez' corporation. In other words, the younger Martinez still owns these assets and as Senator Roxas pointed out, this maneuver was a bribe to Martinez because the younger Martinez still uses the car and the house. You can fathom the devious mind of Celso from these relatively small scale transactions, and then extrapolate what he did to the funds of the legacy banks and preneed companies. The house and expedition cost a total of P6.5 million pesos, but the cost to the public and the government can easily top P13 billion or even P20 billion to include the preneed buyback investors.