Lawyers Manuel Zosa III and Manuel Go (facing center and right), who represent the Albas – one of the parties in the J. Panis St. dispute, show the portions that have to be cleared while Lawyer Vinci Villordon (on Zosa’s left), representing the other party – Phoenix Petroleum, listens during Tuesday’s clearing of obstructions of the street.
KASAMBAGAN ROAD ROW
No obstruction remains at the portion of the contested J. Panis St. in Barangay Kasambagan, Cebu City after a court-ordered clearing yesterday.
The clearing was implemented by Sheriff IV Eugenio Fuentes Jr. following a writ of preliminary injunction issued by Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 17 Presiding Judge Anacleto Debalucos to clear the road in favor of Ricardo Alba and Emelie Alba who own Main Hotel and Suites located in the area.
The Albas have been complaining of problems on their access road after Phoenix Petroleum bought the lot adjacent to their property which included a portion of J. Panis St., supposedly a national road according to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH-7).
Concrete culverts, a makeshift guardhouse and a boom intended to regulate access to and from the road used to stand on it before yesterday’s clearing.
After filing a case for injunction against Phoenix last February, the Albas were able to secure a writ of preliminary injunction from the RTC dated March 12.
The order was for Phoenix to “remove the obstructions at the subject J. Panis Street to create a space on the road enough for a bus to pass through to and from the petitioners’ properties.”
Lawyers argue
Prior to the actual clearing yesterday afternoon, lawyers of both camps had a heated argument as to how much of the road should be cleared of obstruction.
The Albas’ lawyers Danilo Go and Manuel Zosa III said that the order was to remove all obstruction within the road.
But Lawyer Vinci Villordon, who is assisting Lawyer Inocencia dela Cerna who is one of the lawyers of Phoenix, tried to argue and say that not the entire width of the road should be opened.
Villordon said it should be opened only enough for a bus to pass through.
At one point, they even tried to actually let a bus and another vehicle pass through the area from opposite directions which was not possible.
Looking obviously frustrated, Villordon tried to say that the road was enough to allow a bus to pass through.
He said the order did not say that it should be for two-way traffic. Being outnumbered, Villordon just walked away.
Sheriff Fuentes, assisted by the Albas who provided personnel and equipment including a truck with a crane, then proceeded with taking away the culverts and putting them within the existing fence of Phoenix Petroleum.
Fuentes also said that all obstructions should be removed since the order stated so.
Case pending in court
Sought for comment about the issue, the management of Phoenix Petroleum said that while they acknowledged the RTC order, the main case is still pending in court.
“We confirm that RTC 17 of Cebu issued writ of mandatory injunction directing Phoenix to remove the blocks and which we are complying. Nonetheless, the order is interlocutory and is now subject to the Petition for Certiorari before the Court of Appeals,” read the statement which they sent to Cebu Daily News.
Officials from the Main Hotel and Suites, said the portion of J. Panis St. that leads to their hotel was completely blocked with obstructions before, preventing cars from passing through.
But when the court order was issued, the road was only opened by half, with the remaining half still blocked.
This prompted their lawyers to ask the court to fully enforce the order.
Main petition
According to Zosa, their main petition in the RTC is for the entire J. Panis St. to be opened since a portion was already completely closed by Phoenix starting 2015.
“The vehicles could not already pass through the road. They literally slowly and deliberately moved to entirely close the road” he told reporters.
Prior to yesterday’s clearing, Zosa was in City Hall and had a meeting with Cebu City Councilor Dave Tumulak regarding the issue.
Maximum tolerance
For his part, Tumulak reminded both parties to exercise “maximum tolerance” on the situation. At the same time, he called on Phoenix to “obey the court order.”
“If ever they have other complaints, they should go to the court in a proper forum. As of now, we have to comply with the court order and reminding also our law enforcement agency to implement at the maximum tolerance also,” Tumulak said.
He added that it is really “necessary” to open the road since there are also a lot of residents in the area who are affected because of the closure.
Also present during yesterday’s clearing was DPWH-7 Chief Legal Officer Brando Ray Raya, who confirmed that J. Panis St. is still part of their inventory of national roads in Cebu City. As such, it should be open and used by the public.
“Insofar as the DPWH-7 is concerned, our direction is we really want to have the road back,” he said.
He added that the issue is currently with the DPWH central office which has also endorsed the concern to the Office of the Solicitor General for proper legal action.
Phoenix Petroleum earlier explained that the portion of the road is already under their property and is covered by a Land Title based on a Supreme Court decision.
They said the disputed access is not part of J. Panis St. anymore and that the closure and putting up of fences and culverts was part of their exercise of their ownership rights.