THE demolition of houses in Lot 937 in Sitio San Miguel, Barangay Apas, Cebu City was temporarily halted on Monday, November 14, 2022, when officials from the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) and members of the Philippine Air Force (PAF) arrived in the area.
Edgar Erice, spokesman of Mazy’s Capital Incorporated, which owns the property, said the OSG officials questioned the demolition and pointed out that Mazy’s Capital did not coordinate with the Philippine Commission for the Urban Poor (PCUP).
“They said there was no proper coordination with the PCUP so they should ask the PCUP, not us... They said the PAF was the administrator of the property but they couldn’t show any documents,” Erice said in Tagalog.
The three parties went to the office of Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) Director Colonel Ireneo Dalogdog to discuss the matter with Sheriff Edilberto Suarin present.
Erice said they mull filing a case against the OSG and the PAF for disrupting the demolition.
“My lawyers fill be studying this. If they continue their claims then I will find a case against the officers of the PAF and representatives of the OSG,” he said in Tagalog.
Sheriff Suarin, for his part, said they were only implementing the writ of demolition, adding that only a temporary restraining order (TRO) from the court could stop them.
Suarin also said the OSG officials who also claimed to be the property’s administrator could not show any documents that they had legal basis to stop the demolition.
Dalogdog told the OSG officials and members of the PAF that the CCPO’s role is to provide secure in the demolition site and to implement the law.
If the OSG or the PAF cannot present a TRO from the court then the CCPO has no choice but to stand by the law, Dalogdog said.
“I told them earlier that no one is above the law. Our duty is to implement the law. We cannot take the side of the party that we know is not in the right,” he said in Tagalog.
The demolition in Lot 937 resumed later on Monday. (AYB, PJB)