Tom refuses to release impounded Capitol truck

CEBU, Philippines - Mayor Tomas Osmeña is not moved by the threat of Governor Gwendolyn Garcia to file a case in court against the city if it will not release the province-owned trailer that was impounded by City Traffic Operations Management last week.

“Provincial government will sue CITOM if we don’t release the trailer in 5 days. The province thinks they can get a favorable decision because Governor Gwen has a reputation of cutting a judge allowance if the judge will rule against them,” the mayor said.

Osmeña, who was elected congressman of the city’s south district last May 10, said he is not afraid even if the province will make true of its threat to sue CITOM, saying “Let our lawyers handle it.”

The mayor had criticized Garcia for cutting the P5,000 allowance of Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 20 Judge Bienvenido Saniel after the latter dismissed the governor’s petition questioning the power of Osmeña to appoint the board of directors of the Metro Cebu Water District.

The incident prompted Osmeña to donate P1 million to the Supreme Court so it can be used to pay the judges whose allowances from the local government units will be suspended by those officials who cannot accept the rulings of their cases.

The province-owned trailer was parked along Don Mariano Cui Street near Fuente Osmeña when it was towed by CITOM and is presently being impounded for violating the “No Stopping” sign in the area.

However, Capitol spokesman Rory Jon Sepulveda argued that the move of the CITOM personnel in towing the trailer is illegal because it was not parked within the city roads, but it was within the province-owned lot.  (FREEMAN NEWS)