City Hall asks COA intervention

CITY Hall is not giving in to the court order for it to pay P133 million to the Rallos family for a 1963 land expropriation.

Lawyers of City Hall filed a motion for reconsideration last week arguing that all monetary claims or auctions against a government agency shall be coursed through the Commission on Audit (COA) as provided by Supreme Court Administrative Circular no. 10-2000.

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama has also officially requested the COA to intervene in the case.

Regional Trial Court Judge James Himalaloan recently ordered two depository banks of the city to release the “correct account numbers” under the name of the city government to facilitate the payment of just compensation to the Rallos family for their expropriated land in barangay Sambag II.

The P32-million just compensation ballooned to P133 due to accumulated interest after years of litigation.

Roy Rallos, one of the heirs of Rev. Fr. Vicente Rallos, said the city has the right to contest the court ruling but reiterated their demand for Rama to pay up.

“Iya nang problema. Modako nag samot ang utang sa syudad. (That is the problem of Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama. The city’s debt will increase),” Roy told Cebu Daily News over the phone.

Judge Himalaloan, in his Feb. 27, 2012 ruling, threatened to cite in contempt the Philippine Veterans Bank (PVC) and the Philippine Postal Savings Bank (PPSB) if they fail to release the account numbers of the city government within five days from receipt of his order.

The account numbers, the judge said, shall be used by Ralloses to demand from the Cebu City Council to enact an ordinance that will compel the banks to satisfy the city’s debt of at least P133 million.

Notices of garnishment were sent to the city’s depository banks that include Land Bank of the Philippines, PPSB, Development Bank of the Philippines and PVB.

Notices were also sent to SM Prime Holding Inc., SM Development Corp. and SM Investments Corp. at their offices in the Mall of Asia Complex in Pasay City, Metro Manila.

Early last month, PVB, PPSB and SM Prime Holding refused to heed the request of the sheriff to satisfy the city’s dues to the Ralloses.

This prompted the sheriff to schedule the auction of 9.7 hectares of the South Road Properties (SRP).

The portion of the SRP will be offered in a public auction on April 10, 2012. The lot was supposed to be auctioned last year.

However, the developer of SRP, Filinvest Land Inc., who is intervening as a third-party claimant asked the Rallos family an indemnity bond of P1.2 billion.

Filinvest claims that the bond is for the development cost of the lot. Filinvest has a P25-billion joint venture (JV) agreement with Cebu City for the development of the SRP.

However, sheriff Eugenio Fuentes refuses to acknowledge Filinvest’s demand for bond. /Reporter Ador Vincent Mayol