Monday, August 08, 2004 Jadewell: Junked case vs city dads only minor By Ernie N. Olson Jr.
BAGUIO CITY -- The management of Jadewell Parking Systems Corporation shrugged off the dismissal of the contempt charges they filed against city officials saying the case was comparatively a minor case.
Jadewell filed contempt charges against former Mayor Bernardo Vergara, incumbent Mayor Braulio Yaranon, members of the city and other others in connection with the city's pay parking system.
According to Jadewell president Rogelio Tan "the contempt charges we filed against them was only subsidiary and was only meant to stop them from continuously harassing us into discontinuing with our pay parking operations here."
"Well, win some, lose some. This is the first time for us to lose a case against the city government," Tan shrugged.
He said "the main issue, actually, was concerning the constitutionality, legality and validity of City Ordinance No. 003-2000 and the accompanying memorandum of agreement entered into between the city government and our firm. And as we all know, this has already been upheld by the Supreme Court and decided in our favor earlier," Tan disclosed.
"What we are only waiting for right now, is what decision the Supreme Court will render concerning the rescission issue," Tan pointed out.
"Anyway, going back to this contempt case decided upon recently by the CA, we will definitely be filing a motion for reconsideration because it seems that they only gave merit to an earlier memorandum issued by the Department of Transportation & Communication regional office for us to cease and desist from clamping and towing. It seems that they may not have given weight to the later statements of DOTC Regional Director Alfredo Mondiguing, who explained after studying the necessary legal documents, that we have automatically been authorized to clamp and tow by the pay parking ordinance itself and that we do not need to be deputized by them to implement it," he explained.
He further stated that another decision they were waiting for was whether the High Court will issue them a temporary restraining order or an injunction with regards to a more recent complaint they filed against Yaranon early last month.
It may be recalled in an earlier Sun.Star report that in a judgment penned by Associate Justices Jose Sabio Jr., Danilo Pine and Noel Tijam, they said "there is no basis to indict (Vergara and his other co-respondents) as the acts they committed were done in their capacity as officials."
Aside from city officials, Jadewell also included businessman Benedicto Balajadia and former DPWH District Engineer Nestor Nicolas as respondents.
These justices of the CA Special Second Division said the conflict between the parties may have started when the DoTC refused to deputize Jadewell's parking attendants considering that, as per the law, only government personnel can enforce traffic rules and regulations.
Mondiguing, then, issued a cease and desist order to Jadewell. Despite this, "the petitioner continued to perform acts in contravention of the said order."
The CA added that Jadewell's continued operations, despite the absence of a deputation, was what prompted the City Council to pass a resolution urging the DOTC to enforce compliance with the cease and desist order.
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Radioman says: We, not frat, were targets