THE Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 10 has junked former Cebu City mayor Tomas Osmeña’s petition for a temporary restraining order (TRO) and suspended the hearing on his request for a writ of preliminary injunction on the sale of a 45-hectare lot at the South Road Properties (SRP) in 2015.
Judge Soliver Peras said Osmeña, whose full name is Tomas dela Rama Osmeña or TRO, failed to submit evidence to support the latter’s claim that the contract between the City Government and the consortium of SM Prime Holdings Inc. and Ayala Land Inc. (SM-Ayala consortium) and Filinvest Land Inc. (FLI), the buyers of the property, was questionable.
“The petitioner did not show that any damage he may suffer from the implementation of the questioned contracts meet the case law standard of grave and irreparable injury. There is no indication that any loss that may be borne from the City’s disposition of its property cannot be mathematically computed,” Peras said in his decision. “As maybe gleaned from the application, such statement is mere speculation. Petitioner did not offer proof that the implementation of the questioned contracts would deny him or the City of Cebu of the value or potential of the SRP lots.”
The judge also ordered “to hold in abeyance the hearing for the application of the writ of preliminary injunction until the motions to dismiss and opposition and other pleadings related thereto have been resolved.”
The court gave Osmeña five days to decide whether he intends to appear before the Philippine Mediation Center to possibly settle the matter amicably.
Peras ordered the motions to dismiss and opposition and other pleadings related to the sale submitted for resolution.
Mayor Edgardo Labella, who is the primary respondent of the case along with the developers, said the case his predecessor filed is similar to the case filed by a Romulo Torres questioning the SRP deal, which was dismissed by the RTC and later junked by the Court of Appeals.
“No TRO for TRO. It has become a fait accompli... This is a victory for the people of the City of Cebu and again there will be no more legal impediment and no stopping the development of the 26-hectare land which is under the consortium. We will be expecting the full implementation of the development,” Labella said, adding that his political opponents have been filing similar cases to try and stop the sale.
City Attorney Rey Gealon shared the mayor’s sentiment, saying nothing will stop the development of the 26-hectare property since the sale was legal.
Earlier, Aniceto Bisnar Jr., president of the ALI-unit Cebu Holdings Inc., announced that the groundbreaking for the 26-hectare development located across the SM Seaside complex is eyed within the first quarter of next year.
The project is expected to generate two million direct and indirect jobs once completed. (PAC, PJB)