Apas residents want demolition stopped

CEBU, Philippines - Residents of Sitio San Miguel, Barangay Apas in Cebu City are set to file today a certificate of certiorari to enjoin the court to stop the demolition that will affect over 150 families on March 4.

Apas Barangay Captain Ramil Ayuman said that through the residents' lawyer, they will also file a petition requesting the court to resolve a few things first concerning lots 942 and 947, which used to be part of the old Lahug airport.

"Usa mag-order sa demolition, ila usa unta iresolba kung kinsa g'yuy tag-iya anang luna ug kung nganong naa'y mga naapil sa lista sa ejectment bisa'g di sila apil sa nagpuyo sa maong lot," Ayuman said.

Ayuman joined the residents and their lawyers in a scheduled pre-demolition conference yesterday afternoon at the office of the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor (PCUP).

He said the conference only actually briefed the residents and some concerned departments about the guidelines of the scheduled demolition of the homes.

Some of the resident raised legal inquiries yesterday but were told to address their concerns before the court, said the barangay chief.

The residents' legal counsel, lawyer Feliciano Payot, said they found new evidence that would prove that the lots in question are really owned by the Province of Cebu and not by Aletha Suico-Magat.

Payot was referring to a sale certificate the residents acquired from the Banilad Friar Lands that showed that the contested lots were issued to the Provincial Government on September 3, 1936.

He said that there was abuse in claiming the lots and he also questioned the jurisdiction of the Municipal Trial Court in Cities (MTCC), which issued the writ of demolition.

"Mali ang iyang remedy. It should have not been ejectment, but only recovery of possession, kay 30 years na gud sila diha sa luna," the lawyer said.

MTCC Branch 6 Judge Pamela Baring issued the order.

Magat's counsel, lawyer Russel Pernites, however, said that there is already a decision from the Supreme Court that the said lots be re-conveyed to the heirs of Santiago and Antonina Suyco, Magat's grandparents.

Magat, who has challenged Ayuman to prove his allegations of anomalies in the acquisition of the properties, was not present in yesterday's conference because of health problems, said Pernites.

Magat's lawyer showed to the media the certificate of reconveyance from the court dated December 2011.

If the residents fail to get a temporary restraining order from the court, the demolition will push through on March 4 at 8:30 a.m.  (FREEMAN)