Executor denies executing billionaire’s will

I would like to correct any misimpression that might have been created by the news item titled, "Jamby Madrigal: I am not greedy." (Inquirer, 4/22/08) The report stated that "Chito Madrigal passed away on March 24, leaving her fortune to her husband, former Foreign Affairs Minister Manuel Collantes and niece, Gizela M. Gonzales-Montinola, whose husband, Bank of the Philippine Islands President Aurelio Montinola, executed the childless billionaire's will two years ago."

I have been advised that the term "execute" carries specific and peculiar meanings in law. In the particular context of the article, "execute" may be misunderstood to mean as "making a legal document [such as a will] valid by signing" or "bringing a legal document to its final, legally enforceable form."

Ms Chito Madrigal's will was signed and executed by no less than herself as the testator. And while I was named by the will as one of its executors (i.e., one charged to implement the will's terms and conditions), I never "executed" the will two years ago, or during her lifetime.