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Sunday, May 30, 2004
CA reaffirms ruling on Zamora lotto controversy
By Jimmy P. Abayon
THE Court of Appeals reaffirmed its Jan. 29 ruling finding Vice Mayor Williman Ablong and acting City Legal Officer Neil Ray Lagahit guilty of indirect contempt for closing the lotto outlet of Teresita Zamora almost a year ago.
The ruling likewise maintained its Febuary 24, 2003 decision directing the city government to stop enforcing its closure order and from further "disturbing, impeding, obstructing, or stopping" the operation and maintenance of Zamora's lotto terminal pending the disposition of the case.
"I am very happy...there is justice gyud diay in our government," a jubilant Zamora said on receiving a copy of the eight-page decision Wednesday.
In its decision promulgated May 16, 2004, Associate Justice Arturo D. Brion, and concurred by Associate Justices Salvador J. Valdez, Jr. and Josefina Guevarra-Salonga, castigated Ablong and Lagahit for not filing their comment on the petition to declare them in contempt in their motion for reconsideration.
Justice Brion said the two respondents did not bother to comply with the CA directive to confirm their receipt of the January 29 decision and had made it appear that Zamora's lawyer had been furnished a copy of their motion when their filed the same to the Appellate Court.
"Faced with penalties for contempt, respondents now come to us in this motion for reconsideration pleading good faith and asking for apology," the associate justice noted.
He reiterated that Ablong and Lagahit disregarded the Rules of Court and the CA's February 24, 2003 decision refraining them from closing Zamora's outlet.
For her part, Zamora described the CA decision as a "victory" for other lotto outlets.
Since the City Government's anti-lotto operation drive in 2001, it has closed four of five outlets including that of Zamora who has since relocated to nearby Sibulan.
She said she has already talked with other lotto franchise operators and that they were willing to reopen their business.
Zamora opened her lotto operations in Dumaguete City in late 2000.
But in July, 2001, Mayor Agustin Perdices, newly-elected mayor then, ordered a stop to her operation for lack of permit.
On the same month, Zamora filed a final injunction with temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against the mayor's order, which the Regional Trial Court 33 dismissed.
With the RTC decision, Mayor Perdices confiscated the businesswoman's lotto machine and closed operation.
Following another setback at the RTC, Zamora elevated her case before the CA.
On February 24, 2003, the 10th Division of the CA ordered the city to stop the closure of her lotto outlet.
With the CA decision, Zamora reopened her outlet, but on July 18 of the same year, Ablong and Lagahit closed the lotto operation anew despite a contempt case hanging on their heads.
(May 30, 2004 issue)
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