THE Cebu City Government asked Judge Generosa Labra to dismiss a petition that seeks to nullify a council resolution that authorized Mayor Tomas Osmeña to sign a joint venture agreement (JVA) to develop an P18-billion integrated resort and casino complex on Kawit Island at the South Road Properties (SRP).
In yesterday’s hearing, City Legal Office Chief Joseph Bernaldez argued that the petition for issuance of a restraining order filed by Busay Barangay Councilor Amilo Lopez should be dismissed as legally defective.
Bernaldez said Lopez’s urgent motion was filed in violation of the three-day notice rule: there was no formal notice of resetting of yesterday’s hearing.
The City Legal Office received a copy of Lopez’s urgent motion at 10 a.m. yesterday.
Bernaldez said that Lopez’s motion for issuance of a temporary restraining order ought to be denied for lack of urgency.
“Where is the urgency here? There is none,” he said.
Labra, of the RTC branch 23, tackled yesterday Lopez’s petition for declaration of nullity with the prayer for the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) and preliminary injunction against the City Government.
Lopez said that the joint venture deal with the Universal Hotels and Resorts Inc.(UHRI) is “grossly disadvantageous.”
In his 10-page petition, Lopez said the City Council did not authorize Osmeña to enter into the deal because the proceedings where the majority bloc approved the resolution covering the authority of the mayor to sign the deal was irregular.
Lopez said UHRI is disqualified from entering into the JVA based on City Ordinance 2154, which requires that a prospective JVA partner must have a completed project of similar land use and with a cost equal to 75 percent of the JVA project. But UHRI was incorporated only last August 2017.
During the hearing, Atty. Bernaldez said there was no need for issuance of the restraining order since the signing of the joint venture deal was done last Aug. 17.
He said Lopez cannot claim that he filed the petition as a taxpayer since no public funds had been disbursed during the contract signing.
Apart from Lopez, eight opposition councilors had also filed a similar petition to stop the City’s joint venture.
The petitioners are Councilors Jose Daluz III, Jocelyn Pesquera, Raymond Garcia, Pastor Alcover, Erik Miguel Espina, Joel Garganera, and Eduardo Rama Jr.
They asked the court to declare void Council Resolutions 14-0183-2018 and 14-0184-2018 dated Aug. 8, 2018, for being “irregular and patently unlawful.”
The petition seeks to prevent the City from entering into the JVA with UHRI and from approving the application for the special use of a proposed central material facility and landfill in Binaliw. (GMD)