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Thursday, January 13, 2005
Espinoza: Tomas’ statement vs. IBP uncalled for
By Elias l. Espinoza
UNCALLED FOR. Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmena’s sweeping and baseless statement against the law profession does not sit well with the position he holds. It was totally uncalled for.
Mayor Osmeña may not like some local officers of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP), but this does not give him the license to just malign every lawyer in the organization for making a position against the summary killings.
He presumably did it because he is not a lawyer. But the city mayor should know it is the responsibility of the IBP to see to it that the laws of the land are followed and observed.
The lawyers, just like the city mayor, are bound by their oath to abide with and enforce the law to the letter. The summary killings that the city mayor admitted to have inspired do not sit well in a democracy that we brag about.
The lawyers or, the IBP officers for that matter, are only doing their mandated obligation to protect the rights of every person, regardless of social standing, from human rights violations.
It may have been a figure of speech, but the city mayor’s claim that lawyers are losing clients because of the summary killings of persons with criminal records was an understatement.
The city mayor can gloat to his heart’s content that the summary killings could have slowed down some criminal elements in the city. But at the end of the day, the city mayor has to answer to his conscience.
The killings might have deterred crimes, but mind you, they only added to the growing list of unsolved murders.
Just do your job, mayor, in restoring peace and order in your city and the IBP will also do its share of ensuring that our laws are observed.
INFORMAL SETTLERS. Squatters are now called informal settlers. The refusal of a few squatters to vacate the property of Mandaue City in Sitio Tulay at the back of the City Sports Complex has stalled the construction of a modern public market.
Despite the City’s offer of financial assistance, these informal settlers refused and opposed the relocation. It has been more than a year since Mayor Thadeo Ouano started the plan to build the new public market in Tulay.
I hate to say this but I have to. You know, it pains me to see squatters in our own native land. They left the rural life for the false hope that the city offers better opportunities for them.
With no one else to turn to, these migrants from the rural areas are constrained to squat on idle or unused public lots.
But what is in Sitio Tulay that the informal settlers refused to relocate to the riverside in Canduman and Cubacub? Other than their bullheaded stance in resisting the demolition, I can’t think of any better reason.
Mandaue City is perhaps the first city in Cebu or the Visayas to get a “Certificate of Compliance on Demolition” from the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor. With this, the City can demolish houses without delay.
Even with the certificate, however, the City is still giving the informal settlers the opportunity to vacate voluntarily and receive the allocated financial assistance.
The demolition of those illegal dwellings and the relocation of the settlers must proceed. As Ouano previously stated, “I cannot sacrifice the majority of the people of Mandaue because of the refusal of the few. I have to do what is best for the greater good.”
At the moment, Mandaue’s consumers and vendors have to bear with the makeshift stalls built beside the burned public market. It is about time that Mandauehanons enjoy the convenience and comfort of a new public market.
INSTALLED. Court of Appeals (CA) Associate Justice Mercedes Gozo-Dadole will be installed tomorrow as executive justice of the CA-Visayas, based here in Cebu City.
Supreme Court Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. will formally install Justice Dadole to her new post. Dadole, who is a Cebuano, was formerly an assistant Cebu City prosecutor and a Regional Trial Court judge.
(January 13, 2005 issue)
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