FORMER Cebu City mayor Tomas Osmeña, through his legal counsel, has filed a motion for reconsideration to reverse the dismissal order of the court for his December 2020 petition against the development and modernization of the Carbon Public Market.
On January 3, 2023, Cebu City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 58 Judge Ma. Lynna Adviento outrightly dismissed Osmeña's petition for its failure to adhere to the rules of civil procedure.
Osmeña, in his petition, claimed that the joint-venture agreement (JVA) between the Cebu City Government and Megawide Construction Corp. is "inexistent and void from the beginning," thus urging the court to issue a temporary restraining order and a preliminary prohibitory injunction.
The court, however, did not look into the merits of the case since the petition was treated as an "unsigned pleading" for the failure of Osmeña's counsel to follow the Rules of Civil Procedure.
Lawyer Benjamin Militar, being Osmeña's counsel, signed the petition and likewise notarized the verification and certification of non-forum shopping.
Militar told SunStar Cebu Thursday, February 2, that they have filed their motion to reverse the court's decision on Tuesday, January 31.
In their motion for reconsideration, Militar argued that the dismissal of a petition should be based on more substantive grounds, and not solely on procedural infirmities such as defective verifications.
Militar said jurisprudence has shown that resolutions issued by the court were based "on the merits of the case."
"The petitioner respectfully seeks a reconsideration of the said order of dismissal based solely on the premise that a defective verification and certificate of non-forum shopping by itself without any other reason cannot be the basis for the dismissal of the case," read a portion of Osmeña's motion. (IRT)