TRO issued against CitiCenter clearing

CEBU, Philippines - Regional Trial Court Judge Ma. Lynna Adviento issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the City of Cebu represented by Mayor Michael Rama and City Administrator lawyer Jose Marie Poblete to stop them from clearing the CitiCenter Commercial Complex in Barangay Kamagayan.

 In her two-page decision, Adviento directed both parties to observe the status quo within the period of 20 days from Wednesday.

 “A TRO is issued to suspend proceedings until there may be an opportunity to inquire whether any injunction should be granted, and it is not intended to operate as an injunction pendent lite, and should not in effect determine the issues involved before the parties can have their day in court,” the order reads.

 Adviento, however, said the issuance of the TRO cannot affect the merits of the case and both parties will be given the privilege to be heard in court.

 The status quo will be maintained until the application for a writ of preliminary injunction will be heard and resolved.

 An injunction is a judicial process or order requiring the person to whom it is directed to refrain from doing a particular act. No particular time is being mentioned. The court has the discretion of when to lift the injunction.

 Earlier, Crispin Calesterio and other informal settlers of the CitiCenter Commercial Complex filed a petition before the court for the issuance of the TRO and a writ of preliminary inhibitory injunction against the City of Cebu.

 They likewise asked the court to stop Mayor Rama from evicting them without giving relocation sites. The plaintiffs started living in the CitiCenter way back in 2000 while it was still operational.

 Plaintiffs said the former owner of CitiCenter gave them consent to stay in the complex as they were paying their monthly rentals.

 Based on reports, the said property was forfeited in favor of the city government sometime in 2004 after the previous owner failed to pay taxes.  On October 19, 2012, the City Government through Poblete issued a notice of eviction against the settlers and directed them to vacate the within 72 hours. The City Government said they will be using the property as a residential site for Cebu City Hall employees.

 Such act of the city government was described by the plaintiffs as “illegal and without basis” under the Urban Development Housing Act and the Local Government Code during its hearing last Tuesday.

 But for the City Government, the complaint filed was “fatally infirm” because two or three of the plaintiffs are not residents of Citicenter.

Atty. Johnson Hontanosas, special counsel to the case, said that most of the plaintiffs are not even actual occupants of the CitiCenter commercial complex.

He said it was in the complaint that majority of the plaintiffs declared a different address, which only shows they are not actual occupants of the building.

Atty. Eliodoro Diaz IV of the City Legal Office said only nine of the 26 plaintiffs declared the CitiCenter as their address while the rest lives somewhere else. Their certification from the barangay says most of them live at D. Jakosalem or another part of Sanciangko in barangay Kamagayan.

Hontanosas said the order of the City Government for clearing are directed to those who are actually occupying the building.

When sought for reaction, lawyer Perla Centino of the plaintiffs told The FREEMAN: “Basically, the TRO is in order because the attempted eviction is a violation of the law. The complainants are all residents of the CitiCenter edifice and they belong to the urban poor, thus entitled to RA 7279 provisions.”

Cebu City Administrator Jose Marie Poblete said they will suspend the clearing as ordered by the court but will continue all other activities at the CitiCenter that they were doing before the filing of case.

He said the court only issued a status quo, which means they can proceed with other activities that are not related to the eviction.

The fencing of the CitiCenter and the use of the portion of the building as temporary shelter for night dwellers will therefore continue.

“We stand by our position that the area should be cleared,” Poblete said.— (FREEMAN)