Judge in Rallos case peeved by sheriff

THE judge handling the case of the P133 million claim of the Rallos family against the Cebu City government expressed his disgust in open court over the sheriff’s failure to update him on the enforcement of his order.

“I have not received any report from the sheriff on actions he has taken. I  haven’t even seen him in court,” said Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge James Stewart Ramon Himalaloan, acting presiding judge of Branch 9 in Cebu City.

He said he  has no idea on whether properties owned by the Cebu city government were levied to satisfy the P133 million claim of the Ralloses.

Himalaloan earlier ruled that the Cebu City government should pay the Ralloses P133 million for  property in Sambag II, Cebu City expropriated for a road in 1963.

The judge said he only got updates in reports in the newspapers.

In an interview, Sheriff Eugenio Fuentes said  he has been submitting monthly reports to the court since December last year.

But the judge  said Fuentes’ reports are nowhere to be found in the court’s records.

During the hearing yesterday, Himalaloan submitted for resolution the motion for reconsideration filed by the Cebu city government, which  sought the reversal of judge’s ruling in favor of the Rallos heirs.

A portion of the SRP had been subjected to auction after the city government refused to pay at least P133 million.

However, the Ralloses have to pay an indemnity bond of P1.2-billion sought by Filinvest Land Inc. in order for the auction to proceed.

The amount represents 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.

In  Dec. 9, Himalaloan ordered that the auction be “held in abeyance until further order”.

He later recalled his order to defer the auction and wanted the sheriff to rule on the issue.

“The rule is clear.  A third party claim shall be resoved by the sheriff himself; not the judge. I will come in only if there is disagreement on the amount of the indemnity bond,” Himalaloan said. Reporter Ador Vincent S. Mayol