The Talisay lot that the Sesbreños were trying to clear of houses was the land the lawyer took over as payment of litigation fees from the Borromeo family, who owed him P1 million for his services.
But residents question the lawyer’s land claim of ownership. They said he couldn’t present documents to support it.
Occupants complained of a court-ordered demolition of their houses in Lawaan II, Talisay.
The demolition yesterday was led by sheriff Constancio Alimurung of Regional Trial Court Branch 18.
Resident Ranulfo Daligdig showed Cebu Daily News the writ of demolition issued by Judge Gilbert Moises, stating that the structures to be demolished are located in barangay Lawaan Tres.
“The order didn’t mention structures in Lawaan Dos, only Lawaan Tres,” he said.
“We’re angry because they started demolitions when it’s not covered by the order.”
He said they suspect the reason they were singled out was because they don’t pay land rental, unlike residents in Lawaan Tres.
“We are looking for the owner. Sesbreño said he is the owner. We are looking for documents if he really is the owner—number one land title, number two tax declaration, number three tax payment. We tried to verify with government agencies involved, and we proved that he did not have supporting documents to prove that he is one of the co-owners of this said land,” Daligdig said.
Another resident, Elsa de la Cruz said she was shocked when she saw her store for poultry feeds torn down last Tuesday. She didn’t receive a notice of demolition.
“The others were given the writ of demolition last week. My name was not on the list, so I was confident my store would not be destroyed. They started with the roof. I asked the sheriff for the order,” she said in Cebuano.
She said the sheriff refused to hand her the order and just read it aloud, while covering some parts of the documents with his hand.
She said she plans to file a case on abuse of authority against him. /Correspondent Patricia Andrea Pateña