The first wife of the late billionaire George Siao Kian Ty, along with her two children, was not left out of inheritance based on Ty’s last will and testament, informed sources said Thursday.
“The speculation that the two families are engaged in a dispute over Mr. Ty’s last will and testament is false and inaccurate. The truth is one family is harassing the Ty family to relent to their demands about the division of part of Mr. Ty’s estate”•which they cannot do because they have to abide by the will and testament he left behind,” sources said.
Manila Standard earlier reported that Ty’s first Filipina wife, Lourdes de Lara Ty, along with their two children, was left out of the inheritance based on the contents of the last will and testament submitted to the Makati Regional Trial Court by Ty’s second wife, Mary Vy, in December 2018.
Lawyer Jose Virgilio ‘JV’ Bautista, the legal counsel of Lourdes de Lara Ty whom the tycoon married in 1961, said the first wife was set to file a petition with the Makati City Regional Trial Court questioning the contents of Ty’s last will and testament that allegedly left her and her two children out of inheritance.
Sources, however, said there were no official records that could confirm that Ty married de Lara. “Mr. Ty purportedly married Mrs. Lourdes de Lara Ty on Nov. 14, 1961 in Hong Kong. However, it remains uncertain that an official and authentic marriage certificate that attests to this actually exists,” sources said.
Ty, who was born in Hong Kong on Oct. 18, 1932, succumbed to pancreatic cancer at the age of 86 on Nov. 23, 2018. Sources cited official government records showing that Ty and Mary Vy were lawfully wed in the Philippines and they had four children together”•Arthur, Alfred, Anjanette and Alesandra. Ty and de Lara had two children”•Margaret and Anthony.
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. Bautista said when 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 Ty later met his second wife, who was “an employee of the newly established Metrobank.”
Ty, the founder of Metropolitan Bank & Trust Company and GT Capital Holdings Inc., was named as one of the 10 richest Filipinos by the prestigious Forbes Magazine with a net personal fortune of $2.75 billion.
Sources said the will involved only P3 billion, and not billions of dollars as reported in newspapers.
Sources said contrary to reports, Margaret and Anthony would also receive their inheritance share under the law.
Mary Vy Ty filed a petition for the probate of the will and her appointment as the administrator of Ty’s estate on Dec. 12, 2018. Sources said Ty earlier disinherited Margaret for “maltreatment” by “word or deed.”
“The petitioner, Mrs. Mary Vy Ty, filed the probate within the period prescribed by law. This probate includes the two illegitimate children. They will receive what is due to them according to law, subject to the stipulations of Mr. Ty’s will,” sources said.
“Ms. Lourdes de Lara has also been generously provided for. Mr. Ty left her a substantial trust fund and multiple properties, including her residence in South Forbes,” sources said.
Sources said Ty left his last will and testament dated Sept. 23, 2015 with Mary Vy Ty. He designated her as his executor.
Bautista, a former law school dean and party-list representative, said de Lara Ty was “completely omitted” in the last will and testament. Bautista said Lourdes was the legal wife and should be considered in the estate case as the late tycoon’s surviving spouse.
Sources said “the Ty family cannot be expected to acquiesce to demands that are not in their father’s will. Mr. Ty’s will again disinherited his illegitimate daughter Margaret Ty-Cham due to her ‘maltreatment’ by ‘word or deed.”
Sources said “those who knew Mr. Ty were aware that Margaret was a constant source of problems for him. In 2017, in a public announcement published in a national broadsheet, Mr. Ty declared that all business dealings and representations made by her are all her own, with no connections to him and his group of companies,” sources said.
“He also disowned her in the statement, saying that they have “suffered a completely estranged relationship.”
“There are multiple court cases”•and even a warrant of arrest issued”•which attest to her unscrupulous financial dealings,” sources said.
Sources said the proceedings regarding Ty’s last will and testament would have no impact on the businesses and companies under GT Capital Holdings Inc., the investment company of the Ty family.
“The noise being generated about these personal matters has made a distasteful spectacle of what is an otherwise peaceful, orderly and private family matter. The resort to the court of public opinion instead of to the appropriate court of law is also telling on the motives,” sources said.