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Wednesday, May 11, 2005
Judge lets go of road case, avoids doubt
Since a member of his family often uses the Cebu South Coastal Road, the Regional Trial Court judge who was assigned the civil suit that sought to compel Cebu City Hall to reopen the road decided to let go of the case.
Regional Trial Court Branch 6 Judge Anacleto Caminade yesterday told plaintiff Alfredo Sipalay and City Government lawyers that he is inhibiting from the case because his immediate family is directly affected by the issue.
He said his daughter-in-law, who lives in Talisay City, frequently uses the coastal road in going to Cebu City and other northern cities and towns.
He said some family members had asked him to order the opening of the coastal road, which was closed last April 8.
The coastal road is open to only those who have secured a security pass from the office of Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña.
Caminade, who hails from the southern town of Argao, did not tell the litigants if he too uses the coastal road in coming to work at the Palace of Justice in the Capitol area.
Lawyer Joseph U. Bernaldez, who represented the Cebu City Government, had earlier opposed Caminade’s inhibition because City Hall still “believes in the integrity of the judge.”
Bernaldez said there is not enough ground for Caminade to let go of the case.
But Sipalay, who filed the case in court, said the pressures exerted on the judge by his family and other people already cast doubt on Caminade’s partiality.
He said a judge should be “neutral, independent and has the cold impartiality” in deciding cases in their court.
Sipalay, a former officer of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP)-Cebu City chapter, filed the case against Osmeña, SRP manager Nigel Paul Villarete and City Administrator Francisco “Bimbo” Fernandez for closing the coastal road.
Sipalay’s first witness, former Metro Cebu Development Project chairman Samuel Darza, had told the court that Osmeña or the City Government does not have the right to close the road because it is a national road.
Due to Caminade’s inhibition, the case will have to be raffled off to another judge by Monday.
Meanwhile, lawyer Kit Enriquez, a board member of the IBP-Cebu City chapter, said that it is not true that the group will not support Sipalay in the case.
IBP-Cebu City Chapter president Alex Tolentino earlier said they will not support Sipalay in the case because the chapter wants to approach the issue “softly” by asking the mayor to open the coastal road.
Enriquez said the group has yet to come up with an official stand on the issue, and that Tolentino’s pronouncement in the media was only his.
He added that, in their previous meeting, IBP-Cebu City chapter officers agreed to take legal action against Osmeña if the mayor insists on keeping the road closed. (GN)
(May 11, 2005 issue)
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