The Parian Fire Station in Cebu City was the subject of a legal action as to who owns the land and the building that sits on it. The Roman Catholic Apostolic Church through its Legal Counsel, American Lawyer Martin M. Levering filed an action against the Municipality of Cebu on August 22, 1911.
The action of the Roman Catholic Church was for the repossession and seeking of rentals from the Municipality of Cebu that had been usurping and occupying the land and the building that used to be a convent of the San Juan Bautista del Parian Church, and now the Parian Fire Station.
The Catholic Church complained that the Municipality of Cebu has been unlawfully occupying the building and the land since 1902 and should be ordered the pay the monthly rental of P80.00.
The Municipality of Cebu represented by the Provincial Fiscal of Cebu submitted an answer and denied the allegations of the Roman Catholic Apostolic Church. The Court of Cebu made a judgment on December 8, 1914 declaring that the litigated lands and building belongs to the State or the Municipality of Cebu and not with the Roman Catholic Church. It absolved the Municipality of Cebu of the complaint of the Catholic Church.
The Roman Catholic Church went to the Supreme Court and questioned the decision of the lower court after its motion to reopen the case and new trial was denied. The Very Reverend Thomas Hendricks, the Bishop of Cebu invoked Act No. 1376 in the appeal. The Catholic Church reminded the Court of the history of the building and the land.
On January 31, 1849, the Captain and Governor General of Cebu ordered that the church and the convent be demolished and the Bishop of Cebu protested. The following year, on January 4, 1850 the Spanish Captain General of Cebu amended the order and suspended the order demolishing the church and convent.
During the trial, Father Emiliano Mercado testified that sometime in 1878 the church was demolished. Another witness, Florentino Rallos, an employee of the Municipality of Cebu (who became the 1st Chief Executive of the Municipality of Cebu when the Americans colonized the country in 1899) said that the building was made as Gremeo de Mestizos, a club or guild for the Mestizos in the Parian District. This was during the time of Esteban Roman, the First Gobernadorcillo of Cebu.
The Supreme Court En Banc (with all members deciding) through Justice Torres on March 24, 1917 ruled that the building and land where the Parian Fire Station is, is owned by the State, while the adjacent land where the cross was erected (it is where the Chapel that stands beside the fire station) is owned by the Roman Catholic Apostolic Church.
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Addendum/correction to the article on Cesar A. Kintanar of Argao, Cebu (August 25, 2014):
The wife of Atty. Cesar A. Kintanar was Telesfora Yap (and not Cresenciana), who was the daughter of Buenaventura Yap and Florencia Cruz. Cesar and Telesfora had the following children: Gualberto, Clarissa, Ester, Renato, Virginia, Ruben, Portia and Hector.
The Cresenciana Espina mentioned in the article was the wife of Mariano Abear, the Municipal President of Argao, at the time when Cesar's father Felipe was the Vice-President of Mariano.
Special thanks to Virginia Kintanar, daughter of Atty. Cesar Kintanar and Todd Cabrera Lucero for the correction, my apologies for the error. God bless the people of Argao, Cebu. attypauloaminal@yahoo.com.