Compania Maritima building. | file photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) will wait for the specific instructions regarding the pronouncement of Mayor Michael Rama to arrest the personnel of the Cebu Port Authority (CPA) who are collecting parking fees from those parking in open spaces near the disputed Compania Maritima building.
Police Lieutenant Colonel Janette Rafter, deputy city director for operations of the CCPO, said they are still waiting for further instructions from Rama, who, on Monday, Feb. 6, 2023, said he wanted the police to intervene and stop the CPA from collecting parking fees.
“So far we have not received any specific instruction yet from the Mayor so I think we will wait to his further meeting siguro and other instructions”, Rafter said.
Rama called this move by the CPA to collect parking fees near the Compania Maritima as a ‘stupid act,’ adding that the road is not owned by the CPA.
READ: Rama to CPA: Collection of parking fees at Compania Maritima is ‘stupid’
“It’s not their road. That’s Manuel L. Quezon Road. It’s not CPA road,” the mayor said in a press conference on Monday.
But CPA information officer Mary Knoll Bolasa said that they started collecting parking fees in the area last Jan, 16, 2023, after a writ of preliminary injunction was issued in their favor.
READ: Court grants CPA’s petition for Preliminary Injunction over Compania Maritima legal battle
Branch 10 of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Cebu City granted the petition filed by CPA for the issuance of a writ of Preliminary Injunction regarding the long-disputed Compania Maritima area.
Last December 23, 2022, Judge Soliver Peras directed the Cebu City government to “restore and maintain the Republic and CPA’s peaceful possession and occupation of the entire Compania Maritima Area.”
/bmjo