As court junks injunction petition: Tomas loses Carbon case

CEBU, Philippines —  The Cebu City government, along with Megawide Construction Corp. and the Cebu2World, the companies undertaking the redevelopment of Cebu City’s Carbon Public Market, may now heave a sigh of relief after the court dismissed the petition for injunction filed by former mayor Tomas Osmeña over the said project.

Osmeña petitioned for “judicial review, certiorari, prohibition and mandamus with prayer for preliminary mandatory and prohibitory injunction with TRO (temporary restraining order)” against Megawide/C2W and the Cebu City government now led by Mayor Michael Rama.

But Osmeña's petition, the court said, was signed by Atty. Benjamin Militar as his counsel, yet the verification and certification of non-forum shopping attached to the petition was likewise notarized by Militar.

The court cited a case decided by the Supreme Court that a lawyer who prepared the petition is disqualified from notarizing the verification portion of the said petition.

"With the infirmity in the verification, the present petition shall be treated as an unsigned pleading, for as provided in Section 4, Rule 7 of the Rules of Civil Procedure, a pleading required to be verified that contains a verification based on information and belief, or upon knowledge, information, and belief, or lacks a proper verification, shall be treated as an unsigned pleading, and as such, the petition produced no legal effect," the court said in an order issued last January 3, 2023 by RTC Branch 58 Judge Ma. Lynna Adviento.

"Consequently, the court has no authority to act thereon," it added.

The Freeman tried to reach the former Osmeña and Militar for comment, but to no avail.

Megawide/C2W, on the other hand, “welcomes this development and hopes that all parties can now focus on working together for a better Carbon District”.

“Before the project, Carbon’s reputation was unsafe and unsanitary. It was like that for decades. Most Cebuanos, including me, were deterred from going regularly despite the low prices because of the crime, the trash, the traffic and lack of parking space, just to name a few,” said Lyds Eco, deputy general manager of C2W.

Eco stressed that even with the modernization vendors will have the same rental rate plus better police presence and overall security; more parking space; wider roads; removed literal mountains of garbage and flooding.

The said project also paved the way for the improvement of the Senior Citizen Park with the Sto. Nino Chapel, and the revival of the Freedom Park.

“Vendors, karumateros, residents of Sitio Bato are receiving more opportunities through upskilling and trainings, scholarships for kids, tutoring from the universities, business caravans and more. All this because the Carbon community chose to work with City Hall and C2W, and partnered with the business chambers, rotary, the universities, and the Church, among others,” Eco said.

“Carbon’s progress is visible. It’s felt by all, from vendor to customer. Why should we stop a project that clearly benefits the majority of Cebuanos? Rather than hold Cebu back, we can do more in support of its progress,” added Eco. – Sanden J. Anadia, JMD (FREEMAN)