Looting mars demolition

A female resident (center) of sitio San Miguel in barangay Apas, Cebu City waves a copy of a court document in a desperate attempt to stop a demolition team from dismantling their houses yesterday morning.

Vangie Adonay’s agony continues.

Her house, which sits on a lot that was once part  of the Lahug airport reservation in barangay Apas, Cebu City, was finally reduced to rubble after the court’s order to demolish the illegally-built structures in the area was implemented yesterday morning.

Vangie’s house was the first to go down.

“Lami kaayo isumbag ug tao. Okay ra giguba among balay kay demolition man. Pero gikawatan pa jud mi. Pait kaayo,” she said.

(I really want to punch somebody. It’s okay that our house was destroyed because there’s a demolition order, but we were robbed. It’s very unfortunate.)

When Cebu Daily News interviewed Adonay last Tuesday during the first day of demolition, her house was supposed to be the next one to be dismantled by the wrecking crew had it not been stopped by 3pm. Yesterday’s demolition however, was again halted after residents claim that the wrecking crew looted the houses.

Residents shouted and called the attention of court sheriff Edilberto Suarin. A wrecker was allegedly caught on video in the act of pilfering wires and appliances and placing it inside his backpack.

Police identified the suspect as Christian Abatol, who was immediately detained at the Mabolo Police Station.

Vangie’s husband, Leo, went to the police station  and filed a theft complaint against the suspect.

The Adonay couple claimed they lost a hair iron, hair blower, balled up electrical wires and a transistor radio. Police recovered the transistor radio and electrical wires from Abatol’s possession. The hair iron and blower were allegedly passed on to other demolition workers.

“That hair iron cost me P4,300. They really rummaged through our stuff because my things were scattered in the house,” said Vangie who works as a hair stylist.
She said police stopped her from getting inside her house to take her things out as the demolition team moved in.

The incident has prompted Apas barangay captain Ramil Ayuman to again ask court sheriff Suarin to suspend the demolition at around 10 a.m.

In a closed door meeting attended by the sheriff, police ground commander Insp. Vincent Zozobrado, Jade Ponce of the Land Management Board and Collin Rosell of the Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor, they agreed to get the profile all the members of the demolition team before they allow the resumption of the demolition.

“He (sheriff) is also liable (of the stealing incident). Being the person in command, he should be responsible of his people,” Ponce of the LMB said.

There are at least 200 workers hired to undertake the demolition, but most of them gave fictitious names and were not wearing valid identification cards, which according to Ponce is a violation of the rules in demolition as spelled out in the Urban Development and Housing Act (UDHA).

Court sheriff Suarin officially ordered the demolition to stop at around 11 a.m. after their meeting.
The demolition however, was allowed to resume at around 2 p.m. with only about 24 workers cleared to continue working.

A total of four houses were dismantled as of yesterday, with the fifth one only partially demolished.
“The demolition team won’t demolish a house unless I tell them so,” he said.

Suarin showed to CDN a map of the area showing the houses. Those who paid the supersedeas bond in court were marked in red and won’t be demolished yet, he said.

A supersedeas is a writ that suspends the authority of a trial court to issue an execution order on a judgment that has been appealed. The court required a supersedeas bond from an appellant who wants to delay the implementation of a judgment.

Suarin said there are 36 houses who have paid the superseadas bond. Those who didn’t will be demolished right away.

Benjamin Militar, counsel of the settlers, have requested the Cebu City Regional Trial Court Branch 9 to lift or suspend the implementation of the writ of demolition, claiming that the ruling was invalid.

Militar argued that Judge Pamela Uy of the Municipal Trial Court in Cities (MTCC) Branch 6, who ordered the demolition of about 160 houses within the Suico property, doesn’t have  jurisdiction over the case.

“The MTCC can only hear land dispute cases wherein the settlers have resided in the disputed lot for just a year. In our case, the settlers have been there for about 60 years now. Hence, the case should have been filed before the RTC; not with the MTCC,” the lawyer explained.

Militar elevated the issue before the Cebu City Regional Trial Court (RTC) last week and sought the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) so the writ of demolition won’t be enforced.

However, Judge Alexander Acosta of the Cebu Regional Trial Court Branch 9 denied the TRO plea. Acosta said he could not issue a TRO or a preliminary injunction because the pleading filed by the settlers’ lawyers did not implead the sheriff of the MTCC who was mandated to implement the demolition.

Also, Acosta said the settlers “failed to manifest willingness” to put up a bond as provided for under the law.

“I hope our recent pleading can stop the ongoing demolition of houses. Unless the judge will release an order in our favor, the demolition shall continue,” Militar said.

Meanwhile, Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama admitted that City Hall is not prepared to attend to the affected residents. Nonetheless, he ordered the LMB, the DWUP and the Department of Social Welfare Services to put up a joint command center where residents may seek help.

Rama said he also spoke to Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III and sought the Capitol’s assistance in dealing with the matter. He said problems like this could be avoided if all public lands in the city were turned over to City Hall which in turn will hand it over to the urban poor who need shelter.

Rosell of the DWUP yesterday spoke to some of the affected residents and discussed their relocation.

Rosell admitted that the city government is having difficulty providing a relocation site for the 157 affected families. But he told the residents that City Hall may consider acquiring a lot under its socialized housing program and let the Apas residents avail of the program. / ith reports from Edison delos Angeles