The Cebu City government may use the P8.3 billion that it received as downpayment for South Road Properties (SRP) lots.
Judge Alexander Acosta of the Regional Trial Court Branch 9 in Cebu City yesterday denied the petition of lawyer and former prosecutor Romulo Torres to stop the council from appropriating funds from the SRP proceeds.
“This court, after evaluation of the application for a TRO (temporary restraining order), and to the fact that nothing in the petition that would show that he is willing to post a bond, the TRO is denied,” Acosta said.
“Supersedeas” bonds are posted to compensate for damages or losses caused by the TRO should it later appear that the petitioner was not entitled to it.
Torres, who filed the suit in his capacity as a citizen and taxpayer, was not present during the hearing yesterday.
“Despite such period of time, the petitioner failed to appear,” the judge said.
Cebu City Attorney Jerone Castillo requested the court to drop the case filed by Torres because its verification and certification of non-forum shopping was notarized by a lawyer with an expired notarial authority.
Acosta gave the parties until Friday to submit their respective position papers.
Torres earlier asked the court to stop the city from appropriating funds from the P8.3 billion it received from SM Prime Holdings Inc., Ayala Land Inc., and Filinvest Land Inc.
Torres said the money ought not be spent nor appropriated by the city pending resolution of whether the mode of disposing the lots at the SRP by public bidding is valid.
Because of the case filed by Torres, the council chose to defer the approval of the city’s P2.8 billion Supplemental Budget 1 (SB1).
The budget includes, among others, the P2.4 billion prepayment of the SRP loan, P77 million for City Hall employees’ Productivity Enhancement Incentive (PEI) and P87 million for garbage tipping fees.
During yesterday’s session, the Cebu City Council denied another attempt to lift the deferment of the deliberation on the SB1.
In a 9-5 vote, the Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) bloc of the council denied the motion of Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella calling on the council to act on the SB1.
Labella stepped down from the presiding officer’s chair to appeal to the conscience of the councilors and have the SB 1 already deliberated upon.
“I solemnly stand before you today momentarily surrendering my impartial seat as your presiding officer to be one with the Cebuano populace. But it is not about me or my feelings that I have decided to yield the chair this morning. It is about our people and our city and how painful it might have been for them to see the ugly hands of politics trump all reason and wisdom,” he said.
Councilor Margarita Osmeña reiterated that the budget and finance committee already identified P1.1 billion from continuing appropriations from 2007 to 2014 that can be used as another source of fund to support the SB1.
Osmeña said they have already requested for a dialogue with the local finance committee but Mayor Rama barred the latter from meeting them.
Councilor Gerardo Carillo told the council about the denial of Torres’s petition for TRO.
After a lengthy discussion and two recesses, the council, in a 9-5 vote, decided to sit on the SB1.
Those who voted against the motion of Labella to lift the suspension are councilors Osmeña, Eugenio Gabuya, Alvin Dizon, Lea Japson, Nida Cabrera, Sisinio Andales, Roberto Cabarrubias, Alvin Arcilla and Mary Ann delos Santos
Those who favored it are only Labella, councilors Carillo, Dave Tumulak, Hanz Abella and Philip Zafra.
After the voting, Carillo moved to refer the matter on the SB1 to the City Legal Office so the council can be guided on what to do, more so that the court denied the issuance of a temporary restraining order.
But the majority bloc objected to it.
Mayor Michael Rama, when sought for comment about the council’s move, only said in jest, “What else is new?”