Tuesday, January 15, 2008 Jadewell, council mull ending pay parking case By Rimaliza Opiña
A YEAR'S truce may have mellowed the owners of the pay parking firm Jadewell, which recently stopped operating in Baguio after various sectors in the city opposed its business venture.
Marcial Balgos, lawyer of Jadewell, said his clients are willing to sit down with members of the City Council to discuss a proposal to settle the case.
The pay parking firm has entertained the possibility of mediation after receiving a letter from then vice mayor Daniel Fariñas, who suggested that both parties should avail of the mediation proceedings, to end the case, which is still pending before the Supreme Court (SC).
Fariñas said the proposal is his but this would have to bear the approval of a majority of the members of the City Council.
He said his only intention is for the city to move forward although he clarified mediation would have to be initiated on the court's behest.
"We welcome your suggestion. Our client (Jadewell through spouses Rogelio and Norma Tan) is ready, willing and able to meet with the members of the City Council for such suggested mediation," Balgos said in a January 10 letter to Fariñas, while stressing their contract remains valid despite the repeal of Ordinance 3-2000 or the Pay Parking Ordinance in November 2006.
Also included in the letter is Balgos's precaution that the City Government's plan of operating a pay parking business at the Ganza parking area might impinge the pending cases before the SC.
But former councilor Edilberto Tenefrancia and former mayor Braulio Yaranon said mediation at this time might be too late, because the case has already been submitted for decision and might be handed down within the year.
"What for, they are out. They are not doing business here anymore," Tenefrancia said.
"Why enter into this kind of arrangement? What is their purpose," Yaranon asked, as he pointed out that Jadewell no longer has a binding contract with the city, following the repeal of the pay parking ordinance.
Although both parties said the mediation proposal needs the concurrence of the City Council, Yaranon said if Jadewell is allowed to come back, this might earn them the ire of Baguio residents, who signed a petition many years back demanding for the parking firm's expulsion.
"Whatever happens, the people of Baguio will not agree," Yaranon said as he suggested that if Fariñas and Jadewell are bent on entering the mediation, public hearings should be held to determine if the people are still willing to have Jadewell around.
Tenefrancia, Yaranon and Councilor Betty Lourdes Tabanda were the City Council's lawyers when the council first rescinded Jadewell's contract in 2002.
The three were also identified as oppositionists to the parking firm's operations.
The City Government lost its case in both the Regional Trial Court and the Court of Appeals on account that the rescission was premature. The decision was appealed before the SC and is currently pending.
This, however, did not stop the city from ending its deal with Jadewell so that in November 2006, the City Council repealed the pay parking ordinance and again rescinded its contract with the parking firm.
