SPLIT OF BARANGAY GUADALUPE: Court subpoenas papers on barangay boundaries

CEBU, Philippines - After issuing a 20-day Temporary Restraining Order to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on the holding of a plebiscite on the proposal to split barangay Guadalupe, the court has subpoenaed the secretary of the Sangguniang Panglungsod to bring all documents related to the split to the next hearing on Friday.

Regional Trial Court Branch 58 Judge Gabriel Ingles issued the order after heeding the need to see more evidence on the complaint of Labangon barangay councilman Victor Buendia, who brought his concern to court after finding out that his present residence would be part of the split.

Buendia, who lives in Rosalina Village, explained that their place has always been part of the barangay Labangon. If his village will be included in the new barangay that would be created, he will therefore lose his seat in the Labangon barangay council.

Buendia’s legal counsel Julius Ceasar Entise presented evidence that Rosalina Village belongs to barangay Labangon like Buendia’s community tax certificate and voter’s identification card that was both issued in barangay Labangon, the homeowner’s association registration that was also under Labangon, and a project proposal that was submitted to the city council for the proposal of drainage systems in their village.

Judge Ingles proposed that both parties have to agree as to what documents they would need to support their respective claims and from what offices the court would subpoena these files.

With both parties agreeing, the court has subpoenaed the secretary of the city council as well as the chief of the Land and Management Section of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to bring papers that could certify as to where Rosalina Village belongs to.

However, with the hearing of the Writ of Preliminary Injunction continuing, Congressman Antonio Cuenco who is the author of the proposal to split the barangay, said that the complaint should not have been made in the court in the first place since it is the Sangguniang Panglungsod that could decide over land and boundary disputes.

He said that the court would not have any jurisdiction to decide on the matter since according to the Local Government Code, it is the city council that would do so.

Cuenco explained that the complaint could be brought to court if the petitioner and his counsel wish to appeal the case if they are not in favor of the decision of the city council.

But Cuenco said that there was even no formal complaint filed in the council.

Entise, the petitioner’s counsel, for their part said that they are aware that the city council is the one to make decisions on boundary disputes, but stressed that there is no dispute on the matter since it is only Labangon that is claiming Rosalina village and not Guadalupe.

However, Cuenco said that he is very confident that the TRO would be lifted and the plebiscite would push through.

He said that before they made the proposal, everything was properly studied and ironed out including what places would be included in the split.

Cuenco mentioned that in the barangay boundary monument which was placed decades ago, it shows that Rosalina village is indeed part of Guadalupe. 

Ingles already earlier said that this will be looked into very carefully since he wants the petitioner and the residents of Rosalina Village not to lose their right of suffrage. – AJ de la Torre/NLQ   (FREEMAN NEWS)