CA justice inhibits self from SRP claim case

A Cebuano judge who was recently appointed as a Court of Appeals (CA) justice chose to inhibit himself from a case involving the ownership of the South Road Properties (SRP).

CA Associate Justice Gabriel Ingles said he inhibited from a petition filed by barangay Tinago councilor Joel Garganera that questioned Cebu City’s ownership of the SRP after the city government allocated a portion of the property for a CA building.

Garganera, who filed the charges against former mayor and now Rep. Tomas Osmeña of Cebu City’s south district, petitioned the entire Cebu CA division to inhibit from the case.

“This particular station of the CA is intended as a beneficiary of the donation of respondent-appellee (Osmeña) of a portion of the very property subject of this litigation on appeal,” Ingles said.

He said the CA can be perceived as an interested party in the case.

Ingles dismissed a motion for reconsideration filed by Garganera on the case in April this year.

Last year, the city government donated a 7,123 square meter lot in the SRP for the CA building.

Garganera said Cebu City has no right to sell SRP lots since the 295-hectare property was owned by the national government.

He said the proclamation of former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo turning over SRP ownership to the city didn’t pass through Congress. Reporter Ador Vincent Mayol with a story from Correspondent Fatrick Tabada