No SRP lot auction, but judge to handle case

THERE won’t be any public auction of the 9.7 hectares of South Road Properties (SRP)  lot being developed by Filinvest Land Inc. within the month.

This after the heirs of Rev. Fr. Vicente Rallos declined to pay the P1.2-billion indemnity bond sought by the developer.

As this developed, Regional Trial Court 9RTC) Judge James Stewart Ramon Himalaloan decided to recall his inhibition in relation to cases involving Cebu City Hall.

He then ordered to “hold in abeyance until further order” the public auction of the SRP lot.

The city government got sued by the Ralloses for failing to settle its P133 million dues over the Sambag II property that was expropriated in 1963.

Judge Himalaloan directed the parties to submit their comments on some pending pleadings.

He remanded the petition for indirect contempt filed by Lucina Rallos against Philippine Veteran’s Bank and Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama to RTC Branch 7.

Himalaloan, acting judge of the RTC Branch 9 in Cebu City, earlier inhibited himself from handling two cases in relation to the case filed by the Ralloses against the city government.

He took into consideration the monthly allowances that  judges received from local government units, including the city government.

Last Friday, however, Himalaloan changed his mind and opted to handle the cases.

The judge, in his order, didn’t state obvious reasons for changing his mind.

The city government didn’t object to Himalaloan’s voluntary inhibition.

The Ralloses, through their counsel, said they cannot comment on the inhibition as they have still to receive a copy of the court order.

The P1.2-billion bond the court required of the Ralloses represented Filinvest’s development costs for the lot, part of a P25-billion joint venture (JV) agreement with Cebu City.

The amount will be set aside in case Filinvest seeks legal action in the future.

“We can’t do anything as of now. The status quo remains,” Fuentes said.

In an interview, Roy Rallos said their counsel found it inappropriate to yield to the demand of Filinvest, a third-party claimant.

He said they won’t transact with Filivest since the case is between the family and the city.

The city government and Filinvest entered into a joint venture agreement to develop 50 hectares of the 300-hectare SRP into a central business district in 2009. Reporter Ador Vincent Mayol