The Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) finally regained possession of its prime property in Pasay City which had been illegally occupied by the Gloria Maris Shark’s Fin Restaurant for 12 years. The restaurant was evicted from the GSIS property after years of refusing to turn it over to GSIS despite long-standing orders from the Regional Trial Court, Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court.
The eviction of Gloria Maris Pasay from the GSIS property was warranted by a writ of execution from Branch 118 of the Regional Trial Court of Pasay issued on July 15, 2022 and notice to vacate dated August 3, 2022. The eviction process, carried out from September 12 to 14, had been orderly and peaceful. The writ of execution has been fully implemented after RTC Pasay released the certificate of turnover to GSIS last September 14, certifying that the sheriff “turned over the control and possession of the disputed property to GSIS”.
“After 12 years, the law has finally allowed us to recover the GSIS property through due process and we are now free to utilize the property for the interest of our members and pensioners.” GSIS president and general manager Wick Veloso said.
According to Veloso, the lease contract between GSIS and Gloria Maris Pasay only covered the period January 1, 2006 to December 31, 2007. Although the contract was not renewed in 2007, GSIS allowed the restaurant to continue using the property on a month-to-month lease from 2007 to June 2010 to give it sufficient time to relocate its business and cater to its advance bookings.
But when the supposed termination of the month-to-month lease in June 2010 came, Gloria Maris Pasay refused to surrender the property to GSIS. Instead, it filed a case against GSIS and asked the court to extend the lease period to at least five years. However, the Regional Trial Court, Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court decided in favor of GSIS and ruled that after the termination of the lease contract, Gloria Maris’s demand to fix a longer lease period is misplaced. But despite the 2019 ruling by the Supreme Court, Gloria Maris Pasay still refused to turn over the property to GSIS.
After Gloria Maris Pasay repeatedly ignored the demand letters from GSIS to vacate and surrender the property, GSIS was constrained to file an ejectment case against the restaurant.
