Thursday, April 26, 2007
CIPC asks court to drop case v. SRP
THE marketing arm of the South Road Properties (SRP) is asking the Regional Trial Court (RTC) to dismiss the case Tinago Barangay Captain Joel Garganera filed against them.
The Cebu Investment Promotions Center (CIPC) is impleaded in the petition that Garganera filed against Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña, the City Council and the Register of Deeds over the SRP.
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CIPC, through lawyer Benjamin Militar, told RTC Judge Soliver Peras that the petition should be dismissed for lack of merit and that the prayer for the issuance of a temporary restraining order and a writ of preliminary injunction be denied.
The CIPC adopted the City Government’s answer, which carried a P20-million damage suit as a counterclaim against Garganera.
In an interview yesterday, Garganera described the suit as “pure harassment.”
He said, “The City Government is trying to muscle me by filing the suit but I won’t blink. Hurot na ang akong talaw, kaisog nalang ang nagpabilin (My fear is gone, courage is the only thing that’s left).”
Bleeding
“The City is bleeding and it’s due for a major operation apan band-aid ra ang ilang gibutang (They just treated it with a band-aid),” he said.
Garganera also clarified that his filing of the case has nothing to do with politics.
He said he even aborted his plans to run for councilor because he did not want the case to become a political issue and be tagged as propaganda.
The City filed the damage suit against Garganera for the taxpayers’ case he filed concerning the SRP.
City officials said this is their way to deter others from filing “unwarranted and malicious” suits against the City related to the 240-hectare facility. They said the case caused unwanted bad publicity that would invariably result in the “shying away of investors.”
Garganera has asked the RTC to stop Osmeña, the council, the CIPC and the Register of Deeds from marketing, selling, disposing of or leasing the SRP.
Such moves, he said, are illegal since the presidential proclamation transferring the SRP ownership to the city government has no congressional authority.
Garganera, in his complaint, said that the SRP is classified as lands of public domain.
He cited a Supreme Court decision that said, “It is not for the President to convey real property of the government on his or her own sole will.”
City Hall lawyers, for their part, wanted Garganera to implead President Arroyo in the case because he is questioning the acts of Arroyo, who issued Proclamation 843 that transferred the ownership of the SRP to the City Government. (KNT)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (April 26, 2007 issue)
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