Demolition to resume Monday; Why settlers don’t like Sesbreño
The demolition of settlers’ houses will resume on Monday in barangay Lawaan II, Talisay City, amid tension over Wednesday’s killing of three persons closely related to lawyer Raul Sesbreño.
“Mosukol jud mi. Kami baya ang tag-iya,” said Peter Sesbreño, youngest son of lawyer Raul Sesbreño. (We will fight for it because we are the owners of the land)
“Di nalang sila mosukol. Sundon nalang nila.” (The residents shouldn’t oppose it. They should follow the legal procedure.)
Peter, who runs a security agency in Manila, showed up in a bulletproof vest when he arrived in Cebu City Thursday. He said he has his own gun for protection.
He said the family had been planning to demolish the houses in Lawaan II since 2009. The front part facing the main road will go first.
Lawyer Sesbreño claims co-ownership of a 7.8-hectare land in Lawaan II and III, property of his client, the Borromeo family, which assigned 15 percent to the lawyer as payment for his legal services.
His son Peter said the family plans to put up a commercial center there but spare the houses of residents who are close to their family.
Cebu Daily News visited the site yesterday and talked with some settlers.
One man whose house was demolished last week said it wasn’t true that there was a P100,000 bounty on Sesbreño’s head.
“Asa man mi anang P100,000 nga patong kuno sa iyang ulo? Ka-afford kaha mi ana? Amo na lang ipalit og bugas (Where would we get P100,000 to have Sesbreño killed? How could we afford that? If we had that amount, we would just use it to buy rice),” he siad.
He requested anonymity saying Sesbreño had a habit of suing anybody who crossed him.
Rey Ababon, 50, said they shouldn’t be blamed for the ambush, which resulted in the death of Sesbreño’s wife and two close friends.
“Na-timingan lang,” said Ababon, who called the shooting and demolition a coincidence.
Ababon, who’s been living there since 1972, said settlers used to pay rental to the lot’s original owners. However, they refuse to pay rentals to Sesbreño.
“Walay klaro ang iyang resibo. Papirmahon pa gyud mi nga dili amo ang yuta. Iyaha kuno. Kon dili mi kabayad, papahawaon mi (Sesbreño doesn’t give clear receipts. We’re asked to sign a document that states that we are not the actual owners of the lot and that if we won’t be able to pay, we’ll be evicted.)
Demolitions started last Feb. 1. It was supervised by sheriff Constancio Alimurong of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 18 in Cebu City.
The demolition order issued by RTC Judge Gilbert Moises covers over 40 houses.
Sesbreño earlier sued the settlers to claim the parcels of land that his deceased clients gave him as payment for his legal services.
SECURITY
The police will be on site to assist the court-ordered demolition on Monday, said Senior Supt. Patrocinio Comendador, Cebu provincial police chief.
A team of seven policemen will be present, said Talisay chief Supt. Eddie Recamera.
Comendador also assigned two temporary police escorts to lawyer Sesbreño, who had asked for protection after receiving death threats. One police officer will be posted in the mortuary where Mrs. Sesbreño’s vigil is being held.
The demolition started last Feb. 1. It was an hour and a half later than the 9 a.m. schedule of the court sheriff because no police escorts were present.
Explaining the delay, Recamara said he was waiting for a written order approving the request of police deployment from the local government.
Peter said his 64-year-old mother Virginia was close to him because he was the youngest child.
She was a very “compassionate” person and the one “who would tell my father to calm down.”
“My mother took pity on the residents who will be included in the demolition,” Peter said in Cebuano.
She was a businesswoman who managed the family’s properties and apartments.
Aware of the death threats the family was receiving, Peter said he would remind his parents to watch the side mirror during car rides.
Peter said he, too, experienced a car ambush in July 14 last year in Manila over a business rivalry and now has his gun for protection.
In a separate interview, Jerry Young, the father of the slain 31-year-old Marlon Joshua Young, arrived from Davao Thursday night.
“We just have to wait for the proper authorities,” he said. Jerry’s remains will be transported to his hometown in Surigao del Sur today.
