Ducky Paredes

“Still, although CF Sharp continued financial support to Arturo’s widow  and her children, as well as Arturo’s children from his first marriage, the widow began a legal battle against Johnny as executor of his late brother’s  estate.

by Ducky Paredes

The fact that Mayor Alfredo Lim is listening to the complaints of karaoke bar owners and is even considering giving licenses to guest relations officers (GRO) is proof that the mayor wants the business environment in Manila to improve. Business is business and a city must allow all sorts of businesses to flourish – not just big business but all businesses.
As Fred Lim told the bar owners, there are certain practices that he will not allow.  Basically, Lim will not allow nudity or prostitution, which is just fine for legitimate bar owners who serve only food and drinks and nothing else. Nudity comes in the form of bold shows and prostitution comes in the form of what are called “bar fines.” The customer pays the the fine and takes the GRO with him.
Legitimate business does not have to go into these practices to make their money. Manila, however, has always been more strait-laced than the rest of Metro Manila. What are allowed in Pasay, Makati, Caloocan, and Quezon City – its adjacent neighbors – have not been allowed in Manila, not just under Lim but even under previous administrations.
In fact, in any big city in the world, there are places where one can drink and enjoy entertainment. This is true in Bangkok, Tokyo, Hongkong , New York, London and elsewhere. The only exceptions would probably be the Vatican and some Islamic countries,
The fact that the mayor is even willing to talk about licensing GROs is being looked upon as a positive development for people in this business. As in any business, investors in bars and restaurants want the rules to be clear. As long as the rules are clear, businesses will follow whatever City Hall says. What legitimate businessmen dislike is when the rules are not clear or when there are no rules and policemen and others from City Hall can subject them to spot inspections, find “violations” to unwritten rules and subject them to extortion under the threat of immediate closure.
The mayor has also announced that there will be no “inspections” of these karaoke bars until he  shall have studied the matter and decided on what will be allowed or disallowed for these Manila establishments. Considering the problems they have been having with extortionists, this is a welcome announcement.
And, to think that they generally feared that Mayor Lim would have a closed mind on this matter and that he would be bent on closing them all down.
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It is always sad to see trouble within a family. When Arturo V. Rocha  former Honorary Consul General of Chile died in June 2003, he left his brother Juan Jose “Johnny” Rocha, former Ambassador to Spain,  as executor of his estate.
According to company records, at the time of  his death, Arturo owed the family-owned company, C.F. Sharp, close to one million US dollars in unliquidated advances.
As the executor of his brother’s  estate, Johnny sold several of his brother’s assets  — real estate property, expensive artwork and luxury vehicles — to cover his brother’s debts to the company.
Among the assets sold was a Jaguar car. Because of sale, Arturo’s widow, Ma. Luisa  Olasolo Rocha has filed estafa charges against Johnny. The widow is claiming for herself  half of the sale proceeds.
She also charged her brother-in-law with falsification of documents, stating that Johnny did not declare that the owner of the car was deceased at the time of the sale. The estafa was dismissed by Makati RTC Judge Joselito Villarosa saying that no probable cause has been established to charge the accused. According to the Family Code (RA 8424)  “the surviving spouse is not entitled to any property of the community, until all debts and obligations of the community including taxes are paid.”  The procedure of law precisely states that the spouses are entitled to their one half conjugal share of the absolute community only after payment of all debts and obligations.  Thus, Arturo’s widow cannot claim any of the proceeds from the sale of the Jaguar.
The falsification charge is being heard and is, thus, sub judice.
The widow was receiving a generous stipend from CF Sharp after Arutro died.  Trouble started when Johnny took over the company’s operations. He discovered that his brother had left a lot of debt much of which had to be restructured. This meant that allowances of directors and shareholders had to  be cut sharply as part of necessary cost-cutting measures.
Still, although CF Sharp continued financial support to Arturo’s widow  and her children, as well as Arturo’s children from his first marriage, the widow began a legal battle against Johnny as executor of his late brother’s  estate.
According to the widow, Johnny cannot be executor of her husband’s estate while running the family company. She cites conflict of interests as executor of his estate and and as collecting agent on his debts to CF Sharp. She also tells the court that she does not believe that her husband had any debts to the company.
But, in reality this is as her husband wished when he named his brother as his executor. Arturo knew that Johnny would also take over the family company. In truth, Johnny has been providing his brother’s widow with monthly reports on the financial status of his late brother’s estate.
Cf Sharp records show that the properties sold from Arturo’s estate brought in only  P63.5 million while total disbursements to settle obligations, taxes, upkeep of the estate and allowances to his widow and children have amounted to P69.7 million.  To save the name and goodwill of his deceased brother and that of the whole family, Johnny says that he has himself advanced a substantial amount if only to satisfy these obligations.
In fact, it is Arturo’s widow who still controls a substantial part of her husband’s estate in art works and other personal properties which she had not accounted for to the estate, which she owns together with all of Arturo’s other heirs.
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hvp (08.28.07)