The only things certain, they say, are death and taxes. Death comes to everyone, eventually, but why on earth should you get taxed for something you don?t own?

This is the problem confronting the owners of a mall in the high-traffic Monumento area of Caloocan City who are refusing to pay the local government 23 years? worth of real estate taxes for a piece of land they bought only last year?and rightly so. And despite the supposed futility of fighting City Hall, the people who possess both the title to the Gotesco Grand Central mall and the property on which it stands seem to have a good chance of winning.

Last week, City Hall employees were dispatched by Mayor Enrico Echeverri to the mall?which has been owned since last September by the Go family?s Gotesco Investment Inc.?to serve a writ of possession of the property issued by a local judge. Caloocan Judge Oscar Barrientos issued the order based on the claim of Echeverri that Gotesco owed the city P722.3 million in real estate taxes over a period of more than two decades.

But maybe Barrientos didn?t know that a Manila court already restrained the Caloocan government last December from taking over the mall or otherwise disrupting Gotesco?s operations in any way. Not knowing something like that is not necessarily a crime for a private individual, of course, but could lead to dismissal if you?re a judge like Barrientos.

It seems certain that Echeverri and his officials knew about the Manila court?s injunction, however. When Gotesco asked Manila Regional Trial Court?s branch 18 to issue the injunction, the city government opposed the action and even filed a motion for reconsideration when its request was denied by the Manila judge.

(According to Gotesco lawyer Trixie Angeles, the mall owner filed the civil suit in Manila because that is her client?s place of residence. Given the apparent ignorance?or worse?of the judges in Caloocan, as personified by Barrientos, that certainly proved to be the right thing to do.)

Gotesco?s case is simple: Since the administration of Mayor Macario Asistio Jr., the company has been negotiating for the purchase of the 22,685-square meter lot owned by the city and leased to Gotesco back in 1983. It was during Asistio?s time, in 1990, that the city government and the mall operator agreed on a sale price of P182 million, or about P8,000 per sq m upon the recommendation of the Commission on Audit.

A deed of absolute sale covering the property was prepared and signed that year. This document would later become the basis for the issuance of a valid Transfer Certificate of Title in favor of Gotesco by the Land Registration Authority which was duly entered into the local Registry of Deeds.

But the next city administration, headed by Mayor Reynaldo Malonzo, refused to accept Gotesco?s payment for the property. Gotesco went to court, as did Malonzo. In 2006, the Supreme Court itself ruled in Gotesco?s favor, upholding an earlier ruling of the Court of Appeals that dismissed a complaint filed by Malonzo to stop the sale.

By the time the high court had ruled on the case, Echeverri was already city mayor and it looked like the sale would finally push through. Last Sept. 19, Gotesco and the city signed a memorandum regarding the payment to be made by Gotesco and subsequently, through the city treasurer, Caloocan acknowledged the receipt of two manager?s checks amounting to P30 million as downpayment and 36 post-dated checks representing the balance of the purchase price of P182 million.

Then Echeverri and his officials apparently changed their minds and moved to take over the property that they had already sold. And, just as suddenly, the city wanted Gotesco to pay real estate taxes totalling more than three times the agreed-upon price for the sale of the property which Caloocan insists had been unpaid for 23 years?even if the company just bought the land last year.

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Last Oct. 2, the city informed the owners of stores renting space in the mall that they should sign new lease agreements directly with the city government as a prerequisite for their mayor?s permits. The following month, the city informed the security agency employed by Gotesco at the property that the local government was terminating its services because the mall was now owned by Caloocan, allegedly because Gotesco has not paid real estate taxes.

By December, Gotesco had convinced the Manila court to stop Caloocan from taking over and closing the mall, disrupting its operations and from spreading disinformation among tenants. The Register of Deeds of Caloocan City was likewise ordered not to accept any documents concerning the reversion of the property to the city for non-payment of taxes or cancelling Gotesco?s title to the property.

Of course, as we now know, all this didn?t stop Echeverri and the city from going to a local judge, whom they persuaded to issue last week?s writ of possession against Gotesco. Now that Caloocan judge is himself in trouble, because by willfully ignoring another court?s legitimate order, he may be sued for gross ignorance of the law.

Why did Echeverri and his officials suddenly change their mind on a sale that had already been consummated long before, one that his administration has received payment for under terms that the mayor has agrred to? And, while the mayor tries to explain this, perhaps he can also answer a charge hurled by Gotesco that it has been paying Echeverri?s administration P10 million a year for the past five years for mayor?s permits?even if the mall operator has never been given receipts for these annual payments?

Ah, but if the curious case of the failed takeover of the Grand Central mall teaches us anything, it?s that many of our elected officials treat contracts and other such supposedly inviolable business documents like dirt. And that every time an administration changes, it?s entirely possible that a perfectly valid and legal contract may be thrown out of the window altogether.

But perhaps Gotesco can take heart in the fact that we have an election coming up, so it?s also possible that their tormentor at City Hall could be replaced. Of course, if Echeverri?s replacement decides to disregard the sale of the mall once again, that?s just a chance Gotesco will have to take.