Gealon on opposition dads intervention on SRP lot issue: It’s a desperate move

Cebu City Legal Officer Lawyer Rey Gealon. | CDN Digital file

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Lawyer Rey Gealon, Cebu City Legal Office head, said the intervention attempt of the opposition councilors on the withdrawal of the petition for declaratory relief by the City against the 2015 sales of the 45-hectare lot in the South Road Properties (SRP) was a desperate move to stop the development in the area. 

Councilors Nestor Archival, Leah Japson, Jessica Resch, Joy Augustus Young, Alvin Dizon, Eugenio Gabuya, Jr., and Raul Alcoseba have written to the court, raising their concern on the withdrawal of the petition for declaratory relief against the SRP sale by the City Legal Office following the decision of the council majority to withdraw the case. 

Read more: Opposition councilors intervene in sale of SRP lots

In a text message to CDN Digital, Gealon said that the sale had been clearly and categorically declared valid and legal by the Regional Trial Court, which was subsequently affirmed by the Court of Appeals.

“I can only sense their utter desperation to revive a dead legal issue on the SRP sale,” he said. 

He added that the latest complaint “is merely a dilatory tactic, at best, with no other intention but to delay the proceedings.”

“Why do they have to belatedly intervene in this particular case where the honorable judge has already ordered that the motions to dismiss already filed are now submitted for resolution?” said Gealon. 

For minority floor leader, Councilors Archival, the intervention is a call for help to the courts for the city that has been placed in disadvantage by the sale. 

“We need the guidance of the court in this matter because the sale was clearly illegal without the approval of the council in 2015,” said Archival. 

He said that in their intervention, they asked the court to resolve the issue of the SRP sale as soon as possible before this could cause more disadvantage of the City. /dbs