Tuesday, October 10, 2007 Lapu-Lapu City, trader wrap up arguments today By Karlon N. Rama Sun.Star Staff Reporter
THE Regional Trial Court (RTC) gave businessman Efrain Pelaez Jr. and the Lapu-Lapu City Government until 5 p.m. today to wrap their arguments up before it decides on the fate of the businessman’s two malls and a beach resort.
Lawyers Bernardito Florido and Richard Sison, representing the businessman and the City Government respectively, argued before Judge Toribio Quiwag of the 27th branch of the Lapu-Lapu RTC for two hours yesterday.
They narrowed the issues to three points–whether the City Government can lawfully demolish the businessman’s properties, whether Pelaez’s three business establishments are exempt from local taxes and requirements, and whether the businessman’s petition for injunction is valid.
Florido, during the hearing, cited the need to stop the city government’s impending demolition of the Marina Mall, the Southgate Mall and Pelaez’s Coralpoint Resort and reiterated his motion for the issuance of temporary restraining order.
“There is a need to protect the status quo and the City Government will not lose anything if one is issued,” he said.
He offered a plethora of documents into evidence. These included permits that Pelaez got for his two malls from the Mactan Economic Zone, as well as permits issued to the Coralpoint Properties Inc. and the Coralpoint Development Corp. by the Philippine Reclamation Authority and by the City Government.
Permits, licenses
He said it is the zone authority, and not the local government, that issues permits and licenses to the malls because they are located within the economic zone.
Quoting the Supreme Court (SC) in its 1928 decision in the Tomas Monteverde vs. Sebastian Generoso case, Florido also argued that even without any permit, the City Government couldn’t simply facilitate a demolition without going to court.
Sison, for his part, opened his arguments by asking that the court enter as his first evidence Florido’s complaint.
The move allowed him to point out to the court what he claimed were defects in the suit – that it impleaded non-parties-in-interest and that Pelaez wasn’t authorized to represent at least one of the plaintiff corporations.
“The City Government does not have an employee named Vincent Joseph Lim,” he said, referring to one of the identified defendants in the suit. The Lapu-Lapu City Attorney is Joseph Vincent Lim.
It also allowed him to point out to the court that the suit questioned the legality of a local ordinance that gave the mayor the authority to order the demolition of certain structures in the city that may be considered a nuisance but, allegedly in violation of Sec. 8, Rule 7 of the Rules of Court (manner in making allegations in pleadings), failed to quote from the questioned local statute as well as attach an official copy to the complaint.
The error, Sison said, even necessitates that the judge throw out the complaint for being in violation of Rule 17, Sec. 3 of the Rules of Court (dismissal of actions).
Sison argued that the court is even barred from issuing a restraining order now that Pelaez has raised a prejudicial question.
He cited the SC’s 1989 ruling in the Valley Trading Inc. vs. CFI Isabela case. The ruling barred courts from issuing injunction orders in cases involving the alleged nullity of an ordinance because doing so “would be a virtual acceptance of (the) claim that the imposition is patently invalid or, at the very least, that the ordinance is of doubtful validity.”
No exemption
And even if the complaint were to stand, Sison said the notice of demolition is lawful because all the permits and licenses Pelaez was able to obtain from Peza does not exempt it from taxes and requirements Lapu-Lapu City intends to impose.
He cited a Sept. 27, 2002 memorandum from the Bureau of Local Government Finance that says the exemptions are only for those firms that are into “export enterprises.” Sison pointed out that Pelaez’s malls are not engaged in such a business.
In an interview after the hearing, Sison also cited a March 12, 2007 opinion, signed by Bureau of Local Government Finance executive director Ma. Presentacion Montesa and addressed to Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Arturo Radaza, saying that it is the local government that issues permits and licenses to establishments within economic zones. (KNR)
