By LYNDA JUMILLA

A Makati Regional Trial Court has thrown out Sen. Maria Ana Consuelo "Jamby" Madrigal’s petition to annul the last will and testament of her aunt and namesake, Consuelo "Chito" Madrigal-Collantes, who excluded the lawmaker as one of the heirs to her multi-million peso fortune.

In a decision dated July 2, Judge Oscar Pimentel said Madrigal’s motion amounted to a petition for annulment of his decision two years ago validating Collantes’ will.

"The decree of probate is conclusive... and cannot be impugned. This court’s final decision dated September 20, 2006 must stand," Pimentel said in his five-page order.

He gave the executors of the will, Collantes’ nephew-in-law Aurelio Montinola III, and lawyer Perry Pe, to administer and dispose of Collantes’ properties that amount to P26.13 million.

In his decision, Pimentel said Madrigal was free to file the appropriate case to annul the court’s original judgment upholding Collantes’ will.

At the same time, amid claims by Madrigal that her aunt’s fortune was much more than P26 million, Pimentel said any other property owned by Collantes that may be discovered hereon and not covered by the will should be settled in accordance with the rules on legal succession.

Drawn up when the socialite was still alive, the will explicitly bequeathed her properties to her husband, former foreign affairs minister Manuel Collantes, a grand-nephew, a number of nieces and nephews, including Madrigal’s older sister, Susana. The senator and another sister were left out.

Madrigal, however, said the ruling was a victory against the alleged crimes committed by her relatives, her own sister included, in supposedly appropriating Collantes’ fortune to themselves.

"Crime does not pay because it was proven that there is justice in the Philippines because the court recognized that nieces and nephews are included as heirs," Madrigal said, insisting that her aunt's fortune was more than P26.13 million.

Ernesto Francisco Jr., the senator's lawyer, said they would not longer move for reconsideration of the ruling but instead, have the will declared invalid before the Court of Appeals. Madrigal has claimed the signature on her aunt’s will was forged.

But Pe, in a telephone conversation, merely laughed off Madrigal’s claims. He declined to be interviewed on camera but allowed himself to be quoted thus: "The order speaks for itself. It upholds Doña Chito’s will as valid."

A source close to the Madrigal family insists all of Collantes’ known properties were covered by the will. As to the P26.13 million estimated value, the source emphasized this was based on the value of the property when these were acquired by Collantes several decades ago. The source also dismissed Madrigal’s claim the court order acknowledged her and other relatives as legal heirs.

"You don’t have to go to court to be declared a legal heir. The issue here is whether she is a forced heir and has claim over the properties cited in the will. And she is not," the source said.