P21M payment in '09 lacks council nod

CEBU, Philippines - The payment of P21 million made by the City Government in 2009 to the heirs of the late Rev. Fr. Vicente Rallos as additional payment for his lots expropriated for a road was not approved by the City Council according to Mayor Michael Rama.

Because of this, he may ask the Commission on Audit (COA) to look into the transaction.

Rama said he is certain that the City Council, which he presided from 2001 to 2010, did not authorize such payment that was coursed through to the Regional Trial Court (RTC).

“I am certain that the city council did not pass a resolution for the payment of such amount to the Ralloses,” the mayor said.

But Francisco “Bimbo” Fernandez, the city administrator during the stint of then mayor Tomas Osmeña, does not support Rama.

 “Is he sure there was no council authority? When he was vice mayor, Rama was very strict about the need for us to get council authority. And for every disbursement made, there was accounting, COA and many others signing and ensuring that such is proper,” Fernandez said.

Records showed that when the City did not pay the P44.2 million just compensation ordered by the court for the 4,654-square-meter lot that is being used as public road in Sambag 2, the court granted the petition for the garnishment P34.9 million from the city’s depository banks.

The unpaid balance earned millions of interest and because of the repeated demands of the court sheriff, the City in 2009 deposited P21 million to the bank.

 Again, the unpaid balance continued to increase and as of last year, the amount has reached P133 million.

Rama said he is serious in his intention to demand a refund of the payment of P56 million that the city has made.

Rama did not give a categorical answer when asked about his next move now that the two controversial lots have been forfeited in favor of the city after the Ralloses failed to pay taxes.

Lawyer Janeses “Jade” Ponce claimed that the concerned lots are already owned by the city after the Ralloses agreed to donate the road lots to the City of Cebu based on the old documents called “convenio” or agreement that they have signed before the court in 1940.

But, granting that the lots were still owned by the Ralloses when they filed a case before the court in 2001, Ponce said the Ralloses failed to pay their corresponding taxes.

The law allows the government to sell the properties of the delinquent taxpayer to satisfy payment of taxes, although the owners still have a one-year period from the date of the auction to redeem their properties.

The two lots were auctioned off on May 27, 2011 and the Ralloses failed to redeem the lots within the redemption period that expired last May 26, 2012.  (FREEMAN)