Rama asks court not to issue simultaneous eviction orders

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama is asking court judges not to release eviction orders within the city simultaneously.

In a meeting he called with Regional Trial Court (RTC) and Metropolitan Trial Court in Cities (MTCC) judges at City Hall yesterday, Rama said if court-ordered demolitions are done at the same time, it’s the city government that will have to deal with the chaos in its implementation.

“Ejectment diri, ejectment didto, unsay mahitabo? (Ejectment here and ejectment there, what will happen?) And who’s going to be receiving the brunt? People would not know, they might be assuming that Mike Rama, who’s also being accused by my predecessor,  is demolishing, which is not correct,” he told reporters yesterday.

He pointed out that if the city conducts clearing operations, it’s to recover sidewalk, prevent accidents or prepare for coming weather disturbances.

More than ten judges were present including Executive Judges Soliver Peras and Monolila Tecson of the RTC and MTCC respectively.

The mayor said the judges agreed with the request. The City Legal Office and the Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor (DWUP) will be asked to coordinate with the courts to check on the status of pending and upcoming decisions on eviction cases.

The recent court-ordered demolitions in Barangays Mabolo and Capitol Site prompted the mayor to call the meeting with the judges.

After these demolitions, some of the affected informal settlers have been staying in tents put up by the barangays.

Rama said this should not be the case since it obstructs vehicular traffic as well as pedestrian access.

“All of them have tents and have occupied the road. We are a city where we put order rather than promote chaos,” he added.