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Manila: The prosecutor's office in Manila said that 14 office-bearers and directors of a journalists' club would be tried for selling a mural they took from a building leased by the club.
Prosecutor Jesse Tuburan recommended a bail bond of 40,000 Philippine pesos (Dh3,330) for each of the 14 respondents.
The prosecutor's office upheld the ownership claim of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), a government pension fund, over the land on which the building stands, the building itself, and the mural painted by National Artist Vicente Manansala in 1955, which the The National Press Club (NPC) members sold for 10 million philippine pesos to the Heritage Gallery owned by Odette Alcantara in October 2006.
The NPC office-bearers abused GSIS's trust when they approved the sale of the mural, prosecutors argued. The NPC had not been able to either produce evidence of the purchase of the mural or the commissioning of the artist, they argued. The GSIS had earlier charged the journalists with fraud before the Manila Regional Trial Court.
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