A REGIONAL trial court in Iloilo City has dismissed a civil case for damages filed in 2012 by restaurant owner against Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog and former city legal officer Jose Junio Jacela.

Judge Rene S. Hortillo of RTC Branch 31 also ordered plaintiff spouses Rogelio Fanunal and Ermila G. Fanunal to pay the attorney fees and exemplary damages of P200,000 and moral damages of P300,000 for Damages.

The Fanunal couple were owners of Roy’s Manokan and Restaurant constructed on a foreshore land of the Iloilo River.

The structure was later on declared illegal by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Public Works and Highways, and the city engineering office.

Task Force Asis later on demolished the structures along the river for illegal squatting and encroachment of the river.

The court said the actions of the mayor and the city legal officer in ordering the demolition of the plaintiff’s structures were all legal and in order after due process. That the subsequent rejection of plaintiff’s foreshore lease agreement and non-renewal of his authority to occupy rendered his occupation of a portion of the Iloilo River as illegal and contrary to law.

The court decision was dated February 23, 2016.