The first and legitimate wife of the late billionaire George Siao Kian Ty is set to file a petition with a local court questioning the contents of the latter's last will and testament which allegedly left her and her two children out of inheritance.
Lawyer Jose Virgilio 'JV' Bautista, the legal counsel of Lourdes de Lara Ty whom the tycoon married in 1961, said the legal wife, together with their two children, was left out in the inheritance based on the contents of a last will and testament submitted to the Makati Regional Trial Court by Ty's second wife Mary Vy.
Bautista, a former law school dean and party-list representative, said de Lara Ty was “completely omitted” in the last will and testament allegedly left in the control of the second wife.
"The second wife, Mary Vy, filed a petition with the Makati court to prove that the will is authentic and duly executed," said Bautista of Bautista Roleda Jabla Yusi & Tomas Law Offices.
Bautista said George Ty met Lourdes de Lara when he was 29 years old, while trying to establish Metrobank.Ӭ
"When George Ty was putting up Metrobank in 1961, his wife Lourdes, who was client relations officer in Far East Bank, was the one who worked on and followed up the bank registration requirements with the Central Bank," Bautista said.
Bautista said George Ty later met his second wife who was “an employee of the newly established Metrobank.”
Manila Standard tried to get the side of the Ty family, but had yet to get a response as of press time.
Ty, the founder of Metropolitan Bank & Trust Company and GT Capital Holdings Inc., was named as one of the ten richest Filipinos by the prestigious Forbes Magazine with a net personal fortune of $2.75 billion.
Ty, who was born in Hong Kong on Oct. 18, 1932, died in the Philippines at the age of 86 on Nov. 23, 2018. Ty and Mary Vy had four children”•Arthur, Alfred, Anjanette and Alesandra, while Ty and de Lara had two children—Margaret and Anthony.
Bautista said Lourdes was the legal wife and should be considered in the estate case as the late tycoon's surviving spouse.
Before Ty's death, Lourdes was a director of Toyota Manila Bay Corp. and a member of the board of advisers of Manila Tytana Colleges.
"As the legitimate spouse, she is entitled to both her conjugal share in the estate, as well as her compulsory inheritance known as her 'legitime'," said JV Bautista, who served as dean of Cabanatuan City-based John Wesley School of Law & Governance at Wesleyan University.Ӭ"Lourdes could not believe that her late husband could really make a will that excluded her and their two legitimate children," Bautista said.
"And this is the reason why she will challenge and oppose the approval of the will in court," he said.Ӭ
Bautista said the petition filed by Mary Vy Ty in court did not mention the name of 'George S.K. Ty' in any of the papers she filed, referring to the late tycoon by his Chinese name Ty Siao Kian. Ҭ
Among the companies that Ty founded and owned are Metrobank, GT Capital Holdings, PS Bank, Toyota Motors Philippines, Federal Land, Axa Insurance, Manila Doctors Hospital, Grand Hyatt Hotel, Marco Polo Hotels, Tytana Colleges and many other well-known companies.