Court denies SM's plea to serve TRO

BACOLOD CITY ,Philippines  - The Court of Appeals 20th Division in Cebu City has denied the motion of SM Prime Holdings to be deputized to serve the temporary restraining order (TRO) to the Negros Occidental provincial government.

The CA has earlier granted SM Prime's request for a 60-day TRO preventing Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. to sign the contract with Ayala Land Inc. on the sale and lease of more than 7.7 hectares of prime property in this city worth about P3.5-billion.

The CA resolution junking SM's motion, dated July 27, was penned by Associate Justice Victoria Isabel Paredes and concurred in by Associates Justices Edgardo Delos Santos and Ramon Paul Hernando. A copy of the order was furnished by the Provincial Legal Office to the media last week.

The CA said the TRO was issued on condition that SM files a surety bond of P50 million, to "answer any and such damages as the respondents may sustain by virtue of the TRO should the Court finally decide that the petitioner (SM Prime) is not entitled thereto."

A day after the promulgation of the TRO, SM filed an urgent ex-parte manifestation and motion, requesting that, in addition to the Court's service processes, SM Prime and its counsel be deputized to serve the TRO and other resolutions and order of the Court, the CA said.

Assistant Provincial Legal Officer Mary Ann Manayon-Lamis, also a member of the Committee on Awards, yesterday said they only received the CA Notice of Resolution on August 3, and the TRO on August 5. She said the CA directed the provincial government to submit its comment within the 10-day period from date of receipt.

"If we based it from August 3, we have until August 13 to submit our comment, but since it's Saturday, our deadline will be the next working day and that would be Monday, August 14)," Lamis said, adding that she could not comment on the Deed of Sale submitted to the Commission on Audit, which is not party to the case, and the case is "sub judice (under judgment)."

The 60-day TRO will start from August 5 to October 5 unless lifted sooner, said Lamis.

Meanwhile, Marañon said majority of the Negrenses support the decision of the Capitol in awarding the sale and lease of its property in Bacolod to Ayala. "If we will hold a referendum now, I'm sure 90 percent of the people of Bacolod and Negros Occidental will vote for Ayala," he said during the project presentation of Ayala Land of its P6-billion development project dubbed as the Capitol Civic Center — Danny B. Dangcalan