Tuesday, November 20, 2007 Lapu official seeks P13M in damages
THE Lapu-Lapu City officials impleaded in the P2.2-million damages suit filed by the head of the Mactan Island Chamber of Commerce and Industry have struck back with a P26-million counterclaim.
Lapu-Lapu City Attorney Vincent Joseph Lim and City Administrator Teodulo Ybañez said businessman Efrain Pelaez Jr. should pay each of them P4 million in moral damages, P6 million in exemplary damages and P3 million in legal services and expenses.
Pelaez earlier sued the officials for, among others, publicly calling him a tax evader and declaring him persona non grata.
Lim and Ybañez said the P4 million in damages should be awarded to them for the sleepless nights, wounded feelings and social humiliation they suffered because of Pelaez’s accusations.
The P6 million in damages will be a way of example or correction for the public good after Pelaez filed an “unwarranted, vexatious and unfounded” suit against them, while the P3 million will serve as reimbursement for the legal expenses they incurred defending themselves.
In Pelaez’s complaint, he cited how Lim and Ybañez, in a press conference last Sept. 21, distributed a CD that contained a digitally enhanced illustration of the Battle of Mactan where his mug shot was superimposed over Magellan’s body while the Portuguese explorer was being killed by Lapu-Lapu, portrayed by Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Arturo Radaza.
In their answer, Lim and Ybañez told Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 12 Judge Estela Alma Singco that the businessman is the one guilty of desecrating the memory of Lapu-Lapu and the sanctity and national significance of the historic Battle of Mactan.
What they did during the press conference, according to the defendants, was merely giving Pelaez a dose of his own medicine.
The officials said that prior to the last elections, Pelaez poisoned the mind of the public by publishing a caricature of Lapu-Lapu covering his nose due to an alleged proliferation of garbage all over the island of Mactan.
They also explained to the court that the issuance of notices and orders of demolition against the businesses owned by Pelaez was “legitimate, legal and lawful” and as such could not be subject to an injunction, much more damages.
Pelaez’s complaint said the officials falsely accused him of not having building permits for his two malls and closure notices were “maliciously” mailed to the individual tenants instead of mall management.
The officials explained that the propriety of the building permits claimed to be issued by the Philippine Export Zone Authority (Peza) to Pelaez is not new.
Since the matter of building permits issued by the Peza is a recurring problem, they made a query to the Department of Finance which said the local government, in this case Lapu-Lapu City, has to exercise its police powers over Marina Mall pursuant to the general welfare clause of the local government code.
When their stand was confirmed, they were left with no recourse but to issue notices of demolition against four businesses owned the Pelaez. They explained that without the building permits, the City is not in a position to assess the accurate tax liability of the businesses, which will put the City at a loss.
They also denied Pelaez’s statement that they were getting back at him for the anti-graft case he filed against them and Mayor Radaza for the City’s allegedly overpriced purchase of personal computers in 2005. (KNT)
